Editor’s Note: Check out all of our live E3 coverage right here in this special E3 2018 section!

It’s June already? Where has all of 2018 gone so far? Well no matter, it actually is the first full week of June, and you know what that means. Yup, the start of summer for many kids. Oh wait, I’m thinking outside the box. No it’s the annual E3 press conference season. Of course I’ll be keeping an eye on each and every conference and give my take on them, but this week before they start, I want to give a little insight of what every conference will most likely show as well as some ideas that I hope come into reality. So let’s get started.

SATURDAY:

EA Play (2pm ET)

Electronic Arts has a lot to make up for. After all they are still recovering from the microtransaction laden PR nightmare that was Star Wars Battlefront II. I still am going to go off on them over that, and it will last for a long time. But they still have a lot of titles to keep an eye out for in the upcoming year, and yes the biggest of those titles is the highly anticipated Anthem. I have been interested in this game since last year’s E3 and I really hope there is a new IN-GAME ENGINE demo that shows off how the game will look, especially if it’s run on an Xbox One X. I’m also certain they will show some more in-game footage of Battlefield V. Aside from that, I do want to see if they’ll address all the backlash from Battlefront II.

SUNDAY:

Microsoft (4pm ET)

No more excuses this time. Last year Microsoft had a perfect one in hardware with the announcement of the Xbox One X, a very powerful piece of hardware that has proven to me to be a high-quality console capable of going toe to toe with high end gaming PCs and only costing about the price of a pre-Bitcoin mined GTX 1070. But facts are facts, Xbox needs more first party titles, and while we will see Forza Horizon 4 (which I heard will take place in Japan, a good location IMO) and Crackdown 3 (which hopefully will no longer be delayed,) I do hope to see more first party games. This is make or break for them, and I really hope something comes out that will be at the level of the 2015 backward compatibility reveal. Apparently, this conference is supposed to last two hours, so I really hope they show a lot of games that will make me proud to be an X1X owner.

Bethesda (9:30pm ET)

Let’s face it. With the exception of Wolfenstein II, last year’s #BE3 presentation was horrible. In fact, it almost got my first ever F grade if it weren’t for the previously mentioned game. This year looks to be different. We know that we will see more of the past announcements, Rage 2 and Fallout 76, the latter of which concerns me as, being a huge Fallout fan, I’m hoping that Bethesda continues their Save Player 1 campaign and not make it a multiplayer only experience or even worse, yet another Battle Royale type game (a trend that seriously needs to DIE, in my opinion.) But hopefully we’ll get more from them as well as a possible surprise. Maybe a DOOM 2016 sequel, please? That would make my day!

MONDAY:

Ubisoft (4pm ET)

Assassin’s Creed Origins actually made me want to go back to a series that I thought was getting a bit long in the tooth, so I’m curious to see what its follow up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will show. I had a feeling that the Ancient Greece setting would be a perfect way to continue Bayek’s Ancient Egypt based storyline. I also hope it keeps the same Witcher 3 style combat that Origins used. In addition, with The Crew 2 coming out later this month, I really hope to see how the game will end up, since I haven’t seen anything other than last year’s teaser video. I’m also sure we’ll see yet another Just Dance annual release, but I hope it doesn’t end with that. Maybe a new Splinter Cell or more footage from Skull & Bones, maybe?

Sony (9pm)

We’ve heard about the lineup that Sony is planning to show. With Days Gone being delayed to 2019, what other first party titles will they show? Spider-Man I’m sure will be a definite as will Last of Us Part 2. But will we actually see in game footage of Death Stranding? I hope so because I still don’t even know what it is about aside from Norman Reedus clutching onto a baby and still making no sense whatsoever. And what of Shenmue 3? After all, wasn’t this supposed to come out in 2017? Wasn’t that promised when Sony dragged Yu Suzuki out on stage to e-beg for $2 million just to garner interest?

Speaking of which, I wonder if they will repeat history with something similar to that. And then, there’s PS VR…will we get any more news from it, or will Sony let it just fade away like they did the PS Vita?

TUESDAY:

Nintendo (12pm ET)

Most likely Nintendo will do one of their usual Treehouse Live videos showing off their games for both the Switch and the 3DS. No offense to those who own a 3DS, but I really hope this year Nintendo shows more games for the Switch. I am going to say it again, I am a huge fan of the Nintendo Switch, and while at first I questioned the aspects of the hybrid console, it has since warmed up to me and is turning into a darn good portable gaming system. However aside from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Trouble (a port of a Wii U game) and the surprisingly good Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (a $10 precursor to the Kickstarter funded Metroidvania-based game) there really hasn’t been much for me to play on it. I know that Bayonetta 3 will be shown off, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that, as well as Mario Tennis Aces which releases this month, but I want something to wow me as much as Super Mario Odyssey did last year. Metroid Prime 4 would be a start, especially if you show it in-game, but still, I. WANT. F-ZERO. SX! Not a Starfox racing game, but a REAL sequel to the awesome F-Zero GX. And no, I don’t want Fast RMX either, so stop bringing that up!

Anyway, I will be keeping a close eye on all of these conferences, and will provide a quick score on each of them as they happen in my next column. Be sure to stay tuned for that!

Currently Playing: Bloodstained-Curse of the Moon (Switch)