A man walks between signage as workers make final preparations for opening day of E3 at the Los Angles Convention Center on Monday in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP
The 21st edition of Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) kicked off at Los Angeles on Monday. An annual trade show by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the E3 attracts every big studio and hardware maker in the video game industry. With an estimated global market worth $74.5 billion (as of May 2015) and a total consumer spend of $22.41 billion last year, the E3 is probably the most important event in the industry’s calendar, with several announcements about upcoming releases and new hardware.
Here are some of the big announcements from the E3 2015.
Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment opened its event at the E3 with the launch of its much-awaited game—The Last Guardian. According to The Verge, the game “concludes the trilogy of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and has been rumoured at every E3 for years, and its never actually happened till now”. The game will be available on PlayStation 4 next year.
Besides The Last Guardian, Sony also announced Uncharted 4, an action-adventure third-person shooter game, which is set for release in the first or second quarter of 2016. For fans of the Call of Duty franchise, the big announcement was about Sony getting back its exclusivity. A Polygon report quoted PlayStation CEO Andrew House as saying, “Sony has taken over Microsoft as far as Call of Duty exclusivity goes, with a new deal that will bring all map packs to PlayStation first form this point forward.” The report added: “The exclusive arrangement will begin with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which launches 6 November on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and XBox One.”
Microsoft
Microsoft started its event with a big-ticket announcement—a trailer of their to-be launched Xbox franchise game Halo 5: Guardians. Besides their big-budget offerings, Microsoft also announced a range of indie games, including Tacoma, Ashen, Beyond Eyes and Cuphead. As far as its range of exclusives is concerned, Microsoft announced The Return of the Tomb Raider, Gears 4, Forza 6 and Fable Legends. Microsoft also teamed up with Valve VR “to add more VR experiences on to the Xbox One”, reported gaming site Gamespot. It added, “This is already on top of its partnership with Oculus.”
Nintendo
In honour of the E3 conference, Japanese game studio Nintendo announced free demos of nine indie games. The games would be available for download this week. They include Extreme Exorcism, forma.8, Freedom Planet, Lovely Planet, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, Rive, Runbow, Soul Axiom and Typoman. Nintendo will hold its event on Tuesday, where it is expected to make several announcements about its upcoming releases for its Wii consoles.
Ubisoft
French game developer Ubisoft announced the return of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series, Wildlands. According to The Verge, the game “looks to be an open-world jaunt shooting up drug cartels”. They also announced the next part of the Assassin’s Creed series, which “takes place in Industrial Revolution-era London”, according to The Verge report. In the gameplay footage, the report adds, “Some people need to get assassinated in a particularly bloody way.” It also announced a sequel to its South Park RPG series, which is due for release next year.
EA Sports
For fans of sports games, EA Sports on Monday announced a range of new offerings, including Fifa 16 and Rory McIlroy PGA Tour 2016. But EA Sports’ biggest announcement was the return (or reboot) of their famous Need for Speed (NFS). The game is due for release on 3 November.
The 21st edition of Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) kicked off at Los Angeles on Monday. An annual trade show by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the E3 attracts every big studio and hardware maker in the video game industry. With an estimated global market worth $74.5 billion (as of May 2015) and a total consumer spend of $22.41 billion last year, the E3 is probably the most important event in the industry’s calendar, with several announcements about upcoming releases and new hardware.
Here are some of the big announcements from the E3 2015.
Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment opened its event at the E3 with the launch of its much-awaited game—The Last Guardian. According to The Verge, the game “concludes the trilogy of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and has been rumoured at every E3 for years, and its never actually happened till now”. The game will be available on PlayStation 4 next year.
Besides The Last Guardian, Sony also announced Uncharted 4, an action-adventure third-person shooter game, which is set for release in the first or second quarter of 2016. For fans of the Call of Duty franchise, the big announcement was about Sony getting back its exclusivity. A Polygon report quoted PlayStation CEO Andrew House as saying, “Sony has taken over Microsoft as far as Call of Duty exclusivity goes, with a new deal that will bring all map packs to PlayStation first form this point forward.” The report added: “The exclusive arrangement will begin with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which launches 6 November on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and XBox One.”
Microsoft
Microsoft started its event with a big-ticket announcement—a trailer of their to-be launched Xbox franchise game Halo 5: Guardians. Besides their big-budget offerings, Microsoft also announced a range of indie games, including Tacoma, Ashen, Beyond Eyes and Cuphead. As far as its range of exclusives is concerned, Microsoft announced The Return of the Tomb Raider, Gears 4, Forza 6 and Fable Legends. Microsoft also teamed up with Valve VR “to add more VR experiences on to the Xbox One”, reported gaming site Gamespot. It added, “This is already on top of its partnership with Oculus.”
Nintendo
In honour of the E3 conference, Japanese game studio Nintendo announced free demos of nine indie games. The games would be available for download this week. They include Extreme Exorcism, forma.8, Freedom Planet, Lovely Planet, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, Rive, Runbow, Soul Axiom and Typoman. Nintendo will hold its event on Tuesday, where it is expected to make several announcements about its upcoming releases for its Wii consoles.
Ubisoft
French game developer Ubisoft announced the return of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series, Wildlands. According to The Verge, the game “looks to be an open-world jaunt shooting up drug cartels”. They also announced the next part of the Assassin’s Creed series, which “takes place in Industrial Revolution-era London”, according to The Verge report. In the gameplay footage, the report adds, “Some people need to get assassinated in a particularly bloody way.” It also announced a sequel to its South Park RPG series, which is due for release next year.
EA Sports
For fans of sports games, EA Sports on Monday announced a range of new offerings, including Fifa 16 and Rory McIlroy PGA Tour 2016. But EA Sports’ biggest announcement was the return (or reboot) of their famous Need for Speed (NFS). The game is due for release on 3 November.
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