E3 day one summary
If you’re just joining us, here are the key revelations from Monday’s Xbox and Bethesda presentations. Read our full summary of the day’s events right here:
Xbox
Halo Infinite, Devil May Cry V, Gears of War V, Battletoads and Cyberpunk 2077 revealed.
A new From Software adventure Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice unveiled.
Microsoft has five new first-party studios including Ninja Theory and Playground Games.
Bethesda
Elder Scrolls VI announced, as well as a new mobile adventure named Elder Scrolls Blades.
A long-rumoured science fiction action RPG Starfield revealed.
Fallout 76 is to be an online multiplayer title, but will still retain many elements of the single-player experience.
Doom and Wolfenstein both getting sequels in the form of Doom Eternal and Wolfestein Youngblood.
Updated
Thank you for joining us for day one of our E3 live blog! Tomorrow we’ll be back for Ubisoft and Sony’s press conferences, from 12pm to 8pm PDT.
Bethesda E3 2018 conference summary: Elder Scolls VI, Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein Youngblood
On a night slightly marred by some awkward stage moments, Bethesda closed its E3 conference giving fans exactly what they wanted: the announcement of Elder Scrolls VI. Absolutely nothing was revealed about the title apart from a glimpse at a vast landscape, which suggests we’re a long way from release.
The first announcement of the night was Doom Eternal, a sequel to the much-enjoyed Doom reboot. Offering “Hell on Earth” and twice as many demon types as the last title, the game will be debuted at QuakeCon in August. Also getting a new sequel is Wolfenstein – subtitled Youngblood, it’s a co-operative shooter featuring Jess and Soph, the twin daughters of series hero BJ’s Blazkowicz. Their quest is to locate their father in a Nazi-occupied 1980s Paris.
Then Todd Howard arrived on stage with a series of revelations, including the intriguing news that Fallout 76 will be an online multiplayer title. Participants will still create characters and head off on story quests, but they’ll now meet other players en route. According to Howard, the population will be kept to dozens rather than thousands of players, and you’ll all be able to co-operate or fight over resources. Nuclear weapons will also factor with players searching for launch codes before firing missiles at whatever they want.
A new mobile game, Elder Scrolls Blades was revealed, offering a narrative adventure that uses the phone screen to produce tactile combat, courtesy of swiping movements. P vs P and P vs E modes were both mentioned.
Howard also revealed a brand new science fiction RPG franchise named Starfield, which Bethesda has apparently been working on for several years. There were no further details.
But the big news was the Elder Scolls VI announcement, which was really just the logo placed over a rather gorgeous landscape. It was a mere tease, but enough to leave us wanting much more.
Okay, that’s it from Bethesda. It was a rather mixed presentation with some awkward humour and stilted attempts to draw louder whoops from the audience. But then they announced Elder Scrolls VI so everything is forgiven.
Elder Scrolls VI announced
But that’s literally all Todd Howard says about this long-awaited sequel. What a tease.
Bethesda has been working on a brand new next generation single-player game in a new epic franchise named Starfield. “Our first wholly original franchise in 25 years,” says Howard. The studio has apparently spent years working on the game, which looks to be science fiction-based.
Updated
Elder Scrolls is coming to smart phones. It’s a massive first-person RPG with console-quality visuals, but “a uniquely mobile experience”. The new combat engine will use a swiping mechanic to time sword thrusts. There are spells as well as melee combat.
There will be several modes of play including The Abyss and endless dungeon and Arena, where you battle other players. In The Town, you’re an exiled warrior returning home to build a new town. As it levels up, you unlock new quests and items, and players can visit their friends’ towns.
It’s coming to consoles and PCs as well as phones. There will also be a VR version and all the versions connect. It’s coming this autumn for free. You can register for early access at www.playblades.com
Updated
Fallout Shelter is coming to the PS4 and Nintendo Switch and it will still be free to play. These versions are coming out tonight.
Fallout 76 will feature a new building system that will let you construct bases wherever you like, and also take them with you as you play. Homes will come under attack from monsters and you’ll be able to work with neighbouring players to defeat them. There will also be multiple nuclear missile sites on the map, which players will be able to use against each other. That spells apocalyptic trolling potential.
Players need to attain the letters and numbers from a nuclear launch code by looting downed enemies – you’ll be able to team up with other players to collect the codes you need. Once an explosion happens, players can raid the site to discover rare and exotic items.
100% dedicated servers says Howard, which gets some whoops. There will be a beta test and a special edition that comes with a glow-in-the-dark map and a power helmet with lamp and voice modulator. Sometimes you don’t know if Todd is joking or not.
It’s out on the 14 November.
Ah next up is a new trailer showing Reclamation Day, the moment the inhabitants of Fallout 76 come out into the world. The world will feature new lighting and landscape technology, with 16 times the detail. You’ll be able to view distant weather systems. You’ll travel through six distinct areas each with their own enemies and rewards, and Todd promises that they’re using real-life West Virginia legends to bring the area to life.
But the big news is that Fallout 76 is an online multiplayer game. You can still play solo, exploring the world, doing quests, levelling up, etc, but this will take place in a world populated by other players. ‘Open world survival, where every character is another play’ was an idea that apparently came up in the studio four years ago. Howard calls the mode ‘softcore survival’: death doesn’t mean the loss of progression or your character. You go into a world with dozens of other players rather than hundreds or thousands. You can join your friends when you want and all your progression goes with you.
“We’ve created a wide open world with very few rules... you’ll decide what happens,” says Howard.
This is a pretty intriguing take on the multiplayer survival concept. And hey, at least it’s not Fallout Royale?
Updated
Todd Howard is on stage to talk about Fallout 76 – after a fun joke about Skyrim Alexa. It’s four times the size of Fallout 4 and set in the hills of West Virginia. But we’re getting the same trailer as the one shown at the Xbox event.
New Prey and Wolfenstein VR experiences announced by Pete Hines who F-bombs the Nazis once again.
Wolfenstein Youngblood announced
A co-op spin-off from the acclaimed alternate WWII shooter series is coming next year, featuring BJ’s twin daughters fighting for survival in a 1980s Paris overrun with Nazis.
Updated
Excellent anti-Nazi F-bomb just dropped by the Wolfenstein developers on stage there.
There is a new mode coming for Prey called Typhon Hunter, where five players compete against one who plays as a mimic and can disguise themselves as various everyday objects. Imagine being fragged by an office chair.
Updated
Prey is getting a “huge” new update with new modes, including Survival. There will also be a new DLC called Moon Crash where the enemies, hazards and loot will all be different each time you play. It looks like a procedurally generated shoot out. To be honest we’ve been distracted by the use of the brilliant You Spin Me Right Round by Dead or Alive as the demo soundtrack. RIP Pete Burns.
Love this from UK-based game developer Rob Fearon. Possibly the only KLF reference we’ll get for E3 this year.
Can't believe they announced Doom Eternal at 3am.
— Rob Remakes (@retroremakes) June 11, 2018
Quake Champions is being opened up to everyone, via a pre-release trial. And if you get in now you’ll be able to play for free after it launches. There’s a new trailer coming – we’ll post that in a bit.
Doom Eternal revealed
The rebooted Doom is getting a sequel. “You want more badass demons,” asks Bethesda. “There will be twice as many”. “You want hell on Earth? We just teased it”. The game will be debuted at QuakeCon in August. That’s all we’re getting on that.
Updated
Matt Firor director of Elder Scrolls online announces that the game now has eight million players. The next DLC will be Wolf Hunter, a dungeon pack based around werewolves. This will be followed by another DLC which Firor promises will dive into Argonian lore and culture. Who doesn’t want to do that?
Bethesda is relaunching its card game Elder Scrolls Legends with overhauled visuals and it’ll be available on Xbox One, PS4 AND Nintendo Switch. This is possibly not the news that a lot of people wanted to see about Elder Scrolls.
In Rage 2 you play as Walker “the last ranger of the wasteland”. We’re shown a demo of the Eden Space Port mission, with Walker approaching in his heavily armoured buggy, firing missiles at enemy vehicles. The base is controlled by a mohican-sporting gang named the Goon Squad. Switching to on-foot, there is a lot of shooting among shipping containers. On completing a mission objective you pick up a new ability named Shatter which lets you thrust people across the wasteland. Getting Bulletstorm vibes here.
So it’s off to a noisy start with Andrew WK performing live with his hit song ‘Ready To Die’.
Bethesda head Pete Hines is on stage letting us all know about the company’s recent history. He’s made a joke about Walmart Canada accidentally leaking the details of Rage 2.
Okay so we’re starting with what looks like a corporate video for new employees.
Bethesda press conference has started
It’s time for our second big press conference of E3 2018!
Keza is now inside the Bethesda venue!
Keza is currently queuing to get into the Bethesda event. Look who she’s spotted outside.
Couldn’t move on without mentioning Battletoads, which is coming to Xbox One and PC courtesy of Dlala Studios, which originated from Microsoft’s Lift London studio, and is now based in Essex. Microsoft has described the game as offering “body-morphing genre mashups, three-player couch co-op, 4K hand-drawn 2.5D graphics, and broad non-specific feature declarations.”
Updated
Just before Bethesda, another quick thing on Microsoft. Veteran industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls of IHS Markit, has summed up the Xbox event.
“Microsoft ended March 2018 with an Xbox One installed base of 39.1 million compared to 76.6 million for Sony’s PS4. While, Xbox One X has sold well, Microsoft needed its E3 showcase to deliver on first party studio output and its platform exclusives to reap the marketing benefits of the technical and power advantages of Xbox One X over the PS4 Pro. The showcase did not disappoint, with a total of 18 exclusives revealed and on show, and the return of many fan favourites including Halo. Based on this showing and other third-party announcements, it looks like early 2019 is going to be very crowded for game releases.”
Okay, what are the odds on a Doom or Quake Battle Royale spin-off? 100 Space Marines dropped into a demon-infested base, running about trying to find the chain gun while picking up keys to gain access to new map areas? And a rail gun and rocket jumping would certainly be fun in a Battle Royale environment.
Ah, a cute take on the Microsoft conference from game developer Adriel Wallick. There were indeed a lot of cute critters during the presentation.
The best part of the @Xbox presser was that there were multiple games with deer in them. One of those games also had a sheep. Then, of course there’s the game with the fox.
— Adriel Wallick (@MsMinotaur) June 10, 2018
Good animals all around in this presser.
Well, that’s enough of Microsoft for now, we think. Let’s turn our attention to Bethesda and its press conference which is starting in 90 minutes. Obviously Rage 2 and Fallout 76 will feature heavily, as will Quake Champions. But what else? A new Doom? Elder Scrolls... stuff? No one seems to be expecting a big new series.
Speaking of Fallout 76, for those that missed it, here’s footage of the longer trailer that was shown at the Microsoft conference:
We’ve just had our first play on Forza Horizon 4. A demo at the Xbox Showcase, which followed Microsoft’s press conference, provided a brief jaunt through the game’s four seasons. On the spring section, a race through a beautifully lit woodland, complete with swathes of bluebells, provided huge muddy puddles to scorch through and ramps to fly over. The Autumn section involved racing along a country lane in the twilight, with leaves bustling across the track.
The winter section took place at night, the snowy track lit by your headlights, reflecting off the icy surface – all the graphical niceties we expect from Playground Games. There’s a real sense of the English countryside in the scenes we saw – tiny cottages, lambs gambolling in the fields. It was quite a pleasant place to be after a thunderingly loud Xbox show.
People are playing some of those newly-announced games in the Microsoft Theatre right now, bathed in green. Forza Horizon 4 is proving popular.
Commenter Knowles2 says:
“It will be interesting to see if Microsoft investments into studios actually pay off. Microsoft acquisition of studios in the past have been mixed, with Microsoft losing much of the talent that made the studios worth acquiring in the first place.”
This is true - and applicable to every time a studio gets snapped up by a huge company, not just Microsoft. EA’s acquisition history is often rolled out as an example of what happens when good talent gets swallowed. How developers fare after an acquisition like this depends hugely on the creative leadership of the companies in question; plenty of studios thrive under corporate ownership, too, but it’s never a totally painless transition.
Here’s the teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 77, which is happily much more colourful and much less gritty and rain-soaked than the conventional cyberpunk aesthetic - at least on the evidence of this video.
I’d almost forgotten that Xbox head Phil Spencer mentioned at the end of that press conference that the next Xbox consoles are in development. That’s no great surprise: the research and development cycles on games consoles take five years at least, so the beginnings of that process would probably have started shortly after the release of the Xbox One.
But the fact that Microsoft chose to mention it now makes you question why. Will we see new Xbox consoles this time next year? Or maybe even earlier? I doubt that any new Xbox console actually be released until 2020, but perhaps Microsoft is laying the groundwork for an early announcement.
Little fact: Microsoft now has double the number of game development studios than it did last year. Promising.
Xbox's E3 2018 conference summary: a new Halo, three new Gears of War games, and a lot of money flying around
For those just joining us, here’s what’s happened so far at E3 2018’s first big news day.
Microsoft showed 50 new games for Xbox and PC during its E3 2018 conference, kicking off with a new Halo game called Halo Infinite. Three new Gears of War games also made an appearance: one on mobile (Gears Pop!), one for PC (Gears Tactics), and one for Xbox One (Gears 5), starring returning character Kait Diaz.
Forza Horizon 4 is a new racing game that’s played in an online world where every driver you meet is another human being. It’s set in the UK, with dynamic weather and seasons that players across the world will experience at the same time.
But the company went further than the usual driving and shooting, showing a sequel to a beautiful platform game Ori and the Blind Forest, a skateboarding game called Session, an exploration game about a tiny fox, a new game from the developers of Dark Souls names Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a game about a boy who pretends to be a superhero, Disney-themed Japanese role-playing game Kingdom Hearts, and several other games that broaden the Xbox One’s line-up.
Microsoft has also bought or established five new game studios, a huge investment in new creative talent. UK developers Ninja Theory (makers of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice) and Playground Games (of Forza Horizon) are both now Microsoft studios. It has also acquired Undead Labs and Compulsion Games, and established a new studio in Santa Monica called The Initiative.
There were first looks at some anticipated games from other developers. Bethesda showed a first trailer for Fallout 76, set in the immediate aftermath of nuclear war. Ubisoft’s The Division 2 has players protecting the populace of a ruined Washington DC after a pandemic destroys the US population. Dying Light 2 is a zombie survival game that builds a better story based on choice and consequence on top of the gore and terror of the first game in the series. Impossibly stylish demon-slaying action game Devil May Cry, from Capcom, returned after a 10-year absence. And Jump Force, from Bandai-Namco, pits anime stars against each other in a colourful fighting game. Cyberpunk 2077, from the developers of The Witcher 3, was also shown for the first time.
Commenter Amanbro asks:
“Is it too much to ask for companies to show actual live gameplay? That’s the main thing I’m interested in.”
That press conference was especially heavy on cinematic trailers, wasn’t it? Apart from those five-minute looks at The Division 2, Forza Horizon and Dying Light, I’m not sure we saw anyone actually play something on that stage.
Then again, when you’ve got 50 games to cram into 90 minutes, there’s not a great deal of time to show how something actually plays.
Our correspondent Keith is still at the Microsoft theatre - he’ll be hopping in with some opinions on some of these new announcements once he gets his hands on a controller.
Xbox One has been trailing the PlayStation 4 both in terms of sales and creativity for the past few years, so Microsoft really needed a strong showing at E3 this year to show it wasn’t out of ideas. I didn’t see anything particularly left-field today - E3 is always dominated by the most expensive and popular games around, so that’s no surprise - but I did see a broad spread of fun and interesting-looking things, and a lot of investment in talent. Phil Spencer has done a lot to turn the Xbox division around. Keith will be interviewing him later - look out for some quotes.
That last-minute glimpse of Cyberpunk 2077 was a good closer, too, though inevitably I want to see what the game actually looks like when you’re playing it. Very much hoping that it will be shown in greater detail later this week.
Can we talk about Devil May Cry 5? It’s great to see the series back with Capcom for the first time in 10 years, but I’m also slightly sad to see 2013’s DmC airburshed from history. Its storytelling was brilliant and Dante had never been sexier.
Now that its developer Ninja Theory is owned my Microsoft I doubt we’ll ever see another Devil May Cry in that style. Here’s the trailer for Devil May Cry 5:
Loads more trailers turning up on YouTube now from the conference. Here are a few that got a bit lost in the shuffle during the main show:
Session, a new skateboarding game:
And Tunic, a game about a tiny fox exploring a big world:
Bethesda’s press conference starts in a few hours - we can expect that to be very Fallout-focussed, after that teaser trailer shown at the Microsoft conference. In the meantime, stay with us for some analysis, and some reactions to that Xbox showcase.
Xbox press conference ends
That’s it for Microsoft’s press conference. That was a very impressive number of new games, with more variety than Xbox has shown in some years - it will be a while before that massive investment in new development studios pays off, and a lot of what we saw there will be out in 2019 or even later, but I’m nonetheless encouraged to see an Xbox lineup that moves beyond driving and shooting with confidence.
Updated
A final stunt before the end, though: a trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, a new game from the makers of The Witcher 3. This is the first we’ve ever seen of it. I’ll drop that trailer in as soon as it’s available - it showed an unexpectedly colourful city full of cyborgs.
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, is back out on stage to close the conference, heading off rumours at the pass by saying that Microsoft is working on its new generation of Xbox consoles - I wouldn’t be surprised if we see those consoles next year, but it could even be 2020.
Here’s a trailer for Gears 5, showing an encouraging character-focussed direction:
Gears 5 got a predictable boisterous welcome from the crowd - just about equalling Battletoads immediately before it.
Microsoft announces three new Gears of War games
- Gears Pop! is a mobile game based on Funko Pop toys
- Gears Tactics is a PC strategy game
- Gears 5 is a shooter for Xbox One
A third new Gears of War game (the rumours were true!): Gears of War 5, the one that everyone was really waiting for. The main character is Kait Diaz - a female star is a first for the series.
But there’s a second new Gears game: Gears Tactics, made especially for PC. It’s a turn-based strategy game that looks along the lines of XCOM.
A new Gears of War game now, but not quite what everyone was expecting: it’s a mobile game based around those little Funko Pop toys that are everywhere at the moment (does anyone else think they’re super ugly, or is it just me?)
Updated
Just Cause, quite possibly the most videogamey game of all time, is also making a return: Just Cause 4 will be out in December this year.
Clearly lots of anime fans in the audience at the Xbox event. Huge very long cheers for Jump Force.
Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto and lots of really loud shouting and fighting: Jump Force is pretty much the game my sons would design #XboxE3 pic.twitter.com/iN8ovPdaU5
— Keith Stuart (@keefstuart) June 10, 2018
Well, this is unexpected: Microsoft is bringing back Battletoads, a game that’s known more for its meme status than as something people actually played. That’ll be out in 2019.
More post-apocalyptic stuff next: “every day we rise from the dead to choose between bad and worse”. Cheery. This is zombie-killing survival game Dying Light 2.
Chris Avellone (of Planescape Torment, fans of PC RPGs) is the narrative designer. Looks like story and player choice will be prominent here alongside the gore. Here’s a first look:
Updated
Bandai-Namco’s new game Jump Force pits characters from One-Piece, Naruto and Dragonball Z against each other in a very colourful fighting game. It’ll be out in 2019; I’m betting it’ll feature other Shonen Jump anime/manga characters too.
We really are seeing a LOT of games here. They promised 50, and I think we’ve got a good few still to go.
Another new game, Tunic, featuring “a tiny fox in a big world” was briefly shown - I’ll drop the trailer for that into this liveblog soon as it’s up.
Well Devil May Cry V may have got the biggest crowd reaction here since the Halo opener.
Huge response to Devil May Cry V at the #XboxE3 showcase. So many whoops it made my camera go blurry. pic.twitter.com/zqVIkr8Kur
— Keith Stuart (@keefstuart) June 10, 2018
The notoriously difficult Cuphead, most memorable for its incredible 1920s-animation-style visuals, is getting a new island full of bosses early next year. I look forward to throwing my Xbox controller through the window once again.
Now we’re seeing a new Devil May Cry, Capcom’s long-running demon-slaying action series, featuring the impossibly stylish, smart-mouthed protagonist Dante. It’s called Devil May Cry 5.
It’s been in development for 4 years and has leaked a few times, but this is the first time we’ve actually seen it.
Updated
The Shadow of the Tomb Raider demo looked nice, but it’s the exclusives that are getting the most reaction here.
Fierce new look for Lara in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider demo. #XboxE3 pic.twitter.com/qflHUFkVKG
— Keith Stuart (@keefstuart) June 10, 2018
Here’s a throwback to the heady days of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater: a new skateboarding game called Session. I did think for a second that it was going to be Skate 4, but hey, any new skateboarding game is a surprise in 2018.
Microsoft is going big on Xbox Game Pass, its subscription service that gives people access to free games every month. The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 4 and The Division (the first one) are all being added to the service today.
A pretty effect from the Xbox conference...
Leaves falling during the Forza Horizon 4 demo at the Xbox conference! pic.twitter.com/aCffFFILDZ
— Keith Stuart (@keefstuart) June 10, 2018
Let’s summarise the announcements so far:
- A new Halo game, Halo Infinite
- Ori and the Blind Forest gets a sequel
- The first proper trailer for Fallout 76 premiered
- The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a sweet-looking game about a kid pretending to be a superhero
- Forza Horizon 4, a new racing game set in the UK, is coming out on Xbox One and Windows
- Microsoft has bought 5 new studios, including Playground Games and Ninja Theory in the UK
Updated
Playground Games has tweeted about Forza Horizon 4, showing off some of those British environments. The setting has been well-received – and it no doubt saved the Leamington-based studio some money on location research.
Welcome to beautiful, historic Britain Horizon! @WeArePlayground are proud to present #ForzaHorizon4 – dynamic seasons, spectacular native 4K and HDR, over 450 cars and the opportunity to become a #HorizonSuperstar! pic.twitter.com/3EACLl5eOH
— Playground Games (@WeArePlayground) June 10, 2018
Ubisoft’s The Division 2, set in Washington DC, imagines an America on the brink of collapse after a pandemic. You play as part of a squad trying to avert civil war in a city ruined by urban warfare. A live gameplay demonstration is showing a squad in the ruined and overgrown botanic gardens, protecting an encampment of civilians with kids.
Updated
Out of all those studio announcements, it was perhaps Ninja Theory that drew the loudest response here. Phil Spencer highlighted the studio’s ability with emotional narratives, as seen in the acclaimed Hellblade.
Psychedelic survival game We Happy Few will be out on August 10th.
Playground Games AND Ninja theory are now Microsoft Studios. That’ll mean quite a few newly-minuted UK millionaires in the video game industry.
Microsoft announces that it has acquired 5 new game studios
Xbox chief Phil Spencer is back, talking about how the Xbox team has been touring the world in search of new studios to work with. This has resulted in a new Microsoft game studio: The Initiative, based in Santa Monica.
Microsoft has also acquired Undead Labs, developer of the recent State of Decay 2. The company has also bought up Playground Games, developers of the Forza Horizon series - and, says Phil, an “entirely new open-world project”.
Big surprise: Ninja Theory, developer of BAFTA-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, is now part of Microsoft too.
And there’s a fifth! Compulsion Games, which is currently making We Happy Few.
This is great news. Microsoft is showing that it’s investing massively in new game development talent.
Updated
Forza Horizon 4 will be out on October 2nd for both Xbox One and Windows, and will be part of Xbox Game Pass - meaning it will be free to subscribers.
The news that Forza Horizon 4 will appear on Xbox Game Pass on the same day as its retail release in October got a huge reaction in the auditorium.
Have a look at Forza Horizon 4: they’re currently showing off the same British locations in summer and winter.
Forza Horizon is by far my favourite racing series - the last game was set in a very gorgeous Australia. It’s a more playful game than the other Forza racers, which focus more on realistic driving.
Forza Horizon 4 announced for Xbox One and PC
Forza Horizon 4 - a new racing game from UK studio Playground Games - the next announcement. It’s set in the UK and looks very beautiful indeed. Appropriately, it will feature dynamic weather and seasons to show off Britain’s notoriously ridiculous weather. They’re showing it off by driving through different British locations, including Edinburgh. Every other driver you meet in the game will be a real person, says the developer.
Updated
There’ll be new stuff for Sea of Thieves, Rare’s multiplayer pirate adventure, in July and September. Just as well, as it launched in a slightly anaemic state.
A warm reaction to Kingdom Hearts 3 in the room, especially the Frozen characters.
It seems like the Xbox chiefs have been busy building and rebuilding relationships with developers the past couple of years: we’re already seeing a great variety of games here, and not just the predictable Xbox standbys. I certainly never thought I’d be seeing a Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer at a Microsoft press conference.
Updated
Getting back to post-apocalyptic games with guns: a new entry in the very intense, brutal Metro series, Metro Exodus, is coming to Xbox One.
Both Crackdown 3 and Metro have received comparatively muted responses from the audience here – possibly as they’ve been shown off several times before.
A quick trailer for the long-delayed Crackdown 3 is followed by the announcement that extremely weird robot-themed Japanese RPG Nier Automata is coming to the Xbox One on 26 June. Good news!
Updated
The next game is a little different: less post-apocalyptic wasteland, more little kid and his dad having wholesome fun in his all-American home with gentle folk music. It’s called The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, from Life is Strange developer Dontnod- out June 26th.
Next up is Todd Howard of Bethesda games introducing Fallout 76 - a prequel to the entire series, featuring some of the first survivors emerging into the new apocalyptic world. Excellent use of the song Country Roads in the demo.
And now here’s Todd Howard of Bethesda - who’s having his own press conference in a few hours, but hey. Fallout 4 is coming to Xbox Game pass today - but more excitingly, we’re also going to see Fallout 76, a new Fallout game 4x the size of Fallout 4, set in West Virginia.
Next up: a world premiere of the next From Software title, to a raptuous reception. It’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which looks like another hardcore crawler, complete with giant enemies, combined horseback and grappling hook combat and a hero has returned from the dead. It’s published by Activision and out next year.
Updated
The next announcement is a new Ori and the Blind Forest game, Ori and the Will of the Wisps: a beautiful nature-themed platform game.
Updated
“I will always believe that gaming is the great unifier,” says Phil Spencer, who is apparently so beloved by the Xbox fan audience that they spontaneously started chanting his name.
Tonight they are showing 50 games, 18 of them Xbox exclusives, and 15 world premiers.
New Halo game, Halo Infinite, announced
The first trailer of the night is a new Halo game: Halo Infinite, featuring Master Chief and (by the looks of it) the planet from the original game. Xbox chief Phil Spencer is here to explain more.
Here’s that trailer:
Updated
Microsoft has started with a huge crowd favourite. Halo Infinite is the first new announcement. Quite an astonishing response in the audience.
Updated
We’re kicking off at the Xbox briefing!
We’ve just been given the five-minute alert at the Xbox briefing, drawing whoops from the crowd. Expectations are high after Xbox chief Phil Spencer promised 15 new announcements.
Just wrapped our final #XboxE3 rehearsal. Feeling great about the show. Excited to world premiere 15 games tomorrow and much, much more #E32018 pic.twitter.com/NxPreEOXfw
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) June 10, 2018
Another random piece of news from yesterday evening: Kingdom Hearts 3, the long-awaited Disney-themed Japanese RPG, will be out on 29 January next year. Good for you, Kingdom Hearts. You make your mark.
The stage at the Xbox presentation has several rows of monitors suggesting that we can expect some big multiplayer demos. Perhaps the recently announced Battlefield V Royale mode?
Here’s a pic from Keith Stuart, who’s in the room waiting for the Microsoft conference to begin. We’re expecting to hear about the future of the Halo and Gears of War series today, and hopefully see some new Xbox One game announcements - Microsoft has faced criticism in recent years for relying too heavily on its big franchises instead of taking creative risks with its Xbox developers, so it’ll be interesting to see how the company responds.
Microsoft’s press conference kicks off in around 35 minutes, so in the meantime, let’s recap some of the news that’s broken over the weekend. EA Games had an event yesterday that focussed on Battlefield 5, FIFA 19 and Anthem, a new Bioware game where you fly around in mech suits shooting at alien creatures. It looked like a cross between Destiny, Titanfall and Monster Hunter. Some highlights:
- The UEFA Champions League is finally coming to the FIFA games, starting with FIFA 19 this September
- You can drive a tank through a building in Battlefield 5 - and it’s also jumping on the Fortnite-inspired Battle Royale-mode bandwagon
- Respawn is making a Star Wars game called Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, out towards the end of 2019. That is literally all we learned about it.
- Developer DICE is still making new stuff for the somewhat beleaguered Star Wars: Battlefront 2, including missions from the new Solo movie
- Unravel Two, sequel to a lovely game about guiding a little guy made of yarn through the Swedish countryside, was announced - and is out now
- There was another interesting indie game called Sea of Solitude, about lonely humans who turn into monsters
- A new Command and Conquer game (remember those?) is coming to mobile phones
Updated
Hundreds of people are currently waiting outside the Microsoft Theatre in LA in the blazing heat. Keith Stuart is with them and it is reportedly exceedingly uncomfortable.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s E3 2018 liveblog. I’m Keza MacDonald, video games editor, and together with correspondent Keith Stuart we’ll be reporting live from the Xbox press conference today, where Microsoft will lift the lid on what’s ahead for gaming on Xbox One and Windows. That kicks off at 1pm PDT (9pm in the UK).
Later on, we’ll join Bethesda for a press conference about the new Fallout game, Fallout 76, and whatever else the giant publisher is up to this year. That kicks off around 6.30pm PDT (2.30am in the UK).
