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E3 2018 is just a few weeks away and you can feel the excitement in the air as the video game industry and thousands of people descend upon the Los Angeles Convention Center to mark the biggest show in the gaming calendar. It's where the big platform makers (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) come to show off their latest games or hardware. Rumors about what might be at the show have already started to circulate and as it's always fun to speculate let's take a look at everything E3!
This year's incarnation of E3 will take place from June 12th through June 14th. The press conference schedule is as follows:
* EA - June 9th 11AM PT
* Microsoft - June 10th 1PM PT
* Bethesda - June 10th 6:30PM PT
* Ubisoft - June 11th 1PM PT
* Nintendo - June 12th 9AM PT
* Sony - Not yet announced
EA:EA has confirmed that Sports staples such as
Madden 19,
NHL19 and
FIFA 19 will be there and should be playable at EA Play in the Los Angeles Hollywood Palladium. It's been confirmed that a new
Battlefield game will make an appearance, although we don't know what setting the game will take. We could see the series returning to it's World War II roots.
Anthem the new monster-hunting IP from Bioware should be there with some gameplay and a more in-depth look. It's possible that a new Star Wars game will be announced as Visceral has been quiet since
Battlefield Hardline and this year
Battlefield will be the flagship series.
Microsoft:Microsoft needs to shake things up and they know it. Taking a page out of EA's book, Microsoft is moving things away from the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor to host a more fan-centric event in the Microsoft Theater. Microsoft's traditional show floor space will be dedicated to the streaming service Mixer. No new hardware is expected, since the Xbox One X launched last fall. A game in the
Forza Horizon series is expected and is rumored to take place in Japan.
Fable 4 is reportedly in development by an unnamed studio in the UK under the title project, Wisdom.
Halo 6 should make an appearance this year and is rumored to include a battle royale mode similar to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Crackdown 3 should be shown this year and might have a fall 2018 release date. A teaser for a new
Perfect Dark will be shown and will reportedly feature a third-person perspective. On the PC side,
Age of Empires 4 and a new
Mechwarrior game are rumored.
Bethesda:It's almost a given that a new
Elder Scrolls Online expansion is forthcoming along with a content update for
Quake Champions. Now that
Fallout 4,
Wolfenstein 2,
Dishonored 2, and the
Doom reboot are out, it's time to head back to the expansive single player RPG. It probably won't be
Elder Scrolls 6 and rumors have been circulating of a Sci-Fi
Skyrim called
Starfield. It's also not out of the realm of possibility to see a
Doom sequel as the original had a cliffhanger ending. More switch ports could also be announced as
Dishonored on the Switch would be a welcome surprise.
Ubisoft:With
Assassin's Creed Origins' release last year, it's possible there may be an announcement of a new game in the series. It's likely a new game in the
Splinter Cell franchise will be announced with Michael Ironside rumored to be returning to voice Sam Fischer. It will be interesting to see what a
Splinter Cell game is in a post
Metal Gear Solid V world. A showing of
The Division 2 is expected, since it has been confirmed. The big question mark in Ubisoft's lineup is
Beyond Good in Evil 2. It was the surprise reveal of last year's E3 and while the game is undoubtedly in the early stages of development, it wouldn't be too far out to see a vertical slice or the game. It has been a while since
Rainbow Six Siege was released and it still has an active community. It wouldn't be too surprising to hear that a sequel is on its way.
Nintendo:Having released
Mario Odyssey and
Zelda Breath of the Wild this year will be the year of
Smash. It will probably be a new version instead of a port of the Wii U version and one that possibly has E-Sports features built in. While
Smash is expected to be the main draw, expect at least some footage and a possible release date for the new
Yoshi game.
Metroid Prime 4 is almost a sure bet whether it shows up in Nintendo's E3 show or a special Nintendo Direct. A switch based
Pokemon adventure is also rumored and could be announced along side a new
Animal Crossing. A hardware revision is likely but it may not be announced. There's also a high possibility of more Labo kits being announced for this fall.
Sony:Despite the recent PS5 rumblings, Sony should stick to it's guns this year and focus on sales of the PS4 and PS4 Pro as well as the games that can only be played on its platform. With the death of the Vita, its probable that Sony will showcase the next wave of VR titles coming to the PS4 as it now has more resources to spare. The recent minor update to the hardware also suggests this.
The Last of Us 2 will likely be the star of the show and a Fall 2018 release is rumored. We expect Sony will also show
Days Gone,
Spider-Man and
Ghost of Tsuhima.
That's it for this year's E3 Extravaganza. We would love to hear what you think will be announced and show this year.