The Electronic Entertainment Expo (commonly known as E3) is one of the biggest events in gaming and the select stage for game developers to reveal and provide updates on the biggest video games of the year. Itās been nearly two years since the last E3, as 2020ās event was canceled in the wake of the global pandemic. This year, E3 is back with an all-digital event running from June 11th – June 15th that everyone will be able to stream on E3ās website. While weāre eager to hear what gaming news E3 2021 will bring, thereās no denying that the last year has brought some incredible games (and even systems) since E3 2020ās cancelled June dates. While it is impossible to cover all the great developments in gaming news since then, there were definitely some highlights.
The Biggest Gaming News: New Consoles
While a number of stellar games have hit shelves and estores since last summer, the biggest gaming news of the past year was easily the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Rumors swirled around both consoles for years before the systems actually dropped in the fall of 2020, but the consoles became the biggest focus in gaming starting in the late summer months leading up to the release when the final details were announced and preorders opened. For the latest Xbox, gamers had their pick between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The Series X offers more power, storage, and a disk drive while the Series S is more lightweight and strictly digital. While gamers may find value in the disk drive that the Series X offers, downloadable games and digital gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass allow gamers to get in on the action without the need for physical games. On the Sony side, PS players also had their pick between two PS5 options, except these consoles are much more similar than Microsoftās new Xboxes. The only difference between the Blu-ray and Digital PS5s (besides price) is the presence of a disk drive in the Blu-ray edition.
Now, six months after their release, the new Xboxes and PS5s are ever-present in the gaming news cycle with much coverage focusing on their limited availability caused in part by the global chip shortage, paired with the PS5ās immense popularity.
While the majority of games recently released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S can be played on past console generations and/or PC, the systems had some much-talked-about launch titles. In the cartoon-y Bugsnax for PS5, players traverse an island in search of bugs that look like appetizing food to feed to the islandās animal residents. On the other hand, Bluepoint Gamesā remake of Demonās Souls offers an incredibly challenging experience where players become a knight taking on enormous monster bosses and other powerful enemies. Somewhere in the middle of these two games is Spider-Man: Miles Morales, where players become the web-slinger himself to fight crime and bring justice to New York City. Developers did a solid job offering variety in the PS5ās launch titles.
Xbox gamers were let down to hear the gaming news that Halo Infinite would not release alongside the Series X/S, but other classic Xbox series still made it out in time. Re-releases like Gears Tactics, a turn-based strategy take on the gory shooter Gears of War series, and racer Forza Horizon 4 made their way to the Series X and S for its release, as well as a variety of games that are available for both Xbox and PS5 including Assassins Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War.
Gaming News of 2020: The Games
Aside from the hype around new systems, 2020 brought a slew of new, highly-anticipated and praised games since E3 2020ās planned run dates in early June. While many games that defined the year, including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the Oculus-ready Half Life: Alyx, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Fall Guys, all released near the top of the year, the second half of 2020 offered some more games that made headlines.
In the remainder of the year, game studios released awaited additions to staple series. Naughty Dog, known for their PlayStation classics Uncharted and Jak and Daxter, made gaming news by building on their post-pandemic survival shooter The Last of Us with The Last of Us Part II, which is acclaimed for its riveting story. Dreamy platformer Ori and the Blind Forest got a well-reviewed sequel with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, hitting PC and Xbox earlier in the year but coming to Nintendo Switch in the fall.
Some studios even brought back hall of fame games in the form of remasters and re-releases. Activision gave us both the first and second installments of fan-favorite arcade skateboarding game Tony Hawkās Pro Skater for the full gamut of consoles as well as PC. Nintendo also gave us (for a limited time) Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which features Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy all in one package for Nintendo Switch.
Brand new titles also gained the attention of the gaming news cycle in the second half of 2020. In June, free-to-play multiplayer shooter Valorant (for PC) became the game of choice for many streamers and is perfect for fans of Counter-Strike and Overwatch. Met with solid reviews, action-adventure Ghost of Tsushima released the following month and puts players in the role of a samurai tasked with protecting his Japanese island from being conquered by the Mongol Empire. And after many delays, the highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 had a chaotic release in December of 2020. While the game was basically unplayable, on account of crashes and bugs on the consoles that most gamers had access to, those who were able to get the game going have hailed it for its depth and detail. Thankfully, its developer CD PROJEKT RED has released a variety of fixes to the game throughout the new year as well.
2021 Developments
Weāre just about halfway through the year and have seen a number of stellar releases. The long-running Hitman story got a new addition with Hitman 3, the last in its latest sub-series, which became available across current and previous-gen consoles as well as PC at the top of 2021. The following month, indie survival game Valheim took over PC to rave reviews. The Switch also got some love in the form of Super Mario 3D World + Bowserās Fury, bringing to the Switch another Mario game, which draws so many to the system. When it comes to Switch exclusives though, this year has seen more than just Mario. Monster Hunter Rise, the latest installment of the fantastical Monster Hunter series, dropped exclusively on the switch. On this one though, thereās less stomping on Goombas and more battling massive monsters. (Itās an appropriately titled game.)
Now in the homestretch leading up to the all-digital E3 2021, weāve gotten Resident Evil Village, a new addition to the long-running horror series, as well as Biomutant, the long-awaited action RPG. This is a solid reflection of the titles that we hope to see more of at the main event: the future of classics that we have grown to love over the years as well as brand new adventures that we have never imagined. Although weāre not yet certain what E3 2021 has in store, we anticipate there will be many fantastic games presented and plenty of gaming news to keep us excited through the rest of the year and into the next.
