Yes, E3 2019 ended three weeks ago. However, in my nightmares, I’m still there, slamming energy drinks and binge-sitting in every gamer chair my eyes can see. As long as my neck still hurts from the flight back, I cannot refrain from scraping the bottom of the E3 barrel.

Watch me try and fail to die as E3 2019's lights go out one by one in this short horror film: E3: GAME OVER (or A Big Boy Encounters A Barrel Bottom).

Three weeks ago, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm live-streamed himself walking into an E3 bathroom and, ultimately, walked out without a Twitch channel or an E3 badge. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, he didn’t seem to be taking his suspension very seriously, despite the fact that he may well have broken the law by using a camera in a public bathroom. Today, Beahm broke character to offer the public an apology. And some excuses.

Last night, Twitch reinstated Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm’s gargantuan Twitch channel. This follows its removal after an incident at E3 involving a camera, a public bathroom and a 14-day channel suspension.

Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it’s long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year’s Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations, disappointing sequels and games that under-delivered given how long fans were waiting for them.

At a Keanu Reeves-filled E3 last week, I played a demo of John Wick Hex, a forthcoming action game directed and written by creator of acclaimed indie games Thomas Was Alone and Volume Mike Bithell.

Playing John Wick Hex was like being transported inside of the titular assassin’s mind via a mashup of the best things about Transistor’s combat and Superhot’s time mechanics.

While I was playing Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2’s demo at E3 last week, I was feeling pretty smug about bluffing my way through a problem. Then, the developer holding the controller hit the wrong button, and a fight broke out regardless.

E3 2019 brought us demos and details about games we can’t wait to play, like Link’s Awakening and the Final Fantasy VII remake, but it also threw us some real head-scratchers, like that upcoming Avengers game. On this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, we ran down all the coolest and most befuddling games that we got to see at E3 last week.

You can learn a lot about a person by the values they express, and possibly something about an entire gaming platform by the blog posts the person running it writes. That’s why I was so eager at E3 last week to ask the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, why he recently wrote a 1200-word essay mostly about “building a safe and inclusive gaming environment for everyone.”

His answer was illuminating, and hinted at ambitious plans taking shape for Xbox Live that could prove influential for online gaming as a whole.

One of the cooler things we stumbled across at E3 last week was over at the IndieCade booth. The Pixxl Maze from Hungary-based PirateGames is a cube made of 6 LED panels. While not quite 4K, the 32x32 resolution still cooks up some colourful glowing visuals.

There’s a lot to love in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, but the team brought something special back for the fans: dancing.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has heard from the sceptics. They think that what he’s doing with Xbox means that Microsoft is giving up on consoles, or even going third party. That’s all wrong, he told me during an extensive interview in Los Angeles last week, where we discussed his vision for Xbox, the recently announced potential gaming deal between Sony and Microsoft, and whether he’d ever want to put Gears of War on the PlayStation 4.

When it comes to consoles, Microsoft’s Xbox One has been handily defeated by Sony’s PlayStation 4 – the latter boasts nearly 100 million sold, while Microsoft outright stopped reporting Xbox console sales numbers. Estimates put the Xbox One somewhere in the range of 30 to 60 million sold. It’s no slouch, but Microsoft’s game console isn’t likely to catch up.

And that’s why it’s good news for Microsoft that a new Xbox is just over the horizon.

No Straight Roads is a rhythm game inspired by the strong visual storytelling of Psychonauts. Playing it feels like rocking out in front of a surreal, vibrant crowd.

At E3 last week, I was able to play a short demo that included the first boss fight, and as someone who also loves live music, I was pleased by how much it spoke to my own experiences in clubs and people’s basements across America.

Planet Zoo is the latest simulator from Frontier Developments, the creators of Roller Coaster Tycoon and the recent Planet Coaster. In this one, you’re building a zoo and making sure all the animals are well cared for, which comes with unexpected challengers for players used to making theme parks.

Platinum Games’ upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive, Astral Chain, involves controlling two characters at the same time during combat. The game is not necessarily designed to be played by two people at once, but according to Astral Chain director Takahisa Taura, there is a way to do it that he described as both “challenging” and “really fun.”

Breath of the Wild is getting a sequel because the team had too many ideas for downloadable content, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma told me last week in Los Angeles. We also talked about how the Link’s Awakening remake came about, why Zelda games haven’t offered button remapping, and work conditions at Nintendo.

“Picture Grand Theft Auto, but as a shark,” game designer Bill Munk said near the end of a demonstration of Maneater at E3 in Los Angeles last week.

The people making The Division 2 always expected that their fans would start grumbling about the game.

When it comes to video game development, Australia isn’t exactly a premier player, at least when it comes to big production titles. The indie game scene, however, is continuing to move from strength to strength, and Anthony Tan‘s beautiful upcoming game, Way to the Woods, is a testament to that fact.