Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the insane weaponry of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, including the XM8 assault rifle, the AEK-971 assault rifle, and the iconic Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle.
Author: Trafficblast
Destiny 2’s Story Has Never Been This Good
Saint-14 is one of Destiny‘s greatest heroes. Unlike the powerful figures who rose in the game’s distant history with the power of the Light, granted immortality but not guidance for how to use it, the “Risen” known as Saint-14 never became a tyrannical warlord who sought his own power. Instead, he was always a protector of the rest of humanity, wandering the post-apocalyptic wilds to save humans from the many alien threats on Earth that sought to destroy them. Saint-14 is beloved by children and animals–a big, cuddly, Russian bear of a guy.
He is also a rampaging, bloodthirsty monster, from a certain point of view.
We got that point of view in the latest weekly story quest in Destiny 2‘s Season of the Splicer. A quick catch-up: the robotic Vex have done some kind of weird computer simulation shenanigans, and that has blanketed the Last City, where most humans and Guardians live, in an “endless night.” That night is sapping electrical power, spreading sickness, and straining the City’s resources. The Guardian leadership known as the Vanguard has recruited the help of the House of Light–a friendly group of Eliksni aliens, the species otherwise known as the Fallen throughout the game–to help deal with the Vex threat. In exchange, those Eliksni have been allowed refuge in the Last City.
The Eliksni, a race who’ve become scavengers, pirates, and bandits since they’ve arrived in our solar system, have been the enemies of humanity for hundreds of years. Now there are some living in the Last City, humanity’s only bastion of safety. That’s creating a lot of tension on both sides. Some City leadership wants the Eliksni to leave, and this week, the Eliskni Quarter in the City was vandalized. Saint-14, who has been assigned to work with the Eliksni, shook off the event by saying that people can have a hard time living beside their monsters.
Mithrax, the leader of the House of Light, countered with an incredible tale of a monster of Eliksni legend. An unstoppable, unkillable creature that pursued their people with murderous rage, even when they fled–even when they were innocent. Ripping through whole Eliksni families, whole Eliksni houses, this creature was so fearsome that it never left survivors. Eliksni told stories to their children about it. It’s now ingrained in their culture.
That monster, Mithrax says, called itself “the Saint.”
It’s a phenomenal story moment in Destiny 2. Characters in the game are talking to each other about each other in a way that’s never really happened before. With the Eliksni in the City, we’re getting a new viewpoint on a looming figure in Destiny lore. Last year, we spent a whole season using time travel to undo Saint-14’s death. We, the players, literally rescued him from his fate, resurrecting a hero who had passed into legend. And now we’re getting a different perspective on one of humanity’s storied saviors.
The story in Destiny 2 has never been this good. This year, in particular, has been marked by moments like this–uneasy alliances, conversations between adversaries, and new views on things we thought we knew. There are Eliksni living in humanity’s City right now, trying to carve out a life with their former enemies, working together with them. For context, the very first thing that happens in the original Destiny, moments after you’re resurrected as a Guardian for the first time, is a pitched battle between you and the Fallen. First, you run from them. Then you kill a bunch of them. In the first five minutes of that game. The Fallen were Destiny’s very first monsters.
What we’ve seen in the seasons beginning with the Beyond Light expansion is an evolution in Destiny 2 storytelling that has elevated the game in a way we’ve never seen before. Characters are questioning their ideologies loudly, frequently, and most importantly, in the game. For literally years, most of Destiny 2’s best story was relegated to text passages connected to armor and lore delivered online through Grimoire Cards. Now, we’ve got people like Saint-14 and Mithrax challenging each other in conversations we’re watching, in radio dialogue delivered during and at the end of missions and activities, and in awesome, animated cutscenes.
It all really kicked off with the inclusion of Crow in the Season of the Hunt, back when Beyond Light was released. This new character was the culmination of a storyline begun in the Forsaken expansion–Crow is now a Guardian and can’t remember any of his past life before he was resurrected as one of the superhero characters that players embody in the game. But before he was a Light-bearer, Crow was Uldren Sov, the man who killed beloved Guardian Cayde-6. Crow doesn’t remember any of that; he is, in fact, a different person now, thanks to his resurrection. But Bungie built on and addressed all that baggage, and it did so within the game, not in some buried lore card only seen by players who would go looking for it.
Crow has brought a different perspective to the game that’s shaking up Destiny 2 all over the place. He spent time with the Eliksni before he came to the City, so he’s much more disposed to the idea of peace and understanding between the two species. He brought the same perspective to the season before this one, the Season of the Chosen, which saw tenuous discussions of treaties and alliances between humanity and the Cabal. There’s a lot of baggage there, too–the Cabal, as a conquering empire, sacked the Last City during the vanilla campaign of Destiny 2. They murdered a whole lot of people when they did that, including a key in-game character, the human leader called the Speaker. A bunch of the characters in Destiny 2, like famed pilot and shipwright Amanda Holiday, express a lot of resentment toward the Cabal.
But in-game, we’ve seen Crow’s perspective of wanting to find common ground with the “enemies of humanity” affecting other characters. We’re getting dialogue that suggests, because of Crow, Amanda has come around to the idea of trying to understand and find peace with the Cabal, despite what they’ve done, and the Eliksni, despite what they’ve done. We’re seeing ideological debates within the game. We’re seeing characters we’ve known for years grow and change.
At the same time, we’re seeing interpersonal conflicts brewing and politicking coming to the forefront of the Last City, two things that have barely been included in Destiny 2 up to now, outside of its deep (and often really, really interesting and well-written) lore. In the Season of the Chosen, we spent a bunch of time with Lord Saladin, the guy who usually just runs the Iron Banner PvP event. As the ground commander working against the Cabal, we heard a lot from Saladin about offering the enemy no quarter, about the possibility of waging total war against them. Saladin clashed with both Crow and Zavala, the Vanguard commander–and honestly, Saladin’s unyielding, hawkish viewpoint provided a lot of new nuance and depth to his character, and not all of it painted him in a positive light.
In the current season, the long-absent Lakshmi-2, the leader of one of the factions meant to represent the civilian population of the City, has had a big role. She’s the voice that wants the Eliksni out of the City, and she’s racist as hell in delivering that message. Each week, Lakshmi makes new broadcasts out to the City’s populace, using demagoguery to whip up support for expelling Mithrax and his people. She’s sewing dissent against the Vanguard leadership. She’s using the situation to advance her own power. It’s something we’ve never really seen in Destiny before, and it’s adding a lot of depth to the events of the game week-to-week.
Even on a larger scale, ever since Beyond Light introduced the ability for players to wield Stasis, a power otherwise known as “Darkness” in the game, Destiny 2 has become more nuanced than ever before. For years, the moral and ideological calculus of Destiny was: “Light equals good; Darkness equals bad.” That necessarily led to us, the players, being good, since we “serve the Light,” and all other aliens we face being bad. Now we’re using Darkness to do good, and a lot of characters are having a very difficult time reconciling that situation. There’s a real fear that using Dark power could corrupt Guardians along the way. But even if it doesn’t, the game is repeatedly bringing up a singular question: we can use the weapons of the enemy to do good, so what else are we wrong about?
And finally, there’s the flow of seasonal story arcs. Since the release of the Shadowkeep expansion, Bungie has been working to tell seasonal stories that bleed into and set up one another to make one year-long narrative that then flows into the next big expansion. Last year’s stories did an okay job of this, but they still felt fairly disjointed from one another. Since Beyond Light, the approach has worked much better.
It’s not because each season has a story that’s super-dependent on the others, though. The Season of the Hunt was about stopping Hive baddies from doing a thing; in the Season of the Chosen, we stopped Cabal baddies from doing a thing; and in the Season of the Splicer, we’re stopping Vex baddies from doing a thing. They’re not especially related and still feel fairly episodic in nature.
What is related, though, are the themes of those episodes–and how they’re affecting the people involved. As mentioned, we’re seeing ideological differences emerging between people that were previously unabashedly considered heroes. We’re seeing questions arising about how we treat characters who have been our enemies and whether all we’ll ever know with these other peoples is endless war. And we’re seeing characters changing over time. The thing that’s continuous between all the seasons this year isn’t necessarily one long, flowing story of cause and effect–it’s a thematic story in which we’re seeing how these discreet episodes are causing characters to change.
Suddenly, abruptly, Destiny 2 is full of characters with arcs, agendas, ideas, conflicts, and internal struggles. Big-hearted Saint-14 is confronted by the idea that he is an element of nightmares. Scheming Lakshmi-2 is fomenting a potential coup against the Vanguard leadership. Stalwart Zavala is starting to see pathways to peace where before there was only war. Unyielding Saladin is wondering if the Vanguard has lost the will to do what needs to be done to protect humanity. Earnest Crow is hoping people can offer forgiveness, for their alien enemies as well as for him.
This is, and I cannot stress this enough, happening in the game. The story isn’t being delivered only in monologues when you go turn in a quest. It’s not hiding only on a lore card for a pair of shoes you pick up off some random enemy. It’s scenes and dialogue that are happening all the time between characters as you play. And the story is still deep, fascinating, and affecting, even if you never dive deeper than the scenes that happen to advance the plot each week–and if you do, it’s even more well-realized.
In no uncertain terms, I’ve been waiting for Destiny 2 to deliver us this story in this way since I first started playing in Destiny’s original beta period. I’ve been a fan of Destiny lore for a long time, especially when it really ramped up with intrigue and mysteries in Forsaken. But my big issue has always been that Destiny 2 has been bad about making its stories feel like an immediate part of the game. That situation has completely changed. Destiny 2’s story has never been better, and I can’t wait to jump in every week to see where it’s headed next.
Itch.io Bundle Goes Toward Palestinian Aid And Gives Away Over 1000 Games
PC game hosting site itch.io has announced a new indie bundle with thousands of games and other accouterments that directly benefits Palestine in a time when the state’s people are subjugated to a humanitarian crisis.
The Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid is a pay-what-you-want (above $5 USD) bundle that packages an assortment of experiences, with the headliner being Liyla and The Shadows of War, an atmospheric side-scrolling adventurer based on actual events about a young girl living in Gaza during the 2014 war. All proceeds will go directly to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
The UNRWA is a nonprofit dedicated to assisting and advancing Palestinian people, providing food assistance and mental and physical health protection. UNRWA was one of the many organizations we featured in our charity list aimed at aiding displaced Palestinians by the recent Hamas-Israel conflict.
Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid is NOW LIVE – Spread the word!
Buy @Liylawar for $5, get 1,020 items for free! Available until THIS Friday.
All proceeds donated for Palestinian Aid. RT appreciated! https://t.co/3sGffjCjFx— Alanna Linayre is writing Roll for Confidence. (@Tybawai) June 4, 2021
In addition to Rasheed Abueideh’s Liyla and The Shadows of War, the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid packages other items like game assets and official soundtracks donated by developers and creators from around the world. There’s short experiences such as its been a while since i went for a walk and Strange, as well as more action-oriented titles like Cat Ace and Dona Vasa. Even titles available now, including Calico and Switch ‘N’ Shoot, are featured in itchi.io’s indie bundle.
The bundle’s target is $500,000. At the time of this writing, it’s amassed nearly 20% of its overall total. The bundle will be available until June 11.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
Dwayne Johnson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Join Cast for Action Film Emergency Contact
Actors Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are teaming up for Emergency Contact, an action film to be produced through Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Emergency Contact is an original concept, not based on an existing property, so plot details are light. The film will reportedly be a “high-octane action film set amid the underground music scene of Austin, Texas.”
Johnson is currently filming Black Adam for Warner Bros., and the upcoming Disney film Jungle Cruise is completed. Abdul-Mateen II is all over the place recently, having starred in HBO’s Watchmen as Cal Abar, and in Aquaman (and the upcoming Aquaman 2) as Black Manta. He also stars as the titular character in the completed Candyman, and will appear in The Matrix 4 and Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa.
Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the original pitch for Emergency Contact, as well as the current draft of the script. Johnson will produce alongside Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, and Dany Garcia.
With the film so early in production (and its stars so busy), there is no current release window for Emergency Contact.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Sequel Casts Issa Rae As Spider-Woman
Issa Rae will dive into the Spider-Verse for the upcoming Into the Spider-Verse sequel, where she’ll voice Jessica Drew–better known as Spider-Woman–according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rae is best known for her HBO series Insecure and the 2020 film The Lovebirds. She’s also the first new addition to the Spider-Verse sequel’s cast. Only stars Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld are confirmed so far.
Details on the movie–and Rae’s character–are light. The original film had Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales discovering his self confidence with help from Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) to defeat the Kingpin and stop the multiverse from collapsing, but the end of the film left the multiverse open for future adventures. Writer and producer Phil Lord has previously hinted that Japanese and Australian Spider-Men could join the cast of characters in addition to Rae’s Spider-Woman.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are once again writing and producing for Spider-Verse, which is currently in production, alongside David Callaham. Kemp Powers (Pixar’s Soul), Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Justin K. Thompson will direct.
The currently-untitled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel is currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 7, 2022 after being delayed from its initial April 2022 release.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
All The PC Games Confirmed For E3 2021
E3 2021 and all of the gaming events around it are rapidly approaching, which means that it’s time for game announcements and surprises. While there usually is an air of mystery around what games will and will not be at the show, there are some games that we do know will be there. Below, you can find the full list of games coming to PC that are confirmed to be at E3 2021.
The majority of PC games that are appearing at E3 will be featured in the Guerrilla Collective‘s two showcases, which take place on June 5 and 12 and will show off a variety of indie titles. Games like Anno: Mutationem, Moonglow Bay, and Loot River will all be making an appearance and are confirmed to be coming to PC.
Another showcase that is confirmed to have some PC games is the Xbox and Bethesda showcase on June 13. Details on what games will be present are scarce, but the art used to announce the showcase included images from both Halo Infinite and Starfield. Halo Infinite is confirmed to be coming to PC, although Bethesda currently hasn’t announced what platforms Starfield will release on. That said, Bethesda’s previous titles have been on PC and Microsoft puts most of its first-party titles on PC at launch, so Starfield will probably be coming to PC. In addition to those two titles, other Xbox Game Studios games, like Avowed, the new Perfect Dark, Fable, and more might make an appearance at the show, but no guarantees.
That covers the majority of PC games confirmed to be at E3; however, there are multiple showcases happening that might feature PC games that you should keep an eye on. The PC Gaming Show will also be happening on June 13, but no games have been confirmed for the show just yet. Ubisoft Forward is happening on June 12 and is expected to have upcoming titles Riders Republic and Rainbow Six Quarantine, both of which are coming to PC.
There are plenty of gaming showcases to watch, and GameSpot has a full E3 presentation schedule in addition to a full list of all the games confirmed for E3, regardless of platform. While not every presentation is guaranteed to feature games coming to PC, there will still be plenty of interesting surprises.
Check out the full list of all the PC games confirmed to be at E3 2021 and the surrounding events; we’ll continue to update this list as more are confirmed.
All The PC Games Confirmed For E3 2021
- AK-xolotl
- Aeon Drive
- Akatori
- Anno: Mutationem
- Archvale
- Batora: Lost Haven
- Bear and Breakfast
- Beasts of Maravilla Island
- Behind the Frame
- Black Book
- Blooming Business Casino
- Chernobylite
- Death Trash
- Death’s Door
- Demon’s Mirror
- Despot’s Game
- Elderand
- Endling
- Eternal Cylinder
- Falling Frontier
- Fire Tonight
- Ghostrunner 2
- Grime
- Halo Infinite
- Happy’s Humble Burger farm
- Hello Neighbor 2
- Industria
- Kitsune Tails
- Kraken Academy
- Kung Fu Kickball
- Lamentum
- Loot River
- Moonglow Bay
- My Lovely Wife
- No Longer Home
- Omno
- Onsen Master
- Paralives
- Phantom Abyss
- Potion Craft
- Rubi: The Wayward Mira
- Run Die Run Again
- Sable
- Serial Cleaners
- Severed Steel
- Shadow Warrior 3
- Slime Heroes
- Starfield (Expected to come to PC, but platforms have not been confirmed)
- Super Space Club
- Tamarindo’s Freaking Dinner
- The Gecko Gods
- The Legend of Tianding
- The Lightbringer
- Tinkertown
- Trash Sailors
- Trifox
- Unmetal
- Unpacking
- Venice 2089
- White Shadows
- Wolfstride
- Ynglet
- Zodiac Legion
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
Lisey’s Story: Series Premiere Review – “Blood Hunt” and “Blood Bool”
The first two episodes of Lisey’s Story, titled “Blood Hunt” and “Blood Bool,” hit AppleTV+ on Friday, June 4th.
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Stephen King is one of our generation’s most prolific writers, and because of that, he’s also one of the most adapted writers of our time. The newest project based on his work comes from AppleTV+ and director Pablo Larraín, adapting his 2006 novel Lisey’s Story. Boasting a star-studded cast led by Julianne Moore and Clive Owen, this is one of the most high-profile prestige TV King attempts in years. And while what we saw does tower over lesser recent adaptations like CBS’ messy and ridiculous The Stand, the atmospheric and dense first two episodes have their own problems to contend with.
Scott Landon (Clive Owen) is a bestselling author who lived a seemingly idyllic life with his wife Lisey (Julianne Moore), but that’s cut short when he dies unexpectedly. Two years later we find Lisey still trying to come to terms with that loss as we navigate the impact Scott had on the lives of people around him. While that sounds like a relatively simple premise, this isn’t just a meditation on one man’s life and loves. That’s because Scott had an unbelievable secret, one that Lisey has repressed and will need to uncover before finding peace after her husband’s death. And it’s that wild secret that overwhelms the debut episodes.
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Lisey’s Story takes place over a series of different timelines, with us reliving Scott and Lisey’s lives through the latter’s memories. This method veers from effective to frustrating as another great performance by Moore often gets pushed to the side for the sake of Owen’s intangible Scott. It might be reductive but there’s definitely an argument for this being renamed Scott’s Story, as that is really who we’re excavating and exploring here. While Lisey is our main character, this is really a tale about a male writer–as so many of King’s are–and his connection to something so otherworldly that even after his death it lingers, leaving a dark, confusing, and ambiguous mystery for his wife and us the viewers to solve.
How much you enjoy Lisey’s Story will likely revolve around how much ambiguity and atmosphere you can lose yourself in, as the first two episodes definitely don’t explain much that non-readers of the source material will understand. Moore fills each scene she’s in with grief and gravitas that makes you wish that this was truly her story. How often do we get to see a woman truly grieve? To really explore the ways that someone has to survive the death of another? Instead, Lisey’s life becomes filled with other people.
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There’s her self-harming sister, Amanda (Joan Allen), who had a deep and unexpected connection to Scott and his strange past. Then there’s her husband’s colleague who’s desperate to publish an unfinished manuscript that he believes is still in the family home. And, of course, there’s Scott himself, because you don’t cast Clive Owen and really kill him off in the early moments of the show. Make no mistake, Scott is dead but he is still arguably the lead of Lisey’s Story. That’s mostly due to the fact that Lisey is on a sort of post-mortem treasure trail left by her husband. But while that seems ripe for a useful and unexpected take on the narrative MacGuffin it’s barely utilized in any real way except to push the story forward.
While the first episode goes for a decidedly slow and steady take on building tension, most of that is lost as we head into the second episode. It’s filled with jarring flashbacks both real-world and otherwise that are sometimes hard to follow, but the confusing shifts and tone aren’t pointedly experimental or surreal enough to make that murkiness feel like a conscious choice. It’s a shift that might draw some viewers in but could easily turn off those who were engaged by the slow burn consistency of the first episode. For this reviewer, it felt like a Hannibal-lite attempt at mixing high art with a genre that never quite melded during the debut episodes.
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The one thing that does shine, though, is Moore. As we learn about her relationship with Scott she becomes more alive, more tragic, and more sympathetic as we see her surrounded by people she loves but can barely understand as they all struggle with clearly undiagnosed mental health problems. That’s another space the show has yet to truly deliver on; the supernatural can be a great analogous place to explore mental health and trauma, but here each character’s mental state is merely used as a sort of shield or excuse that normal people use to explain things they don’t understand. But it’s loath to actually make a statement. Instead, it wavers between using self-harm and catatonia for narrative tools or shock, and as a way to hint that mentally ill people are sort of ESP manic pixie dream people.
Lisey’s Story is definitely more ambitious and stylized than your average King adaptation. It boasts a great turn from a powerful if underused Moore. But from the first two episodes, it’s yet to find its footing, struggling to balance the deep topics it presents and the tragic treasure hunt at its core.
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Game Scoop! 628: God of War 2 Will Rage On Both PS5, PS4
Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Justin Davis, Sam Claiborn, and Michael Swaim — are discussing topics like Horizon Forbidden West, Xbox and Bethesda’s E3 conference, Resident Evil Village, Mass Effect, and more. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions. The music in this episode is from Mass Effect, Mega Man, and Gun.Smoke.
Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.
Listen on:
Cruella 2 Is Already in Development at Disney
Disney is doubling down on the dalmatian business. Only one week after the release of Cruella, the studio has already begun development on a sequel to the Emma Stone vehicle, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to Stone, both Cruella director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Tony McNamara are also expected to return for the film’s sequel.
Disney’s 1996 live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians, featuring Glenn Close in the role of Cruella de Vil, also spawned a sequel. 102 Dalmatians was released four years later in November 2000 and featured Close reprising her role.
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Cruella debuted in theaters on May 28, opening in 2nd at the North American box office after A Quiet Place: Part II with a domestic gross of $21.5 million. The film has gone on to earn $48.5 million worldwide in its first week of release. Additionally, Cruella was released on Disney Plus through the streamer’s Premier Access program, which makes the film available to subscribers at a $30 price point.
While Disney does not regularly release official figures for Disney Plus viewership, it can be inferred that Cruella’s theatrical box office and Premier Access revenue have proved sizable enough for the studio to explore options for a sequel.
Cruella is only the latest success story for Disney’s habit of developing updates and remakes on its vast catalog of animated films, which began with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and has continued with films like Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and upcoming projects like Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid.
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These films have often spawned follow-ups too, such as Alice Through the Looking Glass and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. An Aladdin sequel and a prequel to The Lion King are also in development.
In our review of Cruella, IGN gave the film a 7, praising its “crackling leading ladies, imaginative twists, and eye-popping spectacle” while also saying it “ultimately feels like a clumsy compromise.”
For more, read our round-up of every upcoming Disney live-action remake.
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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer. He was driven to madness when dalmatians killed his mom.
All Switch Games Confirmed For E3 2021 (So Far)
After E3’s forced cancellation back in 2020, the video game industry’s biggest event of the year is back and merely a week away. On June 12, E3 2021 is kicking off and in addition to hours of exciting showcases, we’re bound to get a whole lot of new titles for everyone’s favorite portable platform, the Nintendo Switch. While the Nintendo Direct presentation on June 15 is definitely the one to watch for an update on all your favorite first-party games from Nintendo, there are a handful of E3 events that are sure to be filled with Switch titles. The Guerilla Collective showcases, which take place on June 5 and 12, are two of them.
Over the course of the Guerilla Collective showcases, over 80 indie games will be featured–many of which are coming to Nintendo Switch. On June 5, titles such as Kung Fu Kickball, Endling, Beasts of Maravilla Island, and The Lightbringer will be making appearances. On June 12, you’ll get a closer look at Archvale, Black Book, Death Trash, Batora: Lost Haven, and more. In addition, the June 12 event will feature a Wholesome Direct, a Nintendo Direct-esque showcase of feel-good games, many of which are indies and may be coming to Nintendo Switch
On June 14, Capcom is hosting their own showcase, and while they’ve yet to announce just what games they’ll be presenting, the studio has a close relationship with Nintendo, making it likely they’ll have some Switch titles there. For instance, both Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin are coming to Switch in 2021, making it highly probably we’ll see a bit more of them during the conference. A leak earlier this year alleged a new Resident Evil game is coming to Switch, though that’s still extremely up in the air. It is also possible we could see a new entry in the Mega Man series there, as a Mega Man film is currently in production, making the time ripe for Capcom to release a new game to help support it.
However, the main event–and perhaps most unpredictable one–is the Nintendo Direct taking place on the last day of E3, June 15. When it comes to Nintendo, we can pretty safely say expect the unexpected. For starters, we may or may not see an entirely new console announced. GameSpot previously reported on a rumored Nintendo Switch Pro coming ahead of E3, but as we near the conference, it feels possible we could see it there. The problem with this theory, however, is that Nintendo’s Direct announcement did state the showcase would solely focus on software. While Nintendo has misled people before (see announcing Splatoon 3 back in February Direct for 2021 releases), it does seem perhaps too wild of a misdirection.
It is safe to say we might see a bit more on the upcoming Pokemon games–Pokemon Legends: Arceus and the Diamond/Pearl Remakes–and well as both Mario Golf: Super Rush and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. And hey, fingers crossed, we might even see some of the bigger Nintendo titles currently in the works, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Splatoon 3, and Metroid Prime 4. Lastly, Nintendo has three huge anniversaries this year that it hasn’t done a whole lot for: Metroid, Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda. Whether we get new entries, remakes, or remasters, there’s a lot of potential for the studio to do something with three of its most iconic IPs. But, like we said, this Nintendo Direct is a going to be a real wild card.
For those of you playing on multiple platforms, be sure to check out the full E3 schedule as well as our list of all the games confirmed to be shown at E3 2021. Read on for the complete list of confirmed Nintendo Switch games coming to this year’s E3.
All Nintendo Switch Games Confirmed For E3 2021
- Archvale
- Batora: Lost Haven
- Bear and Breakfast
- Beasts of Maravilla Island
- Black Book
- Blooming Business: Casino
- Death Trash
- Endling
- Fire Ronight
- Kung Fu Kickball
- Lamentum
- Onsen Master
- Serial Cleaners
- The Legend of Tiandig
- The Lightbringer
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out