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E3 2019: Apex Legends gets new character, Wattson, and the insane L-Star weapon at EA Play

We also got a new look at Season 2. Will this be enough to bring people back to Apex Legends?

Oscar Gonzalez Former staff reporter
Oscar Gonzalez is a Texas native who covered video games, conspiracy theories, misinformation and cryptocurrency.
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Oscar Gonzalez
4 min read

EA Play, EA's scheduled press event for E3 2019 happened Saturday morning, and the company devoted 30 minutes to Apex Legends season 2. Among other things, we learned the game will start July 2, with a new weapon, new skins, a ranked mode and the 10th Legend of the game, Wattson.

Natalie "Wattson" Paquette can build her own defensive structures, a counter to the game's typical aggressive characters. Her tactical ability involves electric fences for building defensive perimeters that damage and slow other players, while her ultimate ability, Interception Pylon, places an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnance and refills her teammates' shields.

Wattson's story is that she and her father helped build the Apex Arena, and she's considered the "kid sister" of the other Legends. That means she has a bit more lore in comparison to the other characters.

The new weapon of the season, the L-Star, can shatter doors and do big damage. Fans of the Titanfall series will recognize the weapon from multiplayer matches. 

Apex Legends season 2 also includes a ranked mode. It'll be available only for the best players to compete against each other and will have its own rewards. There'll also be some rebalancing weapons, including the Mozambique shotgun. 

Respawn Entertainment also announced a "double xp" weekend on June 7-9 where players will earn twice the Battle Pass and base experience points.

The final montage video for Apex Legends gave a quick glimpse of a giant eyeball that's teased as a "big thing" coming to Kings Canyon in Apex Legends season 2. 

The big press conferences

Many of the biggest announcements happen before the show even opens, during a weekend of press conferences from the industry's biggest names. All except Sony, which this year said it won't be holding a press conference during the show, nor will it have a booth.

The rest, however, will still be planning big announcements just before the show. 

Saturday, June 8

Sunday, June 9

Monday, June 10

  • PC Gaming Show -- This annual PC Gaming Show is held at a theater a short walk from the Los Angeles Convention Center, but still draws a large crowd, filling the 1,700-person capacity Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Inside, the usual suspects, from Halo to Doom, were nowhere to be found. Instead, the crowd cheered for PC-centric games including Zombie Army 4Baldur's Gate 3 and Terraria: Journey's End. (No, the game sequel problem isn't any better on PCs.) The highlight was a brief on-stage appearance by legendary game designer Yu Suzuki, responsible for classic such as Hang-On and Virtua Fighter. His long-awaited Shenmue 3 is expected in November, 18 years after Shenmue 2. 
  • Ubisoft -- The French gaming giant announced its next big dystopian hacking adventure game, Watch Dogs: Legion, launching March 2020. The new game is set in near-future post-Brexit London, where the economy is failing and government is breaking down. The company also announced a new television show, called Mythic Quest, that will launch on Apple TV Plus. And it celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Just Dance party games. 
  • Square Enix -- 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)

Tuesday, June 11

  • Nintendo (livestream only) -- 9 a.m. PT (noon ET)

E3 2019: The most anticipated games of gaming's most anticipated show

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Originally published June 8, 10:30 a.m. PT.
Updates, 10:37 a.m.: Adds Wattson tweet; 10:47 a.m.: Includes background info; 10:58 a.m.: Adds more ability info; 11:46 a.m.: Adds info on ranked mode; 11:56 a.m.: Includes more background info.; 2:05 p.m.: Adds more details about other press conferences.