E3 2017 Overview and Impressions

Once again the video game extravaganza known as E3 has come and gone. Each year we wait for the major hardware and software designers to release information on new games, new systems, updated game play, and when games will be available for purchase. Speculation about Microsoft’s new Xbox system, how Sony was going to continue their dominance, what games will keep Switch owner’s playing the system, were just a few of the major headlines going into E3. I’m going to go through all the major announcement for the three companies listed above as well as talk about a few other things that caught my interest.

Microsoft

Highlights:

Release date for the Xbox One X of November 7th and will cost $499
Backward compatibility for original Xbox games
Forza Motorsport 7 announced for Holiday 2017 for Xbox One X and Oct 3rd for Xbox One and Windows PC
Next game in the Metro series, Metro Exodus, was shown.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be an Xbox One console launch exclusive in late 2017
Cuphead got a release date of September 29th.
Life Is Strange will get a three part prequel subtitled Before The Storm
Showed off more of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War.
Sea of Thieves, an online multiplayer pirate game where a team of players work together to find treasure, was shown.
BioWare is working on a new game called Anthem. A multiplayer game where you explore the world in customizable exosuits.
The charming platformer Ori and The Blind Forest is getting another game in the series, Ori and the Will of the Wisps

A solid presentation by Microsoft at E3. They came with a lot of games that peaked my interest. I will say that I’m not sure about the new Xbox One X. While it will be the most powerful console out there, that doesn’t mean that it will sell. I think Microsoft has enough games coming to their new console to keep it going, but must continue to build a library to support it.

Sony

Highlights:

Horizon: Zero Dawn is getting an expansion called The Frozen Wilds.
PS4 is getting a remastered version on Shadow of the Colossus.
Showed off a few PS Virtual Reality games like Skyrim, Bravo Team, Star Child, and Moss
Showed gameplay of Kratos in a new God of War game releasing in early 2018.
New Spider-Man game shown from Insomniac with a mix of stealth, fighting, and QTE that will be released in 2018
A new game called Detroit: Become Human where you lead an android uprising.
Monster Hunter World coming to home consoles in early 2018

Sony had a few more multi-platform games that they showed, which were all what we expected to come on the console and I will touch on that later. Sony was, I believe, the weakest of the three hardware publishers. They lack a few of those killer 1st party games that are the lifeblood of a console. Sure, having a steady stream of games from 3rd parties is great, but it need to be a blend of the two. I don’t think Sony had a bad 3E, but it left me wanting more from the publisher.

Nintendo

Highlights:

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still targeted with a release date of holiday 2017.
New Kirby and Yoshi games were announced for 2018
A new core Pokemon game is in development
The recently middling Metroid series got two new game announcements, one for the 3DS, and Prime 4 coming to the Switch.
Released more information about Zelda DLC
Rocket League is coming to the Switch Holiday 2017
Showed more of Super Mario Odyssey’s unique game mechanics of possessing other creatures and enemies. They also announced a release date of October 27th.

The rest of 2017 looks solid for the Nintendo Switch. With a major game being released almost every month, there should be enough to keep players going. Super Mario Odyssey was the star of the presentation, and maybe of E3. It looks like a fresh take on the series and I can’t wait to play it. I do wish they would’ve shown some gameplay from the new Metroid Prime game. Just to give us a small taste. I would’ve also liked a few minutes on games coming to the DS system in 2017.

Third Party Developers

Ubisoft:

Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle was officially announced. The gameplay is reminiscent of XCOM and will be released August 29.
Skull and Bones gameplay was shown. Allows players to play an entire game that looks to be based off the sea fights from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.
Showed off more of Far Cry 5, including your trusty dog companion.
Announcement trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2
New Assassin’s Creed game was giving a subtitle Origins and a release date of Oct 17th 2017

EA:

Star Wars Battlefront II was announced which spans all eras of the Star Wars saga.
A Way Out is a co-op only prison break game where players must work together to get out of the prison and stay that way.

Bethesda:

The Evil Within 2 got an announcement trailer and a release date of Oct 13th 2017
The next game of the Wolfenstein series, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which will be available in October.

Ubisoft was the clear winning of major 3rd party developers at E3 this year. They managed to show gameplay that made all of their games something I can’t wait to see the final product. EA and Bethesda were just meh. Sure a new Battlefront and Wolfenstein games are exciting, but there wasn’t anything earth shattering about those announcements.

That was just a few things we found interesting from E3 this year and I’m sure we missed some of your favorites. Let us know what we missed.