E3 2016 started June 14-16 and a truck load of new game, console and accessorie releases have already been announced. Gameplay for relases like Mafia III, Ghost recon Wildlandes and the new God Of War Ps4 exclusive. The Elder Scrolls Skyrim is getting remastered for PS4 and X-BOX ONE later this year.

Link's to E3 site https://www.e3expo.com/

 

Xbox One

Microsoft bookended a long list of new games at E3 with two new hardware announcements: Xbox One S and Project Scorpio. And the company stuck to its Windows roots by announcing Xbox Play Anywhere, which effectively brings Xbox games to Windows PCs.

Exclusive games and Xbox Play Anywhere: The Xbox One has a fairly impressive slate of games coming for rest of 2016 and beyond. And thanks to the console's new Play Anywhere feature, many of these games will also support cross-play on Windows 10 PCs as well. That means you can buy the game once on either console and play on both (assuming, of course, your PC has the gaming horsepower to run the game). Xbox Play Anywhere will support multiplayer between platforms, and the ability to save games on the console and resume on the PC, or vice versa.

Notable Xbox exclusives include:

• Inside (on Xbox now, hitting PC later in July)
• We Happy Few (July 26)
• Recore (September 13)
• Forza Horizon 3 (September 27)
• Gears of War 4 (October 10)
• Dead Rising 4 (December 6 on Xbox/PC, hitting PS4 later)
• Sea of Thieves (Q4 2016)
• Halo Wars 2 (2017)
• Scalebound (2017)

PlayStation 4

On the eve of E3, Sony confirmed that its PlayStation "Neo" upgrade was real -- but that it wouldn't be announced at the show. Instead, the company focused on PlayStation VR, delivering a firm release date and a bevy of new game previews. And while PS4 fans are anxious to see how Sony will answer Microsoft's Project Scorpio, the PlayStation 4 is currently so far ahead in the console race that Sony can afford to bide its time -- for now, at least.

PlayStation VR arrives in October with dozens of games: We already knew the PlayStation VR was arriving in October, but Sony nailed down the specific date: October 13. More importantly, the company fleshed out some of the four dozen or so of the VR games that will be available before the end of the year. Sony is getting some big name game developers to contribute VR titles, too, including Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, and Batman Arkham VR -- but don't expect them to be full games.

Notable PS4 and PS VR exclusives include:

• Final Fantasy XV (September 30, will eventually hit the Xbox One)
• Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (October 2)
• Batman Arkham VR (October 2016)
• Star Wars: Battlefront X-Wing Mission (October 2016)
• Farpoint (2016)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (February 28, 2017)
• God of War (TBD)
• Days Gone (TBD)
• Death Stranding (TBD)

PlayStation VR game

PlayStation "Neo" is coming -- but when? Like Microsoft's Project Scorpio, Sony has a more muscular version of the PS4 on the way. The so-called "PS4 Neo" is real and it's coming -- but when? And what will it do better? The hope is that it will match the 4K video and HDR support of the Xbox One S, and the 4K gaming support promised on Project Scorpio. And many assume it will be able to run the PlayStation VR games at a better frame rate. But all of those are just assumptions until Sony makes an official announcement.

 

More confirmed gameplay details have been revealed for Ubisoft's upcoming open world tactical third-person shooter "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands," like a competitive player versus player (PvP) feature and a gameplay mechanic that allows players to shape the game's open world.

It has been confirmed that Ubisoft has plans for a competitive multiplayer feature to be added into the game, though the specifics are still unannounced. Some believe that the game's PvP system could be comparable to how Ubisoft handled the feature in "The Division," which is similarly a game featuring primarily single play although with a dedicated region for persistent PvP called the Dark Zone.

The current speculations suggest that instead of a Dark Zone for "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands," the developers could instead create separate game modes that is more in line with the traditional multiplayer shooter. An example of a game type is "Ghost vs. Cartels" which will place some players in the role of the setting's main enemies against the Ghosts, or an even more traditional team death match.

"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands," also known simply as "Ghost Recon Wildlands," is the latest title in the "Ghost Recon" subseries of the "Tom Clancy" brand of video games from Ubisoft. Unlike its direct predecessors in the series, the upcoming title will not take place in a technology advanced setting. "Ghost Recon Wildlands" will not continue the highly futuristic timeline introduced in "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter," and will instead feature a modern day setting similar to the original "Ghost Recon."

The game will take place in Bolivia, featuring a location in the country which has been taken over by the Santa Blanca drug cartel and used as one of the world's primary supplier of illegal drugs. The game's plot is similar to one of Ubisoft's other shooter franchises, "Far Cry," where players are dropped in the middle of a militarized warzone where they may assist one of the downtrodden factions.

While speaking about the gameplay in "Ghost Recon Wildlands," the game's lead designer Dominic Butler touched on how players can get the rebels to work with them, according to Digital Trends. He said that players can free those rebels captured by the cartel and they will then help the players in their fight by getting in their former captors' way.

"If you can get to them, if you can free them, they're going to take up arms against the Santa Blanca, completely systemically," Butler said of the gameplay mechanic. "You don't have to tell them what to do. They know where the enemy is. They're going to start fighting back and it's a way to kind of leverage one faction against another."

"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands" will release on March 7, 2017.

 

Mafia III hits shelves later this year, and we learned a lot about the open world crime game at E3. Now, lead writer Bill Harms has revealed a bit more about how the game's underbosses and districts will work. 
Protagonist Lincoln Clay finds himself in New Bordeaux during the late sixties, as he seeks revenge on Sal Marcano for killing the black mob. He's working towards his goal with three underbosses: Cassandra, the leader of the Haitian gang; Thomas Burke, a member of the Irish mob; and Vito Scaletta, the protagonist from Mafia II. 
"As you play through the game, you can assign out one of the nine districts to one of the underbosses," Harms said. "One of the things we're really trying to do is have these rich, deep characters in terms of the underbosses."

Releases October 7, 2016

 

As the reveal of the Nintendo NX draws closer, it feels like we're finding more questions than answers. Nintendo is maintaining the shroud of mystery around its next console, and according to a report from a recent investors meeting Shigeru Miyamoto said the company didn't show it at E3 for fear of competitors stealing its idea.

But what idea? What's this big NX secret that Nintendo is so heavily guarding? In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Miyamoto reiterated there's "an idea" the company is working on, which makes it sound like this could be something very different to what we've seen.

Nintendo has already alluded to a "brand-new concept" in the NX, so we're keeping our minds open. Here are five things that Nintendo's big new idea could be.

1) Virtual reality

Nintendo is more interested in virtual reality than we thought. In a shareholders meeting the company admitted it was "researching" VR technology, according to someone who was present.

Twitter's NStyles attended the meeting in Kyoto and claims Nintendo's Shigeru Minamoto said Nintendo was researching VR but has concerns about users playing for long periods of time.

He also added that Nintendo wants to release a device that carries value, is affordable, and wants parents to "feel at ease".

Miyamoto also said that he thought the reactions of people who tried VR at E3 was good, with a "but". What that "but" was is unknown - the next comment was kept off the record.

It's no surprise that Nintendo is interested in VR - who isn't? - but whether it's something that could come to the NX is a different matter. The company has expressed that it would only be interested in getting into VR when it's mainstream.

A report earlier this year claimed that the NX release was pushed back to 2017 so Nintendo could incorporate a VR element, but this has yet to be corroborated, so don't pin your hopes on it.

However it's feasible that the Nintendo NX could do something akin to the Samsung Gear VR, but rather than a phone slotting into a headset, it's the NX controller. It would mean feasible, affordable VR that might be better for bite-sized experiences.

Beyond that, we can't see virtual reality being a bigger part of the NX system.

2) A bigger portable element

Nintendo still owns the dedicated gaming handheld space, but even the 3DS's days seem numbered when you consider how rapidly mobile gaming is improving.

There's been a lot of noise about the NX having a big portable element. Multiple reports have claimed that the NX will likely include a mobile device that could be used with the console or taken on the go. The Wii U was a step towards this idea, but the controller could only be taken a short distance.

The handheld theory feels like the most likely of all of them, especially after a 2013 report claimed Nintendo combined its handheld and console divisions. However, there are still many questions. Would it be powerful enough to run full console games (maybe slightly downgraded)? Will it play 3DS games? Will it also become a successor to the 3DS that can be bought separately?

We could see Nintendo having a cross-buy/cross-save system over the two systems. But let us pose another potential scenario: the NX is just a handheld that can also be plugged into a TV.

3) A whole new input idea

It feels like Kinect's days are over - at least until virtual reality hits the Xbox. Nintendo's Wii was a much bigger success story, one that literally shook things up with a control system that worked well with games and made the console accessible to a wider audience.

The Wii U was a very different story without the happy ending, but could Nintendo be about to take another stab at changing how we play? If anyone's going to try...

We'd like to see a version of Xbox One Kinect that works more reliably and has better games to establish it. It seems only a matter of time before full motion controls on consoles become better adopted - it would be interesting if Nintendo was the one to make it happen.

4) Nintendo's Quality of Life system has been wrapped into the NX

Nintendo's Quality of Life initiative appeared to die an early death. Nintendo saw potential in health and fitness, and designed a system that included sensors for improving sleep.

However, the the system was put on hold. "We do not feel that we are currently at a stage where we can commercialize a product that deals with sleep and fatigue," said Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima earlier this year.

"So we are not planning to launch any products in this area in the fiscal year ending in March 2016. However, we do believe there is potential in the QOL sector, so we will continue to consider further development in this area."

There's clearly still interest here, so it's possible the NX could have a big health and fitness element. Perhaps this will feed into the portable element - or maybe it will be something else entirely.

5) It's actually Nintendo's Project Scorpio

This is probably the least likely scenario, but bear with us: what if the NX was actually really, super, mega powerful? And Nintendo is keeping hush because it wants to surprise Sony and Microsoft, which are both now embroiled in a power battle.

Nintendo is about accessibility, and if this scenario were to come true it would surely mean a very expensive console. And after Nintendo's Reggie File-Aimecommented that the company isn't concerned with specs and power, it seems very unlikely - but just imagine Nintendo dropping an Xbox Scorpio-level console months before Microsoft.

There's another, more possible outcome here. A patent surfaced last year detailing a (potentially portable) console that could be attached to a "supplemental computing device" that would provide more resources.

That means the NX could primarily be a handheld that hits console-level specs when it's tied to your TV. It could also mean Nintendo would let us upgrade our consoles without having to buy a whole new system - just the "supplemental" device - unlike Sony and Microsoft, which are more likely to refresh everything each time.

Secret answer 6) The NX and PlayStation Neo are the same

We're not going to explain this one, we'll just direct you to this video on IGN and let you make up your own minds. It's crazy, but so damn crazy that we're starting to want it to come true.