E3 2022: Gaming Bonanza or Covid-hit Bore?
E3 2021: Gaming bonanza or Covid-hit bore? By Steffan Powell Newsbeat gaming reporter
It's not a surprise that only a few new games were announced at the E3 convention this year.
Game development has been terribly affected by Covid - as seen by the numerous delayed game releases recently,
Press X to Continue reviewer Shay Thompson says this year's event had "a lot of padding". Gav Murphy, her coworker wonders if they could have "just taken another one off".
But some new games and plenty of fresh footage were shown off.
What were the highlights?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
A mysterious red-black flame flickers.
There are flashes of a blonde hero fighting, and then falling, as the screen fades to darkness.
The first few seconds of the trailer for the sequel to the Nintendo game Breath of the Wild sparked awe among fans online, and with the announcement that it'll come out in 2022.
While some may be concerned about the absence of a release date, the game that was shown seemed to have gone down an unpopularity among players.
It was the conclusion of the convention. However, there could be some displeasure that Nintendo didn't show much else at this level.
Forza Horizon 5
Racing game Forza Horizon 5 was announced at Microsoft's conference on Sunday and will be set in Mexico.
Later, it was voted the most anticipated game to be revealed at the convention.
Shay says, "It looks so much fun."
"It's arcade-style gaming goodness. You can tell the team has spent a lot of time studying the subject and that it's been translated into the game.
"It looks how games should look on the next generation of consoles."
The game is also one of the few major releases that's expected to be playable later this year - other games, such as Starfield and Elden Ring are scheduled for 2022.
Some will be disappointed that Playground Games (the studio that created Forza Horizon) didn't have any evidence of their work on the Fable game that we know is currently being developed.
Starfield
Ever since being teased in 2018 there have been questions as to what it is.
Starfield is an exciting role-playing game is now widely played. It involves flying a spaceship, exploring a galaxie, and embarking on adventures that span hundreds of thousands of years into the future.
The first brand new franchise to be developed in the past 25 years by Fallout and Elder Scrolls creator, Bethesda, will be an Xbox exclusive.
It is scheduled to be released in 2022.
Sea of Thieves
For Gav it was the unexpected collaboration between Sea of Thieves and Pirates of the Caribbean that stole the show.
He says, "It's adding story-based content to the game."
"You'll be able to go off on missions with Pirates of the Caribbean characters However, the world will not be taken over by them, so this doesn't feel to me like some strange, cynical, cash-in.
"Sea of Thieves is at its best when you're playing cool missions with friends and this is bringing more content like that."
Elden Ring
This week an audience member was able to answer a question: "What is Elden Ring?"
The collaboration between Game of Thrones author George R.R Martin and legendary games maker Hidetaka Miyazaki has finally been given a release date.
Some were beginning to doubt that we'd never play the game first announced in the year 2019 - following a serious lack of updates.
However, a lot of the game's dark and mysterious setting has been shown off and developers say it will be on our consoles in January 2022.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Marvel fans were thrilled to see an unexpected tie-in with The Guardians of the Galaxy which was announced by publisher Square Enix.
This October, the title lets you play the role of the star-lord Peter Quill and the trailer was full of his trademark quips and one-liners.
The game isn't popular because it doesn't have the right to use the similarity of Hollywood actors.
Shay describes the old-fashioned display as "it appears to be created 10 years ago."
"Having these characters, that are pretty generic, not the Hollywood faces It was quite odd."
Indie games to get excited about
Inel Tomlinson of Press X to Keep's Inel Tomlinson stated that the main attractions at this year's convention were not the biggest titles, but some independent titles that were announced at the event.
"I really enjoyed the indie games being placed at the forefront of attention this year during the conferences," he says.
"I liked the game Replaced with its cool pixelated art mixed with 12 minutes of film starring Willem Dafoe.
"There are a lot of smaller independent titles that you can get excited about."
For more gaming content, head to Press X To Continue on BBC Sounds.
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