Another E3 come and gone, and still no update on Kingdom Hearts 3. But that doesn’t mean there’s no news to be had–in fact, I’ve got quite a bit of it for you, so let’s get right to it!
E3: The Hits and Misses
This year’s E3 was a bit of a roller coaster. Though there were some exciting announcements (a Shadow of the Colossus remake! Vaulting in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds! Beyond Good and Evil 2!), a lot of it, especially Bethesda’s cutesy Bethesdaland press conference, felt kind of superfluous.
But games aren’t the only wild things at E3. Devolver, already known for having a rocky relationship with the conference, claims that their planned event nearby was intentionally sabotaged by the organization, costing them $100,000. The developer claims that E3 is too expensive for indie devs, hence their off-site spotlight.
The Xbox One X (THE MOST POWERFUL CONSOLE EVER), a souped-up version of the standard Xbox One, was the star of the Microsoft conference. But Xbox chief Phil Spencer says they don’t plan to make any money on the console, instead scoring profit off of games. A strange choice, perhaps, but a PC-powerful console does drop the price for those who aren’t ready to spring for a PC. It’s not without drawbacks–PCs are upgradeable while a console isn’t, and the Xbox One X is still pricey at 499–but the console’s success will be something to watch.
In other weird Xbox One X news, Phil Spencer also admitted that the console won’t sell as much as the Xbox One S, but that’s all part of the plan. We’re not sure what’s going on at Xbox headquarters but this whole business plan sounds fascinating.
Games have a notorious inability to render Black hair properly, but this year’s E3 made some strides in the right direction. Gita Jackson covers all the good stuff over at Kotaku.
Non E-3 Tidbits
This Magic the Gathering champion auctioned off his swag and trophy to benefit Planned Parenthood.
After a 13-year relationship with Square Enix, IO Interactive now has sole control over the Hitman IP. Even better, that means the prologue is now free on Steam.
Atari has a new console on the way, but that’s all anybody knows about it. The company’s first console since 1993 might jump on the recent trend of classic reboots, such as the NES Classic Mini, but only time will tell what the famous gaming pioneer is cooking up.
Geek Chic, purveyor of high-quality gaming tables, has gone out of business, and customers are concerned that they won’t be receiving the products they ordered or their money back.
That’s it for this week! Join me next Wednesday for another week’s news wrap-up without a bunch of pesky game and console announcements to get in the way. Until then, I’ll be sobbing over those Life is Strange and Uncharted trailers.
Melissa Brinks is Sidequest’s editor in chief, co-creator of the Fake Geek Girls podcast, author of The Compendium of Magical Beasts, and an aspiring beekeeper. She once won an argument on the internet, and tweets at @MelissaBrinks.
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