E3 2016: The biggest unanswered questions
Here are the video game mysteries still standing after the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
The 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) brought us some fantastic new games, but it also left us with a whole bunch of questions. Here are some of the biggest video game posers we're still pondering as of today.
What is Nintendo up to?
Nintendo was, by far, the biggest mystery of the show. We knew that the Japanese company wouldn't show its upcoming Nintendo NX game console at E3 this year, but we figured we'd get a few exciting new games and a hint or two about the console.
Instead, Nintendo's E3 2016 was all about the new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, an exciting, sprawling open-world adventure that could be the game of the show. But it could also be the Wii U's last hurrah, because Nintendo didn't announce anything else for Wii U owners to look forward to. Perhaps the company's saving its new game ideas for the Nintendo NX instead.
But what is the Nintendo NX, anyhow? We still have no real idea. Nintendo's consoles almost always have crazy new tech on board -- perhaps it's jumping into VR?
What the heck is Norman Reedus doing in a video game?
It was one of the biggest surprises of the show. Hideo Kojima, the spurned creator of the Metal Gear Solid games, took the stage to introduce an incredibly bizarre trailer for a game starring Norman Reedus -- perhaps better known as the motorcycle-riding, crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon on TV's "The Walking Dead."
But several days and several Kojima interviews later, we're no closer to understanding what his new PlayStation-exclusive video game -- Death Stranding -- really is. Or any idea why a naked, crying Norman Reedus is holding a baby. Maybe it's supposed to recall those creepy PlayStation 3 ads.
When will Sony and Microsoft actually allow PlayStation and Xbox gamers to play games with each other?
Microsoft says it's up to Sony. Sony says it's up to developers. At E3, developers told us to talk to Sony and Microsoft. Nobody has (yet) been willing to go on the record to say the big console manufacturers are actually working together to make it happen, or when.
Oculus Touch: How much and when?
The HTC Vive -- not the Oculus Rift -- is currently the best VR headset you can buy. That may change when the Oculus Touch motion controllers arrive. But that depends on how much those controllers will cost and how long we'll need to wait...and E3 came and went without answers to those questions.
Oculus did announce several new games for the Touch controllers, though, and we very much enjoyed using them in Star Trek: Bridge Crew and Wilson's Heart.
When will the affordable versions of the new Xbox One S ship?
Microsoft's new Xbox One S game console is 40 percent slimmer, for the same $299. But when it launches this August, you won't be able to actually buy it for that price. Instead, you'll pay $399, £349 or AU$549 for a version with a larger 2TB hard drive. When will the other versions ship? To my knowledge, no journalist has gotten the answer yet.
Rockstar Games is working on something...right?
It sure sounded like the Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne developer would unveil a new game at E3 2016. An earnings release from parent company Take-Two in May said Rockstar would announce "some exciting future projects...soon," and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told MCV that his company would be at E3 2016 "in a big way."
But Rockstar didn't make it to E3 this year. The biggest Take-Two endeavour at this year's show was a giant booth for Mafia 3:
Where is Kingdom Hearts 3?
The long-awaited final chapter in Kingdom Hearts, the popular Disney-Final Fantasy mashup, was an E3 no-show this year, despite showing off a polished gameplay trailer at E3 2015. This is a game that's been in development for at least three years, in a series that's taking so long to finish that it completely skipped the PlayStation 3 and is moving straight to PS4 and Xbox One.
You'd be forgiven for wondering if developer Square Enix is delaying it on purpose, though. At E3 2016, the company emphasized the amusingly named Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, a game that will reportedly only offer "several hours" of new content...and yet is still "vital to players' understanding of Kingdom Hearts 3," according to our friends at GameSpot.
Way to milk it, Square Enix.
When will we ever see Beyond Good & Evil 2?
Seriously: Ubisoft announced the sequel to the cult-classic game eight years ago. Ubisoft's CEO confirmed that it's still in development, but when might it ever come out?
What do Sony and Microsoft's next-gen consoles actually look like?
Sony and Microsoft did something very unusual at E3 2016 -- they admitted that their rumored next-gen consoles actually do exist. Microsoft's Project Scorpio is coming in 2017 with support for 4K gaming and virtual reality headsets, and Sony's PlayStation Neo (or maybe PlayStation 4K, or perhaps PS4.5 depending who you ask) will similarly offer improved graphics.
Neither company offered the slightest hint, however, at what those new consoles might look like at E3, and only offered the most rudimentary idea of what they might offer and when they might actually arrive.
How will Microsoft offer VR?
Speaking of Project Scorpio, Microsoft didn't explain what kind of VR headset you'll use, or VR content you'll buy, for that console's virtual reality features. Though there were rumors that Facebook and Microsoft might expand their partnership to let you use the Oculus Rift with that next Xbox, no such announcement occurred at E3.
Instead, Microsoft name-dropped Fallout 4 as a title gamers could look forward to playing in VR -- a game that's only been confirmed for the HTC Vive so far.
Will Detroit: Become Human be any good? Will your choices actually matter?
Only director David Cage knows the answer to that question. If it helps, he told me that it's got the most branching narratives of any game his studio has ever made -- more than Beyond: Two Souls and more than Heavy Rain.