E3 2017 doesn't "officially" start until Tuesday, but the festivities begin today with EA's press briefing at 12 PM PT. You can watch the stream live here on GameSpot, but if for whatever reason, you can't watch the show, you can also follow along with us in our liveblog below.
Project Rap Rabbit is still raising money on Kickstarter, but the team behind the rhythm-based adventure game, slotted for PlayStation 4 and PC, is now giving a first look at gameplay in the concept trailer above.
The video is based on a prototype of the game, but it shows off some of Project Rap Rabbit's music style and rap mechanics. If it has a familiar feel, that's because it's being developed by the creators of classic rhythm games PaRappa The Rapper and Gitaroo Man.
The game follows Toto-Maru, a rabbit meets farm boy, and his sidekick Otama-Maru on their quest to save the world. The planet is becoming an increasingly hostile place, thanks to some nastly looking "overlords," and the heroes need to create peace by "embracing the strength of music and by using the magic of rhythm and rhyme." The art style takes players to an alternate world, inspired by 16th century Japan, and promises to blend traditional Japanese artwork and modern rap culture.
The developers have raised roughly US $180,000 of their $1.1 million goal, and with just nine days of fundraising to go it's looking increasingly unlikely they'll fundraise successfully. They'll only receive their Kickstarter funding if they reach their goal by that deadline. As a stretch goal, the team has committed to making a version of the game for Nintendo Switch if they exceed their goal and raise $1.5 million.
If you'd like to donate or want to read more about how the game's rap battle dynamics will work, head over to its Kickstarter page, and follow our full coverage here at GameSpot for the latest news on Project Rap Rabbit.
Microsoft is cutting the price of the Xbox One S, though it might not be a permanent price drop. Starting on June 11, the day of the Xbox E3 briefing, Microsoft will offer the console for only $250. That's a price drop of $50, and it brings the system in line with the PS4 Slim's temporary price cut. It remains to be seen if the Xbox One S price drop is only for a limited time.
The Xbox E3 2017 briefing is expected to bring news on Project Scorpio, including its official name, price, and release date. We're also expecting to hear about new games and see more footage of already-announced titles.
The briefing kicks off at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET on June 11. GameSpot will host a livestream and liveblog for the event, and we'll also have all the news broken out as it happens.
E3 2017 is upon us, and following a year in which Sony was lauded for its strong E3 showing, there are a wide range of possibilities for what it could have in store this time around. Last year presented us with reveals of Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, a new God of War, and Insomniac Games' Spider-Man, demonstrating a strong lineup of PS4 exclusives still to come.
Despite the solid momentum that Sony has generated after two successful conferences, there's still plenty of room for improvement in how it can remain on top of its E3 game. With its main competitor in Microsoft ready to show off new hardware with Scorpio's unveiling, the PlayStation brand will need some significant groundswell in order to stay ahead of the pack. Just prior to E3 2017, our editors discussed what Sony needs to show off this year in order to keep its momentum going in the face of some stiff competition.
Do you have your own thoughts and opinions about Sony's chances at winning E3 2017? Be sure to comment below and have a look at our articles on how Microsoft and Nintendo can come out on top. Check out our hub to follow all of our E3 coverage, which will include everything Sony reveals during its press conference on Monday night.
Continue With The Unexpected Reveals | Tamoor Hussain, UK Editor
Two of the most memorable E3 moments in recent history were the announcement of Shenmue 3 and the Final Fantasy VII remake. For better or worse, this is the bar Sony has set for itself and what everyone will be expecting it to meet. Fans will want to see a long sought-after sequel given the green light or a dormant franchise make a triumphant return, but equally important is showing that these projects aren't just flights of fancy. Since their announcements, we've seen barely anything from both Shenmue 3 and the Final Fantasy VII remake, and while it has been confirmed that the former won't be at E3, showing off something substantial from the latter would win Sony some major points. For anything new and exciting, there needs to be something other than a logo on a giant screen, because that doesn't fly anymore.
Make A Next-Gen PlayStation Announcement | Eddie Makuch, Associate Editor
Sony could bring the house down at E3 this year by officially announcing the next-generation PlayStation that is rumored to launch in 2018. Microsoft has time and again positioned Scorpio as the most powerful console ever made, so it would be particularly dramatic and impactful if Sony could trump Microsoft's move with a console even more powerful. Interestingly, Sony has said it expects PS4 sales to fall this year for the first time in the console's life, so that might suggest an announcement about what's coming next is on tap.
Don't Leave PSVR Behind | Tony Wilson, Video Producer
Four letters: PSVR. Games like Resident Evil 7 have proven that virtual reality is a viable way to play full-length major releases, not just short cinematic experiences. There hasn't necessarily been a shortage of exclusive PSVR titles since launch -- Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Farpoint come to mind -- but the headset hasn't been in the spotlight since its initial reveal. Microsoft and Nintendo have no first-party equivalent to PSVR, so if Sony doubles down on games you truly cannot play anywhere else, it will go a long way to justify (and convince others to get on board with) the $400 purchase.
Introduce Backwards Compatibility | Chris Pereira, News Editor
With Xbox One trailing behind PS4 since the start of this generation, it's been Microsoft that has rolled out some fan-favorite features. Alongside the recently launched Xbox Game Pass, backwards compatibility has been a major hit. Meanwhile, Sony has relied on its PlayStation Now streaming service and PS2-on-PS4 Classics line as a means for offering the ability to play older games on PS4. While the latter introduces Trophies to games that did not previously have them, the accompanying cost--compared with Xbox One's backwards compatibility being free if you already own a supported game--makes it less than ideal. There's clearly room for improvement on this front for Sony.
While Microsoft will heavily tout having the most powerful system at E3, Sony has an opportunity to close the gap on the backwards compatibility front, which may matter to more people. PS1 Classic support on PS4 would be a great start--it lets Sony continue to sell classic games (including to a new group of PS4 owners who may not have owned a PS3, Vita, or PSP) and gives dedicated fans who have already bought these titles the freedom to play them on their current-gen system. Combine this with a way to play PS3 games you already own -- and without needing to stream them -- and Sony would make a strong demonstration that it's listening to fans.
Keep The Exclusives Coming | Justin Haywald, Managing Editor
Sony has done an amazing job of delivering great exclusives; just this year, we've already had Horizon Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Yakuza 0 and Persona 5. Even more have already been revealed, but in the same way that Sony has set a precedent for E3 as the place for unexpected reveals, it also has to keep bringing out new exclusives to one-up the previous year's show. We'll definitely see more of the games we already know are on the way: God of War, The Last of Us 2, and Days Gone. But could this also be the show where we see a new Bloodborne, the next project from Guerrilla Games, or some other new, surprising IP? Probably.
Better Support For PS4 Pro Users | Michael Higham, Associate Editor
Sony boasts the PS4 Pro as a 4K gaming machine with significantly more processing power than the standard PS4. It's nice that we have the option for a faster console if we're willing to spend a little bit for it, but the implementation of enhancements in games has been spotty since the Pro's release. While the onus is on developers to take advantage of the stronger hardware, we've had inconsistent experiences. For example, Horizon Zero Dawn looks and runs amazingly with HDR and checkerboard 4K, and we also have the option for 1080p with higher frame rates. But Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Watch Dogs 2 performed worse than they do on the standard PS4 in exchange for a higher resolution, which is disappointing for a premium console.
Sony could lay out a more focused plan of what Pro users will get from games in the future to help manage expectations, and possibly get more people on board with the Pro. This would mean holding developers to a certain standard for Pro enhancements. There could also be a push for more (if not all) games to come with detailed notes on what exactly Pro enhancements offer.
Focus On The Games | Miguel Concepcion, Editor
Sony's goal--particularly during the press conferences--should be to not mess with a good thing, namely by prioritizing games, which is how it won the last two E3s. The conference planners have displayed an understanding of how to pace a presser. That includes starting and ending strong and mixing the reveals with big-name properties, franchises with cult followings, and left-field curiosities. Recalling the wholly positive reception of God of War last year, many of the reveals from big-budget productions (e.g. The Last of Us 2, Spider-Man) should benefit from letting the gameplay speak for itself with minimal setup from the presenters.
E3 2017 is about to begin. As usual, there are massive posters being draped across the Los Angeles Convention Center, the site of E3, and on buildings throughout downtown LA.
GameSpot is now on the ground at E3 and we've taken some photos of the huge posters. You can see them in the gallery below, which we'll keep adding to a the show goes on. The E3 show floor itself is not open yet, but keep checking back with GameSpot for images inside the hall.
E3 2017 officially runs June 13-15, though the action kicks off today, June 10, with EA's briefing at 12 PM PT. The show continues with briefings from Microsoft and Bethesda on June 11, with Bethesda and Sony to follow on June 12. Nintendo's show is slated for June 13.
Actor Adam West, famous for playing Bruce Wayne/Batman in the 1960s TV show, has passed away from leukemia. He was 88.
"It's with great sadness that we are sharing this news...Adam West passed away peacefully last night after a short but brave battle with leukemia," his family said in a Facebook post. "He was a beloved father, husband, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
"There are no words to describe how much we'll miss him. We know you'll miss him too and we want you to know how much your love and support meant to him throughout the years. Hug your loved ones today."
West's Batman TV show was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding comedy in its first year, but lost to The Dick Van Dyke show. Batman was canceled after three seasons, ending in 1968.
West's unique voice was recently heard as the mayor of Quahog, the fictional city from the animated TV show Family Guy. Playing a character also named Adam West, he had a number of memorable scenes on that show.
With , E3 has essentially begun. We're rounding up all of the many PlayStation games that you can look forward to seeing at this year's show, which will feature major names like Call of Duty, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, and Star Wars.
We will continue to update this story as more titles are revealed. You can also check out our full list for every game confirmed for E3 across all platforms.
E3 2017 runs June 13-15, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft planned for the days before the show kicks off. Sony's press conference is in its usual timeslot on Monday night, and you'll be able to watch it live here on GameSpot. In the meantime, head to our E3 hub for all of our event coverage.
All The PlayStation Games Confirmed For E3 2017 So Far
BioWare's new IP won't be in the dark much longer. A leaked image on Twitter today suggests "Dylan" will make an appearance at the EA press conference this afternoon.
The original source of the image is unclear, but Wario64 on Twitter revealed the behind-the-scenes image.
Slight peek at EA Conference schedule (A Way Out cinematic trailer, (?) and Scorpio (Madden), 45 second trailer worldwide reveal of a game pic.twitter.com/1qSi9ntUmN
Looking closer at the laptop screen pictured, we can see that "Dylan" will see a 45-second worldwide reveal trailer. The image also notes Need for Speed: Payback will make an appearance, Brothers director Josef Fares' A Way Out will have a trailer, and Madden NFL 18 will be shown on Xbox's Scorpio. There may be more not pictured in this image, such as the expected Star Wars Battlefront II multiplayer demo.
The screen above the laptop has an image that appears to be from Madden NFL 18 and notes "WIP audio, no GFX."
After confirming that this year's Xbox E3 2017 briefing will be longer than 90 minutes, Microsoft has now confirmed what appears to be the specific runtime for the show.
Writing on Twitter, Microsoft Studios GM Shannon Loftis suggested that the show will be 97 minutes long. She mentioned the figure in a tweet regarding how the briefing will be broadcast in 4K through Microsoft's Mixer service. Microsoft's E3 briefings usually run for 90 minutes, but this year's is longer because Microsoft wants to show more games.
Also new for Microsoft this year at E3 is the date and time of the Xbox briefing, as the show is now taking place on the Sunday before E3 week instead of Monday. The event kicks off at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET.
While not the official beginning of the show, EA's Saturday EA Play event essentially kicks off E3 this year. With the event upon us, we're putting together lists of all the games you can expect to see at the big-time gaming show. This article rounds up all of the Ubisoft games that are likely to be at the show, including those that have been hinted at but not yet formally announced.
There have been a flood of Assassin's Creed leaks, with the latest confirming its name--Assassin's Creed: Origins--October release date, and other details. The game will presumably be officially unveiled at E3, where we're also expected to see a new IP from Ubisoft.
E3 2017 runs June 13-15, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft planned for the days before the show kicks off. You'll be able to watch Ubisoft's E3 press conference here on GameSpot; it's scheduled to take place on Monday afternoon.
With E3 right around the corner, we're putting together lists of all the games you can expect to see at the big-time gaming show. This list is for all the confirmed 3DS titles.
E3 2017 runs June 13-15, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft planned for the days before the show kicks off.
Trudging through a desolate, snow-covered landscape for ten minutes, scavenging a couple of gas cans, and hiking another ten minutes back to the fire you need to fuel sounds like a chore. This series of actions is what characterizes the experience of Impact Winter, a slow-paced survival game. But monotonous as it may seem, you'll be driven to keep performing these actions because of the tense scenario that contextualizes them. Instead of challenging you to persist indefinitely, Impact Winter asks you to endure for a set amount of time with the looming promise of rescue--an end to your struggles--and pushes you to stretch your already thin resources just that little bit further.
You play as Jacob, who leads a group of four other calamity survivors. They're holed up in a church when a little robot called Ako-light springs to life, broadcasting a mysterious transmission that states a rescue operation is occurring in 30 days. Jacob's task is to leave the safety of the church with Ako-light at his side and traverse the post-apocalyptic tundra, scavenging for supplies in order to keep the group alive until that time.
Sometimes, this is all you'll see for a while.
Each survivor, including Jacob, has a number of meters that must be maintained at a safe level in order to avoid their deaths or departures from the group. These include overall health, energy, hunger, thirst, temperature, and morale. Keeping the church bonfire fueled and making sure each survivor is fed and happy are as important as exploring the world and completing quest lines, which fast-track the looming rescue operation by taking chunks off the timer. The constant juggling of all these priorities keeps you anxiously engaged, your thoughts constantly being occupied with short-term planning as you trek through the snow.
Each individual back at camp has a different crafting specialty that Jacob can take advantage of to help ease the burden of his tasks. For example, Wendy can effortlessly cook a number of filling meals given the right ingredients, while Maggie is exceptionally handy at mechanical repairs and upgrades. These characters also provide a series of personal quests, the completion of which help decrease the rescue timer and expand that character's range of crafting recipes. These quests are narratively thin, but they are the primary motivators for you to explore the world and push the boundaries of how far you are willing to risk traveling from relative safety. And it's the exploration of this bleak, snowy wasteland of a world which is Impact Winter's strength.
The overworld feels desolate, but once in awhile, you'll encounter a hint of what once was. A half-buried gas station or the scene of a disastrous airline crash help create a gloomy world, in addition to being useful landmarks for navigation. You'll encounter the roofs of what were once tall buildings that lead to dank underground caverns of former shopping malls and airports. These dungeon-like areas are convincingly devastated, with a mess of receptacles to scavenge from. The ominous soundtrack that accompanies your long journeys hit the correct notes to instantly evoke the tension of classic thriller films like The Thing. It's an ominously intriguing world to explore, provided you're adequately prepared to survive the journey out there and back.
Impact Winter runs on a constantly ticking clock, and traversing the icy overworld, referred to as "The Void," takes up an enormous amount of that time. With no means of fast-travel, each journey you take topside requires some forethought and planning to avoid completely wasting the day while your group's well-being declines. Limited time and resources mean that it's also difficult to follow all character quests to completion, so the best course of action needs to be decided on well in advance.
Are you going far enough to warrant bringing a portable campsite to restore your energy for the journey home? What kinds of tools do you need to accomplish the goal at your destination? Should you bring food and drink for yourself, or do you think you'll be able to procure some on location? Have you left enough room in your backpack to bring supplies back? Traverse frivolously, and you could find yourself in a situation where you're desperately trying to satiate Jacob's hunger to avoid health loss. Or perhaps using Ako-light's flashlight and scanner functions too often has caused it to temporarily run out of battery power, leaving you with no radar, meaning you have have to navigate home with just your memory of landmarks and a paper map from before the world was buried in meters of snow. The game constantly holds you in a state of mild anxiety, worrying and hoping that the path you've chosen will pay off.
Underground caverns can be impressively derelict.
Deciding what to pick up while scavenging is also a constant dilemma. Impact Winter adopts a grid-based inventory system where each item takes up a different amount of physical space, meaning there's a constant value assessment between, for example, grabbing a number of small food items versus a giant can of gasoline. With the sheer amount of items available in the world, it's hard to tell what's going to be useful or not in the beginning. With limited inventory space and unlimited pressure to provide for the group, it's foolish to pick up every shiny thing you find and constantly make long hikes back to base to drop everything off. Scavenging requires you to always have clear goals in mind.
However, despite Impact Winter's tonal strength and the genuine uneasiness its gameplay nurtures, the struggle to survive this harsh world is made even more difficult by a significant number of technical issues that quickly snowball, coating the already taxing experience in a layer of frustration that makes it hard to stick with for long periods of time.
There's always plenty to worry about, even as you sleep.
Areas for contextual actions are ill-defined, meaning that precious time is often spent trying to move Jacob into the right place to perform actions like searching a specific container or climbing a ladder. Collision detection is spotty, so you'll struggle to get up a flight of stairs but also find yourself clipping through tables. Jacob will often refuse to respond to movement inputs until you pause and unpause the game.
Technical problems can also prove deadly. The game's passage of time, which continues while you're fiddling around in menus, is an interesting and thematically relevant feature, but it means wolves will continue to attack if you're unfortunate enough to get a series of large, in-game notifications while trying to escape them. You'll also likely experience dire situations where you're cornered by hostile animals and ready to fight, only to discover that the weapon lock-on system has ceased to function properly.
We experienced what felt like consistent input delay when using a controller. At the time of writing, the developers only recently released a patch that implements previously nonexistent mouse and keyboard controls, though there are notable usability annoyances such as being unable to click a scrollbar to go through your supplies, and some bothersome key placements with no option for custom mappings. Some impossible side-quest lines also had us scratching our heads, like being asked to specifically deliver ten 45 RPM vinyl records to an NPC, and discovering that we were not physically able to bring ten of these objects to the quest-giver, even with our inventory space maxed-out.
The post-apocalyptic tundra buries former skyscrapers.
There were also problems that veered close to game-breaking. In our time with Impact Winter, returning to The Void from an interior area meant we had to sit through long loading times--sometimes wondering if our game had crashed. These loading times were shortened dramatically in a patch, but we then encountered instances of freezing and large swaths of texture pop-ins when spawning into the world instead. Most of these issues are minor on their own, but together they quickly become intensely irritating. To their credit, the developers have been transparent with their plans for upcoming patches, and mapped out their priorities to address a number of these issues in the short- and long-term future.
Impact Winter deftly captures the tension of being put in a survival situation and makes every compromise you need to make a tough and near-irreversible decision. Surviving in The Void is a mentally taxing experience, and once you begin to internalize the world and the well-being of your group, juggling the countless priorities can be engrossing. Unfortunately, the numerous technical issues make this experience more arduous than necessary, and mar what is otherwise an impactful survival experience.
E3 is just about upon us. We're putting together lists of all the games you can expect to see at the big-time gaming show. This list is for all Bethesda's confirmed titles, of which there aren't a whole lot yet--although there are some juicy rumors.
E3 2017 runs June 13-15, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft planned for the days before the show kicks off. You can watch Bethesda's E3 conference here; it's scheduled to take place on Sunday night.
The details of Bethesda's E3 2017 press conference has been announced, and you can watch the event right here through the embed above. This year's briefing will take place on Sunday night in Los Angeles. Here's the full schedule:
Bethesda E3 2017 Press Conference Start Time (Gates Open)
June 11 at 9:00 PM PT
June 12 at 12:00 AM ET
June 12 at 5:00 AM GMT
June 12 at 2:00 PM AEST
Bethesda hasn't shared what it will have to show at E3, but it has teased the show will offer a "special tour of Bethesdaland." This was accompanied by an image showing a mock theme park that features many of Bethesda's franchises--Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Quake, and so on. More notable are two areas shown as under construction, although it's unclear if these are meant to indicate new IPs or revivals of existing ones.
The details of Microsoft's E3 2017 press conference has been announced, and you can watch the event right here through the embed above. This year's briefing is scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon--a day earlier than the spot Microsoft typically occupies. Here's the exact schedule for when Microsoft's conference begins:
Microsoft Xbox E3 2017 Press Conference Start Time
June 11 at 2 PM PT
June 11 at 5 PM ET
June 11 at 10 PM GMT
June 12 at 4 AM AEST
Despite rumors that it might also be shorter than in the past, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg suggested recently that it will run the usual 90 minutes or so. Since then, we've heard it will actually be longer than that in order to accommodate all of the games that Microsoft wants to show.
Microsoft has made it no secret that Project Scorpio, the souped-up version of Xbox One launching later this year, will be a major focus of the show. With the company have already revealed its technical specs, you can expect it to showcase the console's benefits, including how much better games look and run on it.
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