This year Microsoft is running unopposed, with Sony being a no-show this year, and that could, and should have led to a ridiculous showing that put them on top for the foreseeable future. While they started pretty strong with a new trailer for The Outer Worlds, that showed off a few of the choices that can be made. Along with the official announcement of the new Ninja Theory game titled Bleeding Edge, which is a 4 versus 4 physical combat game in the same vein of Overwatch, with a tecnical alpha people can take part in starting June 27th there was just a sheer amount of meh, and similarity to last year's showing. Ori: And The Will Of The Wisps brought an interesting boss trailer, with an announced release of February 11th 2020. Somewhat interestingly there was the announcement of a new game from the Minecraft devs titled Minecraft Dungeons, which is a top down four player Diablo-esque dungeon crawler that takes place in the Minecraft world with a release window of 2020.

     Weirdly enough these announcements were before the Head of Xbox Phil Spencer even made his way onto the main stage. After a speech that didn't need to be as long as it was announced that the new console will be revealed before the end. After a slightly interesting trailer for Star Wars: Fallen Order was quickly shown, they moved quickly along to Cyberpunk 2077. This trailer was obviously the highlight of the entire press conference, while it was disappointingly CG only, it was still interesting enough to see, especially with the reveal that Keanu Reeves will have a role to play in the story of this game, with a release date of April 16th 2020, next year seems to be preparing to be quite a doozy.  A new indie game titled SpiritFarer looks interesting, with no real release info given, it is likely to have more info throughout the week. Battlletoads was finally properly shown, and it is kinda ugly, but the 80s aesthetic and lighthearted attitude might give enough reason to keep interest, though there is still time to alter parts due to there being no launch window given.

     After an interesting trailer for an indie rpg called The Legend Of Wright, they went into their block of service shilling for the Games Pass, the beta for PC starts today, and also announced Game Pass Ultimate which will cost $15 a month and include a subscription to Xbox Live Gold. Moving swiftly along they announced a new Flight Simulator game with no year subtitle, or release window given, after a pretty lame trailer announcing Wasteland 3, the head of Xbox Games Studios, Matt Booty arrived on stage to talk about all the studios they have acquired so far, and to announce the acquisition of Double Fine studios, where Tim Schaffer shows off a new trailer for Psychonauts 2 which while looking like an improved version of the first game didn't really show much other than combat or out of context story beats.

     They then revealed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which includes all 9 movies in one game, Bandai finally revealed the proper name of the Project Z: Kakarot, and other than a decent trailer, not much extra info was given. Two more indie games were shown, 12 minutes, a top down interactive thriller, that looks compelling, and Way To The Woods. where you play as a buck where you lead a young deer to the woods from the city. After that is when the conference took a downward turn with the info dump of Gears Of War 5: Bound By Blood. After a silly, and mostly nonsense CG trailer they announced the release date of September 10th 2019, and they still haven't shown any gameplay since last year. Aside from the new co-op mode called escape, with apparently class-based gameplay, they didn't really show much to really explain what this is. also they announced there is a Terminator: Dark Fate character pack for the Escape co-op mode.

     After a pretty dry announcement for the new Elite controller series 2, as they called it, which is more customizable, has bluetooth functionality, rechargeable batteries with a charge dock and 40 hours of play time, it is available for pre-order and priced at 179.99, they showed a Dying Light trailer with a spring 2020 release window. Forza Horizon 4 showed an interesting expansion titled Lego speed champions. Sadly Gears Pop decided to make a repeat appearance which was a lame as feared, and a pretty meh trailer for State Of Decay 2 DLC titled Heartland was shown. Interestingly enough Xbox has finally done, it, they have got Sega to bring Phantasy Star Online 2 to the west, with a really cool trailer, after that was a trailer for Crossfire X an FPS made by smilegate, coming to the west for the first time in the west. The amazing trailer for the new Tales game, titled Tales Of Arise, with a 2020 release window. After a pretty cool Borderlands 3 trailer, they announced that new Borderlands 2 DLC is released which bridges the story between 2 and 3 is out today, and will be free on all platforms till July 8th.

     As the end of the conference approaches the trailer for the new From Software, which has George R. R. Martin contributing to it titled Elden Ring, the trailer while beautiful and interesting, is confusing as hell, then the boredom fully enveloped the conference. After a pretty info light talk about X Cloud service, which mentioned it beginning in October of this year, they revealed also the start of console streaming. After that weird bit, they announced that the new console, currently titled Scarlet will be releasing holiday of 2020, thankfully after a boring trailer touting the power, and SSD and whatnot they showed a trailer for Halo Infinite, which releases alongside the Scarlet.

     Overall, while this is nowhere near the worst conference Microsoft has had, however, with this Sony free E3 they had an opportunity to show their best, and for the most part, they didn't and that feels like a waste of their chance, hopefully they can improve upon this and really pull out all the stops.

C-

                                                      NOTE: This is a spoiler-free preview
     For those of you who do not already know, Judge Eyes (Judgement in the west), is a game set in the Yakuza universe, with new characters and story. With that said, if you have played the more recent Yakuza games you are in familiar territory while enjoying new aspects that are hopefully added to the newest entry in the next Yakuza game.
    
     Mechanically and aesthetically, the game still has the 'feel' of the Yakuza series that so many fans have grown to love. While thankfully building upon ideas and mechanics that have needed improvement, even if only slightly. The movement feels much improved from the most recent Yakuza games, not ridiculously different, but just feels more 'refined' like you are walking on solid ground, rather than slightly slipping on an ice rink. You could say that 'refinement' is the word of the day when it comes to Judge Eyes, and that is a good thing for sure. It is easy to tell that the developers have gotten comfortable with the Dragon Engine since it's introduction with Yakuza 6.

     With this being written by the people responsible for Yakuza 0, expectations were elevated, and so far, have not been disappointed in the experience it has given. The characters are some of the strongest and most interesting up to this point in the larger series. The main character, feels much more grounded than Kazuma Kiryu, who seems more like a legendary semi-mythical person. The interactions between the characters is some of the most interesting, while mentioning the pasts that some share with each other helps to add to the depth of the story and the affect it has on the main character and how he interacts with those around him.

     Overall Judge Eyes is a great game, and while only slightly halfway through, it feels like the future for the Yakuza series is exciting, and want to see what can be done with the series in the next gen. Hopefully, Judge Eyes can be a game series that is updated concurrently with Yakuza because it is something that deserves more attention.

~Koyuuki Aihara

     The presentation pace was quite fast, and felt like they learned from past mistakes about not making it drag too long. Starting off they showed a new game from Marvelous titled Daemon X Machina, which at first glance looks like Armored Core, but it appears to have its own interesting take on the mecha genre. There were a couple shadow drops revealed, Fortnite, and Hollow Knight are available to download on the Eshop, today. 

     Super Mario Party was shown off, which seems to have dropped the number, and the minigames got a bit of a overhaul, with some of them using multiple Switch consoles, with a release date of 5th August. A fair amount of third party games were showcased most notable are Overcooked 2, releasing on 7th, August, an arcade darling Killer Queen Black, Minecraft for 21st June, Wasteland 2, sometime in November. They showed off the story DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, titled Torna, The Golden Country, in September 2018, which takes place 500 years before the main game, telling the story of Jin. Which will apparently also be sold standalone, and will come with the season pass for the main game. 

     They finally showed the game proper for the new Fire Emblem. Titled Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it will apparently have three characters, but no info on how that will work currently, also the battle system has been altered slightly with formations, due to the addition of troops fighting with each character, and also combo attacks have been changed to account for this. The player will also be able to directly control their characters in towns, and interact with npcs. Relationships are back, but there is not any info on either marriage or child mechanics at this time. It looks exciting, and has increased the hype for this title. 

     Finally they ended with the new Smash game, titled Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate. The biggest item of information was that every character from every previous game, will be included in the roster. They stated a few features to the game, such as streamlined character unlock, 8v8 battles, and an increase in variety of certain characters, such as a female Pokemon Trainer, 8 Villager variants (4 male & 4 female). All current amiibo of smash characters, and third party characters, will be compatible Kirby will have a transformation for every character now, and Rodin (from Bayonetta) will be an assist trophy. They highlighted two new characters, Daisy, a 'echo' character who is similar to Peach, and finally; Ridley of Metroid fame will make its way into the game, along with the previously revealed inklings, Ridley and Inklings will receive amiibo, with the game set to release 7th December 2018.

     With this being the last confrence, it is probably the best one, second only to Sony, due to the sheer shock value that was present in that conference. Would have wished for a bit more on more games, there was enough here to keep it interesting. There is still time for more surprises, so here is hoping.

~Koyuuki°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ ° 

     This conference started off strange, in a church tent, after a small speech and a song played on a banjo, they started a video for The Last Of Us Part II. It started off in a church that looked similar to where the conference took place. After some character development with Ellie, it moved to gameplay, if you played the first game it looked familiar, but the animations, effects, and sounds were of course vastly improved upon. The visceral combat was still there, turned up to 11. After the end of that they left the area while the audience moved to a different place, where they announced that God Of War will receive a new game+ mode, pre-order Black Ops 4, you will receive 4 remastered maps for Black Ops 3, which is also added to PS+ tonight. After a showing of the Destiny 2: Forsaken Story trailer, they mover right along to Ghosts Of Tsushima. The game is beautiful, and the gameplay looks great, smooth, and amazing ambiance. Shows stealth, executions, climbing, and grapple hooks. A new Remedy game called Control was shown, a game titled Trover Saved The World, from the creators of Rick And Morty, along with a small teaser from Nioh 2 being shown. Amazingly enough Resident Evil 2 Remake was finally revealed with a release date of 25 Jan 2019. A third trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3 was shown which revealed some more story moments with the reveal of a Pirates 3 world with ship combat. After an amazing Death Stranding 8 minute gameplay/story trailer, they ended with an amazing gameplay demo for Spiderman. Taking place in the Raft prison, the combat looked cool, and quite the slick looking UI. 

     While it started off with a bit of a weird feel, it finished with a nuclear explosion, with the sheer amount of amazing reveals, hopefully if they do a show like this again, they do not put the live audience over the rest, or give a warning of what is going to be happen. Though it would be better if they keep to the same venue throughout, even so; it is still the best conference of the week so far.

​~Koyuuki°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ ° 

 
     While the energy and pacing of the show was similar to previous Ubi E3 showings, there was something different about how it was presented, which could be said was due to the lack of a host, but the lack of dead air and 'cringe moments' had a bit to do with it as well. Starting as they usually do, with a dance performance in the style of Just Dance; while it was as weird as it ever was and slightly long in the tooth, it was entertaining regardless. Moving on, with quite a bang; they showed off a new trailer for Beyond Good And Evil 2, which was showed off Jade, from the first game, as an antagonist, with Payj also making an appearance. They also went into more detail about the Space Monkey Program, which is in a partnership with HitRecord, which is a platform for artistic collaborataion, in order to allow their community to contribute to the creation of the game, whether that is assets in the form of art, music, or objects in the actual game itself. If that sounds cool head to hitrecord.org and search for Beyond Good And Evil 2 to start contributing. 

     After this the community manager for Rainbow 6 Siege, came out, and after a speech teased a documentary highlighting 9 different communities of the game, along with informing about the new content drop 'Operation Para Bellum.' Trials Rising was announced with a trailer, and an entertaining stage presence, a release window of 'February' 2019, with news of sign-up to a closed beta on trialsgame.com, with it being an improved experience to earlier games. Division 2 was shown with a story trailer, and information that the story continues seven months after the end of the last game. Also; it was confirmed that not only will it be possible to play with 8 players, with the addition of raids, but the first year of the game will have three pieces of story content, and will all be free. The endgame progression will be changed as well; three specializations will become available offering new abilities, through selection of a specific weapon, with a release date of 15 March 2019. 

     Following that there was the reveal of what the Donkey Kong DLC for Mario & Rabbids with a performance by Critical Hit, conducted by Grant Kirkhope, with a release of 26 June. Skull And Bones made a showing with more information. The showing of a hub area, where you can customize your ship, takes place in the Indian Ocean after Pirates were ousted from the Caribbean, factions, weather, and cataclysms will affect how you go about your piracy. Looks like a vastly improved ship-based combat system from Assassins Creed 4, with a release window of 2019. A creepy trailer of Transference, which gave a better idea of what to expect, and will be both VR and able to be played on traditional platforms, with a Fall 2018 release window. Starlink showed off a story trailer, which seemed to make the game look more interesting. The most surprising aspect was the Starfox content which will come to the Switch version, with a Arwing able to be bought with the game, with a 16 October release. 

     The community manager of For Honor came on stage, after talking about the community, they mentioned a new update 'Marching Fire,' which adds a Chinese faction and a new 4v4 castle siege mode 'Breach,' also on PC, you can download the starter version for free on Uplay, starting today, and through the week of E3. The Crew 2 announced the beginning of the beta on 21 June which you can sign up for and pre-download today, with a 29 June release date. Assassins Creed: Odyssey ended the show with a bang, and revived the waning interest in the series. Takes place during the Peloponessian War, you will be able to select your character; either that male Alexios, and the female Alexandra, no matter who you choose will have the same backstory. There will be choices to be made within conversations, which will change the direction that the story goes in. There are also large battles, and seems as though ship combat is back, with a 5 October release.

     With this conference, it seems to be the best show so far. The energy, pacing, and what was shown made it quite the enjoyable show, even the low moments were more enjoyable than a bit of the high moments of the other conferences, hopefully Ubi can keep up with the hype they have created, and make good on the promises of what was shown.

~Koyuuki°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °​

     Starting out, this conference began strong, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, showed gameplay of the stealth, and camouflage systems in the game, gave a better idea of the what was added to the game. Strangely they showed the patch 4.3 trailer for Final Fantasy 14, but that was easily forgotten with the reveal of a Monster Hunter World crossover event, other than the reveal, not much more information was given. Hopefully, with the Live Letter tomorrow they will give more information on that. They clarified on the Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit; the game is a prologue to Life Is Strange 2, there will apparently be hints to what and who will be in the game within the area of this, also, it will be 100% free to download. A new Platinum game was shown called Babylon's Fall was shown, and other than an interesting trailer, and a release year of 2019, not much was given, but it looks interesting. 

     Dragon Quest 11 showed a story trailer, not showing much, but looks interesting, with the English VA being well done. Other than the release date, which was already revealed, of 4th September, they announced a crossover event with the mobile game Brave Exvius.  Just Cause 4 was shown, a decently deep dive was given, showing off the multitude of new vehicles in the game, with improved driving, also mentioned the improved combat, also giving a hint about the improved enemy A.I. who also have abilities based on their class. This game is also the largest area in the series, and also now includes more distinct areas with the inclusion of "extreme" weather, such as tornadoes, and sandstorms among other types. A short trailer; which began with FMV and moved into gameplay of a game called The Quiet Man, they will reveal more in August, likely pertaining to Gamescom in Germany. Finally they revealed a slightly altered trailer from the MS conference which included some extra story elements, some more characters, and the reveal of Ratatouille content, though unsure as to whether that is simply a summon, or a world at this time.

     The biggest issue with this presentation is not only that it was only 29 minutes, and it was so early in the day for so little, but the statement of the Square Enix CEO to make sure to stay till the end, for something that didn't actually happen was disappointing. However, even with that, with what was shown, and at the speed it was shown, it was put together the best of everything so far, and didn't waste our collective time, even if they ignored certain games, such as Final Fantasy 7 remake, and Left Alive. E3 is still going, so there is still a chance to get more information on what they showed, and show things that are most exciting to their fans. 

~Koyuuki​°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °