E3 2021 - Press Conferences and News - June 12-15

[Medicine Man]

It's that time of year again. Not that its really E3 anymore as surely Covid has put the final nail in the ESA's coffin. It's now more a collection of events that everyone seems to have around about the same time without paying the ESA any money, kind of. So I thought I might as well chuck together a rough itinerary for all the socially distanced and digital only fun times that may or may not lie ahead.



Feel free to contribute as you see fit with predictions/expectations from each of the below etc.

Guerrilla Collective: Part 1 - June 5 - 4pm - link!
Battlefield Reveal - June 9 - 3pm - link!
Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live! - June 10 - 7pm - link!
Koch Primetime - June 11 - 8pm - link!
Guerrilla Collective: Part 2 - June 12 - 4pm - link!
Devolver Direct - June 12 - TBC - link!
Ubisoft E3 2021 - June 12 - 8pm - link!
Gearbox Entertainment - June 12 - TBC
Xbox and Bethesda Showcase - June 13 - 6pm - link!
PC Gaming Show 2021 - June 13 - 10:30pm - link!
Square Enix Presents - June 13 - 8:15pm - link!
Warner Bros Games - June 13 - TBC
Future Games Show - June 13 - Midnight - link!
Razer - June 14 - TBC - link!
Take-Two Interactive - June 14 - TBC
Capcom - June 14 - TBC
Nintendo Direct E3 2021 - June 15 - 5pm - link!
Bandai Namco - June 15 - 10.25pm
E3 2021 Awards Show - June 15 - TBC - link!

Another couple of post E3 events...

Steam Next Fest - June 16 to June 22 - link!
Nacon Connect - July 6 - 6pm - link!
EA Play 2021 - July 22 - TBC - link!

I'll try to pap in more specific times and direct links to streams as they become available nearer the time, but I'm sure we can make do with a couple of general ones in the meantime...


https://www.youtube.com/e3

[Raid]

It's worth noting that there's a rumoured announcement of a Switch Pro coming before Nintendo's E3 showcase. The idea is that they want their software partners to be able to reveal their Switch Pro enhancements during their conferences rather than having to shove everything into Nintendo's which takes place unusually late this year.

Nintendo does seem to have the lions share of stuff I'm excited for, which has been the norm for me for the last few years. Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4, the much rumoured Metroid Prime HD Trilogy, honestly, the usual stuff.

I'm really hoping that Square Enix give us some indication of when to expect the second instalment of FF7 "Remake" too.

Will Bethesda / Microsoft finally show something from Starfield? Will they have found yet another necromancer willing to bring back the Creation Engine?

[Achtung Englander]

I am genuily excited for E3 this year. We need a bit of cheering up

[Wrathbone]

Will Bethesda / Microsoft finally show something from Starfield? Will they have found yet another necromancer willing to bring back the Creation Engine?

Rumours abound that Starfield will be showcased at E3, and they confirmed a while back that it would use the Creation engine (heavily modified, which I take to mean increasingly broken). I'm genuinely hopeful that Starfield will be great, but the Creation engine should have been dismantled many, many years ago and placed deep underground where nobody will ever disturb it again. I still can't believe they exposed it to the internet with Fallout 76.

[Maturin]

As a single player open world engine, it was mostly fine in Fallout 4. Didn't encounter any bugs personally and the performance was smooth. It just lacks bells and whistles and proper dynamic lighting, compared to other engines.

Also their animation system has always been a bit clunky and needs an overhaul. I'm sure they could bolt on a better one.

But then I've always liked the slightly cartoonish, off-kilter aspect to the look of their games, so I've never been turned off by the Creation engine as much as some.

[Wrathbone]

Don't get me wrong, I love all the Bethesda RPGs made with Creation, but it was creaking at the seams back in 2011 when Skyrim was released. It's not just about graphics - core systems like quest triggers, NPC AI and the engine's ability to cope with object placement and tracking are all woefully inadequate by 2021 standards. Even Fallout 4 and Skyrim special edition have severe issues with going over 60fps, which simply isn't good enough now.

I don't think they've mentioned whether Elder Scrolls VI will use Creation, and the level of ambition they're suggesting is behind the game makes me cautiously hopeful that they're building it from scratch. I'm probably wrong, but it would be a small mercy if Starfield was Creation's death knell.

[Medicine Man]

Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live! - June 10 - 7pm - link!

In case anyone missed this here's the notable announcements...







https://www.jurassicworldevolution2.com ... oming-2021

https://www.callofduty.com/content/atvi ... son-4.html

https://innersloth.itch.io/among-us/dev ... us-roadmap

[Achtung Englander]

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/summer-ga ... 2021-show/

[Achtung Englander]

https://gamerant.com/day-devs-event-indie-games/

[Animalmother]

Elden Ring looks gorgeous, it's something is never play mind you but the graphics are amazing. Not much else there got my attention but it's great to hear a new Painkiller game is in the works.

[Alan]

So do MS announce theyve bought IO, Avalanche and Crytek tomorrow as they continue their "exclusives are bad for the industry" roadmap? :p

[Mantis]

I really dislike that their response to "You don't have enough exclusives" is to just buy up third party studios and make their future franchise installments Xbox and PC only when the studio previously released on everything.

I want new and interesting IP from Microsoft, not just needless gating of other studios. It's not clear exactly how restrictive they're going to be with it, but Phil Spencer confirmed a while ago that there were obviously going to be certain implications for games being released on other platforms for future titles.

[DjchunKfunK]

I really dislike that their response to "You don't have enough exclusives" is to just buy up third party studios and make their future franchise installments Xbox and PC only when the studio previously released on everything.

I want new and interesting IP from Microsoft, not just needless gating of other studios. It's not clear exactly how restrictive they're going to be with it, but Phil Spencer confirmed a while ago that there were obviously going to be certain implications for games being released on other platforms for future titles.

He said in March that all games from Microsoft would come exclusively to platforms with Game Pass. I'd rather Microsoft bought them than Tencent or even Sony because they at least all come to PC anyway. I think it's less buying the studios just for the IP and more for the talent as well as Obsidian for instance have been able to make Avowed, something it is highly unlikely they would have been able to develop as an independent.

Latest rumours are that it could be Netherealm and Rocksteady.

[Achtung Englander]

That Stalker trailer was amazing !!

https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-fo ... -date-time

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021 ... -2021-show

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/06/heres ... onference/

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-e3-20 ... -microsoft

https://www.ign.com/articles/square-eni ... w-to-watch

[Raid]

I think people will see that Guardians of the Galaxy headline and assume it's an addon or half-sequel to that tedious Square Enix's Disney's Marvel's The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Live Service Roadmap Heroes, but it's much more a Mass Effect meets Telltale Games style single-player RPG adventure thing that has a lot of promise. They've got the humour and style of the MCU films down, without looking too much like the aforementioned knockoff MCU Marvil's The Avongers.

Squeenix are also doing a new Final Fantasy 1-6 collection which I'm vaguely interested in, hopefully it's not another repackaging of the mobile games that completely ruined all of the artwork in one of my most fondly remembered games.