8 Big Announcements We Want To See At E3 2016

Brace yourselves everybody, E3 2016 is almost here! Yes, it’s that time of the year when gamers revel in the excitement of new industry information and the world's gaming press gear themselves up for an exhausting week of coffee fuelled press coverage. Forget the recent grumbles of the show losing some of its relevance, E3 is easily the industry’s most important calendar event and we’re expecting this year to be packed with tantalizing new gaming announcements. Last year’s E3 certainly had its share of surprises. In fact, that’s selling it short; last year’s conference dropped a succession of bombshells that left crowds of games media speechless. Final Fantasy Remake, The Last Guardian and Fallout 4’s impending release had journalists stunned as people reacted with everything from thunderous applause to tears of joy. E3 2016 has a lot to live up then, but with an array of new hardware launches and some intriguing titles on the horizon, we’re confident it’s going to be another vintage year for the tradeshow. There are certainly plenty of unanswered questions about various rumours that have surfaced over the past few months, making this year’s event particularly interesting. Between the potential of hardware upgrades looming, whisperings of various game delays, and even the possibility of a HoloLens demonstrations from Microsoft, we’re definitely in for one hell of a show and it’s going to be fascinating to see what’s in store for us. With all of that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of announcements that we’re desperate to see from the major players this year. Read on to see what we're crossing our fingers for and let us know if you agree or disagree by dropping a comment. Sony To Finally Clarify PlayStation Neo Murmurs of an upgraded PlayStation 4 certainly caused a stir when they surfaced during this year’s GDC conference. Rumours have slowly gathered momentum and a succession of leaks detailing specifications and requirements have all but confirmed that the new console is on the way. Yet, there has still been no official word from Sony, and E3 is surely the perfect platform to finally clarify what the Neo is and how the company plans on integrating the system into the current ecosystem. It’s going to be fascinating to see how Sony markets the Neo. After all, the PS4 is setting record sales figures and its domination of the market share is unprecedented. Why Sony have opted to introduce an upgraded version of the console isn’t entirely clear and watching them justify its existence to new console owners is going to be interesting. We’re betting that PlayStation’s VR peripheral is at the centre of Sony’s reasoning, so if Neo does make an appearance at E3, expect a release date around the same time as VR is scheduled to launch. Quality New IPs For Xbox One Microsoft are a bit of a wild card this year. The aftermath of last year’s conference saw the launch of the “Greatest line up in Xbox history” campaign in which some of their hallmark franchises were released. Given that we’ve only recently seen a tease for Gears of War 4, what else does Microsoft have to bring to the table this year? Commercially, Xbox One continues to sell respectively, but any hopes of it catching the PS4 have long since been muted. Still, Microsoft can’t afford to let the console peter out with a whimper, they have to continue to try and push its appeal as a valid platform by demonstrating to potential buyers that it has a future. Backwards compatibility has been a great addition to Xbox One, but as was demonstrated last year, game announcements always win the day. Even if they are announcements in the far flung future. For that very reason, Microsoft simply have to throw some figurative punches in respect to their software line-up. Primarily, we want to see some quality new IPs for the Xbox One along with solid release dates for games such as Scalebound and ReCore. Sony Bend’s New Game This wouldn’t be an E3 wishlist without including a cry for Sony Bend to finally announce their new game. The studio best known for Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Syphon Filter have been quiet for nearly five years, and PlayStation fans are chomping at the bit for more information on their up and coming title. Many had predicted that their latest project would feature in last year’s E3, and after that didn't occur, fans were once again disappointed from its absence at PlayStation Experience 2015. Surely, this is the year that Bend put us out of our misery, right? There’s little information to go on right now, but inside sources suggest the game is an open world survival horror experience. Leaked images circa 2014 that detailed a bleak and alien-esque environment were believed to be concept art for Bend’s game, but were then disproven. Interestingly, newly teased information from well-known industry insider Shinobi602 points toward a more light hearted game titled Dead Don’t Ride. The rumours were given more weight when it was discovered that Sony had obtained the internet URL of the same name. We’re hoping Sony not only reveal information detailing Bend’s new game, but also announce a solid release date for 2016. This could well be PlayStation’s big Fall title, and we're very eager to see more of it. Mass Effect: Andromeda The Mass Effect franchise is a much loved trilogy, adored for its detailed branching narrative, memorable characters and its massive intergalactic setting. The upcoming sequel, Mass Effect: Andromeda, carries with it a tremendous weight of expectation, especially after the mixed reception to the finale of the original trilogy. So far, the game has been shrouded in mystery and E3 seems like a logical place to finally reveal the nature of the new title and how it fits into the previous trilogy's cannon. We know for certain that the game is delayed until 2017, which came as a disappointment to most, but with so many games scheduled to release this Fall, Andromeda’s postponed release probably isn’t the worst thing to have occurred. After all, we want Bioware to take as much time as they need to produce a quality title. That being said, we still haven’t been privy to any new gameplay footage, and E3 certainly provides a good opportunity to showcase how Mass Effect: Andromeda will evolve the franchise, especially in respect to combat and its RPG mechanics. So far, everything we’ve heard about Andromeda has come by way of leaked information, and for that reason alone, more details about the game is certainly on our wishlist for E3. Square Enix To Show Off More Of Final Fantasy VII Remake Far and away, E3 2015’s show stopping moment was Final Fantasy VII Remake’s sudden announcement, which caught everyone by surprise last year. Fans have been asking for a remake for what seems like forever now, and Square Enix’s silence on the matter had been bewildering, but apparently they finally woke up to its commercial potential last year and now we want more information on a release date and launch structure. Of course, Final Fantasy VII Remake made another surprise appearance at PlayStation Experience just 5 months after its big reveal, causing many to wonder how far along development actually was. Initially, it had been supposed that a release date would not be until 2018 at the earliest, but a substantial trailer at PlayStation’s keynote during PSX suggests it might be much sooner. If the game does make an appearance at E3, it still seems unlikely we’ll get a concrete release date. Even so, we’ll be able to gauge whether the demonstration at PSX was actually gameplay or clever pre-rendered footage. With Final Fantasy XV just around the corner, it's touch and go as to whether Square Enix would want to show off any more of the Final Fantasy VII Remake in fear of spoiling hype for their upcoming game. Though it would probably make sense to focus efforts on Final Fantasy XV, who would bet against more information on Final Fantasy VII Remake multi-part release and some new gameplay footage stealing the show once again? A Release Date For Horizon Zero Dawn Guerrilla Games have been pumping out the Killzone franchise since the earliest days of PlayStation 2, and we don’t blame them for wanting to show off what they can do with a new project. Horizon Zero Dawn is the developer's answer to that newfound freedom, and what a new IP it looks to be. For many, it was the standout game of last year’s E3. Guerrilla Games have flipped the switch on both genre and premise, replacing the linearity of Kilzone’s FPS gameplay with an open world third person title, and we’re dying for more information and gameplay footage this year. Perhaps the most pressing question we want answered is whether the game is still scheduled to release in 2016. Industry insider Shinobi602 chimed in once again earlier this year, this time with the rather depressing revelation that he had head Horizon Zero Dawn had been delayed to 2017. In all honesty, it wouldn’t really surprise us given that Sony have a tendency to delay their big releases as of late, but the company haven’t issued any statement to confirm rumours as of yet, so we’re still holding onto hope that the title will see a release this year. Red Dead Redemption 2 Red Dead Redemption was easily one of the previous generation’s biggest highlights. Indeed, Rockstar once again outdid themselves with a perfect marriage of their signature open world game design and a sublime Wild West setting. It’s been six years since the original game debuted and despite the fairly obvious potential of a follow-up title, Rockstar’s San Diego studio has remained silent on the matter. Of course, a second Red Dead Redemption has been rumoured to be in the works for quite some time and anticipation for a release announcement has been building momentum after a screenshot of the game's world map surfaced on the internet earlier this year. The supposed leak follows last year’s report from an industry insider who claimed he had heard that the game would be a prequel named Legends of the West. In terms of timeframe, the Red Dead Redemption sequel does seem to fit. We’re sure Rockstar San Diego must be pretty far through development if they've been working on a new title for even half the amount of time since the original. What remains in question is whether it fits Rockstar’s style as a studio to showcase a game during an event such as E3. Typically, Rockstar prefer to launch games as and when they choose. After all, their popularity as a developer doesn’t necessitate them to play by the rules. Still, that doesn’t stop a new Red Dead game from featuring on our wishlist for this year and we’ve certainly not given up on an epic launch announcement at E3 2016.