Thursday, June 16, 2016

Top 10 Things We Learned from E3 2016

This year's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) showcase ran from the 12th up to the 16th of June, 2016 and video game aficionados from all over the world witnessed new and exciting announcements from the world of video games. So, what did we learned at this year's E3, anyhow?

10) Forza Horizon goes to Australia - The third installment of the open-world driving Forza Horizon series has announced and it's coming to the XBOX One and Windows 10 PC this late September 2016. Forza Horizon 3 takes players to the ever-changing landscape of Australia. Why Australia? Apart from its beautiful landscape compared to Southern Europe from FH2, little did we know that every time when a new car launches, it shows its promotional video where a new car drives around Australian roads for whatever reasons we don't understand. Now, it's the players' turn to indulge in this "universal automotive playground". Unlike past installments, Forza Horizon 3 allows players to manage their own Horizon Festival by creating their own races, hire friends, and make their festival popular. Apart from the new cars offered including the cover car Lamborghini Centenario, there are new ways to customize such as new rim styles and for the first time, body kits.



9) More Pokemon Sun and Moon info - At the Nintendo E3 booth, there's another set of Pokemon Sun and Moon info on the radar. Three new Pokemon that will be very common on your first trip at the Alola region are introduced and these are Pikipek, Yungoos, and Grubbin. The legendary Pokemons Solgaleo and Lunala uncovered their powerful forms such as Solgaleo's Radiant Sun phase and Lunala's Full Moon phase. Is this their way of unleashing their true powers? We'll find out soon btu anyway, the mythical Magearna (that is set to appear in next month's Pokemon movie alongside Volcanion) is coming to Sun and Moon via a certain QR code. What could that be? Find out soon.



8) Biohazard 7 Resident Evil announced - Capcom's legendary survival horror series unveiled their worst-kept secret yet and yes, the long-awaited Biohazard 7 Resident Evil (Resident Evil VII biohazard) has announced and one thing that worries us that unlike past installments; Biohazard 7 is set at a haunted house in the bayou and nothing else. No tales about brave soldiers fighting against terrorism, no evil villains plotting global terrorism, and nothing else like you expect from the past games. It's just you, venturing through a haunted house and that's about it. The game will launch on the PS4, XBOX One, and PC, on the 26th of January, 2017. For PS4 owners, there's a playable demo called "Haunted Hour" available for free for PS Plus subscribers. Believe it or not, this is the first Biohazard game to be fully compatible with PS VR headset. Be warned. It's going be one heck of a scarefest.



7) TWD's Daryl Dixon got a second chance in a new Hideo Kojima game - Last year, when Hideo Kojima left Konami, he formed himself a fully-independent Kojima Productions and following his announcement, he will be making a PS4-exclusive game in the future. This is what they come up with, a PS4-exclusive game starring Norman Reedus, famed for being Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead TV show, titled Death Stranding. Currently in development, it's a great thing they gave Reedus a second chance to be a video game star following last year's cancellation of the PT project he, Kojima and director Guillermo del Toro working on.



6) A CRASHing comeback - Remember Crash Bandicoot? Yep, we played those games back in the PSX when you and I are just kids. Guess what, our favorite wild bandicoot hero is back and it will have a special Playstation-exclusive appearance in Skylanders Imaginators, coming this 16th of October. Because it's Crash Bandicoot's 20th anniversary when it was first launched in August 31st, 1996 (welcome to the club, Crash!), Activision announced a remastered collection of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy coming to the PS4 next year; featuring the first Crash Bandicoot game, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot WARPED. Cue the Aku Aku sound effect, ladies and gents!



5) COD Infinite Warfare's going to be out-of-this-world explosive - The Infinity Ward-developed Call of Duty Infinite Warfare is this year's addition to the famed franchise, where warfare now expands to the solar system. At the PlayStation's E3 press conferences, fans and attendees got their first taste on what's in store in Infinite Warfare such as the first look at the Ship Assault mission, where players have to regain control of the UNSA Retribution from the Settlement Defense Front. CHECK IT OUT.

4) Your first look at the new Spider-man - Ever since's Spiderman's surprise appearance in the recent Marvel CIVIL WAR movie, we got shocked to find out what's next for our friendly neighborhood Spider-man. In this brand new PS4-exclusive Spider-Man game, developed by the same studio behind the rebooted Ratchet and Clank game (which spawned a movie, of course), fans will get a first glimpse on the new look of everyone's favorite webslinger.



3) What's Nintendo in store at E3 2016? - I already mentioned about additional info regarding the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon game but Nintendo has big plans in store on the 2016-2017 calendar. They announced a new installment to the Legend of Zelda series called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (due 2017 for the Wii U), Paper Mario Color Splash (coming fall 2016 on the Wii U), a special Pokemon Go Plus accessory coming this summer, Ever Oasis (coming 2017 for the 3DS), Mario Party Star Rush (coming this late 2016 for the 3DS), and many others that are too many to list.

2) Sony goes big about PSVR - With the PS VR launch imminent, Sony has big plans about the upcoming PS4 games with VR compatibility. They showcase stuff like Tethered, How We Soar, Statik, Batman: Arkham VR, Here They Lie, Farpoint, stuff like that to demonstrate the capabilities of the PlayStation VR.

1) Big news for XBOX - Microsoft knows how to kill two birds with one stone at this year's E3 by announcing a minor change to the XBOX One called the XBOX One S, with bigger memory output, 4K compatibility, and a slimmer design. It's set to hit stores this August, starting at 299 US dollars. Following the X1S comes with the announcement of a more powerful XBOX Microsoft working on under the project name Scorpio. Due at the end of 2017, it will come with 4K and VR capability and works with XBOX One games.

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