The most important day on every gamer’s calendar is, without a doubt, the E3 convention. Game developers, publishers, and corporations come every year to display their newest content and make announcements about new games and consoles. The video game industry is one of the largest entertainment industries in the American economy, racking up over 23 billion dollars in recent years. With new technology like 4K graphics, virtual reality headsets, and new consoles, the eyes of both market investors and gamers alike were on Los Angeles.
Here are some of the biggest and most important announcements of the convention:
Nintendo's Announcements
With the release of the Switch, Nintendo’s been working to bolster sales with solid AAA titles and they certainly didn’t disappoint at E3 this year. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the newest Mario Kart have been carrying the system, but new titles like Arms and Splatoon 2 will be providing fresh content. Super Mario Odyssey (no relation to this site, unfortunately) is due to come out later this year, which will clear systems off the store shelves in the holiday season. They even announced a new Pokémon RPG for the system, which was a surprise announcement to many of the franchise’s fans; they also announced a new game in the Metroid series. Unfortunately, there was no announcement for a Super Smash Bros. port to the system, though there is still a possibility of one.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft made several announcements in their press conference, including a collaboration project with Nintendo. However, their two biggest takeaways this year are the next titles in their successful IPs, Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Far Cry 5 will take place in Montana and give gamers a chance to interact with a secluded religious cult, while the new Assassin’s Creed takes players to ancient Egypt, a setting that fans of the series have been wanting for quite a while. These announcements were all over social media, and Ubisoft definitely secured their place at the top of the pack at this E3.
A New XBOX System
Microsoft made one huge console announcement, they will be releasing the XBOX One X in November which, among other things, will have the power to play games in 4K definition. While the console will have a hefty price tag, around $500, many Xbox fans may consider it worth the purchase. Social media also quickly noticed that the acronym for the new system spells XBOX, which is definitely not coincidental.
Battlefront II
Star Wars fans can rejoice this year because, on top of the release of The Last Jedi in December, we also get Star Wars Battlefront II. As I’ve said in an earlier article, Battlefront II builds on many of the things that fans had requested from the last game: the ability to play in both the prequel and sequel eras, space battles, and a single-player campaign. The gameplay trailer was released on the Internet during the NBA finals and it immediately went viral; here’s hoping that EA won’t disappoint us this time.
Needless to say, this year’s E3 has put out a lot of solid content, including a lot of announcements I didn’t get into here, including the new World War II-themed Call of Duty or the Kingdom Hearts III trailer. More information will trickle out throughout the year, but it’s clear that this holiday season will be a boom for the gaming industry. And I, for one, am I excited for that.
