All Articles: E3 2014
Continue Countdown #3 – CoD Advanced Warfare, MS @ E3 2014, Mario Kart 8, More
The film industry uses the opening of blockbuster season to signify the start of Summer. Meanwhile, the video game industry sets its seasonal clock by Activision and the announcement of the next Call of Duty game. This year’s entry stars Kevin Spacey and the staff of Warp Zoned took the time to debate his inclusion in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in the latest episode of “Continue Countdown.”
After that, the trio of Editor-In-Chief John Scalzo, Staff Writer Mike Ryan, and special guest Adam Woolcott talked about the expunging of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and the unearthing of Atari’s E.T. landfill. Next, they examined Microsoft’s Xbox Originals film production plan and their possible E3 2014 announcements before turning to Nintendo and Fatal Frame 5‘s Japanese exclusivity, Mario Kart 8‘s free game deal, and Super Smash Bros. 4‘s Best Buy debut. Finally, we say goodbye to Bob “Mario Mario” Hoskins.
9 Topics… 30 Minutes… And Go!
EA will unveil 6 new projects, including a Frostbite 3 game coming this Fall, at E3 2014
Electronic Arts has big plans for this year’s E3 Expo. The megapublisher will showcase “at least six projects” during their E3 2014 Press Conference, which they’ll present on Monday, June 9.
Andrew Wilson, EA’s Chief Executive Officer, has confirmed that one project we’ll definitely get a closer look at during E3 2014 is DICE LA’s Star Wars: Battlefront. Speaking yesterday during the company’s quarterly financial report, the CEO said that Battlefront is “coming along very, very well.” But he was quick to reiterate that the game is still a ways off and that “there’s lots and lots of work to go.”
Another one of EA’s big E3 reveals is a bit closer to release as Wilson also confirmed that a brand new Frostbite 3-powered game from “some of our most talented teams” will be on display during this year’s Expo. The game is scheduled to be released this Fall and could be Havana, the police-themed Battlefield game from Visceral that was hinted at back in February.
EA has a very full pipeline of projects in development and the remaining four games could be anything from games we’ve seen (including The Sims 4, which will be released this Fall) to things we haven’t (including Visceral’s Star Wars game, which will launch in 2015 at the earliest). Thankfully, the E3 Expo is only a little more than a month away.
Mortal Kombat creator is secretly counting down to something on Twitter
Ed Boon loves Twitter. The Mortal Kombat maestro has had an account with the microblogging service since November 2008 and he has churned out more than 9,500 tweets in that time. Lately, he’s begun a coded countdown that is set to expire on June 2, just a week before the start of this year’s E3 Expo.
On Sunday, Boon tweeted “Square root of 841” to his followers (which is 29, by the way). Yesterday, he asked the Twitterverse to answer this question: “How many days in (non-leap-year) February?” IGN caught on to Boon’s secret countdown and, unless he’s given up, we’re all eagerly awaiting today’s veiled reference to 27.
According to previous statements made by Boon, multiple executives with WB Games, and 24‘s Kiefer Sutherland, NetherRealm Studios has already begun development on Mortal Kombat 10. Fans are definitely anxious to “Finish Him!” once more as the last game in the series, a total series reboot, was released in 2011.
Here’s hoping that the regularly playful Boon isn’t just toying with us ahead of gaming’s biggest showcase.
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer talks about the company’s E3 2014 plans (and beyond)
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer spent some of his Sunday answering questions on Twitter and the Head of the Xbox Division revealed quite a bit about the company’s future plans. Looking forward to this year’s E3 Expo, Spencer had this to say…
- He confirmed that at least one new property and (shocker of shockers) several sequels will be announced at E3.
- These new game announcements will include several new studios that Microsoft is working with.
- And as we’ve been hearing for months, an Xbox One game from a Japanese developer will be announced at E3.
- But we won’t have to wait for E3 for all of Microsoft’s announcements. Spencer said that several pre-E3 announcements will happen in May. Hey! That’s this month!
- Finally, Microsoft plans to make the hardcore gamer the “main focus” of this year’s E3 Expo, whatever that means.
Spencer also told his followers that Fable Anniversary is most likely not in development for the Xbox One and that Microsoft and Mojang are getting close to a Minecraft: Xbox One Edition announcement, but they’re not there yet. Minecraft might be one of the last digital games Microsoft has a direct hand in as the company is currently moving away from publishing third-party digital games. This is due to the fact they would prefer to focus on “opportunities with IP we own that we’ve neglected.” However, he didn’t elaborate on which properties he was referring to.
And in case you were hoping for an Xbox-branded handheld to be revealed at this year’s E3 Expo, you might want to know that it’s probably out of the question. However, development on games for Windows Phones and Windows 8 tablets will continue, possibly with controller support in the future.
Finally, one thing Spencer didn’t talk about was Halo 5, stating “I can’t talk about anything related to a 343i IP.” Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that one at this year’s E3 Expo.
Go on a Strike in latest Destiny gameplay trailer
Bungie’s first post-Halo project, Destiny, is screaming towards its September 9 launch on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. To better prepare the public at large for their planned E3 2014 blowout, the developer has released a new gameplay trailer showcasing the “Strike” gameplay mode.
David “DeeJ’ Dague, Bungie’s Community Manager, explained to the PlayStation Blog that a Strike is a “cooperative scenario that sends a Fireteam on a dangerous mission to defeat hostile aliens and reap sweet rewards.” In this Strike, players will battle the Fallen in the House of Devil’s Lair in an attempt to destroy a Machine Guard. If the humans win the day, it will push the aliens further away from The City.
I gotta say, the brightly-colored weapons that the humans use gives Destiny a very unique look.
Play Super Smash Bros. 4 at Best Buy during E3 2014
It looks like Nintendo’s low-key E3 showing was a hit last year as the consolemaker plans to expand on the festivities for this year’s Expo… while still remaining low-key.
Instead of a Nintendo Direct video presentation, this year, Nintendo plans to offer a “Nintendo Digital Event” on Tuesday, June 10 at 12:00 PM (Eastern). Nintendo is calling the Digital Event “a new kind of video program that will reveal and provide further detail about the gaming experiences on the way for Nintendo platforms in 2014 and beyond.” So basically, it’s exactly like a Nintendo Direct video, only bigger.
Nintendo will also add a second video program to their slate of E3 programming, “Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3.” The Treehouse team is the company’s main product development team and they will provide “in-depth game demos live and unscripted from Nintendo’s booth” throughout the entire E3 Expo.
Finally, Nintendo will install a playable demo of one of this year’s biggest games in Best Buy stores across the country. I speak, of course, about Super Smash Bros. 4 for the Wii U. A list of participating Best Buy stores will be viewable via e3.Nintendo.com very soon.
Rumor: Resident Evil 7 set to unnerve PS4 players with E3 2014 unveiling
While the always-in-trouble horror genre has undergone a resurgence in recent months thanks to titles such as Outlast and Daylight, as well as upcoming games like Sony’s free-to-play H1Z1 and The Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, few horror titles carry such weight as Capcom’s Resident Evil series. Since its debut back in 1996, each sequel has followed the law of diminishing returns, with the exception of Resident Evil 4, which was nothing short of brilliant.
As the 2014 E3 Expo lingers near, rumours have started to swirl that Capcom is hoping to turn the crimson tide with the next iteration of the series. According to Push Square, it is believed that Resident Evil 7 will make an appearance for Sony’s PlayStation 4 during the big event.
The rumour’s source can be traced back to a report on Capcom in Japanese economic journal Sankei Shimbun, which alludes to the company preparing to unveil an “important game” in a scary series of games. While the report only refers to the PS4 version, this does not rule out the game being on other consoles.
This isn’t the first time Capcom has teased Resident Evil 7 in recent weeks. A recently completed contest on Capcom’s Facebook page subtly hinted at the unannounced horror sequel as well.
Metro Redux will bring the shooter series to next-gen consoles
Over the weekend, a rumor started making the rounds that 4A Games’ Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light would be released for next-generation consoles in a bundle known as Metro Redux. Rather than deny everything and hope the rumors go away, 4A Games and Metro’s publisher, Deep Silver, confirmed that the next-gen remake is officially in the works:
We could issue a ‘We do not comment on rumour and speculation’ statement and pretend this never happened. They’re pretty boring to read. They’re also pretty boring to write.
So we’re going to comment on rumour and speculation instead.
Is Metro Redux real?
Yes. We never made any secret of 4A’s desire to bring Metro to the latest generation of console hardware.
After admitting that the compilation is coming, 4A Games and Deep Silver asked gamers to forget everything they may have seen this weekend as the leak was based on “hypothetical ideas and place holder material” that don’t represent the current state of Metro Redux. Instead, they’re asking gamers to wait patiently until this year’s E3 Expo, where they plan to officially announce the next-gen remake in suitably splashy fashion.