E3 2019 – what happened?

Before we jump into the news and announcements from E3 2019, we should first explain what E3 is.

For those that don’t know (maybe you’re new to the gaming world), E3 stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo and is the premier international trade event for the gaming industry. Typically held in June in Los Angeles, California it’s where gaming developers, publishers and hardware and accessory manufactures present and promote upcoming games and game-associated merch to retailers and the press. Usually, publishers and manufacturers hold press conferences before and during the event to announce their games and products.

Now that you know what E3 is, let’s get into the new games and announcements.

Latest games announced at E3 2019

Here’s a list of some of the new games announced at E3 along with other gaming news.

Nintendo

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
• Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition

Electronic Arts and EA Sports

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PC, Xbox One and PS4)
• Apex Legends Season 2 (PC)
• Battlefield 5: Chapter 4 (PC, Xbox One and PS4)
• FIFA 20 (PS4, Xbox One and PC) and FIFA 20 Legacy Edition for Nintendo Switch

Bethesda

• Doom Eternal (Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch)
• The Elder Scrolls: Blades (debut on Nintendo Switch; iOS and Android updates)
• Fallout 76: Nuclear Winter (Xbox One, PS4 and PC sneak peek)
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood (PS4, Xbox One and PC)

Microsoft

• Halo Infinite (coming to Xbox Project Scarlett)
• Gears 5
• Blair Witch
• Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Xbox One and PC)
• Wasteland 3

Microsoft announces a new Xbox console

Microsoft’s E3 press conference started on Sunday (09 June) and one of the major highlights of the conference was the appearance by Keanu Reeves. Yes – that Keanu Reeves who starred in John Wick, The Matrix and other blockbusters. After the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 (we’ll come back to that), 54-year-old Keanu walks out on stage to reveal that he will be playing a major role in the upcoming CD Projekt Red’s game.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a role-playing game scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. This adaptation from the 1988 tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020, this game is set 57 years later in the open-world dystopian Night City, California. Played in the first-person perspective as the character V, players will be happy to discover that V’s sex, hairstyles, face and body type, clothing, background and body modifications are all customisable. V can also interact and form romantic and sexual relationships with NPCs, fight with various close-combat and ranged weapons, and take cover, aim, run and jump/run on walls. Basically, a lot can be done.

Fun fact: Cyberpunk 2077 takes inspiration from various cyberpunk works like Blade Runner and Deus Ex, and it also features a motorbike from the popular manga/ anime film Akira.

Project Scarlett

Towards the end of their press conference, Microsoft revealed the details/specs for its new-generation Xbox. Codenamed Project Scarlett, Microsoft confirmed that it will launch in the 2020 Holiday period. It is said to be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X and support up to 8K graphics and frame rates up to 120fps. Scarlett will have a disc drive – allowing you to play physical discs – and it’ll support all of your existing Xbox One games and accessories.

Unfortunately, we’ve yet to find out about what the console will actually look like. Microsoft really kept their cards close to their chest at E3 this year as they instead focused on the internal hardware.

On a positive note, Halo: Infinite will be a Project Scarlett launch title, marking it as the first time a Halo game has been an Xbox launch game since Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 for the first Xbox console.

Nintendo news at E3 2019

On 11 June 2019 via Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced (surprising everyone there) that there will be a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. They also gave us new information on Luigi’s Mansion 3 (sans the release date) and showed the trailers for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (release date 20 September) and the brand-new addition to the Mana series.

If you’re a fan of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, you’ll be pleased to know that the next two DLC fighters are the Hero from Dragon Quest XI and Banjo-Kazooie.

In multi-platform news, we can expect to see Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt come to the Nintendo Switch.

What we didn’t hear from Nintendo at E3 was new information about Pokémon Sword and Shield and Mario Maker 2 as they’re due by the end of 2019 and 28 June respectively. Nintendo also didn’t share anything about the rumoured new Nintendo Switch console.

Sony announcements at E3

There weren’t any. Unfortunately, Sony skipped E3 2019 but said that they will find another venue to showcase upcoming games and hardware. Hopefully, we will hear more about the PlayStation 5 soon. Xbox’s boos said that E9 wasn’t the same without Sony and we couldn’t agree more.

PC gaming announcements at E3

On 10 June 2019, PC Gaming Show showed off some awesome PC games as well as new hardware from Samsung. Regarding the new games, expect to see Midnight Ghost Hunt, Remnant: From the Ashes and Borderlands 3 on the shelves later this year. As for the new hardware, Samsung showed off its curved monitor which is the first Samsung monitor to support G-Sync. Known as the Samsung CRG5, it has 1080p resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate and 4ms response rate.

Note: For those that don’t know what G-Sync is, here’s a simple explanation. G-Sync is the solution to when the image skips a bit while playing a game. You can read Digital Trend’s post for a more detailed explanation.