The only thing equally as enjoyable as E3, is the week leading into the gaming expo. Rumors on rumors on rumors sweep through out timelines like the Golden State Warriors are doing to the Cleveland Cavaliers right now in the NBA Finals. Is Splinter Cell going to make a comeback this year? Will we finally get a Crackdown 3 release date? Is Halo 6 going to be revealed during Xbox's conference?
Rumors inspire conversation, speculation, and excitement. They’re communal, a little inside info to be shared with people obsess over until the press conferences start a week later. With a little less than a week away until E3 kicks off, gaming companies are gearing up to showcase what games and surprise announcements they've been cooking up. To keep the juicy rumor mill flowing, we compiled a list of what we want to see from Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, EA, and other press conferences this year.
Check it out below.
Sony Is Going to Forgo Announcements for Gameplay Walkthroughs
As gamers, we all love witnessing new surprising IP announcements at E3, but for Sony this year it might not be enough. Playstation has been killing it at E3 since their "all trailers no b.s." 2016 conference. However, this year has to be different. They've already established a great line up of future games from the Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Spiderman, Days Gone, and more, but with so many PS4 exclusives already announced, fans are starving to finally see them in action.
Most of all the games listed above have been announced almost two years ago now and for most we've only seen cinematic teasers, trailers, and brief gameplay. Even Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2, who has an exclusive partnership with Playstation, has gotten story trailer after story trailer.
Seeing rumored game sequels to popular game franchises like Bloodborne and Horizon Zero Dawn would be cool, but this year, we'd rather see how the gameplay mechanics will work in Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding or a lengthy swingthrough of Spiderman's New York City.
If Sony really wants to win fans over at E3 2018, they need to focus on gameplay first.
Sony's press conference will be live Monday, June 11 at 9 p.m. ET.
Xbox Will Bring Exclusive Heat
Xbox needs to do the exact opposite of Sony, and double down on exclusive IP reveals at E3 2018. Under Phil Spencer's watch, Xbox has begun to expand beyond hardware into more forward thinking services, most noticeably with their new digital subscription based 'Game Pass' and the 'Play Anywhere' initiative, which allows games to be purchased on console or PC, and played seamlessly on both. It's very impressive, but where are the games?
Outside of Crackdown 3, the future lineup for Microsoft's gaming platform is a ghost land at the moment. C3 will surely be a hit, but what comes next? What do gamers have to look forward to? During their conference, we hope to see their heavy hitter core franchises return including Halo 6, Forza Horizon 4 and another Gears of War. We also need to see a few brand new exclusive IP's.
Microsoft has set in place great systems for players to explore and play games until their finger cramp up, but without actual news games we can't do that. It's time to show the goods, Microsoft.
Nintendo Needs to Keep Doing Nintendo
Nintendo have been riding a wave of success after the phenomenal first year of the Switch all they way to E3. During their conference, they have to keep being aggressive. They need to take advantage of the hype they've created due to the success of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, and go full throttle on future games.
With announcements of a new Pokemon game and Super Smash Bros. for Switch, likely due out this Fall, Nintendo is already in a good place. If we can see a Metroid Prime 4 reveal, the rumored Star Fox: Grand Prix, and teases at other popular franchises like Pikmin, Mario Party, Animal Crossing, Wave Race, Punch-Out, or many others, Nintendo has an easy W on their hands.
What we'd really like to see are a lot of third party Switch support, especially Fortnite port finally brought over. Fingers crossed! Regardless of what happens, Nintendo will surely put on a surprising show.
EA Desperately Needs to Win Fans Over
EA just can't catch a break. Ever since receiving back-to-back “Worst Company in America” awards in 2012 and 2013, they've been an industry punching bag. Their struggles continued last year after they dug a huge hole for themselves over heavy microtransactions in Stars Wars: Battlefront 2. Over years of controversy, they've lost the trust of many gamers.
However, EA has a huge chance to turn things around this year with a solid lineup of potentially great games. The Battlefield V looks like the ultimate first-person war shooter, Anthem is shaping up to be a Destiny 2 killer, and the sports titles will always bring in numbers. They are already making a step in the right direction by not adding any micro-transactions in the next Battlefield as well as free dlc.
It's a start. EA needs to make a case for forgiveness and try to turn their poor reputation around.
Ubisoft, Bring on the Sequels and DLCs!
We commend Ubisoft for never giving up on their games. Titles like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands and Rainbow Six Siege, have had surprisingly lengthy lives thanks to the strong ongoing support. Assassins Creed Origins was breath of fresh air for the franchise and has also gained well received DLCs with more surely to come. We expect Ubisoft to keep this trend going, and supply all three titles with juicy updates and content during the conference.
Then come the sequels. Ubi will also be showing off the highly anticipated sequel to the The Division (hopefully they won't pull a Bungie). Splinter Cell is also rumored to be getting a revive of the franchise, alongside a rumored Beyond Good & Evil 2.
As all of this will be existing to see, we hope the company doesn't fully rely on just sequels and expansions. Expect the them to take a few risks and show off new IP's pushing themselves to new heights we didn't know they could reach.
For more on E3 2018, here's why we think Nintendo will rule the expo.
