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What We’re Expecting From E3 This Year

Alex Walker Avatar
Alex Walker

Another year, another E3. The first couple of E3’s under the current generation of consoles was stale for a while, but things have begun to liven up significantly. Virtual reality has arrived in a big way, the amount of first-party exclusives has increased, and the PC even has pride of place with an hour-long (cringeworthy) show of its own.

So what exactly is everyone at Kotaku Australia expecting this year? I asked around, and here’s what we think.

Chris Jager, Lifehacker Australia editor

My money’s on a Half-Life 3 teaser trailer. If Valve are working towards a 2018 release as has been rumoured, a reveal at this year’s E3 would make perfect sense, with a playable demo at E3 2017.

There aren’t expected to be many huge announcements this year, so a confirmation and release date for Half-Life 3 would completely dominate the headlines. Valve would be daft not to.

Mark Serrels, Kotaku Australia Editor

I’m honestly expecting very little from E3 2016.

I think the biggest thing that potentially could happen is the announcement of new hardware from Sony and Microsoft, if they decide to unveil new souped-up versions of the Xbox One and the PS4. Personally I think that sort of hardware upgrade is a mistake, but it would certainly make for interesting stories.

I am expecting lean, mean conferences with a lot of new games, the return of games that haven’t had sequels yet — the usual stuff.

I am preparing for Nintendo disappointment. Nintendo are not showing off NX hardware, therefore they will not be showing off NX software, which means there will be very little for Nintendo to reveal, show off, whatever. I’d like to see what Retro Studios is working on. I still want to see a proper 2D Metroid game on the 3DS, but that’s not going to happen.

I am very excited to see what direction Nintendo is taking the new Zelda.

It really feels like anything could happen at E3 this year. But I’m not sure what that will look like.

Rae Johnston, Gizmodo journalist

I think it will be a fairly quiet year. Sony may desperately try and get the Vita happening again in some way. The Last of Us 2 will likely be announced. We’ll get an update on The Last Guardian. Nintendo will expand on its nostalgia-fuelled gaming library. Something something Elder Scrolls because Fallout was last time around. Awkward devs will make bad jokes.

I’m thinking we might see a lot more VR focus, though. Maybe some major publisher titles with VR support? Or some platform supported indie titles being pushed on the main stage?

In any case, what I’d really like to see is an end to dubstep trailers. I think we would all agree that’s the most important issue here.

Alex Walker, Kotaku journalist

The prospect of new hardware from Sony doesn’t excite me a great deal, but I am keen to see what Microsoft does with Scorpio, or whatever they’re calling their Xbox prototype these days.

Microsoft need people to buy the Xbox One, and as it turns out yelling “TV” a lot isn’t a good way to do it. So the question is: if you’re way behind in the sales race, how do you convince people to buy your refreshed console over the other manufacturers?

The answer will probably be VR. There was already going to be a metric shit ton of VR shown off at E3 this year anyway, thanks to the Rift and Vive already being released and the PSVR coming out in October.

And don’t forget that AMD are big sponsors of the PC Gaming Show. They’re pitching their RX 490 as a VR-ready card for $USD200, which should result in even more talk about VR for the home, VR for the living room and God knows what else. It’s not known whether the 14nm Polaris architecture will end up being used by Microsoft and Sony in their console refreshes, but that’s something to watch out for too.

On the games front, I’d really like to see Bethesda announce something around Quake. Hiring for coders to work on DOOM and Quake kicked off a few weeks ago, and it’d be remiss for Bethesda to let the game’s 20th anniversary pass without at least a remaster, if not a full reboot.

Danny Allen, Allure Media managing editor and publisher

After a distinct lack of hardware at E3 last year, I’m sort of expecting (perhaps just hoping) that 2016 will be more tech focused.

1. Will Sony dominate E3 2016 like it did last year? Will we get a peak at the PlayStation 4.5/Neo and will 4K gaming be a focus? What PlayStation VR experiences does Sony have to surprise us with?

2. Will Microsoft go from HoloLens to VR? Will Oculus be involved in that? Will a cheaper Xbox be announced to boost market share? And is there a streaming device Chromecast-like gadget thingo on the way?

3. It’s possible Nintendo’s next console dubbed the NX could be previewed. But, strangely, I’m more interested in Nintendo’s march into mobile gaming right now. After Miitomo and Pokemon GO, just how free will the upcoming Fire Emblem and and Animal Emblem for Android and iOS actually be?

4. Oh, and finally, Magic Leap!? What’s up with those guys. I hope to hear more during E3. Is this crazy augmented reality tech actually gonna be a thing my eyes can feast on anytime soon?

And games, I guess.

What are you expecting from E3 this year?

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