E3 2018: Sony Press Conference Impressions

Shawn Layden started the show off.  First thing I noticed, their venue is small!  They can't be hosting the show from this tent, could they?  He seemed a bit nervous when speaking, and then he talked about mixing up the presentation a bit.  Never a good sign. So, presentations appear to be coming from other places.

Shawn invites Gustavo Santorea on stage. He's playing a banjo and I'm guessing this is a prelude to Last of Us 2. Yes, after the banjo was over, the trailer for Last of Us 2 plays. It starts off with Ellie at a party and an Asian character named Jesse walks over to her and talks to her.  Ellie is pulled away by another woman, Deena. She starts slow dancing with Ellie.  This is a very interesting trailer to lead off with....and they kiss. Then it fades into a scene with Ellie slitting a guy's throat, so obviously the previous scene was a flash back.  What a weird transition.  Now we're in full on game mode. Ellie moving stealthily through bushes, which look unbelievable.  Everything looks unbelievable.  There's a woman hanging from a tree. Ellie comes across another hanging and the victim is being stabbed. The group is four deep. They get alerted by a noise and start to investigate.  Ellie moved to a parking garage and begins to take them down with a bow and arrow. She tried to sneak up on another, but got seen by someone else and now combat broke out and it went south so she's running.  She's now hiding in the grass, then crawls under a truck. She shot someone poking under the truck, then got pulled out by another. She shot and killed him then just keeps running and killing while she goes. Now she's holding one as a human shield. She runs into a building and takes cover behind a counter. She crafted an explosive arrow and took out two guys. Now there's more melee combat and she just executed someone with a machete. One thing I noticed is that all the animations and reactions are incredibly lifelike.  For instance, one of the enemies who fell, you actually see the arrows fall out of her quiver as she falls.

Sid Shuman and Ryan Clements talking during an intermission. They talk about things of which I'm not really paying attention to, but I did here New Game+ confirmed for God of War. They also rattled off some Call of Duty news that I don't care about. They then wasted time revising last year's E3.  What is going on with this format?  They are wasting so much time with this intermission.

A new video plays.  It looks like Destiny and it is.  It's the announcement for their forsaken Expansion that releases on September 4. 

Intermission again. "Why keep people waiting?" Exactly.... 

There's another music intro.  Someone is playing some kind of flute with footage of a field blowing in the wind. The video finally plays.  There's the flute music. A samurai appears with his horse.  There's some text that says "Mongol Invasion - Day 9" that flashes.  The samurai is now walking through the land and it's breathtaking. The new land is called Otsuna Grassland. He calls his horse Nobu and rides into the forest, then hops of his horse and runs.  He comes across some bandits as they kill someone.  He chops of one of their arms. The sword combat is awesome and looks pretty authentic to actual samurai swordplay. He impales one on the ground and twists the sword. An enemy almost snuck up on the player, but then he got shot in the back by a woman. They're moving together now. This looks like the Assassin's Creed in Japan game we always wanted. Now he's sneaking on the rooftop, does a surprise drop down and starts killing everyone.  He killed someone as they were blowing a horn for reinforcements. He wanted to save someone, but the person got shot by the woman, Mosoku. I don't really understand what's happening here, but then they go into a stand off with his partner. Now they're dueling. Enemies are coming and setting the landscape ablaze with fire arrows.They stop fighting.  The title is revealed to be Ghost of Tsushima.  I'm really impressed by this game! 

A new video plays showing a banana with a guitar. I don't get it. I thought they were going to show a game, but I guess they didn't.  

Another video starts to play showing a woman with a gun.  There's a futuristic setting and the imagery kinda reminds me of Inception. It looks really interesting. Control is the title and then Remedy logo follows.  It comes out in 2019.

Next is a video of player sneaking around in a storeroom. There's some commotion going on, and then a shelve falls on you.  It's revealed to be a rat. Then you see an officer being eaten by a zombie. The zombie then gets shot. We then see Leon and immediately, I recognize it as Resident Evil 2 Remake!  It looks amazing! It releases January 25th. I'm so getting it! 

There's another weird music video short.

A video by Squanch Games shows some weird trippy game called Trover Saves the Universe. I'm guessing it's being made by the Rick and Morty creator. It's also going to be a VR game.

A new video for Kingdom Hearts 3 is being shown. At least it's a different trailer this time. It shows off Pirates of the Caribbean theme with of course Jack Sparrow. Gameplay is also being shown but my feed started going blurry, so I can't make out what is going on. They also show more Monsters Inc. footage. The rest is a mix of footage from the other trailer.  At the end, there's an announcement that there will be a package containing 1.5 Remix, 2.5 Remix and 3 all in one package. 

Another stupid music short. 

What the fuck... the next video shows a baby getting ready to come out of a woman.  It can only be Death Stranding.... Finally, more of this game is being shown! Norman Reedus's character is named Sam and is wearing a spacesuit.  The environment looks beautiful. He's got some kind of transport droid following him.  One shot shows him carrying a dead body on his back. The music is very melancholy and thematic. This is going to be a very atmospheric game.  There's lots of changes of scenery.  Seems like it will be a game of isolation. I am most intrigued by this game. Oooh, and there's an invisible creature sneaking up to him, leaving hand prints in the mud. He's got a woman next to him.  There's something about monsters who eat him that causes a "void out".  I guess he he's able to come back, but as he comes back it affects the environment somehow? He's doing something weird with this strobing equipment and now he can see them, but there's this baby in a pod he's carrying.  He's moving away from the building he was in and he's using the strobe to scan for these weird enemies. What a fucking game....

The next game has a samurai and it's revealed to be Team Ninja game. A samurai fights some demons, loses to them and then transforms. The game is Nioh 2.

The next video is SPIDER-MAN! He's taking a helicopter ride around a super max prison called The Raft.  We see Elektro blast the helicopter and it crashes into the prison where Spider-Man saves the pilot.  Elektro frees everyone. Combat ensues and it's impossible not to compare to Batman Arkham games.  Here's rhino and scorpion. Now he's swinging around the outside of the prison chasing Elektro. Next we see Vulture.  I'm guessing we'll be dealing with the Sinister Six at some point. Now he's back on track chasing Elektro. There's vertical running segments. Now he's on the rooftop with Rhino, Vulture and Scorpion. Then another villain, Mr. Negative, who I don't know who he is, joins them and Spidey gets stung by the Scorpion. He gets beaten up pretty bad. As he tries to crawl away he says, "I don't believe it... you?" and it ends.  What a tease!

Next there's a trailer montage of games and that's a wrap... I can't believe it was over already.

Wow... first off, the format was a mess.  Shawn was talking about how we'd be learning stories behind these games, which is why they wanted to do a different style of presentation, but it's almost like midway through the show, they gave up on it and just went back to showing videos.  The first intermission break really hurt them, because I almost closed out to do other things.  I'm glad I stuck around, though.  

There wasn't much of a bombardment of games in comparison to Microsoft's conference, but what was shown was EPIC.  Not just little one minute videos.  Some long, meaty videos.  Starting it of with The Last of Us 2 was a great choice and wow, what a video!  Of course, they had to get everyone talking with the Ellie and Deena kiss, but the gameplay that followed was intense.  Nothing really revolutionary, but just really well done.  I can't wait to play this game and experience the tension myself.  Ghosts of Tsushima  was another game that gripped my attention.  Absolutely stunning game. I just couldn't help but think this is the Assassin's Creed game set in Japan that I always wanted.  

Then, there was the Resident Evil 2 remake video and that game looks fantastic!  RE2 was my favorite Resident Evil of all time, and I can't wait to play it with modern day graphics!  I have to say, Death Stranding is probably going to down as one of the most unique and memorable games I'll ever play.  It's just so atmospheric that it's haunting.  Really looking forward to learning more about this game.  And lastly, Spider-Man!  What a great piece of gameplay footage!  This looks to be the most amazing (pun) Spider-Man ever made and seeing almost all the Sinister Six in the game really makes me believe that's what we'll be up against.  I've been waiting a very long time to fight the Sinister Six in a Spider-Man game.  I can't wait to start web slinging again!

There's just one glaring omission from their conference and that's no Days Gone.  I guess they didn't want to show it off again at a third E3, but really... It's one of their bigger games.  Surely, they could have shown something else from it.  Makes me wonder...

Overall rating: B

E3 2018: Ubisoft Press Conference Impressions

Kim Wigend and Justin Levy (whoever they are) started off the show and made a promise saying it was going to be more exciting than a keychain, which was a reference to the keychain used to tease the new Assassin's Creed. Then, a whole bunch of game logos began flying.

The first video began to play and of course, it was for Just Dance. It involved a bunch of parade characters in colorful costumes dancing around the E3 venue.  The new Just Dance will be Just Dance 2019. Why does Ubisoft always lead off with Just Dance?

The next trailer began with a skull icon.  It showed a beautiful space setting and it looked like the rings of Saturn. There's a ship cruising through the ice. Then I got the feeling that this has to be Beyond Good and Evil 2. There was an old woman communicating with pig, and that's when it confirmed.  The pig she was talking to was Peyj. There's the monkey character. Then everything got interrupted as ice storm began to zoom across the ring threatening the ship and then a giant enemy ship emerges. The video ends with a girl holding a katana who looks like Jade.  Gabriel Schragerand Guillame Brunier come on stage to talk about the game.  They confirmed it was Jade and they reveal new characters. We also learn the game is a prequel and there will be a demo behind closed doors. They played a video of pre-alpha gameplay footage taking place in Ganesha City.  They confirmed that you can play solo or with co-op and promises seamless transition between ground and air movement. There will be what's called a Space Monkey Program that's an open invitation to promote creativity. Joseph-Gordon Leavitt, actor and co-founder of Hit Record came out on stage to talk about how it will all work.  Basically, everyone who cares about the game can submit music and visual assets to help create the game.  Not sure how I feel about that...

Next up is Rainbow 6 Seige. Justin Krueger, community developer, took the stage to talk about community achievements. He said there are now 35 million players for Siege. He also talked about eSports and a documentary following a handful of players called Another Mindset and showed off a trailer for it.

A dude riding a motorcycle wearing an Evil Knievil outfit with Trials on the back made his way to the stage.  As he got onto it, he tripped and fell and broke something on stage. As he got up, he apologized for the mess and made a few jokes. This guy is actually kinda funny.  He introduced his game Trials Rising.  A trailer players and it looks like multiplayer will be at the forefront. Looks like a lot of fun. Brad Hill aka Professor FatShady (guessing a community manager) comes out to talk about how he made a YouTube channel called University of Trials to help Trials players. He also said Ubisoft asked him to help create the tutorial content. He announced there will be a closed beta happening later this year. The release date will be February 19th on PS4, Xbox, PC and Switch.  I might actually check it out on Switch. There was a hilarious closing video showing riders crashing in numerous ways.

Division 2 was the next game to follow. Julian Gerighty took the stage to talk about the game. A beautiful cinematic began playing showing a girl running through the post-apocalyptic city. The camera panned out of the gated city to show how violent life is like on the outside. The trailer ended with a team finding a help note as they move towards the city.  I believe I heard Julian say there will be a story based campaign. If by single-player campaign, then that's worth it or me to look into. Washington DC will be the setting and there will be new progression paths for specializations and skills. He announced eight player raids.  He also said that Year One will have three DLC episodes, all free, and that's actually pretty exciting. Another trailer plays with more cinematics.  It shows off what kind of weapons you'll be using and enemies you'll be fighting. March 15th is the release date. You can register for the beta coming soon.

Rabbid ears poke out from the Ubisoft logo and it's clear that this will have something to do with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Xavier Manzanares comes out to talk and introduces a band called Critical Hit who begins to play while a trailer shows Rabbids interacting with Donkey Kong. Looks like it will be expansion for Mario + Rabbids called Donkey Kong Adventure. It will release June 26th.

The ext trailer begins with "Piracy is Dead". This has to be the Skull & Bones pirates game they showed last year. Of course, there's more cinematics but it looks great regardless though. Justin Farren , creative director, takes the stage to talk about the game. It takes place in the Indian Ocean. There's a new mechanic called Fortunes. There's a fortune teller that you talk to before you start a mission and depending on your fortune, it will greatly affect the environment and encounters. It's  one shared world with player encounters. A new video plays showing off the gameplay with the fortune that says there will be high winds.  You can load out your ship dependent on which fortune you get. The video has the player chasing down a convoy, but there's a fort in the way. You can actually disguise yourself as a merchant ship and sneak past the fort. After you rob the convoy, you attract the attention of a Portugese warship.  It's too dangerous alone, so you can invite people to help you. It comes out next year. I have to admit, it looks incredible.

The next trailer is for a game called Transference.  This was teased last year. Elijah Wood takes stage. Aside from being a well-known actor, he's also the co-founder Spectrevision. Benoit Richer of Ubisoft Montreal joins him. They say it will be a VR game but will also be for traditional platforms. It's a puzzle game about swapping consciousnesses and it looks like it will be a mix of in-game graphics and FMV. It also looks like it will be a spooky game. It releases Fall 2018.

A new trailer shows  of an alien world. Then there's a team of starship fighters taking off from their home ship. More worlds are shown and there's mention of Atlas, which must be a star system. Oh, this was that interactive toy game that was revealed last year called Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Laruent Malville comes to talk about it the game and then shows off another video. Fox McCloud is revealed to be in the game along with his R-wing. Yves Guillemot comes out to talk about the game next and introduces Shigeru Miyamoto. Guillemot gives Miyamoto a gift of the prototype R-Wing. This really shows the relationship that Ubisoft has with Nintendo. The game will release October 16th (if I recall correctly on all platforms and of course, the Switch version will have Fox McCloud as an exclusive.

The next trailer is for For Honor.  Roman Campos-Oriola came out to talk about the game.  Another trailer plays and it shows time freeze before a knight takes off its helmet. It's revealed to be a woman and she begins walking through the time-frozen chaos. The trailer is for a new expansion called Marching Fire and it will take place in China.  It will have single-player content. Another trailer plays to show off a new mode called Breach and it will release October 16.

The next game is Crew 2 and Delphine Dosset comes on stage to talk about it. Crew 2 releases on June 29. An open beta will start June 21st. A trailer plays showing off airplanes, boats and cars. There looks to be motorcycles as well as a formula 1 car.

The next trailer is the Assassin's Creed Odyssey reveal. The game takes place in the Spartan era of 431 Greece. Jonathan Dumont, creative director, comes to talk about the game. The focus of the story is around the battle between Sparta and Athens. He talks about how the game has evolved into a true RPG.  You can now chose one of two characters, Alexios or Kassandra, and you'll be playing as the one you chose for the entire game. There will also be dialogue branches that could affect the outcome of the game.  A gameplay trailer follows starting on a boat and has the player playing as Kassandra. Horse riding returns and as she rides, she comes across a mercenary. The combat looks to be same as Origins and the skill tree system seems similar as well.  She takes a quest to help people that tkaes her to a battle-ridden beach. As she moves through the chaos, she ends up fighting with a boss. After the boss, the video comes to an end with the eagle perching on Kassandra's arm, so it looks like the eagle mechanic will probably return. There was also a tease of minotaur.

The show closed with everyone returning to the stage with the Just Dance parade music playing. Guillemot then says goodbye.

I will say this. Even though I find Ubisoft to be cringey at times, I can at least admit they know how to have fun with their conferences.  After a run of nearly flat and monotone shows, Ubisoft mixes it up and has things like dance numbers and game developers riding motorcycles through crowds and wrecking props on stage.  It's honestly quite refreshing and I applaud them for that. 

As for the games, there wasn't anything really new or surprising accept for the Donkey Kong DLC for Mario + Rabbids.  What I loved about their presentation is that what they showed off they didn't do flyovers on.  They had people come out to talk about their games and many of them had at least a couple different trailers to show off.  This made the conference feel meaty, like it had substance.  It was very well thought out, not just a packed can of tuna, like SE's was.  The only thing that prevents me from giving an A to them was no gameplay footage shown at all for Beyond Good and Evil 2.  I felt like that game needed to be shown off better.

Overall rating: B

E3 2018: SE Press Conference Impressions

SE starts their conference off with a trailer for Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  It showed Lara and Jona in a plane that's crashing, breaking apart in the air. Daniel Chaeyer-Bisson, game director, talks about the game a little bit.  The central theme is preventing a Mayan apocalypse and the game takes place in a jungle. I saw Lara shooting some hallucinatory arrow into a guard that caused him to shoot his teammates.  There's also a new rope takedown that involved her swinging from a tree and strangling the guard with the rope. There will be crafting molotov cocktails and it looks like there will be a bigger focus on stealth combat. I did notice that the sound is fantastic.  Lots of ambient jungle noises. There's going to be new grappling moves and we'll see the return of underwater swimming and exploration. I'm excited for that as well as apprehensive, because underwater levels in Tomb Riader games always made me nervous.  The HUB will be the largest yet and will include a hidden city. There will also be more tombs and they'll be deadlier.

Next up is a trailer for FFXIV: Stormblood for the Under the Moonlight patch 4.3. It turns out to be for a Monster Hunter World crossover event coming out in Summer 2018. I never cared for crossover events because they always disrupt the immersion of the universe.  

There was another trailer for Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. This one focused on how the kid making his costume and using his imaginary powers.  Two developers come out to talk about the game, but didn't really say much, just how it's loosely connected to the Life is Strange universe.  Again, free to download on June 26th. 

The next trailer looked to be for the next Dragon Quest game. It contained a lot of flashy action and beautiful cell-shaded style graphics.  Indeed, it was for Dragons Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.  Moment of confession: I never played a Dragon Quest game... 

A new trailer began playing and started off symbols forming and a timeline spanning across multiple ages. It ended with a knight striking his enemy but the enemy countered and then knight ended updying. Babylon's Fall is the title and the PlatinumGames logo followed.  That perked up my ears.

The next trailer was a quick one, an announcement for Nier Automata for Xbox One on June 26th.

Then we had a quick trailer for Octopath Traveler for the Switch. It showed off some beautiful handrawn images.  I played the demo, and I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm really disappointed that they didn't bother to spend much time talking about this particular title. 

Finally, we have the trailer for Just Cause 4, and it looks FANTASTIC!  We see the return of Rico Rodriguez and it takes place in South America in a nation called Solis.  I noticed a Mayan temple. The new villain is Gabriella, leader of the Black Hand.  There's going to be extreme weather such as tornadoes, lightning, sand storms and blizzards. The jetpack and glide suit will return. There's going to be new vehicles such as bulldozers and wrecking balls, microjets and jet skis. Handling has also been overhauled.  The grapple will now be fully customizable with more tethers and new air lifters. Enemies will now be more intelligent with more unique abilities. The game will also run on a completely new Apex engine and will be released on December 4th. 

Then we have a mysterious trailer being shown where a bunch of breaking glass begins to forming a a silhouette of a figure. Then there was some live action film showing the figure wearing a hood as he walked into an ally and came across some thugs.  They threatened him, but then the figure motions he can't hear.  Then, it goes into actual gameplay and shows the figure fighting them.  But then I wonder, did what I just see earlier actually live action, or really amazing pre-rendered graphics.  SE is known for that after all.  The Quiet Man is revealed to be the title and more will come in August.  I have to admit, I'm pretty intrigued by this one. 

The conference concludes with the same trailer for Kingdom Hearts III that was shown at the MS conference. 

I kind of wonder why SE even bothered with a conference at all.  The run time was exactly 30 minutes and it felt more like a Nintendo Direct, but a lot more impersonal. There was no presenter, no stage presence or demos.  Just trailer after trailer with an occasional video or two from developers.  Starting it out with Tomb Raider was a good call, but honestly, what was actually shown in the video wasn't that groundbreaking.  The quick trailer they showed at the end of their segment showed off a lot more interesting stuff, but was glossed over so quickly.  They should have done a much better job showcasing one of their biggest games of the year.

I'm actually really ticked off that they had such a short trailer for Octopath Traveler.  That's my most anticipated game this year from their camp. I get that it comes out next month, but they could have spent a couple minutes on their game, especially since it's a Switch exclusive.  They'll probably show more at Nintendo's show, but then again, it's THEIR game in THEIR show. They didn't even bother to show an alternate version of the Kingdom Hearts III trailer they showed at the MS conference.  I don't really care about the franchise, but I know a lot of people tuned into this show precisely for more information about this game.  The only thing that kept me giving this show an F is Just Cause 4.  They did go into more detail about the game and it got my hype needle ticking past the meter, but I would REALLY have loved a stage demo.  

Overall Rating: D-

E3 2018: Bethesda Press Conference Impressions

Bethesda's conference began with a video talking about developer diversity. I saw a clip of two of them playing ping pong wearing VR headsets.  I'd love to do that! I wonder if that's actually a thing. Unfortunately, the GameSpot stream froze so I had to switch to YouTube. Not sure if I missed anything.

Pete Hines came on stage to talk, but it was basically fluff.  "You love to play our games and we love to make them for you!" Etc., etc. He did make a joke about Wal-Mart Canada and how they were really good at not keeping secretes. That got a good laugh.

Rage 2 was now officially being shown, but before that, some singer named Andrew W. K., a headbanger,  came out on stage trying to pump up the audience. He kept asking "Are you ready to rage?"  Then, the God of Unholy Cringe rose from the sulfur and brimstone laden crust and this horrible music began playing by Andrew and his band. I don't think I could ever get my five minutes of my life back after that...

Tim Willits  and Magnus Nedfors of Avalanche had the displeasure of following that bad.  I already hated them for being so close to that band's performance, and their bad jokes  and awkwardness failed to dissipate my ... RAAAAAAGE!  One such joke was, "We delivered.... big time." and kept pointing to Magnus, who is really tall, and kept pointing waiting on the big laugh that would never come.  God awful cringe.  They said they collaborated with id to make the game.  Finally they shut up and rolled a trailer. It showed an asteroid killing 80 percent of Earth's population. Mutants spawned and took over. Then gameplay was being shown. It promised that everything that is seen can be driven, and it showed off some really beautiful scenery.  There's some car combat, and then FPS combat.  There looked to be a lot of fun toys to use in combat, and the game seems to have a great sense of humor. The world looks massive.  The player boarded this giant space ship and got a new power that sent enemies flying back.  It ended with the player fighting a giant enemy.  I think I want this game.  It'll come out in Spring 2019.

Christian Van Hoose, community manager for Elder Scrolls Legends, took the stage.  It's a card game that I care nothing about. He announces the game will come to Switch, PS4 and Xbox. Cool.

Matt Firor of Zenamax Studios came out next to talk about Elder Scrolls Online and rattled off some numbers. 11 million players. 1 million came from last year alone. He said the new DLC will be called Wolf Hunter and it will revolve around Werewolves.  There will be another one coming out later that I didn't catch the name of, and that one will see the return to Black Marsh. Van Hoose's segment ends with footage showing the Summerset expansion for Elder Scrolls Online.

The next trailer shows a hellish world, and it's almost instantly identifiable as the next Doom game. It is, and it's called Doom Eternal. Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin came out to talk about the game, then announced that its official debut will be at Quakecon in August.

The Quake icon was shown and Joshua Boyle, community manager for Quake Champions came on stage. Never had any interest in the game.

Next, the Prey logo was shown.  Arkane people came out to talk about the game and announced a free update tonight. There will be three new modes: New Game+, Story Mode and Survival. A Prey DLC called Mooncrash is announced and it will be randomly generated. They continue to talk more about the game and unfortunately make some bad jokes. They announce another new mode called Typhon Hunter, which is a competitive mode that allows players to disguise themselves as every day objects. 

The Wolfenstein logo soon follows. Jerk Gustafsoon and Jens Matthies come out to talk about Wolfenstein II.  The announce June 29th is when the game will come to the Nintendo Switch, but that's not new information. There's a new Wolfenstein game, not sure if DLC or standalone, called Youngblood that takes place in 1980s Paris and focuses on BJ's (the main character?) twin daughters.  Since there are twins, there will also be co-op experience, but you can play solo. A trailer is shown but no gameplay, though.  Just cinematic. 

Pete Hines comes out again to talk about more VR games.  They will include Prey in the forms of Typhen Hunter and a new single player experience. Wolfenstein will also be inVR in the form of Cyberpilot. He then introduced Todd Howard out on stage.

First thing I noticed about Howard is thatt f you close your eyes, he sounds just like David Spade. He's also a pretty good speaker, so when he cracks jokes, I don't mind. He talks about how he visited E3 since the very first one, then making a joke about how everyone wants to know which platform Skryim is headed toward next. A skit then plays showing Keegan-Michael Key playing Skyrim on Alexa in the form of a text-based adventure.  They then announced Skyrim on Etch a Sketch, pagers, and Samsung smart refrigerators.  Oh, that was awesome!  I loved how they embraced that joke and ran with it!

Finally, Howard gets serious and begins to talk about Fallout 4.  The trailer that was shown at the MS conference plays.  We learn that Fallout 76 was named 76 because the year is 2076 and America is celebrating is tercentennial.  The game looks very beautiful. There'll be actual WV folklore to find and read. Each character you come across is a real person because it's all online. You can still play solo, but there will be multiplayer.  A series of informational videos play begin to play. They're a mixture of the animated propaganda shorts Fallout is known for and gameplay footage. The second one shows of the building mechanic similar to the one in Fallout 4, but it's now mobile so you can move your house wherever you want. Another video shows a new feature: nuke sites. You have to find bits and pieces of launch codes and once you have the entire code, you can nuke an entire site completely changing its landscape and then go loot it.

Sounds like Bethesda has really invested in the game's longevity.  Servers were built specifically for the game.  There's a beta coming called B.E.T.A.: Break-it Early Test Application. There's that Fallout sense of humor again! The collector's edition has been announced and comes with a glow in the dark map, figures you can put on the map, and a T-51 Power Armor Helmet, which is wearable and has voice modulator functionality.  11/14/18 is the release date.  The three year anniversary of Fallout Shelter is coming.  Since I began playing the game again, I was hoping for new content, but instead they announced that it's coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch. I don't think this is the right kind of game to be playing on a console. 

A new mobile game called Elder Scrolls Blades was announced, and I almost was ready to expect it to be Skyrim, but it's something completely new.  It's built from the ground up for the new generation of phones and has what looks like a clunky touchscreen gameplay interface. It doesn't look all that exciting quite honestly. There will be three modes:  Abyss, Arena and Town.  Abyss will be roguelike, Arena will be multiplayer combat and Town is where the story content is. Plus, there will be town building. You can also visit your friends' towns. They say they'll bring it to every device and system,  even virtual reality. All versions will have cross-platform play. It will release this fall for free, starting on Apple and Android.

Todd Howard closes out the show with a few more announcements.  There will be a new next generation single player game, a completely new franchise. The teaser plays to reveal the name: Starfield. One last teaser plays, this one officially announcing Elder Scrolls VI.

I don't really know how I want to score this one.  The god awful Andrew W.K. introduction for Rage 2 was a horrible way to start the show and I think that really hurt the mood.  The developers trying to tell jokes didn't really make things much better.  There was also too much time spent on things that didn't interest me like Elder Scrolls Legends and Quake Champions and all the Prey DLC. I did really enjoy what I saw from Rage 2 and Fallout 4, though. 

Overall rating: C-

E3 2018: MS Conference Impressions

MS started their conference off with an old 360 slogan "Jump In."

The first thing that played was a trailer featuring beautiful scenery and a stampede of animals that look like rhinos. Then there were soldiers walking through stone rings and that's when I got the feeling that ths is a Halo game, and indeed it was.  It ended with Masterchief holding his helmet. The game's title is Halo Infinite.

Phil Spencer came out to the stage for the first time with some boring fluff talk. He stated that 50 games wold be showcased with 18 of them being exclusives and 15 of them world premiers.

The next trailer that played was for Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a game that was unveiled last year, so it was no new surprise.  I absolutely loved the first one and I really wanted to know a release date for the second, but I didn't get it. Honestly, I'm thinking of upgrading to an X just for this game. It's absolutely beautiful.

The first world premier showed off some kind of samurai game and I remember hearing rumors that From Software was working on a new Tenchu game, which I thought this would be.  But no, the new game is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It looks to be a more narrative driven samurai themed Dark Souls style game, but with much more hectic action.  Really looking forward to this one.

Todd Howard of Bethesda took the stage next to talks about the history between Bethesda and Xbox. He then announced that Fallout 4 will be added to Gamepass. An exclusive world premier look of Fallout 76 followed.  He stated that it will be a prequel to the first Fallout and will be four times the size of 4.  It takes place in West Virginia and the West Virginia state anthem is the soundtrack for the trailer. A new trailer then played beginning in black and white  showing a nuke detonating. It then transitioned to color and began to talk about Vault 76, which seems like it may be the first shelter created. June 15th will be first day of pre-orders.

The next world premier is for an SE game from Dontnod Entertainment.  It shows a kid dressed up as a super hero. The trailer stated the game takes place in the Life is Strange universe. It shows an alcoholic father dealing his son. The game seems to be all about the kid's imagination. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is the title and can be downloaded for free until June 26th.

The next exclusive revealed was Crackdown 3.  Honestly no surprise here, because this was unveiled four years ago.  The main character seems to be based on and voiced by Terry Crews.  I didn't see anything that looked new in the game, but it still looks like a lot of fun.  I enjoyed the first two, although I was disappointed in the second.  It will also be on Gamepass at launch.  Feburary 2019 is their new target date, but I have no hope in them hitting that target.

A trailer then announced that an Xbox One X Enhanced Nier Automata will be released digitally on June 26th.  I never got around to playing it on the PS4, and this version will have all the DLC included.  Just one major problem, though... no physical edition.  No physical... no buy.

The next trailer that played focused on a train passing through what looks like a post-apocalyptic Russia. The game is an FPS that appears to feature demons and zombies, along with werewolves.  The game turns out to be Metro Exodus and will release on February 22nd 2019.

Phil Spencer came out again with a huge announcement. Kingdom Hearts III will be releasing on Xbox One on January 29th 2019.  The footage showed off characters and settings from Frozen. It also showed classic characters such as Donald Duck and Goofy.  There's also characters and settings from Wreck it Ralph, Tangled. Hercules, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. There was also a quick cameo by Mickey Mouse. Sadly, this is one of those titles I'm not excited about, because I never got into the franchise, but the fact that Xbox finally gets another RPG franchise means MS hasn't completely given up yet in trying to get Japanese support for XBox.

The next exclusive trailer is just for Sea of Thieves DLC.  There will be two expansions coming. I wasn't able to grab their names in time.

Then there was a trailer for Battlefield V.  *shrugs*

Another exclusive world premier shows off a racing game focusing on a McClaren.  Automatically, I'm guessing it's Forza Horizon 4. It then change settings showing trucks and rally cars racing on off road tracks. I also saw a hovercraft (WTF?!) and motorcycles. Indeed, it turned out to be Forza Horizon 4. A developer took the stage after the trailer to talk about the game.  He said it takes place in Britain and the game's new mechanic are dynamic season changes. A stage demo began showing off some of the different cars driving in different settings. The developer mentioned that the entire world community will be online all at once to race and interact with, all in 60 FPS. The off road portions look like a lot of fun, and there are also beautiful country roads.  An emphasis was placed on the changing of seasons changing everything in the environment along with gameplay and also unlocking new events.  One such example was when winter froze over the lake to unlock new routes. oct. 2nd. included in Gamepass.

Phil Spencer returned with more fluff talk. He announced the creation of a new MS studio called The Initiative based in Santa Monica. Undead Labs, creator of State of Decay 2 has now joined MS Studios along with Playground Games of Forza Horizon and a new project from Playground has been teased. Shockingly, it seems Ninja Theory has joined MS Studios and my first though is, "Great... another studio killed off by Microsoft."  Compulsion Games of We Happy Few has also joined MS Studios and new trailer for We Happy Few was shown with a release date of August 10th

Another console exclusive trailer rolls out, but it looks like it's just for PUBG. Not really sure what they were trying to advertise, but if it's a new expansion, it will come out in Winter 2018.  I still think it was a waste of resources to invest so heavily in this game.

The next world premier was for an anime game that was revealed to be Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. It will be coming out Winter of this year.

Yet another world premier. This game is about a virus wiping out civilization set in an apocalyptic city. The trailer gave off a very strong Ubisoft vibe.  It then confirmed my believe that it is a Ubisoft game, that being Division 2. A gameplay trailer then followed, but started to bore me because everyone was just walking around the environment. It looked like a zoo or botanical garden. Once they moved out to the parking lot, that's when the action began to start.  I wasn't really impressed by anything from it.  It just seems like your typical team-based cover shooter. The scripted team chat always bothered me in these presentations.

Ashley Spiker of Xbox Game Pass came out to talk about a new feature their service will employ called FastStart, which uses machine learning to help launch games faster. It will be available in the upcoming June update. Halo: Masterchief Collection will also be coming later this year on the service. Ashen, Warhammer, After Party and Phoenix Point will also be on Game Pass the same day as their global releases. Current games such as Division, Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 4 will also be added.

Then there was a video game montage that showed off so many games so quickly, I couldn't pay attention to them all.  One such game that caught my attention was Super Meat Boy Forever, but if that's coming out to the Switch, that's the platform I'm going to be buying it on.

The next trailer was for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It looks like it's going to be another great Tomb Raider game.  The release date will be September 14.

The next exclusive trailer looks to be a skateboarding game, and the first thing that came to my mind was Skate?  No, the title will be Sessions.

Yet another exclusive was unveiled, which looked to be like a role playing game. The action looked pretty fantastic. The title was then shown to be Black Desert, which is an MMORPG.  I'll have to pass on that.  I only have time for one, and that's FFXIV and I barely even play that anymore.

Another world premier trailer shows off monsters and demons. The Capcom logo appears and then it's identifiable as a new Devil May Cry. Looks like he has some cyberborg stuff to him. Hideaki Isuno and Matt Walker came out to talk about the game and promised that it would be the most fun Devil May Cry yet.

The next console launch exclusive is for a new Cuphead called In the Delicious Last Course. I don't know yet if it will be DLC or new game entirely.  It will be coming 2019.

The next exclusive trailer shows a fox grabbing a sword and slicing grass a la Link. It's clearly an indie adventure game and looks interesting. The game is called Tunic. I might need to keep an eye on that one.

A world premier trailer then begins to play from Bandai Namco. It shows off Naruto, Dragon Ball characters and One-Piece. It appears to be a Shonen Jump mash-up fighting game called Jump Force. Did I see Ryuk from Death Note at the end?

The next world premier was for yet another apocalyptic game. I should have recognized it right off the bat when I saw the character in first-person doing parkour.  The game is Dying Light 2!!!! Chris Avellone from Techland took the stage to talk about the game.  There's going to be a choices mechanic that affects everything from environment to gameplay. In the gameplay demo that follows, they show what happens if you do a Peacekeeper mission and kill the guys you're talking to in order to unlock water.  The city begins to develops but there are consequences, and there are new enemies you must fight.  If you team up with them instead of killing them, you can make water a black market currency where some really bad enemies will begin appearing. I can't wait for this!  This is one of the highlights of the show for me.  I loved the first and this one sounds like it's going to be much more amazing. Can't wait!

The next exclusive world premier revealed.....BATTLETOADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's coming next year, but I'm trying my best not to get too excited... I really don't want to be let down by it.

Another world premier reveals Just Cause 4. It looks so good, and there's even a fucking tornado! December 4th will be the release date, and this is another one I can't wait to play.  I absolutely loved the third game!

The next world premier got everyone excited by displaying Gears of War cog logo. Unexpectedly, Gears Popko figures came out of the brick wall.  There's going to be a Popko Gears of War mobile game from the sounds of it and it will be released in 2019. Rod Fergusson from Coalition took the stage to make another announcement. There will be another Gears of War game called Gears Tactics and it will be a turn-based strategy game.  At this particular point, Gamespot's stream hung up on me. When I finally got it back up, it showed story footage from a new Gears of War game.  It looked to be Gears of War 5, but I don't know how much I missed.  Gameplay footage followed and I saw one of the characters wielding a spiked club.  That ought to be fun!  And yes, it is Gear of War 5, which will release sometime in 2019.

Phil Spencer started to close the show with even more fluff talk but before he could say goodbye, the feed was hacked.

Turns out, there was one final surprise. After the feed was hacked, a new world premier trailer played. The game evidently takes place in 2077, but no setting was given.  The developer's logo of  CD Projekt Red was shown and then concluded with the title: Cyberpunk 2077.

Hats off to Microsoft.  Phil Spencer said there would be a lot of games shown, and there were. Very little filter, just trailer after trailer after trailer.  I could have done with a few more stage demos and it was also a giant tease to start the game off with the new Halo trailer and then show absolutely nothing for it.  I'd have loved to have at least two new IPs revealed, but they made up for that with announcements of Nier Automata, Tales of Vesparia and of course Kingdom Hearts III, so they're trying pretty hard to secure some Japanese games. 

They look to have some great third-party games and some interesting indie titles coming along the way as well.  Then, there was the announcement of Battletoads that had my heart skipping and ending the show with Gears of War 5 was a strong move while also surprising everyone with the Cyberpunk 2077 announcement at the very end.  Since I now have a 4K TV, I've been waiting for enough reasons from MS to upgrade to an Xbox One X and I think the Gears 5 announcement (and maybe even Forza Horizon 4) will close the deal.  I really want to play that game in 4K!

Overall rating: B-

E3 2018: EA Conference Impressions

EA started their conference off with presenter Andrea Renee (I believe that's what her name was. She was talking about some EA Play stuff, which I found rather boring.  I never really cared too much for the EA Play format, but it looks like EA wants to stick with it. 

Next up, a Battlefield V trailer unrolled and then a developer came on stage to talk about what will be new in the game.  Footage was shown of tanks going through buildings, and he mentioned more props such as windows and fences are no longer static, meaning you can go through them.  There will also be more customization options as well. It sounds like the single player campaign will be based on an untold story. The game will launch in October.  They reiterated that no loot boxes ores premium passes will be in the game, but I'm skeptical.  They'll be charging for something.  Also, they announced that there will be a battle royale mode, because of course there fucking would be.  The Battlefield V portion ends with footage for "Ground Operations". Looks like it's from a single player campaign chapter called Nordyls War Story.

Footage for FIFA 19 begins to play, and I really don't care for FIFA at all, so I skipped it.

CEO Andrew Wilson came out to talk more about boring EA Play. He then began to talk about partnering with an Israel team I believe in order to being streaming services to multiple gaming devices.  Lastly he talked about a new version of their Origin subscription program called Origin Access Premier, I believe, with Madden headlining it.

Vince Zampella of Respawn was in the crowed and was interviewed by Ms. Renee.  We got to learn the name of their new Star Wars game, which will be called Jedi Fallen Order. It will be set during the Dark Times staged between Episodes III and IV and stated that the plot will focus around the Jedi being hunted.  The game is currently scheduled for release in Holiday 2019.

A member of DICE came out to talk about Battlefront II, but not before profusely apologizing for how the developer initially handled the game.  He then announced that Han Solo content based on the new movie will be coming next week.  There will be a new squad system and a Starfighter mode. Clone Wars content has been announced and will be coming later this year.  He revealed such characters as General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker, and their largest Battlefront II map ever will be on Geonosis.

Next, there was a trailer showing a yarn doll on a wave-rocked ship.  The doll was thrown into ocean, its yarn tether separated from the ship. The game was revealed to be Unravel Two.  I never played the first, but the game looks to be so interesting, that I think I might look into the first game. It's designed with co-op in mind, but it looks like you can actually play by yourself by carrying the second character with  you.  The game is finished and has been released today.

A developer from Berlin studio Jo-Mei Games takes the stage to talk about a game called Sea of Solitude.  It's a game about loneliness where humans who experience such profound loneliness turn into monsters.  The main character's story is about turning into a monster, finding out why, and ultimately becoming human again.  The presentation was very boring but once the game was actually shown, it looked pretty intriguing.  I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

There was a trailer for NBA Live 19, which I don't really care for, and then a trailer for Madden 19 and something about a struggling pro gamer who year after year couldn't advance past the quarter finals.  Like anyone cares about that at all... What a waste of time.

Speaking of wastes of time, they showed off some mobile RTS game with a couple of RTS pro gamers and some hackneyed commentators trying and failing miserably to provide color commentary to get the crowd excited.  I think I heard a couple people in the audience snoring.

Their conference ended with Anthem, of course, but not much about it really grabbed me.   For starters, they chose to spend the better half of the presentation talking with BioWare staff, and then ended it with gameplay footage of a multiplayer level that wasn't even in real time like how last year's presentation was.  You'd think that with another year passing, they'd have a lot more they'd want to show off.  The trailer they opened the presentation with strongly hinted that there will be a single player story campaign, and THAT was what I was hoping would be shown more of.  Sony has made it evidently clear with God of War and Detroid that single player games still resonate strongly with gamers, and I was hoping EA would have been attuned to that fact.  They dropped the ball big time with Anthem as far as I'm concerned. 

This is one of the worst EA conferences I can think of recently. It was just flat all around, and I think EA Play is largely to blame for that.  It seems like they save all the demos and other tidbits of information to be shared with people in their EA Play areas, leaving holes in their main conference.  They only two games that really got my interest happened to be indie games; Unravel 2 and Sea of Solitude.  Their biggest mistake was giving an RTS mobile game any amount of stage time.  I can't believe anyone would care about a game like this at a time and venue like this.  I'll say this, though.  I see they learned from their mistakes last year and didn't have any YouTube creators presenting like Jesse Wellens did....

Overall rating: D

My Feelings For the Switch Have.... Switched

I've been a proud Switch owner since I bought one at launch last year.  Up until this point, I'd have strongly recommended this cool little hybrid console/handheld machine to anyone looking to get into gaming.  I still feel that way, but not as strong as I used to.  Now, instead of a resounding "BUY A SWITCH!", it's more like, "well, there is the Switch...."  Hell, I think I bought more games for the Switch last year than any single year of gaming (maybe aside from the PS2) and it wasn't even a full year.  I LOVED the Switch.  But now, I just like it.

If you've read my blogs, you know I have a complicated relationship with Nintendo.  I love them, but I'm also much more critical of them than I am with Microsoft and Sony.  And these past several years with Nintendo have caused me to be more critical of them than I've ever been in the past.  It's also because Nintendo has done so well last year that makes this year all the more frustrating.  My desire to play the Switch every waking moment is starting to wane.  So what changed?

I believe it's the major disappointment in Nintendo's decision not to bring over the Virtual Console to the Switch.  Instead, we're getting a selection of classic NES titles with online gameplay added as incentive to buy into Nintendo's paid online subscription service.  Half the internet is warding off people pissed by the Virtual Console not coming by saying, "We're still getting classic games, just not under the Virtual Console banner!"  Are we?  Are we really?

*sigh*

So, we're expected to endure another agonizing drip feed of classic games as was experienced with the DS/3DS, Wii and Wii U?  Does ANYONE feel that this is a proper trade off for a unified Virtual Console catalog?  If anyone does, I don't understand the justification.  I just don't get it.  Not being able to have the games you purchased via Virtual Console that were available on other systems on the Switch just because there will be a small smattering of selected titles with online play is a bum deal if you ask me.  I'm incredibly frustrated by this because since the Switch was announced, ALL I wanted to do was play one game on the Switch that I purchased on the Wii U.  It was this game:

I LOVED this game.  I still do. I've never been able to find anyone good enough to play it with me.  Not sure I ever will now. Maybe in the future, Nintendo will be gracious enough to select this title and put it on their Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online (what a dumb platform name by the way) so I can play it online.  That would be cool... but to be honest, I'd just rather import it over to the Switch and play it locally.  Hell, I'd even buy it again so I could own it for life on the Switch versus continuing to have to pay a sub in order to keep my access to it.

And that's the major problem with this new service.  Sure, 20 dollars a year is a lot cheaper than buying all the classic games a la cart, so I get how it's appealing to people who enjoy sub-based services like Gamepass.  But again.... it's having to continue to pay for the service for access.  What if you never game online and just want to buy Super Dodge Ball for five bucks?  Well, I'd guess you could pay four dollars for a month and you'd be able to play it for a buck cheaper than owning it... BUT you'd lose access to it after a month so if you want to play it again, you'd just have to pay more money!

I'm actually excited about the idea of playing old NES games online, because that's never been done before.  Then, I remember I'm not that big of an online gamer, so I'd probably try them a few times and never play them again.  So then I'd just sit on my Switch, waiting for something good to come out again, wondering why I'm throwing money down the drain.  "20 dollars is nothing!"  Yeah, I heard that comment, but then it's 20 dollars for nothing.  We're also giving up our rights to ownership by trading the Virtual Console for a sub-based service.  We can get into semantics of ownership if you want, but once you buy a game digitally on your device, that is YOURS and you have access to it so long as your machine works.

Nintendo Switch Online ain't going to be around forever.  Nintendo's been known to kill their online services when their machines become obsolete, which makes perfects business sense, and they killed off Miitomo after only a couple years!  All those poor schmucks that spent money to try to get costumes and whatnot are shit out of luck.  Those who want classic games on their Switch won't have an option to OWN them on their Switch.  They'll need to keep the sub going.  Are there only 10 NES games you love to play all the time?  Well, instead of being able to put them on the Switch for 50 bucks (5 a pop), you'll need to spend 100 bucks to continue to have access to them for five years.... Do you see the problem now?

"But you're not just getting access to classic NES games!  There's cloud saves and..." Don't need them. "...online play and..." Don't play online nearly enough.  Outside of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I really have no reason to take my Switch online.  Splatoon 2 couldn't even get me to keep gaming online. "... access to the Switch Online App!"  ... Are you FUCKING kidding me?!  That stupid ass app is the worse thing to come out for the Switch.  I could just call my friend ON MY OWN PHONE instead of having to jump through hoops through some stupid app.  If I wanted to chat with multiple gamers, there's Discord for that.  All the app shows is Nintendo's continued ineptness to stay with the current times.  No fucking way in hell am I paying ANYTHING for access to that shit. I'm not going to pay for Nintendo Switch Online at all.

"So, you hate the Switch now because of Nintendo Switch Online?"  Who said I hate the Switch?  I still love the thing.  I'm just done singing Nintendo's praises.  They're fucking the whole thing up.  For them to charge for online play, I'm actually cool with that.  I'm surprised they've held out that long considering MS started charging for online play 12 years ago.  I also consider it a very good deal if you play Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2 online frequently, but I don't so it's not a good deal for me.  I get online enhanced NES games as an incentive, but I've never adopted a subscription-based game service and I have no intention of starting now.  If they wanted to enhance a selection of games with online play, cool. Make it an accessible feature for those who want to pay for the service.  Just give the rest of us who don't the damned Virtual Console!

I'm just so fucking sick of Nintendo not listening to us.  Not a single one of those execs hasn't heard who knows how many fans scream for the Virtual Console on the Switch.  It's the perfect fit.  But Nintendo being Nintendo, they have to fuck with formulas and come out with some shit like Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online (GOD, what a stupid platform name!)

But you know, my criticism doesn't just stop with their latest decision to not give customers what they want in the form of Virtual Console.  It also comes from not giving customers what they want in terms of powerful hardware.  "But graphics don't make the games!"  Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one countless times too, and fuck that.  Yes, graphics don't make the games, but graphics make great games better!  Having a more powerful machine also makes it more attractive to third-party developers, a problem Nintendo's been having since the 64.  I've ranted enough about this before... so I'm not going to go into it again.  All I'll say is that I'm done with the gimmicks.  Yes, the Wii was cool.  Yes, the Wii U was cool, but horribly marketed.  Yes, the Switch is uber cool... but god dammit, now that I have a 4K TV, I want the next Nintendo system to be 4K as well. Who the hell doesn't want a pretty as fuck Zelda game?  Sure, Breath of the Wild is gorgeous on an artistic level, but it cannot compete with most newer games on the other two systems.  And you know what?  That's a crying shame.

Then, we have the drip feed of strong first party titles.  Granted, Nintendo makes really good games, if and when they ever release.  2017 was killer with Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.  Yes, they're also managing to come out with at least one first party title every month, but some of them aren't that strong (ARMS, Fire Emblem Warriors, which technically isn't first-party) and others have been Wii U rereleases to fill in the gaps.  I get not that many people played the Wii U, so Nintendo's trying to recoup some of that lost revenue, but at the expense of brand new titles.  I'd gladly take a Mario Kart 9 or a new Donkey Kong Country instead of the Wii U titles being brought over.  Ugh... they'll bring all these Wii U games back over to the Switch but not the Wii U's Virtual Console?!  ARRRGHHH!!! *pulls hair out*

I'm sure there are Wii coffers filled to the brim that Nintendo hasn't even cracked open yet.  Nintendo needs to step it up a notch and open a few more studios to make games to fill in all these gaps.  Where the the fuck is a new F-Zero for example? Star Fox? (heard the next one is a racing game... WTF?) PilotWings? And then there's the 3DS... That's still going strong so of course they'd still support it, but the Switch is in a position to benefit from both console and handheld markets so they should really kill the 3DS soon in order for more games to made for the Switch.  This is in part to what killed the Wii U.  The Wii U was parched for games but the 3DS strayed Nintendo's focus.  I don't want this to happen to the Switch, so the 3DS needs to go next year, if not sooner.  It's time, Nintendo.  It's just time.

Also, I may be making this blog a bit prematurely because E3 is less than a month, and they could present us with something that could make me eat my words.... but then I remember, this is Nintendo we're talking about.  Their "big surprises" are usually letdowns.  Megaton anyone?