Science & Technology

E3 Recap – Highlights from the LA Conference

One of the largest expos of electronics was held in Los Angeles this year. The Electronic Entertainment Expo of 2018 was held in Los Angeles this year from June 12-14, and was a massive success. I will focus on the big three gaming companies (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo), but that won’t cover everything about this year’s expo. For more details about the event, check out https://www.e3expo.com. Note: all prices listed in this article are in USD.

Let’s start with Sony. The company hit a bit of a rough patch after receiving backlash when they announced that Fortnite cross-play between other consoles would be blocked, whereas PC, Xbox, and Switch players could play together. A Sony representative answered the players, “We’re always open to hearing what the PlayStation community is interested in to enhance their gaming experience … we’ve built a huge community of gamers who can play together on Fortnite and all online titles. We also offer Fortnite cross-play support with PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, expanding the opportunity for Fortnite fans on PS4 to play with even more gamers on other platforms.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t change the issue for those who started Fortnite accounts on their PlayStation, as migration of data is now impossible. Despite this bump, Sony still showcased excellence at E3, included a Last of Us Part Two gameplay trailer, which was long anticipated. Other games included Beat Saber, Ghost Giant, Twin Mirror, Ghost of Tsushima, and many other games. Deals on consoles and titles were also announced. The 1TB PS4 Slim was now being marketed at $300, and the PS4 Pro 1TB was dropped from $400 to $350. Dualshock 4 controllers are now going for $40 instead of $60, and there were various reductions on PlayStation VR setups. God of War is being sold for $50, with a collector’s edition at $120. Along with many physical and digital games, Sony also announced they would be offering a 12-month PlayStation Plus Membership for $50. For more coverage of their expo, check out https://www.playstation.com/en-us/e3/.

Microsoft’s E3 has always seemed to be less intriguing than the other two companies in my opinion, but that’s not to say it wasn’t good. Gears of War 5 was announced, which is HUGE news for long time fans of the series. Battlefield V and Forza Horizon 4 were also shown at the expo, along with NieR:Automata™ BECOME AS GODS Edition, Just Cause 4, Devil May Cry 5, Halo Infinite, Cyberpunk 2077, and many other games, setting the line up for a fantastic showing of games for the Xbox consoles. The biggest news by far was the teasing of the new Xbox consoles, where Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox brand, spoke about it during a company briefing. The Xbox One X already outperforms the PS4 and PS4 Pro, but that’s only in terms of looks and graphics. Players buy games for gameplay, and with a new console, along with all the titles recently mentioned, Microsoft can really push themselves up to the top of the gaming market. During E3, the company also announced various sales across peripherals, games, and consoles, but by the time this issue is out, they will have ended. So if you’re reading this and you’ve invented time travel, go back to the week of June 7-17, 2018 to save some money. For more information about Microsoft’s E3 presentation, visit https://www.xbox.com/en-CA/e3.

The biggest thing Nintendo fans were anticipating this year was the gameplay showcase of their new Super Smash Bros. title. Eight players ranging from the Melee and Smash 4 competitive scenes were invited to take part in a tournament to show the new game off, which was titled Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The tournament went to Gonzalo “Zero” Barrios, who was also the winner of the Smash 4 invitational back at E3 2014. Sakurai, game director for the Super Smash Bros. series, also made a surprise appearance at the stage. The game has brought back all of the characters from the past games, which amounts to more than 60 characters. Some old faces were brought back, including Snake and Ice Climbers, while new faces emerged unexpectedly. Ridley, the character who players joked about not being in Smash 4 for being “too big” makes his debut in the newest game. I’ll let this make up for the fact that no Metroid Prime 4 gameplay was shown this year. Along with the release of the game on December 7, 2018, Nintendo has also planned to release GameCube controllers, which can draw a lot of competitive players to the game. Apart from Smash, games were announced across the board, including Fortnite for Switch (which was releasing the same day, Octopath Traveller, Daemon X Machinima, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 DLC, and Super Mario Party. For more details on these games, as well as many other announcements, check out e3.nintendo.com.

E3 marked another great success this year for players across the world, and with multiple titles across the board, I’m sure all our wallets will take a massive hit this holiday season.

 

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