Apple Keynote - E3 2016
Apple's keynote begins with John Carmack taking the stage and thanking those in attendance, followed by a brief speech discussing the recent success of the Virtua and the Oculus. He says that this year's presentation is all about "Stage 2" for the Virtua, the next level of interactive and immersive entertainment that will put players in their favorite games like never before. This is a segue into a presentation focused on three "Virtua" titled games coming to the console later this year. The first is Virtua Hero, an interactive RPG experience in which the player can customize their hero and then experience their own virtual quest that can have a variety of different outcomes depending on the player's actions. The game looks a bit simple in terms of storyline and gameplay, but as an immersive experience, it looks to be the most exciting RPG yet, with gorgeous graphics and very realistic motion controls, and when we got our chance to play this game at Apple's interactive booth, we were quite blown away. Next up, Virtua Daytona, a totally revamped version of Sega's classic arcade franchise. This game MAJORLY ramps up the number of tracks, with every single current NASCAR track playable in the game, meaning that there are dozens of racing levels to enjoy. This game will be fully VR compatible, and Apple plans to market a number of realistic accessories alongside the game, including a full racing seat and steering wheel accessory to give fans the full Daytona experience (this accessory will also be compatible with Virtua Rally, NASCAR 2K, and other Apple racing titles). We then got a presentation for Virtua Fighter Infinity 2, coming in September. In addition to being a full fledged traditional fighting game, Virtua Fighter Infinity 2 will also include an extensive first person fighting mode much more detailed and feature-rich than the one in the original game. Designed to be a fully immersive fighting experience that Carmack says will "change the way we look at fighting games forever", this mode includes complex motion controls, and Apple will also be launching a series of force feedback accessories so that players will be able to feel the blows of their opponents. We got to try this one out at the booth as well, and don't worry, the force feedback doesn't actually hurt, but it is pretty intense and far more realistic than the rudimentary force feedback gear that was sold in the 90s. With these three titles, Apple looks to be bringing the arcade experience back to homes in a big way, and after this part of the presentation, Carmack tells the audience that there's one more thing to show, but first, he wants to introduce more of the great games coming soon to the Apple Virtua in the next couple of years. We're then treated to a pair of "developer spotlight" videos, in which upcoming Virtua games are shown off by the development teams behind them. The first of these games is called Apis, a "bee RPG" of sorts in which the player is a young worker bee who is called into service by the queen to explore outside the hive. The game blends realistic bee physics and behavior with anthropomorphized bee emotions, so while it's a fantastical game about a colony of bees, it also takes itself quite seriously, and features gorgeous graphics depicting the individual bees and their hive. It almost looks like an "Assassin's Creed: Beehive" type of game, and we're excited to see where the developers take this one. Then, we got a look at a game still early in development. Simply called Vegas, it's an open world crime simulator in which the player is a small-time criminal in Las Vegas, and can choose to either become a professional gambler to make their fortune, or earn their fortune through criminal activities, or both. The game features a huge variety of casinos and casino games, but also a combat system reminiscent of the True Crime or Yakuza games. It's one of the more intriguing titles of the show, and again, we're definitely looking forward to it, even if it won't be out for a while.
Next came a segment focusing exclusively on Gemini games, pretty much the only such segment of the show. Sonic Worldbreakers, an exhilarating action title that eschews the more traditional platforming of The Rings Of Order in favor of a more speed focused title broken down into shorter segments, was the focus of the presentation, and as is the case with other Sonic games on the platform, it looks extremely good. Quintet's Walls Of Caradae was one of the best looking games of the show, combining elements of games like ActRaiser with the frantic slash and burn style of Dynasty Warriors. In it, a prince must defend his kingdom from invaders on all sides. This game released recently in Japan to the highest sales numbers ever for a Gemini game, and it's coming here in August. Then, we got to see more footage of the upcoming Alex Kidd vs. Commander Keen, perhaps the year's most anticipated Gemini game. This is a wild top-down action adventure in which the two young heroes have been pitted against one another by Kidd's earliest nemesis, King Janken, who has obtained an artifact that allows him to reach through worlds. Janken has kidnapped Becky Blaze, and has blamed Kidd for the crime, causing Commander Keen to go after him. Kidd's fisticuffs style contrasts well with Keen's array of blaster weapons, and as the two journey toward a confrontation, their friends must find a way to get them to team up before it's too late. The game looks utterly hilarious, and should bring plenty of joy to Commander Keen fans, while it's also awesome to see Alex Kidd again after 25 years. We got a few other small previews, including one for a crossover Puyo Puyo and Tetris game that should prove quite exciting to play, and also very addictive. After this segment, Carmack returned to the stage, and announced that it was time to talk about the rest of Apple's plans for "Stage 2" of the Virtua's life cycle. For that, he introduced Steve Jobs to the stage, to roaring applause from the crowd. Jobs spoke briefly about the original philosophy behind the Virtua's design, and that Apple had to sacrifice some horsepower for the sake of VR technology. Now, three years have passed, and Apple no longer needs to make that sacrifice. The company can finally bring together both hardware power and immersion tech, and they'll do that with the new Apple Virtua-S, the upgraded model of the Virtua. The Virtua-S is three times as powerful as the Virtua, more than capable of handling full 4K graphics and full HDR imaging, while also boosting the speed and detail of the Oculus VR and the responsiveness of the Virtua's motion controls. Jobs then displays the graphics from several upcoming games, including Doom 4 and Scalebound, to show the power of the new hardware. The games look incredibly impressive, with Doom 4's fidelity and frame rate nearly matching that of a high end PC. He pulls up a multiplayer battle from Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare to demonstrate the responsiveness of the controls, and uses a cutscene from Thrillseekers: Thin Air 2 to show off the Virtua-S' lighting and ray-tracing capabilities. He continues to discuss the upgraded tech for a few more minutes, showing off more graphical detail and high-end lighting tricks to show how well the Virtua-S does with first party games, and also how well the graphical upscaling works even on non-4K displays. After all of this, he announces the release date: December 9, 2016. Then, the price: $399.99 for the Virtua-S base system, $499.99 for the Virtua-S and Oculus combo. The release date is definitely sooner than some of us expected, while the price is right around the expected range. After this segment of the presentation is over, Jobs then briefly discusses some gaming related iOS updates and announces some new features and titles for the iPhone 7, nothing too major is revealed here but for those gaming on Apple's mobile platforms, it did show how dedicated Apple is to maintaining compatibility between the Virtua, the Gemini, and the latest iPhone models.
We got a couple quick game previews next: First up, Steel Combatant Vexial, a sequel to 2014's revival title. The mech cockpit style of gameplay returns, and while the preview focused mostly on the motion controls and Virtua-S graphical enhancements, we did get hints at the storyline, including the return of Crusher Gantz and the introduction of a new protagonist, a woman named Vex, while also teasing at the return of Layla. It's fun mech combat and looks really graphically impressive, not much more to say. This was followed up by an intriguing game called Vidnight, in which the player has to switch back and forth between different cameras to spot bad guys before getting killed. The VR aspect of the game makes for some really exciting horror, and we doubt you'll want to play this without an Oculus, as the VR REALLY enhances the visual effect. Then, we got a preview trailer for a brand new single player Panzer Dragoon title that looks to be in the vein of Zeta and Phanta. The preview shows a dragon flying over a world almost totally covered in water, and the protagonist, a young man, searching for any sign of land on the horizon as he rides his dragon across the endless ocean. The game's title is revealed as Panzer Dragoon Aquarius, and its release date is given as 2018. After this teaser, John Carmack again addresses the crowd and thanks them for coming, but just before the stage goes dark, we hear a sultry female voice with a British accent, saying "You didn't think you were going to end this show without telling them what I've been up to, did you, love?" The video screen turns back on, and we see a high-heeled boot stepping on the ground, which pans up to reveal the beautiful Bayonetta in all her glory. We then get a fairly long trailer combining a gameplay preview with a storyline reveal, essentially revealing that the final battle between heaven and hell is about to begin, and that Bayonetta needs to choose a side. She says that she honestly thought the final battle would be both sides teaming up against her, to which an exhausted Enzo replies "you'd like that, wouldn't you?" We also see the reveal of a new angel woman who fights like Bayonetta and Jeanne, using brutal attacks but with a holy motif rather than a demonic one, though it's not revealed whether this new character is friend or foe. We also see Bayonetta and Jeanne walking into what looks like Purgatory, battling both demonic and angelic forces as they go to rescue a friend who's being punished there. The new combat style looks more intense than ever, with more time-freezing and space-bending attacks, more complex combos, and more bloody brutality and sexy fanservice, and all of this insanity is set to a remixed version of the classic song "Blue Moon". We then finally get the Bayonetta 3 logo. The video ends with "2017" on a black screen, and Bayonetta's voice saying "don't keep me waiting...", and then the presentation ends.
Apple's presentation focused heavily on tech, but also delivered pretty strongly on the new game front, with some exciting previews for some of next year's biggest titles. Apple is leaning really hard on VR and interactivity, perhaps even moreso than Nintendo, and the Gemini looks to have a healthy crop of new titles coming as well. The Virtua-S is a LOT more powerful than the Nexus Pro, and power gamers will definitely want it, but is it stronger than Nintendo's Reality upgrade? We'll probably have to wait a few months longer to find out...
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All the big game companies were on display at E3 2016, and many of the little ones too! Here's the best of the games from E3's third party keynotes and floor presentations, and as you'll see, many of the best games of the show were shown outside of the big speeches...
Activision's booth was jam-packed with major games, but our focus was on four. Of course, Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare was the biggest game present, and while the main gameplay hasn't changed too much, the game's setting and premise are a major twist: it's the first Call Of Duty game to focus on alternate history. Instead of one big plot, this game returns to the old style of storyline for the series, with four different stories. There's a World War I themed scenario in which Theodore Roosevelt wins the presidency in 1912, taking America to war in 1915, and you play as an American doughboy entering the brutal trench warfare in France. Of course, the ever-popular "What if the Nazis won World War II?" scenario appears, in a 1960s era scenario in which America fights Nazi Germany in World War III. Then, there's another World War III scenario, taking place in the 1980s, after nuclear war has broken out and the American army rushes desperately toward Moscow to prevent an all out strike that will doom the entire world. Finally, there's a 2000s scenario, where you play as a soldier in the Indian army in a world where Pakistan and India fought a war in the aftermath of 9/11. The multiplayer mode even features a "create your own alternate history" scenario, in which you can have one of dozens of different armies from different countries and eras of time battling it out in a deathmatch to the finish. Altered Warfare will surely please FPS fans and alternate history buffs alike, while Thrillseekers: Thin Air 2 promises to please fans of beautiful women and extreme sports, in this sequel to 2013's game focused on aerial extreme sports. Thin Air 2 has a new feature called "Secret Spot", an open-world, procedurally generated mode in which players can look for the perfect place to engage in skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and all manners of thrillseeking. The original Thin Air revivified the series in the eyes of a lot of fans, so Thrillseekers: Thin Air 2 should be another big hit. Activison also showed off a brand new IP, called Fightfest, essentially an open world, battle royale type game in which 100 players roam around a huge town (sort of modeled off of Sturgis, South Dakota from what we could glean from the preview videos) and beat each other senseless. It actually features a fairly deep and complex combat system, and even though the game looks like it might be fairly silly, it could also be the next big competitive game. We then got a big update on The Hidden City, which some fans took to calling "NoiRPG" after that intriguing black and white trailer from last year. The game takes place during the Great Depression, and you play a down on his luck private detective taking cases to make his rent. When you uncover a criminal conspiracy, you have to decide just how deep the rabbit hole you want to go. There's so much to do in this game, from simple missing persons cases to complex quest lines, and there's also an incredibly deep morality and relationship system. The game's 30s era aesthetic is absolutely beautiful, and we have no doubt that this will be one of next year's biggest hits if it's as good as the previews indicate.
Acclaim's booth wasn't quite so busy this year, though we did get another look at Destined 3, which comes out in November and introduces a lot of new characters, while promising players that some old favorites will die and their actions will determine which ones. It seems like that aspect of the game might have been included for shock value, but the combat itself looks really promising, and we do like the addition of branching storylines to what would otherwise be a fairly ho-hum action brawler. Of course, Acclaim is also publishing Doom 4, and people were crowding the booth to play. The graphics look incredible, combat is as brutal as ever, and there are a ton of weapons to choose from, along with a ferocious multiplayer mode in which fun is the name of the game. Doom 4 looks like pure, glorious fanservice and a big thank you letter to fans of the series, and we can't wait until we get to play. Unfortunately, it won't be coming out until early next year.
Electronic Arts devoted a surprising amount of attention to the upcoming game Lego Worlds, a massive, open world game focused on the Lego world and various other properties. EA has been quietly publishing Lego titles for many years, including games based on both the DC and Marvel franchises, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and others, but Lego Worlds looks to bring them all together and will allow the player to build pretty much anything they want, making this potentially one of next year's biggest sleeper hits. We've also been keeping our eye on EA's many, many sports titles, with Madden NFL 17 looking to be another thrilling installment of the popular football series, and NBA Elite 17 looking like perhaps the best game in the series to date, with an upgraded physics engine and the most robust career storyline yet. NHL 17 is also looking like a winner this year, thanks to improved graphical presentation and improved announcer AI to make games sound as realistic as ever... and of course, this year also features the return of the popular NCAA Basketball 17 and NCAA Football 17, after that historic 5-4 Supreme Court decision last year gave college players the rights to profit from their likenesses. The two games feature major presentation improvements and should be some of the best college sports titles ever made, and fans are quite happy to have them back, which should generate huge sales. We're also excited for next year's Derelict, in which players will be able to explore space looking through the wreckage of old spaceships and space stations. The sandbox horror title features some excellent FPS gameplay and gorgeous graphics, and will likely be finished sometime late next year. And Star Wars: Shatterpoint, a combat focused Star Wars title, also makes its way to console and PC sometime next year. Featuring what is easily the most complex combat system ever in a Star Wars game, with parries, ripostes, and timely dodges, it should revolutionize how players think of a Star Wars title, and could be the best Star Wars game ever.
Ubisoft always brings a ton of new games to E3, and that's the case with their lineup this year as well. Blackheart: Lucky 7 is coming very soon, and looks as wild and ferocious as ever, though it's a bit more grounded than some recent Blackheart titles, with slightly less fanservice and more of a realistic combat focus. Surprisingly, players will start out as Messiah this time around, though it appears that she and Sadira are on better terms, and that players will have plenty of time to take the sadistic secret agent Sadira out for a spin as well. We also got a VERY brief teaser for Metal Gear Black, the confirmed Metal Gear and Blackheart crossover that will combine characters and elements from both worlds. It looks like Raiden will be the game's primary protagonist, and he'll be teaming up with Sadira and Messiah to stop a world threatening foe... though we may yet see Solid Snake return if the game is set before the events of Metal Gear Solid IV. The crossover looks to be at least a year away though, so fans will have to speculate on what's coming next. We also got to see a lot more of Steep, and this Thrillseekers meets Far Cry extreme sports adventure looks incredible, though it remains to be seen just how the intense storyline will serve the extreme sports gameplay. It looks like the four protagonists will spend a lot of their time dodging criminal pursuers, we just hope that leaves enough time for actual sports. Next up, For Honor, which will see warriors of different eras and places go into glorious battle, both with each other and against each other. Fans of intense hack and slash gameplay should be pleased, and the graphics look outstanding. Tom Clancy's The Operative, a mix of spy thriller and war shooter, is also headed to console and PC, and as the company's first new Tom Clancy IP in several years, it looks to mix the best elements of games like Splinter Cell and Delta Force, while also introducing some RPG elements to the mix such as loot and character progression. We like what we've seen so far, but we'll need to learn more of the story before we know if this will be another classic or just a pretender. Finally, we got a very early look at a fantasy themed project from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, Fairy: The Endling. Taking some dark fantasy cues from games like Fairytale and Haze, the game combines Zelda-esque adventure with some heavy storyline elements, and even includes work from Jim Henson's studio and voicework from Frank Oz. This game is extremely early in development, but the snippets reveal an incredible world and a whole new style of fantasy gameplay, and we're excited to hear more about this game in the months ahead.
Take-Two's presentation focused mostly on new gameplay and items for Grand Theft Auto Online, which has become one of the most lucrative MMO titles in recent years. There's some exciting new heists and a new race mode for Speed City, and we even got a tease at a riverboat casino that can either be gambled from or robbed. However, the big game announcement from Take-Two was focused on Doggerland, a Neolithic-themed open world survival game in which the player must gather resources and battle prehistoric beasts. Rockstar, who is developing the game, promised a very large multiplayer area with both PvP and PvE challenges, and this game definitely seems more like an RPG than anything else Rockstar has ever done. Some fans were hoping for a Valdoza sequel, but Doggerland looks really exciting, even if it probably won't be coming out until 2018.
Squaresoft had plenty of new footage of Final Fantasy XIV, which is just a few months away. We got a final storyline trailer, which was suitably epic and shows Brynn and Luminous forming a strong attachment to one another, while Shade, originally given the task of hunting down and killing Luminous, seemed like she could become an ally character to the two of them as all three are pursued by the relentless organization that made Luminous into a superweapon. The combat continues to impress, combining elements of real-time and turn-based combat, and the graphics are utterly gorgeous, and should look amazing on consoles like the Virtua-S. We then got to see the first footage of the next console Kingdom Hearts title, Kingdom Hearts: Princess Destiny, which features Kairi as the playable character and has her uniting all the Disney princesses to battle a new threat. We'll be visiting some new worlds, including the Goldilocks world (I don't know how Goldilocks is a princess, but the movie was awesome, so just go with it), and the new combat system, which is fully action based and focuses on ranged attacks and magic, operates like a really fun twin stick shooter. Princess Destiny is coming sometime next year. We're also getting a brand new 3D action RPG set in what looks to be 1800s England and focuses on a young couple fighting alongside one another. The game is called Court Of Verity, and will have a more realistic focus than the typical fantasy Squaresoft game, though it seems to have hints of fantasy elements as well, including some Alice In Wonderland-esque strangeness revealed at the end of the trailer.
Eidos was mostly showing off footage of two games: its upcoming Legacy Of Kain MMORPG Nosgoth and its upcoming prehistoric-themed RPG, The Gatherer. Nosgoth will see the player as a vampire or vampire hunter, battling it out in a series of wars to determine Nosgoth's fate, and featuring an improved version of the action RPG combat system from previous Legacy Of Kain titles. The Gatherer looks to be a more lighthearted and fantastical prehistoric exploration game than Doggerland, and also has a wider scope, but there's no multiplayer element, as Eidos is focusing entirely on single player gameplay. It's also coming out a year sooner than Doggerland, and ultimately it'll be fans that determine which game reigns supreme. For our money, Doggerland looks like the more intriguing of the two, but The Gatherer could be more accessible to a wider range of players, as it looks to be a bit easier and a lot less violent.
Game Arts surprised us with one of the absolute best games of the entire show, developed by the Japan-based company's San Francisco studio (we also got to see some games from the Japan studio that will be ported to the West in the next year, but the best game by far was this one). Volare is a fully dieselpunk JRPG, taking place in a setting full of adventure and fantastical gadgets, a fully Art Deco motif and some wild characters evoking memories of Golden Age comics and classic adventure stories. The main character is a bounty hunter turned hero of the downtrodden who's already acquired a reputation as a troublemaker, and he teams up with an intrepid young reporter and a rogue government agent to battle a mad scientist and his army of dangerous creations. The combat system blends turn-based and action gameplay, with weapons like Tommy guns and cattle prods used in lieu of traditional swords and axes (though we did get confirmation that there will be at least one sword). These battles play out in thrilling fashion in a variety of ways, depending on the battle environment.
Capcom confirmed what we've known for a while now: the company will once again start making games for non-Apple systems, starting in 2017. They'll be porting games like Resident Evil 6 and the recent Mega Man titles to systems like the Reality and Nexus, and we're also getting Resident Evil 8 on all major consoles sometime next year. There's a new Street Fighter spinoff in the vein of the Chun-Li game called Street Fighter: The Rise Of Bison, and a brand new installment of the Devil May Cry series focused on a female demon hunter who seems to be related to Dante in some fashion (though it's been confirmed she's not his sister) called Angel May Cry. Capcom also revealed a brand new IP, also coming to consoles in 2017, that focuses on Japan being taken over by strange mechanical creatures that have escaped from storehouses all over the country. Called Revenge Of The Metalbeasts, the game will have a 1960s monster movie type feel, hearkening back to old Godzilla movies, and its heroes are a bombastic team of heavily armed fighters with special powers. Capcom's pulling out all the stops for this exciting new game which is being developed by the team behind Star Siren, and we're excited to get a chance to play.
Psygnosis' booth was all about the big reveal for Cyberwar 5, coming sometime next year. There's a brand new protagonist, a man named Rafe Symar, who specializes in repairing technology destroyed by the logic bomb detonated at the end of Cyberwar 4. He's also tasked with hunting down scavengers and other cybercriminals, with Netizen X, aka Lucy Brunstein, on the top of his kill list. Rafe doesn't work for the Power Corps, which is still around and still growing in power, but instead works for a new organization called Blackstone Solutions, which rose to power in the United States after the logic bomb's detonation. Blackstone works with the new American government to restore order, as the country is threatened by dangerous groups, including groups funded by the Power Corps to destabilize the country. As for the gameplay, it's a bit more traditional than Cyberwar 4's, with no drones controlled by the player (at least not in the segments we saw). Looting and scavenging is a big part of the game now, as is the construction of weapons and devices from scavenged tech, and the game itself has a bit more of an open feel to it, like Cyberwar 4 but even moreso. The multiplayer is also back, of course, and more intense than ever, as Psygnosis wanted to top what they've done for Cyberwar 4 and push the game heavily as an e-sport. Psygnosis has also been hard at work on Wipeout Electro, the gorgeous new futuristic racing title that will be released next year as well. Car customization is a big part of the game, with parts earned from winning races on the game's dozens of new tracks. Finally, we got a preview for a brand new IP, Stream Story, in which a young woman who likes to stream fantasy games is transported to another world, and though she can't get back home, she still has her phone and is able to communicate to her followers. As she battles her way through the world, solving puzzles and doing quests, she gets more and more followers, and if she gets enough followers, she might be able to find her way back home. It's as interesting of a concept for a WRPG as we've seen in quite some time, but we'll have to wait a while to play: it's early in development and not expected to be released until 2018.
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Game Critics Awards E3 2016
Best Of Show: Volare
Best Original Game: Volare
Best Console Game: Volare
Best PC Game: New Orthodoxy
Best Handheld Game: Walls Of Caradae
Best Peripheral/Hardware: Apple Virtua-S
Best Action Game: Star Wars: Shatterpoint
Best Action/Adventure Game: Miraculous Ladybug 2
Best Role Playing Game: Volare
Best Racing Game: Gran Turismo Real
Best Sports Game: Thrillseekers: Thin Air 2
Best Fighting Game: Energy Brawlers
Best Shooter: Cyberwar 5
Best Party Game: Sydney
Best Online Multiplayer: Merkabah
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E3 2016 saw the announcement of some truly amazing games from first parties, third parties... it was just one big party, and pretty much every gamer could find something to love. Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Call Of Duty, Final Fantasy... all were well represented at E3, and whether you played games on a console, a handheld, a computer, or a phone, you got something huge announced just for you. Like E3 2015, there really wasn't a clear winner, so it pretty much depended on who you'd been rooting for going in.
For Nintendo fans, Super Mario Adventure was the big game of the show, and it didn't disappoint. Combining classic Mario platforming with the open world feel of an RPG, the game promises to be the most exploration heavy Mario game ever, with a big world that only the Reality could bring. The Connect was fairly light on games, though with Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and Squad Four all seeing new titles in 2016, it was definitely quality over quantity, showing that Nintendo's handheld was still at the top of the heap, even as the Gemini surged. Nintendo didn't have a 4K upgrade for the Reality on display, but did they need one? Super Mario Adventure looked plenty good on its own, and to top it all off, there was a new Squad Four game announced as well, along with intriguing new exclusives like Open Ocean.
Apple went all-in on immersion, with the Virtua-S announcement and a slew of new games inspired by arcade-style VR gameplay, Apple aimed to provide with the Virtua an experience that couldn't be had on any other console. If you wanted traditional games... well, Bayonetta 3 was coming. Apple's presentation had something to please everybody, and with the surprise announcement of a 2016 release date for the Virtua-S, managed to beat the Reality's 4K solution to the punch, at least by a few months.
Google showed off a lot more games this year, and the news that World Of Warcraft is coming to consoles proved to be earth-shattering, ensuring plenty of people buying into the Google ecosystem in the future. Miraculous Ladybug 2 looks to be a fun one as well, and if it sells as many Nexus units as the first one did, we could see the Nexus Pro become a major success, even if it's not as technically impressive as the Virtua-S.
There were lots of great new games announced at this year's E3, from Blizzard's promising New Orthodoxy to Rockstar's surprising new prehistoric sandbox game Doggerland to interactive gameshow simulator Sydney, video games continued to push the boundaries in every which way, and as we reach the height of this generation and start to slowly build up anticipation for the next, the big game makers look to be pulling out all the stops to make us buy, buy, buy. While some troubling trends such as microtransactions, lootboxes, and the Nexus' occasional privacy intrusions have crept up over the past few years, the game industry is still as healthy as ever. One thing's for certain: this is the closest console generation ever in terms of hardware and software sales, and all three major hardware developers will continue pushing hard in search of that killer app to get them over the top. Have we seen that killer app this year, or will we have to wait until E3 2017 to get the next big thing?