E3 2015: All That You Need To Know

E3 2015: All That You Need To Know

E3 2015 Date – When is E3 2015?

E3 2015 is running from June 16-18, but expect all the big announcements to happen on press day, which is on Monday June 15. Bethesda is holding its first ever press conference on Sunday June 14, so it’s all going to start exploding a little earlier this year.

Microsoft at E3 2015 – Xbox One Games at E3 2015

Microsoft is having its Xbox press conference on June 15, bright and early at 9am PDT.

Microsoft has been doing a stand-up job of making sure its fans are excited for the press conference, though, giving us regular teasers as to what we could expect.

Aaron Greenberg, US Marketing Head for Xbox, started off the trail of E3 breadcrumbs, stating that Microsoft is taking a bit of a different approach this year.

“Expect a lot of surprises,” said Greenberg to The Inner Circle podcast. “We have some ideas to do some things different at E3 this year that we haven’t done before. I think we’re going to take a little bit of a different approach to E3 this year. But I feel really good about it. It’s been really exciting.

“Expect us to talk a lot about games. And if you’re an Xbox owner, I think you’re going to leave really, really, really happy in the investment you made. And if you’re undecided, we hope that you will look at what we deliver on games and want to buy an Xbox.”

The latest rumours though, are suggesting that the Xbox press conference could be used to announce a brand new Xbox One controller, complete with 3.5mm headphone jack.

The leak came via the official Xbox support website, which detailed only controllers released "in June" would feature the 3.5mm headphone jack -- something that headset manufacturers will celebrate.

Then, the leak was reiterated by retailer Libro, who listed the Xbox One Covert Forces controller briefly with the image below, before the page was swiftly taken down.

It doesn't look like the new controller adds another other new features to differentiate itself from the original Xbox One Wireless Controller, but at least it'll open up gaming headset compatibility.

Greenberg also teased that there will be announcements for Xbox One games that will actually launch before the end of 2015.

“I think this year coming up you’ll see [what will] arguably be one of the biggest holiday line-ups we’ve ever had in the history of our business. You know some of the titles that are coming, there’s definitely more we haven’t announced.

“Here we are in February and already this holiday we will have, exclusively on Xbox One, Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport 6, Fable Legends and Halo 5: Guardians

. Those are just a few and that doesn’t include any other surprises we have internally, but I think it’s going to be a great, great holiday for gamers and I think we’re confident we’re going to deliver high-quality games again this year.”

Sony at E3 2015 – PS4 Games at E3 2015

We predict that Sony, like Microsoft, has a host of first-party titles up its sleeve for an E3 reveal. Well, we’re mainly hoping that because we’re still drying our tears after the news that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End has been pushed to 2016.

It’s most likely we’ll see a Gran Turismo 7 reveal with some gameplay and a firm holiday 2015 release date.

Guerilla Games, the developer behind the Killzone game series, is rumoured to be working on a PS4 game not related to Killzone, so it might be time to hear more about that.

There are also rumours of a PS4-exclusive Ratchet and Clank game, along with a brand-new Resistance title.

If it’s anything like PlayStation’s E3 2014 press conference, we could see some new games launch and be made available right there and then – just look at Entwined from last year.

There’s also the great possibility that we’ll hear a lot more about No Man's Sky, which is starting life as a PS4 exclusive and coming to PC at a later date.

According to a new FCC filling, we could see Sony pull a new PS4 out of the bag with a 1TB hard drive at E3 2015.

Well actually the FCC filing detailed two new PS4 models, with the details suggesting we could be looking at a more power efficient and lighter model. Is that a PS4 Slim we smell?

The Sony PS4 E3 2015 press conference takes place at 9pm PDT on June 15.

Nintendo at E3 2015

Then, of course, you’ve got Nintendo. The Japanese gaming giant has already confirmed the Legend of Zelda game for Wii U won’t be arriving this year, and because of that we won’t be seeing any of it at E3 2015. And we’re super sad about that.

Instead, Nintendo will be focused on the games that actually are launching this year.

Here’s what a Nintendo representative told IGN back in March...

“As Mr Aonuma announced, The Legend of Zelda game for Wii U is no longer targeted as a 2015 release. Rather than sticking to a specific schedule, the team wants to make this the most complete and the best game it can possibly be. The new launch timing has not yet been determined. Because we’d like to focus on developing the game, we aren’t planning on showing it at this year’s E3, where we will be highlighting games launching in 2015. We will let you know when we’re ready to share more specifics.”

And that’s all we have on Nintendo’s plans for E3 2015.

However, we’d love to see the publisher unveil a brand-new Metroid title. It’s definitely one of our favourite game series and one desperately in need of a revival.

Speaking of a game series in need of a revival, Nintendo announced Star Fox Wii U at last year’s E3, so it’s time we heard more about that particular title.

It might be a bit early, but there’s a possibility that Nintendo might even talk about its next console. The company recently confirmed that it's working on its next major console and it’s codenamed the NX.

Much more likely, however, is Nintendo speaking about its recently inked partnership with DeNA for its first official foray into the mobile games arena. The first Nintendo smartphone and tablet games are due out this holiday season, so it’s bound to be a topic of interest for coverage at E3.

Since the New 3DS and New 3DS XL are both doing so well, Nintendo may focus a large portion of its E3 Nintendo Direct to its handheld duo. The pair both have improved processors and graphical abilities compared to their predecessors, so we should start seeing New 3DS family exclusive games in the very near future – we only have Xenoblade Chronicles 3D at present, after all.

Bethesda at E3 2015

E3 2015 is going to absolutely huge for Bethesda. This year, the developer is holding its first ever press conference on June 14 in Hollywood, California. This is the day before the majority of press conferences occur, so Bethesda is definitely going big for its first E3 press event.

Of course, this announcement set all the rumour mills working at full tilt, mostly surrounding a potential Fallout 4 reveal.

Fallout 4 entered production in April 2014 after Bethesda released the final DLC pack for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. So it’s definitely in line for a full announcement, even if it isn’t released until 2016.

Well, it looks like we might see Fallout 4 announced before E3 2015, thanks to a countdown timer that appeared on the Bethesda website on June 2.

Not only does the URL read fallout.bethsoft.com, but the "Please Stand By" holding image is straight out of Fallout as some of you may know.

The reveal is to occur at 3pm BST on June 3, so stay tuned for some big Fallout news soon.

EA Games at E3 2015

There are four major titles that we're desperate to play from EA Games and if they don’t feature at E3 2015, we may well bang our fists on the table and have a little tantrum.

EA Games and BioWare have been teasing us with the next Mass Effect – aka Mass Effect 4 – for years now. After the supposed “survey leak” in April, we can hardly contain our excitement. We think we’re definitely due some concrete details about the game at E3.

The same with Mirror’s Edge 2. It’s been nearly five years since the first Mirror’s Edge and the sequel was first announced back at E3 2013. Apart from a brief teaser at E3 last year on the free-running movement focus of the game, we’ve not been given a proper update on Faith’s adventures.

Now we know the Star Wars Celebration provided the perfect backdrop to announce the first gameplay details and release date for Star Wars Battlefront, but we’d be disappointed if EA Games overlooks the game at E3. We sincerely doubt it will, but let’s hope the chat is accompanied by some more awesome details.

Ubisoft At E3 2015

Seeing as Ubisoft already announced Assassin's Creed Syndicate prior to E3 2015, we expect the publisher will focus heavily on this new title.

The game is set in London and is currently in development at Ubisoft Quebec rather than the usual Ubisoft Montreal. This will be the first time that Quebec has handled an Assassin’s Creed game, so it could be interesting to see what a different studio does with the series.

Ubisoft Quebec has worked on Assassin’s Creed DLC before, though, so it’s not totally unfamiliar with the series.

Aside from that we’re really hoping that we finally find out when Tom Clancy’s The Division will land on our Xbox One and PS4. The publisher has been rolling out the same gameplay demo for over a year now, so we’re more than ready to get our hands on the game and our ears on a release date.

The same for Rainbow 6: Siege. We know that it is coming sometime this year, but there’s been no confirmed release window as yet.

Now Ubisoft has confirmed it will show off brand new gameplay for Tom Clancy's The Division, the freshly announced Assassin's Creed Syndicate and the 6v6 shooter Rainbow Six Siege.

But, along with fresh gameplay for those titles, Ubisoft has promised we'll be treated to some "big surprises" in the form of "several new exciting games".

Square Enix at E3 2015

This year at E3 2015, Square Enix will hold its own press conference on June 16 at 9am somewhere in downtown LA. It's the first time Square Enix has held its own press conference since E3 2012 when it announced its new-gen Luminous engine.

Square Enix has chosen the time slot in which Nintendo usually holds its E3 Nintendo Direct, so it will be interesting to see if the two conference clash closer to June.

We already know that the recently announced Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will no doubt take up a large portion of Square Enix' press conference, and rightly so.

We're also hoping to see more of Kingdom Hearts 3 and of course Just Cause 3 during the event.

There's also the potential of a massive Final Fantasy XV reveal. That's not asking too much is it?

Activision at E3 2015

Activision has two big titles to show off at this year’s E3 2015. And two very different ones at that.

The first is Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which was confirmed in early April by a teaser trailer. A full review is expected on April 26, but we’d put a large amount of money on the fact that Activision will use E3 2015 to showcase the upcoming FPS.

Then there’s Guitar Hero Live. It’s the first Guitar Hero game since 2011 and it’s bringing with it a brand-new plastic guitar controller that's supposed to feel more like playing a real instrument.

Activision has already promised to provide us with more information on the game at E3 2015, so we can’t wait to take to the stage.

Activision doesn’t have its own press conference, but it usually partners with Microsoft or Sony to showcase its titles at a big E3 press conference. For example, Xbox was the chosen partner for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, with Activision bringing DLC content first to Xbox platforms and launching a special limited-edition Advanced Warfare Xbox One bundle.

2K Games at E3 2015

Like Activision, 2K Games doesn’t have its own dedicated press conference. But this year we’re expecting to hear the first details about Borderlands 3.

We’ve just been treated to our first Borderlands experience on Xbox One and PS4 with Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, but that’s only made us eager to see the first true new-gen Borderlands game.

In February it was revealed that Borderlands 3 will be “built specifically for next-gen” after the game was confirmed during Take Two’s financial earnings call.

Apart from the name, we know nothing about Borderlands 3, so fingers crossed 2K finds some way to make it debut at E3 2015.