Summer Video Game Preview: E3 Roundups and the Shape of the Summer to Come

Summertime, oh summertime – we have more hours in the day, school’s officially out, and what have we got to fill all that time? We’ve got the best few months for video-game news steaming their way towards us. E3 this week is just the beginning of the influx of game releases and exciting news that will hopefully fill our summer with innovation, excitement, and every video game console we could hope for.

Here, we take a look at the big news coming out of E3 and where to catch it, and then we can look ahead, to the big releases to get your hands on as the summer goes on.

What to Catch at E3

As the days have been counting down to E3, we’re all gearing up the ways to get a glimpse into the press-exclusive Video Game event of the year. If you haven’t already, tune in to the Twitch E3 stream to make sure you don’t miss any of the Big Name press conferences!

From June 14th onwards, when Bethesda kicked off with their big showcase, this summer has a lot to bring. Bethesda has in its arsenal exactly what it needs to get E3 off the ground – having recently announced what is arguably the most anticipated game news of the year, Fallout 4, Bethesda has our rapt attention. Alongside the fourth in the post-apocalyptic shooter series, Bethesda has promised glimpses into the new Doom game, as well as the release of Elder Scrolls online for console.10

With Microsoft the next day, promising further glimpses into the next tomb raider game, a new Gears of War project and, of course, Halo 5, the first official day of E3 leaps away at 9:30 am. EA will take the stage next, with an absolute avalanche of promised sports games, including Madden NFL 16 and mobile, NBA LIVE 16, and the Rory Mcllroy PGA TOUR. They also have big news from the EA games division, with a Need for Speed reboot and, most exciting, all the Star Wars news we need with Star Wars Battlefront and the largest story-driven Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion to date, Knights of the Fallen Empire.

Ubisoft and Playstation have the second half of the day. Ubisoft have promised playable demos of it’s big three this year, Assassin’s Creed® Syndicate, Tom Clancy’s The Division™, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Siege. They’ve also since announced the first-ever Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Playtest Road Show, which will have its first date at E3 before heading out into the world. Little has been announced on what else might be turning up at their showcase, however, so if they have anything really exciting to announce off the event floor is yet to be seen. Ubisoft will then hand the floor off to Playstation, who promise a wild line-up of exclusive game announcements, including Destiny, Batman: Arkham Knight, No Man’s Sky by Hello Games and, another much-awaited fourth in a series to share the hype with Fallout, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. A remastered Ratchet & Clank game will have old fans excited to bring an old classic bit of fun onto the new console.

As day three rolls around, Nintendo takes to the stage, bound to announce at least one piece of big news that no one saw coming – as always, Nintendo has played its cards close to its chest, but has promised that big new Super Smash Bros. content is on its way, and we have a few predictions of our own. We can also probably assume some Amiibo news, at least on some new designs that you can count on selling out in seconds upon release (That is, even if they make it to release, seeing as the addictively collectible figurines are apparently heist worthy now). Finally, Square Enix will close out the show with a collection of exciting news pieces, including the promised “secret title”. Deus Ex is returning to our consoles with Mankind Divided, and the third installations in the Just Cause and Kingdom Hearts Series have already had some older disks dusted off in readiness for the new announcements.

It’s not just these main conferences to keep an eye on, of course, with other companies getting their news in as the three day expo goes on. Capcom recently announced their Mega Man Legacy Collection, all six of the original Mega Man games and a few new modes bound to appeal to both new players and diehard fans. On top of the Mega Man collection, there will be playable demos of Resident Evil® 0, and Devil May Cry® 4 Special Edition to hear about, and some more assets and information on the highly anticipated Street Fighter V. 2K and Gearbox’s MOBA title Battleborn is set to be playable, Activision has Call of Duty: Black Ops III news and Warner Bros. Interactive will talk about their Lego titles and the new Mad Max game.

The Summer After the Expo Before

As we walk out of E3, turn off our streams and blink confusedly at the rising sun on June 19th, we are far from left with nothing to enjoy for the rest of the summer months. Here are just a few of the games to pick up in the next few months!

Batman: Arkham Knight – June 23rd
The third (or fourth, depending on who you ask) game in the Batman: Arkham series by Rocksteady games is also its final installment. This time, Batman fights an original enemy made exclusively for the game, The Arkham Knight. After the way that Arkham: City ended we’re very interested to see how the saga wraps up (fingers crossed for more awesome scarecrow parts).

Until Dawn – August 25th
A couple of kids go to a cabin in the woods. Want to guess what happens next? If you answered “Crazy killer attacks” you’ve probably seen one of the many horror movies that the new game Until Dawn is honoring. Play as a cast of kids on a harrowing night and make choices that build up to change the story and ending in major and minor ways.

Mad Max – September 1st
Anyone who saw Mad Max: Fury Road knows that if any series is capable of getting the blood pumping, it’s this one. So putting such an exciting series in the hands of none other than Avalanche, creators of Just Cause 2, seems like a match made in video game heaven. Just Cause 2 had all the insane action you could ever want in a game and Mad Max is sure to work perfectly in that format. With a little luck, Mad Max could ride, shiny and chrome, into Valhalla.

Metal Gear Solid V – September 1st
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is set to be Hideo Kojima‘s last game in the storied Metal Gear series, which began in the late 80s. In the final story, we follow Naked Snake, also known as Big Boss, as he completes his transformation from hero to villain in one of the most anticipated games ever made. After Kojima’s public falling out with Konami and the casting of Kiefer Sutherland as Snake, replacing series mainstay David Hayter, all eyes are on Kojima to deliver a game to put a ribbon on so much greatness.

So now, looking forward on a summer setting off with big reveals and surprises at E3 and continuing on with so many AAA games and countless other indie darlings that are sure to surprise and delight over the coming months, it would appear that the only question gamers are going to have in the near future is “What happened to all my money?” The answer, of course, is video games.