E3 is officially over, and prominent figures in the gaming industry have started sharing tributes to the annual gaming event. 

On December 12, the ESA announced that E3 is officially, permanently dead after 28 years. It's been a tough time for the conference in recent years, with just one event taking place between 2020 and 2023 - mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of its recent track record, fans, past attendees, and developers have all taken to Twitter to share their memories of the now-defunct gaming get-together.

One of the most recognized people to react to the news is the Nintendo of America president, Doug Bowser. After sharing the ESA's statement on Twitter, Bowser writes: "For over two decades E3 has had an incredible impact on the gaming industry. It’s hard to overstate the number of unforgettable moments it gave all of us. What a run!"

Death Stranding director and head of Kojima Productions, Hideo Kojima, also took the time to share his memories with the event, writing: "The end of E3 is sad news; we exhibited [Metal Gear Solid] for the first time in Atlanta in 1997. I have participated every year since then." 

Kojima then referenced Metal Gear Solid 2's presentation in 2000, adding: "Without E3, Japanese creators and titles would not have made it to the world as much as they have. It was easy to connect with people from all over the world by attending parties and conferences. I have nothing but gratitude. Thank you E3!"

Finally, Michael Douse, director of publishing at Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios, also shared their thoughts about the end of E3. "It’s not that I’ll miss E3 itself (people stopped going because it was a giant economic sinkhole)," the developer writes, "but it was the best *thing* at getting everyone together to show & celebrate games. It was tactile and tangible. It felt official in an otherwise ‘wing it’ kinda industry."

It'll definitely feel different without having E3 to look forward to every summer, but there are certainly a lot of other showcases and events to look forward to around the same time. There's no denying that Geoff Keighley's Summer Games Fest has basically taken over from E3, as well as the regular Xbox Games Showcases, and all the Nintendo Directs we get scattered throughout the year.

So rest assured, there will still be plenty of game reveals and announcements to look forward to in 2024.

Speaking of, find out what's on the horizon with our new games 2023 list.

Somewhere in the storm of video game news in Summer Game Fest 2023's orbit, a highly intriguing survival horror roguelite was announced.

Horror Stories: Harvest Hunt is a new game from indie studio Villainous Games, whose elevator pitch for the title is "Resident Evil Village meets Inscryption." And honestly, watching the announcement trailer, that description seems entirely appropriate.

The first thing that struck me about Harvest Hunt is its art style, which definitely borrows liberally from Inscryption but uses a backwoods village as a template. The result, indeed, is something of a blend between Resident Evil and Devolver Digital's deckbuilding roguelite.

Gameplay-wise, Harvest Hunt is a single-player stealth survival roguelite with a card system that lets you sacrifice some of your health for special abilities and modifiers. The goal, in Villanous Games' words, is to have "the replayability of roguelites with the tension found across the horror genre."

Harvest Hunt puts you in the shoes of a newly appointed warden whose job it is to gather resources from the dangerous, non-linear, and dilapidated Farmlands of Luna Nova. What isn't part of your official job but is equally important is surviving the threat of the Devourer, which mercilessly stalks the fields every night. 

As the moon rises on each night of the harvest, cards are drawn to determine which advantages you'll take with you on the hunt. Along with these helpful tools, you'll also have weapons including pitchforks, axes, and more to combat the many threats of the night. Occasionally, you'll also want to sneak around and hide in order to survive because after all, you're just an ordinary person and your enemies are very much not that.

Each run should take around 10-15 minutes, after which you can customize your deck once more in hopes of countering the randomized challenges to come. It's unclear if environments themselves are randomized/procedurally generated, but at the very least the threats you'll face will be.

I've yet to check out the demo, but the trailer for Harvest Hunt definitely got my attention, with stunning environments, creepy monsters, and plenty of replayability to keep me coming back for more.

Harvest Hunt launches on PC sometime in 2023, and there's a free Steam demo launching June 19 during Steam Next Fest.

In the meantime, here are the best horror games to play tonight.

Pragmata, the debut title in Capcom's big new AAA sci-fi IP, has been delayed indefinitely.

During today's Capcom Showcase, Pragmata debuted an impressive new trailer, but less impressive is the fact that's now uncertain exactly when it will release. The trailer itself is actually quite a clever disguise for the delay announcement. The whole thing is focused on a young girl apparently named Diana, who's fiddling with a piece of paper as heavily armored fighters fend off a bunch of hostile robots.

The camera eventually closes in on the piece of paper and you can clearly see "2022" and "2023" both scratched out and "very sorry" scrawled just below. The new release window is literally penciled in as a question mark, leaving its launch uncertain. The announcement mirrors the last delay the game suffered, which moved its 2022 release window to 2023.

Pragmata is an enigmatic new game from Capcom that, despite having been revealed three years ago, we still don't know a whole lot about. It seems to have AAA-level visuals and animation and a story involving futuristic astronauts, a little girl, and a holographic cat.

Capcom says the new trailer gives "a sneak peak" at Pragmata's gameplay and shows off its protagonists "exploring the dystopian near-future lunar world and facing off with robotic foes." From that, we can glean that the characters shown are the game's protagonists and that the game takes place on a moon somewhere. Other than those somewhat tantalizing details, we know little of the game's story, gameplay, and setting.

Here are some new games of 2023 to keep on your radar.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 Season 4 roadmap is here, and on top of confirming the existence of the leaked Vondel map, it also suggests that the current version of battle royale will be dropping the '2' and reverting to the title of just 'Warzone.'

The new iteration of the battle royale has officially been called Warzone 2.0 since before launch. But that '2.0' suffix is nowhere to be found in the official blog breaking down the Season 4 roadmap, nor is it in any of the official account's tweets on the subject. The game's also just called 'Warzone' in the press release we received from Activision.

The original Warzone is still in operation, but since the launch of its follow-up, that game is now known as Warzone Caldera, which saves us from an utter naming nightmare. It's unlikely that any of these shenanigans will satisfy players upset with the changes Warzone 2 made over the original.

There's far too much in the Season 4 roadmap to highlight it all here, but the headline here is the confirmation of Vondel, a brand-new map for Warzone sized somewhere between Al Mazrah and Ashika Island. Vondel will support 18 players for DMZ and 72 in Resurgence. We'll get more details on what to expect from the new map on June 8.

Season 4 begins in both Warzone and Modern Warfare 2 on June 14.

We're closing in on the heart of the E3 2023 schedule, even without the Electronic Entertainment Expo to anchor it.

Konami has always had a sharp eye for the unconventional when it comes to Pro Evolution Soccer. Remember the PES 3 cover featuring referee Pierluigi Collina, or the ability to replace player faces with animal heads? However, it's surely outdone itself by revealing that Usain Bolt is in PES 2018.

Yes: as in multi-time Olympic champion – and, for most, greatest track athlete of all time – Usain Bolt. He's been announced as an ambassador for the new game, and is unlockable within MyClub mode for those who pre-order, with his likeless (and sprint stats) accurately represented in game. 

If that sounds a bit mad, rest assured that the game's more traditional features appear to be coming along nicely too. For many PES 2017 was the pick of the two football games last year, and its looking to again overcome FIFA 18 with a series of tweaks based directly on fan feedback. One such move is the launch of an online Beta. From July 20 to July 31, it'll be possible to test out the new game in both Quick Match and Online Co-op modes. We'll have more details on how to sign up when they're released. 

Also garnering a big reaction from devoted fans are Master League improvements. Pre-season tournaments are now included in the mode to help you tune up for a fresh season, while pre-match interviews and locker room scenes mean you no longer leap into matches without any sense of occasion. Seasonal objectives also add challenge to the mode, with the threat of the sack if you don't match expectations.

I'll have a much more detailed look at PES 2018 at the back end of next week, after an extended hands-on and interview with series boss Adam Bhatti.

PES 2018 is released on 14 September.

Make sure you check out our full E3 2017 schedule to stay tuned for all the details as they arrive, and check out our roundup of all the E3 2017 trailers.

There's a lot we already know about the third-person Star Wars game from EA. We know Uncharted and Legacy of Kain writer Amy Hennig is penning the script, Dead Space series studio Visceral Games is developing, and Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond is co-developing with her new studio, Motive. And yet we still don't actually have confirmation what the game is about, or what it's even called. But that could change during E3 2016.

In a recruitment letter posted to EA's website, Raymond took note of how far her studio has come, and wrote that she was "super excited" to share more in the coming months. But the real eyebrow raiser is her conclusion: "See you in a couple weeks!" What happens in a couple weeks? That's right, E3; or rather, since EA pulled out of the show, EA Play. Could Raymond be taking the stage to make a public appearance and reveal the game? Not definitely, but her phrasing suggests she'll at least be in Los Angeles to meet with people.

I know, I know. It's not much to go on. But hey, a 2-meter exhaust port wasn't much of a target either, and look how that went down.

Mewtwo is coming next year, eight player battles at Wii U launch

Did you happen to watch the October 23 Nintendo Direct? If not, the short story is that Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will have a whole lot more content than Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. New modes, way more stages, a ton of new music--but the biggest news? Mewtwo will return as DLC, and multiplayer matches can include up to eight players! Crazy, huh?

Mewtwo is still a ways off, as the developers are prepping him for both the Wii U and 3DS version, with plans to release the psychic Pokemon in spring 2015. But he'll only be available to people that own both versions of the game, so he sounds like a rather expensive bit of downloadable content. As for the eight-player battles, they're offline-only and made to take advantage of the extra space that HD TVs provide the Smash series. If you want to know the dozens of other, smaller additions to the Wii U version, click on the above link to the Direct, or get the game for yourself November 21 in North America and December 5 in Europe. In the meantime, why not familiarize yourself with the ever-expanding roster?

Confirmed fighters

After two years of waiting, Nintendo revealed Super Smash Bros. for Wii and 3DS at E3 2013, and the trailer didn't disappoint. Two dozen fighters have already been confirmed for both versions of the game, including five brand new characters. Obviously we'll keep updating this the moment a new fighter is confirmed for the game, so don't you worry about that! Let's start with the newest character to be added...

Mewtwo

First appeared: Pokemon Red/Blue (1998)

Smash Bros. fans have been missing this legendary Pokemon ever since it was left out of Brawl. Mewtwo is the very powerful psychic Pokemon that endeared himself to the Pokemon community when he starred in the first ever Pokemon film before winding up in Melee. Though similar to Lucario, Mewtwo is unique enough that numerous smashing bros had hoped to see him again, and they'll finally get their wish in spring 2015.

And it's well past time for him to make a comeback. According to folks that pulled apart the Smash Bros. source code, Mewtwo was planned to appear in Brawl, and it looked like he had been overlooked again due to time constraints. The developers are taking their time to get this cybernetically enhanced fighter into the game, but I'll take waiting six months if it means I can play as the legendary Pokemon in HD.

Duck Hunt's Dog

Dogs are incredibly lovable, but this has to be the most hated canine in all of gaming history. And that's because pretty much anyone with an NES encountered this smug dog in the free copy of Duck Hunt that came with the system. The fun, simple light gun game is a cute distraction in-between endless sessions of Super Mario Bros., but shooting at ducks gets serious whenever you miss one, as your pooch companion will rise out of the grass and laugh at your mistake. The anger-inducing mutt hasn't made many other appearances in the last three decades, but he and his mallard friends are making a returnin Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U. And this time they'll be working as a team. With this badass comeback, could a Duck Hunt reboot be far behind?

Dark Pit

First appeared: Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012)

Dark Pit may have got his start as a favored alt costume for Pit in Brawl, but he ascended to full character status in Uprising, the previous game directed by Masahiro Sakurai. Dark Pit (or Pittoo as he's called by Palutena) is the magically cloned darker half of the wholesome Pit, out to cause chaos and trouble for the whole Kid Icarus clan. Now that Pittoo is a separate character from Pit on the roster, just how different will he play?

R.O.B.

First appeared: Stack-Up (1985)

In 1985, the games market in the US was virtually barren, and Nintendo's plan to introduce the NES to America meant masquerading a console as a toy by bundling it with R.O.B. The friendly, super-'80s machine responded in the real world to inputs in games like Stack-Up and Gyromite, making for a cute gimmick that would soon be eclipsed by the massive popularity of Super Mario Bros. R.O.B. fell to the wayside after that, but has appeared over the last decade as a fun tribute character popping up in multiple Nintendo titles, including Smash Bros. with Brawl. Though some doubted his appearance, the dangerous droid is back once again in this next iteration, bringing his gyro attacks to 3DS and Wii U.

Dr. Mario

First appeared: Dr. Mario (1990)

Just what the doctor ordered! After appearing in Melee and then getting snubbed in Brawl, Dr. Mario is back to beat the viruses right off his opponents. Mario received his medical doctorate to star in the puzzle spin-off of the same name, tossing endless supply of pills at a cold, which any doctor will tell you is how to cure the flu. With lab coat and stethoscope at the ready, the doc is back to administer some tough love to his patients, but how different will play be from Mario given Sakurai's dislike for clones? Did Sakurai make an exception for this fan favorite?

Ness

First appeared: Mother 2 (1994) / Earthbound (1995)

Gamers in the West may never see Mother 3 get localized, but the franchise's biggest name is still a part of the Smash Bros. series. The baseball bat-wielding American boy is back to knock you off screen with his unique mix of magic and home run swings. Smash fans have loved him since they met him in the N64 original, so they can rest easy knowing he's back. Though how do the diehards feel that Mother 3's Lucas seems to be missing this time around?

Jigglypuff

First appeared: Pokemon Red/Blue (1998)

The puffy Fairy-type Pokemon was a real shock to players of the original N64 Smash Bros., but today the seemingly joke character is a series standby. His absence would definitely be noticable. Good thing fans won't have to miss the sleep inducing, graffiti enthusiast on Wii U/3DS, as he'll be around, bashing characters all across every stage while singing the melodic "Jigglypuff" song. Just don't get too close when he starts crooning, because then you'll be unconscious as Jigglypuff sends you flying right off the screen.

Falco Lombardi

First appeared: Star Fox (1993)

Firmly of the opinion that he's much better than Fox McCloud, Falco is the hotshot member of the Star Fox flight squad. And Falco is just as cocky when he's out of the Arwing, as he's proven in previous Smash Bros. appearances. Given Sakurai's talk of no more clone characters, some may have been concerned Falco would skip Wii U/3DS, but he's here in all his pompous glory. I guess I should be thankful. But will he be a top tier character this time just as he is in Melee?

Ganondorf

First appeared:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) (As Ganon: The Legend of Zelda (1986))

What good is having the Hero of Time around if he doesn't have an ultimate evil to spar with? That's why Ganondorf will always be around. First introduced as the boarish monster Ganon in the original Legend of Zelda, the more human (but still evil) Ganondorf first appeared as a conniving sorcerer that plots to control all of Hyrule in Ocarina of Time. Ganondorf has returned time after time since that game, always ready to cause havoc and get his hands on the Triforce whenever he possibly can. He'll be continuing his quest for power in Smash, cackling maniacally throughout.

Wario

First appeared: Super Mario Land 2 (1992)

After adding him in Brawl, how could Nintendo make another Smash game without the gaseous, onion-loving antihero? First introduced as Mario's twisted opposite, Wario quickly proved popular enough to star in his own series of ridiculous games, making him an unexpected gaming icon. Wario returns with his standard helmet and overall appearance popularized by WarioWare, but you can probably count on his classic look being included as an alternate costume.

Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr. is designed to be an annoying brat, and he does a very good job at getting on your nerves. The miniature version of King Koopa pops up in virtually every modern Mario game, usually as a whiny mid-boss that must be felled before the plumber can battle Bowser. The redheaded tyke is usually seen floating around in his flying clown mobile, which looks to be accompanying him into Smash Bros. Here's hoping the little jerk has fittingly annoying attacks; he should be as frustrating to fight in Smash Bros. as he is in every other game. Also, if you prefer the Koopalings, then you'll be pleased to know they function as his alternate costumes.

Shulk

First appeared: Xenoblade (2010)

Rumored no more! Sulk is the next great sword master to join the series, and he's got more than a few skills to differentiate him from the likes of Marth and Link. Shulks unique edge comes from his trademark sword, the powerful Monado thats imbued with multiple magic spells and techniques learned throughout Xenoblade Chronicles. A strong fighter with an interesting background, Shulk makes a great addition because his stage has the potential to be very unique and have some of the best music in the game. Plus, given Nintendo's new commitment to the Xeno series, it's no surprise one of the franchise's stars would appear in the game.

As seen in his first footage, Shulk transforms the Monado to pull off different attacks and grant skills, including stronger smashes and enhanced speed. His Final Smash summons a couple of his friends from Xenoblade Chronicles as well, and his reveal trailer implies that one of the bosses from his game will make an appearance too. But how will his precognitive powers be taken into account?

Meta Knight

What good is a hero if there isn't a worthy rival to test said hero? That's the case with Meta Knight, Kirby's longtime frenemy, who sometimes battles Kirby, but just as often fighting alongside the pink puffball. Meta shares Kirby's round shape, but is far more fearsome thanks to his metal mask, bat-like wings, and his golden sword dubbed Galaxia. Meta Knight also has an army all his own, and the impressive mother ship called the Halberd, a flying machine that's been home to a fair amount of combat both with and against Kirby.

Meta Knight first joined Smash Bros. with Brawl on Wii, a move that makes sense given Masahiro Sakurai created both Meta Knight and Smash. The character is regarded as quite strong in the Smash Bros. community, perhaps even overpowered to an extent. Will Meta Knight remain as dominant on Wii U/3DS, or will he be rebalanced?

Lucina

She was first introduced as the masked, mysterious hero named Marth (as tribute to the original Marth), but the cat is out of the bag now with Lucina's true identity. She appears from a mysterious portal early in Awakening, wielding the same legendary Falchion blade as Chrom. That seems impossible until it's revealed that Lucina is Chrom's daughter from some doomed future, ready to battle by her father's side, and that includes facing Captain Falcon in a Smash Bros. brawl.

Her move set seems to mirror her combat style from Fire Emblem: Awakening--quick, but powerful. She has a number of dodges and strong sword-based attacks, but what will make her truly stand out in a roster that is now packed with blade-wielding characters. Also, we really hope that one of her alternate costumes for Smash has her wearing her mask from early in the game.

Robin

Well, this fighter was certainly unexpected, huh? Smash players have come to expect blade wielders from Fire Emblem like Marth and Ike, but not sarcastic mages like Robin. Introduced as the nameless player character in Awakening, Robin is the new title given to the protagonist of the game, and their combat style reflects the openness of the character. He/she can wield both swords and magic with ease, though magic attacks seem to be a consumable, limited use attack, because Robin tosses the book after a certain number of uses. (That's how magic works in Fire Emblem as well.)

Robin's history is hard to define, partially because multiple player choices can alter the course of the game, and also because we'd rather not spoil Awakening's awesome plot. The short version is that Robin--who's male or female based on player choice--is an amnesiac warrior that joins up with Chrom and his band of knights to defend the realm from evil. Robin is adept at both melee and magic, using both to protect his/her friends. Given the open nature of the character's gender in Awakening, it's great to see that you can choose it Smash battles too.

Captain Falcon

You didn't really expect a Smash Bros. game to come out without Captain Falcon in it, right? Of course not. Falcon is one of the original roster stars of the series, and any new entry would be severely lacking in Falcon Punch without the racer turned brawler. In fact, it's easy to say that Smash Bros. has made Captain Falcon a bigger star than F-Zero ever did.

Until the original Smash Bros. on N64, Captain Falcon was merely the unseen driver of the Blue Falcon in F-Zero (and he spends his time off the track as a bounty hunter). But since then he has become the hard fighting standby of many Smash Bros. fans. He's known for shouting Falcon Kick and Falcon Punch before delivering said moves, which has no doubt endeared him to players worldwide. But now that we know Falcon is in the game, will his clone character, Ganondorf, return as well? Director Sakurai has seemed very anti-clone of late.

Pac-Man

We start with the most obvious one, Namco's happy, yellow, circular mascot Pac-Man. One of the most well-known characters in the world, Pac is synonymous with gaming to an entire generation. Though known for his arcade classic, he's also starred in dozens of other games for Namco, including the Pac-Man World platformers, kart racers and party games. He earned his spot on the roster a long time ago, and that's FINALLY becoming a reality.

It's enough of a treat to see Pac-Man, Sonic, and Mega Man all appear together in the same game, but Pac-Man also looks pretty fun to play too. His design is based on his older look (no kiddie redesign here), and he has multiple moves that change him into his more round look. Additionally, Pac-Man has multiple attacks that reference Namco classics like DigDug and Galaga. Honestly, the roster feels much more complete now that this little devil is back.

Palutena

First appeared: Kid Icarus (1986)

After months of rumors, we now have confirmation: Kid Icarus mainstay Palutena is in the game. She looks and sounds very much like ker Kid Icarus: Uprising character, even making a number of references to the 3DS game multiple times. She is the same supportive Palutena we know from Uprising, only she somehow twists that into helping Pit by smashing him in the face.

This move totally makes sense, as Palutena topped several most wanted character polls in Japan, and director Sakurai is clearly a fan of the pseudo-Greek goddess after he directed Kid Icarus: Uprising. Will you be playing as the goddess when you get it?

Mii Brawler

You asked for Reggie Fils-Aime or Satoru Iwata to get added to Smash Bros., and youve got all that and more now. During E3 2014, Smash director Masahiro Sakurai announced that Miis were coming to the game, but not just one of them. A trio of different Miis were added to the game, each playing differently. For instance, the Brawler has open hand, martial arts attacks, like powerful uppercuts and flurry of kicks. So if youre looking to add Ken or Ryu Miis to the game, this looks to be the style to do it with.

Mii Gunner

Wish that you had Mega Mans buster cannon or Samus powerful shots? Well, the Mii Gunner, a ranged attacker with multiple explosive attacks. You no doubt have a Mii that will work great as a gunner, though I think the explosive attacks will work best with Pres. Lincoln, dont you think?

Mii Swordfighter

If you never had an interest in firearms or kung fu, then the Swordfighter is the one for you. This style focuses on heavy, up close and personal with strong sword-based attacks. If you always dreamed of fencing with Link or Marth, Smash Bros. can finally make that a reality.

Ike

Don't let the combination of blue hair and a red cape fool you; Ike is actually a bit different from Fire Emblem stablemate Marth. Instead of a royal lineage, Ike grew up as a rough and tumble soldier, eventually leading the Greil Mercenaries group in defense of his friends and family. He's a brave and humble warrior that leads by action, usually by quickly dispatching enemies with his divine sword, the Ragnell.

Ike joined Smash Bros. in Brawl, replacing Roy as the roster's second Fire Emblem character. Ike once again wields the Ragnell in the upcoming Smash Bros., and will likely also carry over the same heavy, strong, and gradual move set that he had before. Does his inclusion mean that all the Roy diehards should lose hope in a comeback?

Greninja

Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. both hit it big with Nintendo fans in the late 1990s, so it isnt surprising to see so many Pocket Monsters as playable characters in the series. And given that two new generations of Pokemon have appeared in between Smash Bros. releases, so youd think at least one would be added, and were very pleased that, out of all the possibilities, Sakurai chose Greninja.

The amphibious Pokemon starts out all cute and friendly as Froakie, but soon he matures into Greninja, the badass shinobi of the Pokemon world. This guy has watery shurikens, agile moves, quick kicks, and more deadly moves. But will he be the only new playable mon in the game?

Charizard

Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and more first generation Pokemon have been a part of the series for years, and that includes Charizard. He had been a powerful Pokeball item until he became a member of the Pokemon Trainers group in Brawl. Now Charizard has been set loose to smash all on his own in the 3DS and Wii U Smash titles.

Director Sakurai has really altered the series with his new rule of separating multiple characters like Charizard. That will hopefully make him a fuller fighter with even more diverse moves--we know he has a Mega Evolution--but does this mean the end of Pokemon Trainer? And what about his former friends Ivysaur and Squirtle?

Yoshi

Yoshi has been around for years and has become one of Nintendo's most popular characters. People know him all over the globe, both for his solo game, and for supporting Mario as one of his closest chums. The green dinosaur is known for his long tongue, spotted eggs, fluttery jump, and happy disposition, all of which appear in the Smash Bros. series, including the 3DS and Wii U editions.

What's different this time around? Yoshi certainly looks different, moving less like a reptile and more like the friendly guy we know from recent games. Sakurai also notes that Yoshi well be buffed up compared to his past self, making him more competitive than ever.

Sheik

Princess Zelda had played the victim to many time already when the Ocarina of Time was blowing the minds of gamers in 1998. That landmark game saw the princess take on the mysterious Sheik personality, a fast, magical ninja type character that has been a Smash favorite since she first appeared tethered to Princess Zelda. No longer...

This time around, Sheik is a separate character from Zelda. Its a risky move, and one that, at the very least changes up Sheiks down B, and were betting some more subtle changes are in the works. This strengthens both characters, so matter who you played with, You should be happy.

Zero Suit Samus

Samus was introduced to the world in a hulking robotic suit that had the world fooled into thinking that the 8-bit hero was a man--at least until the shocking ending to the NES original. But we doubt Samus ever gets misgendered in the form fitting Zero Suit that first appeared as a new outfit in the GBA adventure, Zero Mission. And now this daring look is its own character in Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U.

Another in Sakurais new effort to separate alternate characters, Zero Suit is no longer Samus look after she uses her Final Smash. There are subtle changes to her look, including a new pair of jet boots that make her more mobile. What other fresh moves is the blonde bounty hunter blessed with?

Diddy Kong

A wise man once said, "He's back again and about time too, and this time he's in the mood! He can fly real high with his jetpack on. With his pistols out, he's one tough Kong! He'll make you smile when he plays his tune, but Kremlings beware 'cause he's after you!"

In other words: Yes, Diddy Kong is back in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS. As the song says, he'll bring with him a jetpack and pistols, blasting apart enemies in his signature Nintendo hat. The screenshots show a very familiar Kong, but we're anticipating at least one or two changes to the character.

Princess Zelda

Another of Smash's fighting princesses has been confirmed to return, not that any of us are surprised. We could hardly accept the game without Zelda when she's proven to be one of the strongest fighters in the mix. Her mix of powerful magic, grace, and speed makes you wonder why she ever needs to be saved by Link.

Certainly the biggest change to Zelda is the removal of the Sheik transformation. As was evident in the first screens, Sheik and Zelda are now separate characters to choose from. This choice now opens up the royal fighter's Down B to put her in command of a Phantom Knight from the DS Zelda games. That's nice, but will some pro Smasher miss her former fluidity?

Little Mac

Smash Bros. is Nintendo's top fighting franchise, so it's about time for it to include Nintendo's top pugilist, Little Mac. The small fighter with big punches has long been requested for the game, and now he's added in his classic green gloved look from both the original and Wii reboot of the series.

Little Mac might be smaller than all his opponents, but he's got enough heart that he can take down behemoths like King Hippo, Bald Bull, and Tyson himself. He's got quick steps, speedy combos, and the support of Doc, his dedicated, chocolate-loving trainer. Is it too much to hope that we'll see Glass Joe in Mac's stage?

Luigi

First appeared: Mario Bros. (1983)

2013 was the official Year of Luigi to celebrate the green man's 30th birthday, and everyone knew he'd be a part of Smash anyhow, so Sakurai celebrated by introducing him earlier than expected. The Year of Luigi may have ended, but we still love Luigi and can't wait to use him in the next Smash.

Weegee got his Smash Bros. start as an unlockable character in the very first game, and many players took to his comedic variations on Mario's move set. His moveset has since become a bit more unique, especially with the Luigi Missile move that could send him hurtling across the screen. Luigi has always been a fan favorite of the series, and we couldn't imagine the 3DS and Wii U games without him. Now we don't have to.

Princess Peach

First appeared: Super Mario Bros. (1985)

First introduced to the Smash series in Melee, Princess Peach took a break from being constantly kidnapped so she could kick Nintendo butt on the GameCube. Back again on Wii U and 3DS, she's once again ready to shed the "damsel in distress" motif and take on that dastardly Bowser herself.

Her first screens show that many of her famous moves have returned, including her hilarious use of Toad as a shield. We hope that she gets a new Final Smash though; dropping health items and putting everyone to sleep doesn't compare to other possibilities like Psych Bomb from Super Mario RPG. Peach is arguably Nintendo's most famous female character, so we're glad to see that her highness is getting back into the action.

Toon Link

First appeared: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003)

Some balked at the idea of replacing Young Link with this design early on, but "Toon Link" has become one of Nintendo's most popular incarnations of its legendary hero. First seen in Wind Waker, the GameCube gem that recently got an HD upgrade for Wii U, the wide-eyed hero swings the Sword of Time with the best of them.

As before, he'll offer a pint-sized version of the standard Link move set, this time looking better than ever with his newly HD polish. We hope that like Luigi, Toon Link's arsenal becomes a bit more unique to him instead of just a Link re-hash...we wonder if he incorporate the King of Red Lions somehow That'd be insane.

Sonic The Hedgehog

First appeared: Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)

Created as the anti-Mario, Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most beloved icons in gaming, despite what Sega is currently doing with him (a scarf? A SCARF?!). Seeing Sonic in Smash Bros was a dream of many fans that finally came true in Brawl and is now continuing on the Wii U and 3DS sequel.

The Blue Blur's trademark spiny attacks all look to return in the initial footage, and he looks like he's faster than ever as he flies around the arena. Some of those combos are pretty flashy too, perhaps his moves have been tweaked a bit this time around. We just hope Super Sonic returns as his Final Smash; that move was beyond awesome every time we pulled it off.

Marth

Marth may be the original Fire Emblem hero, but for most fans outside Japan, his relevance starts with Smash Bros. For years Nintendo chose to not import Fire Emblem, but when Marth joined Melee he became one of the most popular characters on the roster, and Nintendo soon started localizing Fire Emblem games in the US. The series has since launched into ultra popularity, most recently with Awakening on the 3DS.

An adept swordsman, March swings his trusty Falchion with grace, cutting down every foe he sees with precision and strength. The tip of his blade has deducted many stocked lives from players all over the world, making Marth one of the top choices in every Smash he's in. We expect no different this time around.

Rosalina & Luma

Rosalina first appeared as a regal space princess helping Mario navigate the depths of the universe in Super Mario Galaxy, but lately she's joining in all the spin-off fun. Now she's taking her wand, summoning her trusty Luma helpers and joining the Smash roster, looking to kick some astral ass.

Rosalina appears to mainly use her magic wand and floating abilities for combat, but her main perk looks to be those Luma sidekicks. The chubby little star people apparently support Rosalina from all over the screen, mimicking her moves like a puppet for its master. Don't be surprised if that puppet stuff shoots her into the top tiers of competitive Smash, because it's that kind of unique trait that the pros are so good at perfecting.

King Dedede

Kibry's arch nemesis is set to return to Smash Bros, and he doesn't go anywhere without that massive mallet of his. The big, evil penguin has received a nice visual upgrade, meaning his signature coat has the fluffiest white cuffs we've ever seen. Seriously, look at those things--that's a photorealistic penguin coat if we've ever seen one.

Dedede's moves don't look all that different from when he appeared in Brawl (save the wacky facial animations), so expect a lot of power at the cost of speed. Dedede has a bit of pep in his step, but not enough to consider it in his strategy. Dedede's game is more about pulverizing opponents with that giant hammer, and with a weapon like that, why would we focus on anything else?

Lucario

Like Pokemon? How about mystical ones the have spikes on their wrists and can manipulate auras for powerful attacks? Then Lucario is the pocket monster for you! Introduced as one of the key monsters in Diamond and Pearl, Lucario joined Smash Bros. in Brawl while he was fairly new to gamers. He's not so fresh anymore, but he's still plenty popular, so the Aura Pokemon is making a return.

Lucario's moves look like they're the same as they were in Brawl, but Sakurai has stated that his Aura buffs at high damage percentage are even higher now, making him the ultimate risk/reward character. Did you see the Aura Sphere in the Pic of the Day? It was HUGE! All of this is great, but here's what we're really wondering: because he replaced Mewtwo in Brawl, is it safe to assume the original psychic legendary is going to be left out of this entry as well?

Captain Olimar

First appeared: Pikmin (2001)

The intrepid (albeit miniature) hero of the Pikmin series is back in action, following his success in Smash Bros. Brawl. He will once again use his Pikmin army to his advantage, with his blue, yellow, red, purple, and white buddies all doing different damaging effects. No sign yet of the rock Pikmin we spotted in Pikmin 3, but here's to hoping.

As much as we love commanding Olimar's Pikmin around the Smash battlefield, we're hoping that he can be a more efficient fighter on his own. We know Pikmin have always been his saving grace, but gee whiz give the guy a chance if he should tragically lose them all in a tight spot! Ok, maybe it happens to us more than others, but still help a captain out!

Mario

Oh hey look Mario is in the Smash Brothers game, also breaking news the sky is blue and water is wet. Seriously though, there's no Nintendo without Mario, so there's no Smash Bros without the plucky plumber either.

As they've done with all their previous Smash Bros reveals, the first trailer started the appropriate way: with Mario as the first characer shown. Mr. Mustache seems to have all the same abilities from the previous games, which will once again make him the average all-around character beginners use to learn the game. Let's face it: most folks playing Smash for the first time are going to choose Mario anyway, so he should be the perfect character for learning the game.

Villager

The Animal Crossing series isn't known for its violence, so previous Smash appearances had been relegated to stages and trophies. No more! Now Villager is joining the fray, and if the internet is to be believed he's a raging, murderous psychopath bent on wanton destruction. Yeah.

Villager comes to Smash packing a vast arsenal of collection and town upkeep tools. Shovels, axes, plant buckets, slingshots, and even his pockets will serve him against the rest of Nintendo's best. We wonder though; will the Animal Crossing part of the roster be limited to him, or is it too much to hope the nefarious, capitalist tyrant Tom Nook will appear as well?

Mega Man

When that helmet appeared and those mega eyes lit up in Mega Man's reveal trailer, the reaction across the Internet can be summarized in one word: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Mega Man is FINALLY going to brawl against Mario, Link, and the rest of the gang! Happy days!

To be honest we were a little dumbstruck that ol Mega hadn't appeared in Brawl as one of the first ever third party fighters, but we don't need to worry about that anymore. The Blue Bomber is bringing plenty of his most famous moves with him. The Mega Buster, his slide, and a slew of abilities he copied from robot masters he's defeated in his various games, including the iconic Metal Man saw blades. It may have taken one game longer than we thought, but Mega Man is finally here. We can not wait to play as him!

Bowser

It seems Mario's biggest has learned to stand a little taller since his last appearance in Brawl, as his new stance takes him away from the ground and makes him MUCH more intimidating. We don't expect his moveset to change much (and it doesn't look it has, either), but perhaps with a new stance comes some new abilities.

Poor Bowser didn't even get a formal reveal in the first trailer, but rest assured that Bowser is totally playable. The red-haired tyrant will once again try to teach Mario a lesson with fire, sharp claws, and hopefully a Giga Bowser transformation. We'd love to see that giant in full HD.

Kirby

From day one Kirby was a shoo-in for Smash Bros, as he is a creation of Masahiro Sakurai himself. When the idea for Smash Bros came to Mr. Sakurai, he HAD to have been thinking about Mario vs Kirby, so he made sure the pink puffball got in. It's a good thing too, because leaving Kirby out would just be criminal.

We've haven't seen much in the way of moves for Kirby, but we can't imagine his moveset will be drastically different from every other game in the series. Although in the first trailer he turns into a Thwomp, we assume as part of his Down+B Stone attack, so maybe he'll transform into other famous rocks as well. Hopefully be brings some new Copy abilities too; we'd love seeing the Mike attack in a Smash battle.

Pikachu

First appeared: Pokemon Red/Green (1996)

If you thought the international icon of one of Nintendo's most popular franchises would be left out of Smash Bros, you're crazy. Pikachu has been around since the N64, so there's no way he's going anywhere now.

We assume Pikachu will bring the same lightning-quick moveset from the previous games into battle here, including that insane Quick Attack he uses to get across the screen in a hurry. How are we supposed to keep uo with ol' #25 if he keeps zipping around like that? Then he gets a Smash Ball and powers up Volt Tackle, and things just get way worse. Pikachu, you yellow devil, it's good to have you Smashing again, even if you are Pika-cheap.

Link

First appeared: The Legend of Zelda (1987)

In a game of Nintendo icons, nothing outside of a red hat with an M on it is more iconic that the Master Sword, wielded by Link the Hylian. "Hero of Time" almost isn't a powerful enough title for someone as prolific as Link, as he's saved princesses, his world, other dimensions, and the very nature of time. It's no wonder he's back for more Smashing.

Link and his iconic set of weapons are a constant in Smash Bros., though the look has changed throughout the years. This time, Link looks to be taking on his Skyward Sword persona, which explains the more cartoonish look. Maybe he'll bring a Loftwing with him and zip around the battlefield bringing pain from above. We doubt it, but we'd sure like to see it!

Pit

First appeared: Kid Icarus (1986)

In the time between Melee and Brawl, one of the most requested character in Nintendo's stable was Pit, the angelic warrior of the goddess Palutena. Brawl fixed that omission from the jump, and now Pit returns for more action.

We know Pit's moveset has been altered, as he now incorporates the Upper Dash Arm from Kid Icarus: Uprising in his moveset. Sakurai worked on Uprising just before starting his work on this new Smash game, so we won't be surprised if more Uprising abilities make their way into Pit's arsenal. Also, will Dark Pit make an appearance after showing up in Uprising? Will another character represent the series at all?

Samus

First appeared: Metroid (1986)

Samus is one of the biggest badasses in gaming, and was the top space marine years before Master Chief or Marcus Fenix were even created. Her Varia is strong enough on its own, but it's almost unstoppable when fully powered up with bombs and electric whips. She's been blasting fools off screen since the first Smash outing, and will continue to do so on Wii U and 3DS.

Samus's appearance has been given an overhaul, exchanging the bulky-yet-serviceable Power Suit from Super Metroid for the sleeker, more maneuverable Other M version. We can only hope that the Samus under the hood is still the same Super Metroid badass and not the Other M teenager. We're not sure we want to hear that voice again.

Fox McCloud

First appeared: Star Fox (1993)

There will never be a Smash Bros game without FOx McCloud. Sure, he's been around since the N64, but since he's become a total powerhouse used by many of the top competitive Smash players in the world. He's agile, powerful, and the sight of him coming against you should strike fear in your heart. What does the fox say? This one says total domination.

Fox is bringing back his lasers, reflector shield, and general speed that will likely keep him as a favorite among fans and pros alike. What he hasn't brought back yet, though, are his compatriots Falco and Wolf. Will we be seeing more Star Fox characters in the future, or will Fox go it alone from here?

Donkey Kong

First appeared: Donkey Kong (1981)

He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well. He's finally back to kick some tail. This giant ape was Nintendo's first famous name in gaming, and his arcade hit launched Mario's career, and his appearance in Smash was expected the minute the game was announced.

We've seen that Donkey Kong will have his helicopter attack and a few other familiar moves, but we've yet to see how extensive his abilities will be. We hope his Final Smash is changed from the Jungle Beat bongos to something from Donkey Kong Country Returns...though we're not sure what that could be. That Final Smash really disappointed us; we thought this big ape deserved better than that.

Wii Fit Trainer

Nintendo has made it a point to try and help their consumers' overall quality of life, which has made this white-skinned warrior a household name for those with a Balance Board laying around. While the most hardcore of Nintendo fans might have skipped the game, the Wii Fit Trainer is absolutely deserving of a spot on the roster.

As we've seen so far, Wii Fit Trainer's moveset will incorporate many of the exercises and yoga poses we've be awkwardly trying to perform in the privacy of our homes. Tree, Warrior, we've seen a lot, especially in her screen-filling Wii Fit Final Smash. She certainly wasn't expected to be a part of Smash, but now that she is she totally fits in.

Mr. Game & Watch*

First appeared: Ball (1980)

Before Samus, before Link, even before Mario, there was Game & Watch, one of Nintendo's earliest forays into the video game market. The very simple games were the phone apps of their day, only they ran on repurposed LCD tech taken from calculators. These early handhelds often featured a little stick figure that could be seen juggling, or killing rats, or cooking sausage. This man would become Mr. Game & Watch, the mascot of this lost era of Nintendo, a man who joined the Smash Bros. cast with Melee.

Mr. Game & Watch is a fan favorite, with many loving his goofy moves and flat dimensions. He was confirmed for the newest Smash Bros. in typically weird form, by dropping in at the end of the Pac-Man reveal trailer to stand next to his fellow 1980 creation. No matter how it was revealed, fans can breathe easy knowing G&W will soon be in HD.*Game & Watch was shown in a trailer, but not technically 100% confirmed, but we believe he'll be included based on this.

Who else deserves to be in the game?

So that's every character that we currently know is in the game, but why stop there? We have dozens of characters we want to see added to the next Smash Bros, and we're sure you do too. What follows are a mix of our picks and reader choices for additions to the 3DS/Wii U smashers. If you have any more suggestions, let us know!

Mallo

First appeared: Pushmo (2011)

Our potential Smash Bros. roster is in danger of having too many normal looking characters and could use more of the cartoony protagonists Nintendo loves. The squat Mallo looks a bit like a sumo wrestler, and he uses his low center of gravity to push blocks around to solve puzzles. His jumping abilities would translate well into Smash, though Mallo doesnt exhibit many offensive moves in Pushmo or Crashmo. Wed be fine with the devs simply ripping off the all the moves of E. Honda from Street Fighter.

Chance hell be in SSBWU: Nintendo has been extra focused lately on creating downloadable franchises, and Mallo is the star of one of the earliest hits on the 3DS eShop. If Nintendo wants to prove that its eShop franchises are on the level of its retail releases, putting Mallo in the Smash would go a long way. Pushmo has already had one sequel, so appearing in the next Smash would elevate both Mallo and the entire concept of eShop originals.

The Wonderful 101

First appeared: The Wonderful 101 (2013)

Platinum Games is one of the top independent developers in Japan, and the teams next franchise launches in September with Wii U exclusive The Wonderful 101. The game features an army of costumed heroes fending off an alien invasion, and the group consists of colorful, Power Ranger-style fighters as well as weird members made of sushi and washing machines. Together they can transform into various massive weapons like a sword or a fist, and if they were included in Smash, the Wonderful 101 would use those abilities to work similarly to the Pikmin in Brawl, but with 20-plus team members instead of four.

Chance hell be in SSBWU: Wonderful 101 was one of the earliest exclusive announced for the Wii U, and Nintendo has gotten pretty close with Platinum lately, agreeing to also exclusively publish Bayonetta 2. Nintendo would no doubt like to keep that friendship going by adding the the stars of 101 to Smash, and it would help establish the game as the start of a franchise, not just another one-off from Platinum.

Bayonetta

First appeared: Bayonetta (2010)

Created by many of the developers behind the first Devil May Cry games, Bayonetta is a sassy witch that kills demons and angels with equal panache. She doesnt care what side of Heaven or Hell shes fighting, so long as shes paid. Bayonettas weapons of choice include her four favorite guns--two of which are attached to her heels--as well as her enchanted hair. Her flowing locks can transform into giant fists or gnashing fangs to destroy her enemies, and the rest of the time her mane takes the form of the clothes on her body. Like we said, sassy.

Chance shell be in SSBWU: Up until a few months ago Bayonetta seemed firmly established as a Sega franchise, but then came the shocking announcement that Bayonetta 2 is a Wii U exclusive. Now that Nintendo seems so firmly behind our favorite witch, the odds of her showing up in Smash Bros. have increased substantially. Yes, shed have to leave some of her more risqu moves at the door, but with the kind of arsenal shes packing, shed be a great addition.

Krystal

First appeared: Star Fox Adventures (2002)

Fox and Falco are already part of Smash Bros., but there are other members of the Star Fox crew wed like to see in SSB, with Krystal at the top of the list. Krystal has proven herself to be more than capable, thanks in large part to her magical staff. Shes first introduced as the protector of a dinosaur planet Fox McCloud crashes on, and shes also blessed with telepathic abilities. Krystal joined the Star Fox team when she and Fox became an item, though in a later game Krystal left to be a part of the rival Star Wolf Team.

Chance shell be in SSBWU: Krystal may have been introduced in a game that was barely a Star Fox title, but at this point Nintendo has proven to be pretty committed to the character. In fact, given her melee skills, shes arguably the most fitting member of the Star Fox crew for a fighting game, and SSB could always use more ladies on the roster. Unless Nintendo has totally turned its back on the newer Star Fox characters, we think the odds are in her favor.

Matthew

Son of the stars of the original Golden Sun for GBA, Matthew takes after his father Isaac a lot. Wielder of the famous Sol Blade, Matthew is a master of earth magic like his papa, often calling upon the ground in his mystical battles. Like most RPG protagonists, he teamed up with his childhood friends to save the world. Including him would not only add a newer character to the mix, but also finally give Golden Sun some real recognition in the SSB series.

How they should play: Given his potent mix of sword and sorcery, we see Isaac playing like a combination of characters. Obviously hed have sword-heavy attacks similar to Link and Marth, but based on the number of spells he knows, we could see him using area-effecting magic attacks ala Zelda or Gannon.

Birdo

Since her first appearance as an egg spitting mid boss, Birdo has stuck in the minds of players everywhere. Though somewhat ignored directly after Mario 2, over the last decade or so, Birdo started popping up in Mario spin-offs until eventually she became a regular in most Mario sports and party games. Often used as the feminine counterpart to Yoshi, Birdos got a big enough fan base that she deserves to be playable in SSB instead of restricted to the cameo roles shes had to put up with. If nothing else, shed be a welcome female addition to a rather male-oriented roster.

How they should play: Since Birdo has been symbolically intertwined with Yoshi for years, why not use the green dino as a starting place for controls? She should have the flutter jump or a variation on it, though her egg attacks would obviously be a straight shot instead of Yoshis arc. Initially we thought you should be able to stand on her eggs if you time the jump right, but that seems like it might break the whole throw your opponent off the stage concept to the battles.

Professor Layton

First appeared: Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007)>

Professor Hershel Layton is one of the most well-known characters introduced in the last five years, having starred in multiple hit puzzle games. Layton is famous for using his ample intelligence and good manners to solve ancient mysteries all over the world, often finding the logical explanation for some supernatural occurrence. And while Layton strives to be a gentleman at all times, if hes forced to defend himself, hes more than skilled at that too.

Chance hell be in SSBWU: Layton seems like a shoe-in given the brands closeness to Nintendo systems, SSBs Japanese development, and the fact that the next SSB will be on 3DS and needs guest characters famous on handhelds. Additionally, Layton just appeared in his first crossover game, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, a good sign developer Level-5 might share the character again in the future. The biggest strike against Hershel appearing is that his next game for 3DS is rumored to be his last, so if Level-5 is set on retiring him, its possible the publisher wont want Layton appearing in SSB so soon afterwards.

Midna and Wolf Link

If youre looking for a new form to give Link in the fourth Smash Bros, look no further than 2006s Twilight Princess. Every time Link entered the Twilight Realm, he was transformed into a wolf, controlling very differently than he did in human form with more ferocious attacks. His constant companion, whether he liked it or not, was Midna, an imp that wields powerful magic and holds a dark secret.

How they should play: Despite being two separate characters, this duo would be better off playing more like a single character and less like the Ice Climbers. The combination of the wolfs practical attacks (mostly involving biting jugulars) would mix with Midnas mysterious powers that could be used for ranged and defense. Obviously Midnas transformative abilities could come in handy too, especially with regards to a Final Smash.

Tom Nook

Super Smash Bros has always been light on your options to play as a bad guy, and few in the Nintendo pantheon are more evil than Tom Nook. Dont let his furriness fool you; this raccoon controls your life in Animal Crossing with an iron fist. Youre constantly pushing yourself to escape the grip of your many debts to Nook, and even when you finally do, he has a monopoly over your town's businesses, so you still have to give him your money. Truly one of Nintendos most evil characters.

How they should play: Probably working similar to Mr Game & Watch, Nooks moves would be based around his random uses of items from AC. A shovel here, an apple tree there, and his best power would be burying his enemies in crushing debt. Hed be a wonderful fighter in the joke character tradition of SSB.

Rayman

The armless French creation is enjoying a renewed relevance these days. Following years of being upstaged by Rabbids, Rayman and his lovably goofy friends returned in the gorgeously 2D platformer Rayman Origins. Based on Raymans history with the Wii and 3DS, plus Ubisofts dedication to the Wii U, if any guest character would appear in the next Smash Bros, itd be Rayman.

How they should play: The Origins update to Rayman works almost perfectly for Smash. Hes got tons of different melee attacks, transformative powers, and can hover with his propeller head. As for his design, wed hope for a mash-up between his colorful 2D self in Origins and his 3D looks from Rayman 2 and 3.

Kazuya Mishima

Since way back when Soul Calibur II came out with the earth-shattering appearance of Link, Namco has been needing to return the favor by lending one of its characters to a Nintendo fighter, but at first it was tough to decide who. You might think Pac-Man, but traditionally he doesnt really have any arms or legs, and wed rather Nintendo ignore the middling Pac-Man Worlds of a few years ago. No, Namco should instead go with its premier fighting game, one that thats already appearing in another crossover, and was one of the few franchises to appear in the Wii U reveal trailer. Were obviously referring to Tekken, and Namcos got to go with the series anti-hero Kazuya.

How they should play: Obviously his move set will be simplified a little from the Tekken games, but all of his marquee attacks should be there. Perhaps the platforming aspects of the combat might seem odd at first, but wed get used to it. Plus he could have a Zelda/Sheik-type transformation into his Devil form. Perhaps his style would be a little too rough for the good-natured thrashing of Smash Bros, but itd certainly make him standout from the crowd.

Bomberman

Mascot of the now defunct Hudson, Bombermans a strange mix of cuteness with explosive death, which is why many love him. His adorable, modest design is fitting with his NES background, and the simple multiplayer joy of blowing people up in Bomberman games could translate to fun in Smash Bros. Wouldnt it be fitting if he appeared alongside his 8-bit mascot brothers?

How they should play: Like Banjo, Bomberman has been dormant the last couple years. Perhaps you can blame that on Konami purchasing Hudson and so far having little need for the cute powder keg, so he could use the kind of boost a Smash Bros cameo would provide. If Konami isnt into the character right now, who would it harm to lend him to Nintendo, especially given Nintendos history with Bomberman crossovers? (See Wario Blast)

Warning! New Challenger Approaching!

Of course, this is just the beginning. There will likely be characters we never would have suspected in the roster, as well as a few favorites (though we're not going to hold our breath for some of them). Is there anyone else you'd want to see added to Smash's roster?

And if you're looking for more Nintendo talk, check out our long list of Nintendo trivia and everything else we know about Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS.

There's no shortage of shooters on the market--throw a stone and you're likely to ping it off some poor sucker's modern military helmet. What's rarer are shooters where you control exclusively vehicles, and what's rarer yet is shooters which makes you feel like those vehicles are actually, truly powerful. It's here that Yager, developer of Spec Ops: The Line, hopes to set itself apart with Dreadnought. In it, you're fighting team battles in a wide variety of ships--some as small as the Millennium Falcon, and some as large as Battlestar Galactica.

Each ship is basically a "class," with different classes having a number of different cruisers to choose from. When I played it I went for the big guns, grabbing a destroyer-class ship and hitting the sky with all the explosions I could fire--I was basically Team Fortress' Heavy, playing alongside a variety of ships that filled in other, traditional shooter roles. One was basically the Scout, while felt more akin to the Medic or the Sniper. But despite that, it still felt like a game where I was piloting a massive ship, instead of a shooter reskinned with metal vessels. You can shift your power to shields, speed, or damage, and area-of-effect attacks are paramount. When everyone worked together it played out like a huge Star Wars battle. At one point I warped into the middle of the enemy army, launched a nuclear warhead on the nearest Support cruiser, and put up my shield. A few seconds later and the screen flashed white; A few seconds more and two ships crumpled and disintegrated beside me.

Other elements of the game were discussed, but not shown off, including ship customization and an exciting monetization strategy. Seriously, the developers seemed legitimately pumped when we asked about how this free-to-play game was going to make money. It was weird and mysterious, and I'm excited to see more.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

A few weeks back we put this article together, with 99 predictions for E3 2014. We were wondering exactly how right (or wrong) we were, so we went through and added commentary below each prediction. Want to see our score? Here it is.

Wrong! Microsoft got the Unity reveal.

SUPER WRONG! Never even got mentioned.

They definitely gloated, but not a ton. Let's go with a "eh, a little" for this one.

Yes! GTA 5 next-gen was confirmed, and otherwise last-gen was silent.

Nope, nope, nope.

Wrong. They actually did a good job keeping it short.

Correct! Uncharted 4 was revealed.

Fairly accurate. We'll give ourselves this one.

There was voiceover, but he was silent. Eh... no. We didn't get this one right.

1/2 right: we got the year right.

NOPE! No new God of War.

Nope! Despite talking about it for like 15 minutes, we didn't get info on this front.

Um... there were more beta invitations sent out? Eh? Eh? No...

Sadly, no. Missed opportunity--maybe next year?

No news yet on this feature. Oh well.

A WINNER IS US!

Cage was silent. And absent.

It did say how important the Vita was, yeah...

Sadly, this was pretty true, too. Nothing besides indie ports and obscure JRPGs.

Another "sadly, no." Still the same price.

This didn't get revealed, but it showed up on Amazon's website, so we'll say we got it on a technicality.

Different demo, right release date, right amount of time. So another half-point. We need to be less specific with these...

Actually, Sony grabbed like... betas and alphas and stuff.

We didn't even get half of this. FFXV was just absent.

And for as little as we heard from Final Fantasy, we heard even less about Kingdom Hearts.

*cries*

*cries harder*

*never stops crying*

VERY little time was spent on Virtual Reality. This... honestly, we should have seen this coming.

Um. They showed off a Street Luge demo? Does that count? No? Alright.

Screw it, we're giving ourselves this one.

We're taking 1/4th a point on this. We heard the song on the show floor, and that counts. SHUT UP, IT COUNTS.

We're not too proud of this. We expected a lot of HD remakes and dips back into the backlog, but there wasn't a ton on that front. Actually, that's a good thing. Good work, Sony!

Nope! Right into new games. Good work, GamesRadar.

YAY! We got one! Microsoft barely acknowledged last-gen.

No.

No...

WHY DID WE PREDICT THIS?!

What's a Kinect?

They didn't talk about Kinect enough for this to be right. So... screw it--POINT!

Ha! Nah. Sorry.

It wasn't ten minutes, but it was amazeballs. POINT, GAMESRADAR.

What's Fuse?

It's real, and it's spectacular.

Half-point--we saw a short teaser, but it looked unique. Didn't copy last year's thing.

FULL POINT! There will be new information on Halo 4 in Halo 1-4. Nailed it.

Maybe? No point, but maybe.

Nope. Nothing on this front.

Wrong again! We thought there would be a lot more last-gen remakes for next-gen, but it didn't happen.

HALF POINT! There wasn't a trailer, but there also wasn't new info. See what we did there?

Shit. No points for that. Should have quit while we were ahead.

Epic might be working on a next-gen game, but it wasn't revealed.

Yeah! They kept grabbing them.

Bingo. Point!

Oh, dammit. Wrong. So wrong. So, sadly wrong.

Phantom Dust is basically the same thing, right? Right? Wrong? Okay, wrong.

Mirror's Edge was there, but wasn't an exclusive (or part of Microsoft's presser).

*sobs*

*sobs harder*

*SOBS THE HARDEST*

Lol, this one is kind of funny, though. Right? Can we have a point for it because it's funny?

We're actually super happy to have been wrong, here.

Yay! We were wrong! *high fives a million angels*

Nope.

No SmartGlass. No dice.

No, but "Happy" got played a few times.

Ouch. Even worse than Sony. How is that possible? Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't have had like... 75% of these jokes making fun of Microsoft's 2013 press conference.

Sure did! Go us!

Another point! We're on a roll!

Half a point! The Robot Chicken thing was basically the same thing.

It did! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIIIIIENDS.

Crap. 50% right. We DID get a release window, but not these dates.

Three Miis no one expected and Pac-Man, so... FOUR POINTS! THAT'S RIGHT, FOUR!

Pac-Man is basically a yellow Bubsy, right? Shit. No points. THE STREAK IS OVER.

Wrong on the date, wrong on the name, right on the game. 1/2 point.

Nailed it. Hyrule Warriors is still Hyrule Warriors.

FULL POINT! September in America. Two points back-to-back.

Half point--we didn't see a TON...

LITERALLY 10 POINTS.

Shit. Negative four points for that. The year is so wrong.

One month off, so 1/2 a point. Why? Why not!

It's called Xenoblade Chronicles X, but otherwise we're right. We think. We actually have no idea. Zero points, maybe?

They were so quiet on this front some people thought it was cancelled.

*whimpers*

The Miiverse was barely mentioned. I don't know if we're happy or sad about this.

...point?

This was a great idea! But, no.

No, because Nintendo hates money.

Aw yeah! Point.

YES. WE ARE DOING IT. THIS IS THE RUN.

NOT 100% BUT WE'RE SO EXCITED THAT WE'RE GOING TO GIVE IT A POINT.

Dammit.

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

Weirdly, no. Nothing.

Nothing on the Samus front.

Half a point, because there's a Wii U Star Fox that plays like a 3DS game.

Identical, yeah. Full point.

There's no 3DS NFC stuff until next year, so... nope.

Nope. Really should have, but no.

No. They didn't actually play a ton of music, so... we were so wrong, you guys.

Yeah! That's a lot of points! Sure, we lied to give half of them, but... whatever. We did it! We were mostly right!

Phew, that's a lot of predictions. And so, so many of them were wrong. Oh well--we think we had good fun with these. Let us know in the comments if you disagree!

And if you're interested in more, check out the biggest games from E3 2014 and the biggest changes from last E3.

When reviewing Super Mario 3D World last year, I wrote, Of special note were Captain Toads 3D puzzles, an exploratory minigame about shifting perspective thats strong enough to be its own separate release. When I brought this up to Nintendo employees during E3, they joked that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a full fledged spin-off made just for me, and thats what it feels like when playing. After exploring five imaginative levels, this puzzle platformer seems like the start of a whole new Mario subseries.

The game stars Captain Toad, a brave member of the Mushroom Kingdom thats known to search for treasure in dangerous areas. You realize just how courageous he is when you notice that he lacks almost all of Marios offensive capabilities. Instead of running and jumping, Captain Toad uses timing and logic to avoid enemies and complete puzzling stage that take advantage of the Wii U GamePads motion controls and touch screen. The captain goes all around the Mario-verse, including the desert and a haunted mansion where Luigi would feel right at home.

Theres even room for a boss stage, though the battle with a massive dragon is all about avoiding attacks until he reaches the top (all while collecting extra coins as you go). In a way, Treasure Tracker reminds me of a mash-up of Portal and Donkey Kong for Game Boy, mainly through its clever use of level design and 3D space. The retail release will be out by the end of the year, so I better start writing my wish list for that review now. Maybe Ill ask for a unicorn

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

When was the last time you played a rail shooter? Excluding a few surprise breakouts like Child of Eden and The House of the Dead: Overkill, these controlled shooters are on a slow track to obsoleteness, hearkening back to a time when arcades ruled the world. Thats why a game like Blue Estate--a rail-shooter massacre rife with idiot gangsters, crude humor, and ham-fisted satire based on the kitschy comic of the same name--is such a weird shot in the dark. But it works in its bizarre way, and being locked onto a track while mafia goons come at you with bottles and machetes was never so entertaining.

Nestled against the bosom of B-movie mockery, Blue Estate follows the cases of Roy Devine, a nerdy gumshoe detective who comes into contact with some highly unsavory folks. We get to experience their stories through different levels in the game, which utilize the PS4s gyroscope technology to imitate the light gun for a new generation. Stages go at 100 miles an hour with few breathers in between shooting sprees, and the game hardly leaves you alone to concentrate. As most of its entertainment value comes in overwhelming the player, expect to hear sassy comments from your main character in the midst of a shootout, tongue-in-cheek clichs and jokes about former politicians turning tricks. Even mundane tasks add to the games frantic nature, as enemies will often blow away your cover and youll sometimes have to stop and push hair out of your characters eyes (yes, really).

For some players, the games loud, snarky, and ultra-violent nature might be too much to handle, but if youre into silly pseudo-noir with a dash of skull-cracking, Blue Estate is right up your alley.

Cant get enough? Check out the following slides for screenshots and more explosive info.

Lets clear up a couple of things real quick. First, the rumors you heard are true: Story of Seasons is the next Harvest Moon game in spirit, as legal shenanigans meant former localizer Natsume kept the rights to the series name (also possibly the house and the kids) in the split. While Natsumes doing its own good work, long-time fans can sleep easy knowing this Moon hasnt set, and Story of Seasons picks up right where the Harvest Moon series left off.

After striking it out on your own to become a proper land-hand in the quaint Oak Tree Town, your characters main goal is to work hard and become the farmer you were always meant to be. All the mainstays are there: planting crops, caring for animals, harvesting and selling goods, and generally living a miniature version of the farming lifestyle. Some more tedious tasks have been streamlined, allowing you to plant, water, and harvest an entire field at once from the start, rather than leveling into the privilege. Plus, in case you get bored brushing cows and picking carrots, Story of Seasons features a delightfully divergent safari park where you can pet polar bears, carry penguins, and interact with all kinds of exotic animals. Because why would you not want to do something that adorable?

Really though, if Story of Seasons is about anything at all, its your character and the life you build for them. Your character is also fully customizable, and relationship-building is once again an important game crux, so developing your life in this sleepy little town is just as important as tending to your homestead. Its a simple life, and idyllic venture, and Story of Seasons brings it right to you in one tiny, adorable package.

Want to know more? Check out the following slides for screenshots and more info.

Harvest Moon is looking a little different these days. Maybe a haircut to get out all that hay, or a nice new pair of overalls? No, that isn't it, it's--aha! It's all that extra Minecraft they added to Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley! And don't worry, it's actually a really good look.

Natsume's first turn flying solo with the Harvest Moon series, The Lost Valley expands the Moon-verse with the introduction of the all-new, semi-fantastic titular plain. After you're is caught in a snowstorm and led to safety by a mysterious voice, a weather sprite asks you to help bring seasons back to the Lost Valley, which is currently trapped in unending winter. (Elsa, is that you?) The task requires you toluckily enoughfarm the land until the seasons return, at which point the game kicks off that sim farming (farm siming?) we all know and love.

What sets this iteration apart is the way you interact with those around you and how customizable your farm is. Gone are the days when you visited town everyday to sell crops and bribe the townsfolk. In Lost Valley, the town has been replaced by a network of other rural folk you can interact with daily in order to strengthen your relationships with them. All of that happens within the farmland itself, so you never really leave the land you're cultivating. Plus, you get to personalize it more than ever before, using Minecraftian building techniques to create elevated plains, dig ponds, build impossibly high towers of earth, or whatever else your heart desires. All the while the game maintains fan favorites like caring for animals and cooking, bolstering the idea at the heart of Harvest Moon: hard work pays off, even if the work is mostly button presses.

Want to know more? Check out the following slides for screenshots and more info!

First, take Left 4 Dead's four-player cooperative action--the whole "running around in unfamiliar locations and facing a non-stop assault of enemies." Alright, do you have it? Now, mix in Resident Evil 4's camera angle and moody environments. You're now looking at a third-person, moody game in which enemies are procedurally spawned to take you down, right? Good. Now blend in dozens of bosses with unique abilities, and make it free-to-play. Cool, did you mix them all together? Don't forget to add in a dash of absurdly beautiful graphics--this is Crytek, after all. Bake it for an hour at, and DING! You have Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, one of the coolest games of E3 2014.

Developed by Cryteks Austin studio (comprised of ex-Darksiders developers), Hunt looks absolutely enthralling. The demo I saw took place in Louisiana, and had a group of four dapper gentlemen fighting enemies that looked like hillbilly versions of the Los Ganados from Resident Evil 4. They tossed axes, grabbed players, and tumbled around the beautifully rendered bayou. The developers said that the game is meant to be endlessly replayable, so things like enemy locations and traps are randomly generated--even the boss you're fighting could change from play to play. Crytek aims to have "the most bosses of any game," and if they're all as robust as the one that hid at the end of the demo we saw, we're in for a treat. She was a massive, nasty witch that swung around concrete blocks on chains. Early in the battle she sucked one player into a dream, and only he could see her. When she was hit she'd flash for a moment, allowing everyone to attack. It's a clever mechanic, and shows the kind of creativity that you have to look forward to.

The free-to-play model sounds great, too. Crytek is basically making a full AAA game and only charging for cosmetic gear, so everything else will be totally, completely free. Sound too good to be true? Sort of, but we'll withhold judgment on that front until the beta releases later this year.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

Sequels can be tricky beasts. When a game is popular, a follow-up is a profitable no-brainer. However, when the original tied up all its loose ends fairly well, giving the heroes a new evil to repel can feel excessive. Luckily for Tales series fans, Namco's gotten it right with Tales of Xillia 2, striking an important balance between old content and new, and using ideas its predecessor left unexplored to create a brand new adventure.

Picking up a year after the events of Xillia, Xillia 2 focuses on two new characters, Elle and Ludger, as they search for the mythical land of Canaan. Rather than hovering in a narrative vacuum, Xillia 2 takes time to look at world of Elympios post-unification, and consider the implications of two societies coming together after thousands of years in isolation. (Read: It's not gonna be pretty.) At the same time, it doesn't forget about the heroes that made that possiblecharacters from the original Xillia get their own optional backstories to play through, and they occasionally appear in the main story to assist Elle and Ludger.

The game is hardly a rehash though, as it also adds intriguing new options for players to explore. For instance, Ludger starts out the game in massive debt due to shenanigans, so his movements throughout the world are be limited by debt collectors as he earns money to pay them back. Multiple possible timelines are also introduced (which is apparently particularly critical for Elle), and player choice becomes much more critical, setting Ludger up to make critical decisions that affect the game in very real ways. A mechanic like that in a world with multiple realities--which could theoretically cease to exist if the "wrong" choice is made--becomes downright nerve-wracking, only in a good way.

Want to know more? Check out the following slides for screenshots and additional info!

Hollywood is no stranger to the process of adapting video games into movies, so why not the video game industry? That's the excuse I give myself every year, when I do this ridiculous, post-E3 feature turning the show's events into a sci-fi, action blockbuster. There will be thrills, there will be spills, and there will be gross, physical violence, all neatly wrapped up and just-about justifiably disguised as video game industry satire.

If you need to catch up on the last couple of E3 movies I've put together, you can check out the 2012 and 2013 editions here and here, respectively. But otherwise, settle down, tuck into that disgustingly large bucket of over-priced, sugar-coated, burst farm-produce and enjoy the show, as I guide you through the casting and plotline for every major player. Let's start with...

Cast because: Microsoft's religiously on-message, fiercely reserved front-man needs to be played with an air of slick efficiency and cold-eyed, practiced self-promotion. Given Microsoft's quick policy turnaround on the Xbox One, his actor also needs to be able to play a fair amount of deceptive moral ambiguity. Coming off the back of True Detective to another dark, "What's he really thinking?" role, McConaughey would be perfect.

The plotline: Microsoft is all apologies and reparations following its act-one trouncing last year, but has new-gen's villain really redeemed itself? Or is it simply buying time while it concocts a sinister revenge for part 3? Referencing his 'friends at Sony and Nintendo' in an impassioned speech, Spencer, on bended knee, formally pledges himself to the Next-Gen Alliance of Games, ceremonially burning his TV guide in an act of allegiance. But can he be trusted? His new compatriots welcome him, but quietly remain wary. Spencer continues to proclaim his redemption, but something about his eyes just doesn't sit right. Something robotic. Mechanical. Almost like a camera, ever watchful, always collecting information... But who's next? Why, it's...

Cast because: Andrew Wilson, with the best will in the world, is a bit terrifying. With his sharp, deliberate movements, calmly aggressive intonation, and an intense, unblinking stare that could burn through a bank safe, he's the very picture of domineering, corporate severity. He needs to be played with a 50/50 blend of charisma and potential madness. Ideally by an Australian. There's only one man who fits that bill.

The plotline: With few exciting, tangible games on show, EA keeps the audience's attention with vague, conceptual, enigmatic non-presentations of half-formed notions. Star Wars Battlefront. Mass Effect 4. Criterion's thing. All non-specifically amazing, all things you need, but no, you can't see them yet. Excitedly paying attention though? Well here's an hour of The Sims 4. But it's an intentional ploy. It's all a smoke-and-mirrors gambit to push EA's hardcore audience toward its casual goliath. You see the new game's vaunted emotional Sims, with individual personalities, are the product of a soul-siphoning operation. Every time you upload a Sim to EA's cloud, you upload your human essence, to be later downloaded into Wilson's digital purgatory. A world he rules over like a mad god. But who could possibly stand in his way? Maybe...

Cast because: Bill has traditionally played Jack Tretton in our previous E3 movies. His portly, affable, lightly witty, self-effacing demeanour has been a perfect fit for two years now. With Jack retired from Sony, I'd feared that we'd sadly lose him, but no. Here is Adam Boyes, effectively Tretton 2.0, his bumbling dad-jokes and awkward attempts to rally the crowd making him every bit the non-gritty reboot of Jack's earlier, less confident E3 appearances. But how do we justify the continued casting within the film's narrative?

The plotline: We could have taken the Twin Peaks route, and made Adam Jack's long-lost cousin. But there's a better way. With its conquering hero bowing out of E3 following his blood-drenched, righteous rampage against the Kinect horde last year, Sony fears for its chances. Knowing that the war will only intensify, it resolves to remake its mightiest soldier using a blasphemy of science. Uploading Jack's warrior spirit into its Morpheus VR headset, it downloads it into Boyes, in a scene reminiscent of The Matrix by way of a Batman suit-up sequence. Somewhere, deep in Microsoft's booth, a camera whirs in alertness, and a once-human eye turns electric red. Fortunately, here come...

Cast because: Iwata needs to be played with a seamless blend of reserved, professional charisma and underlying badassery. Ideally by someone who looks good in a suit and glasses. Ron Perlman, giant, meaty, lumbering lug that he is, is basically Reggie's alternate-universe dad.

The plotline: The early skirmishes of the next-gen war over, things appear calm. Everyone is vigilant, waiting for the next sign of conflict, but moods are relaxed. But then aggression comes from the most unexpected and traumatic source. With Nintendo's US and Japanese arms in furious disaggreement over the right approach to their E3 broadcast (the US wants to smartly, warmly engage modern Nintendo fandom and current Mario Kart memes, Japan wants to use quiet men politely staring at wool), an internal power-struggle breaks out in what was once the most stable, happy home of all that is innocent and fun.

Reggie and Satoru's staged Smash battle becomes a brutal and bloody battle for dominance, with all the high-flying spectacle of Neo vs. Morpheus, and the vicious, hammer-cracking viscerality of The Raid 2. But just as all seems lost, just as it seems internal fractures will destroy new-gen's current harmony, it transpires that there is one who can still bring balance...

Cast because: Wise old Miyamoto, ever balanced, ever philosophical, ever quietly confident in the power of light to triumph over the darkness. There really is only once choice. But note, this is going to be original trilogy, Frank-Oz-with-his-hand-up-a-puppet Yoda, not the crap CG one. Shigeru deserves the best.

The plotline: Like a serene old master meditatorily tending his garden in the build-up to war, he steps away from the battle and (literally) soaks up the ambience of Nintendo's Treehouse gameplay area. In this case, it's actually a treehouse, a vast yet humbly-adorned structure topping an imposing wooden monolith. In a swamp. It is his fortress of solitude, wherein he absorbs happiness and wonder from his players, quietly strengthening himself.

But as he focuses his will, waiting for Reggie and Satoru to realise the futility of their battle (aided by a imminent, concentrated blast of positively-charged Miyamoto magic), he senses great evil in EA's booth, as if a million nerd-souls have cried out in torment before being silenced. Incensed by Wilson's vile subversion of the creative joy of games, he turns to look across the show floor. He begins to charge a throbbing ball of chi, ready to burn everything in his path. But as apocalyptic tensions build to a head, suddenly everything is stopped, by...

Cast because: I've been getting away with the 'Wouldn't it be cool if Aisha Tyler was played by her character from Archer?' joke for three years now, and I see no good reason to stop.

The plotline: Just as Miyamoto is about to regretfully scorch-cleanse the show floor of Wilson's Sims-blight, Tyler bursts into tears, because GAMES ARE JUST SO HOLY-SHITBALLS-FUCKING-AMAZING THAT SHE CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT. Her profanity is so loud that it turns every head in the convention centre. Miyamoto is moved. He knows now that there is hope. Reggie and Iwata stop their fight, and hug, realising that their petty differences are naught compared to what a unified Nintendo can achieve. Even Phil Spencer sheds a tear from his one remaining human eye. He'd spoken of this unity earlier in the show, but he'd never really understood what those words meant until now. Most of E3 briefly sharing a common goal, all eyes turn toward EA. Wilson looks back. His eyes narrow, with desperate, sinister resolve. Cut to black. Credits roll.

The auditorium plunges into darkness. Lilting theme music evokes an air of hope, but with an unmistakable, underlying tinge of menace. The audience considers waiting for the inevitable post-credits sequel-teaser, but ultimately decides to bugger off home and wait for someone to upload it onto the internet. But does this E3 installment contain any missed opportunities or aborted plotlines that should make it to the DVD extras? Let me know in the comments.

And while you're here, check out some of our other, none-more-meaty E3 coverage. If you want to keep it silly--and why wouldn't you?--check out E3 2014's best and silliest PR quotes, translated into real world truth-talk. And then why not have a look at Top 7... E3 2014 no-shows?

Double Fine is a beloved developer thats known for imaginatively original games like Psychonauts and Broken Age. 2010s Costume Quest is similarly beloved among Double Fine fans, but some were likely surprised that the sugary RPG would be the developers first sequel to date. Then again, the Halloween-turned-dungeon crawler action is too sweet to be denied, and the gameplay is getting as refined as the sugar used in the virtual candy.

Costume Quest 2 picks up right after the Grubbins On Ice DLC to the last game, with the four youngsters (spoilers) using a portal to warp to another Halloween adventure. The kids are now collecting candy via turn-based battles in New Orleans, and the world is much bigger this time around. As the setting grows, the action has been streamlined, with quicker button prompts and more defensive options to deepen the combat. Costume Quest superfans also got their wish in the Candy Corn costume joining in on the fight, though he cant do much more than take damage and provide moral support--meaning hes basically as useless as normal candy corn.

Costume Quest 2s New Orleans is more than twice the size of the last games map, and makes for a fun backdrop for more of Double Fines trademark humor. The best moment of the brief demo had to be the clown of the group challenging a kid dressed as the devil to a musical contest. As the devil played his fiddle, the clown fought back by sporadically honking his horn until the devil gave up in annoyed exasperation. If the game has more cute scenes like that in store, then I hope its just the next in a long line of Halloween adventures.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

Popular culture seems obsessed with the end of the world these days. Whether in books, TV, or films, the apocalypse has rarely been more ubiquitous, and thats certainly true in video games. But as games like The Division and The Last of Us focus on violent battles between the final vestiges of humanity, Everybodys Gone to the Rapture is about the emptiness that comes at the end. The struggles are long over in this game--youre left alone to sift through the remains of humanity in search of some meaning in whatevers left.

Everybodys Gone to the Rapture is the next game from The Chinese Room, the up-and-coming indie behind the well-regarded Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. The team showed its ambitious new title with a somber demo at E3 2014. And while it wouldve been easy to overlook the quiet title amid the many louder titles at the show, our brief time with the game is too engrossing to ignore. Here are just a few reasons to get excited for the oncoming Rapture.

Though we havent triple checked this, Everybodys Gone to the Rapture might just be the first game to ever take place in Shropshire, England. The game drops players into the Midlands during 1984 and the area looks gorgeous, with large fields, pretty farmhouses, and small creeks. However, the quaint, small town vibe is just on the surface of the eerily unpopulated world youll be investigating throughout the game.

Why, of all years, is the game set 1984? The devs like the remoteness of an era before cellphones and the internet, as well as the sense of fear and paranoia that the British developers associate with that timeframe. Its certainly going to make the world distinct, and the specificity of the mundane setting will no doubt remind some of last years similar first-person exploration adventure, Gone Home. Given that games critical reception, Everybodys Gone to the Rapture is in good company.

Shropshire is just one of several places youll explore in the game, and though the world is empty, its littered with the memories of the world thats gone. Many games put you at the center of the conflict, but Everybodys Gone to the Rapture tasks players with discovering the smaller stories left over at the worlds end. The narrative explores the small tragedies and triumphs that are slowly revealed through exploration.

The demo begins with the unseen protagonist picking up a payphone and hearing about some strange electromagnetic disturbance before the message abruptly ends. The protagonist finds abandoned lunch boxes and TVs playing static that all help tell a story if you look closely enough. Somewhere among all these items youll hopefully find answers to why youre seemingly the only person left on Earth, but youll also get some really touching vignettes along the way--if youre willing to look for them.

Though the gameplay didnt reveal any other humans that were left, Shropshire is filled with mysterious energy that points to something big happening in the background. Throughout the early stage, an orange sphere of light floats around the area, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. The developers say that orange light is one of five AI that hang around in the game world, but wouldnt give any more details to their motives than that.

Shropshire is also home to some electromagnetic disruptions that recreate little scenes from societys end. We see the staticky shadows of a man and woman arguing about the man missing his nephews birthday party, replaying a moment that may or may not have anything to do with the apocalypse. Those same energy disruptions are also the source of the only traditional gameplay in the demo. Players approach a large ball of light and are then tasked with the PS4 controller as a way of finding the right frequency to unlock the puzzle, sort of like tuning into a radio station. Were not sure what the puzzle unlocks, because the demo ends by fading to white just as the challenge is completed.

The Chinese Room began as a team of three developers working on MODs for Half-Life 2, and has now grown into a team of 13 working on a PS4 exclusive with Sony as the publisher. After putting out two games for the PC, this is quite a big step for the team, particularly if they really plan to publish it in 2015. Good thing they have support from one of the most experienced developers on the PlayStation, Sony Santa Monica.

As described by The Chinese Room devs, design and development are all taking place at their UK studio, as Santa Monica helps with production while still fostering the unique style of the creators. And Chinese Room welcomes the outside help, if only because a game like Everybodys Gone to the Rapture needs an outsider perspective. For a game that drops players into a nonlinear world with an open story, its a boon to have fresh players exploring it and giving notes on the layout of things.

A massive trade show is a great place to expose your game to as many people as possible, but it might not be the best for presenting game as quiet as Everybodys Gone to the Rapture. Multiple times the demo is drowned out by the cacophony of Sonys huge booth, but the many outside noises quieted at just the right time for the soundtrack to come in. The slowly rising operatic score filled the room, giving even more gravitas to the situation, hinting at a truly memorable soundtrack for the final game.

The devs are quick to mention that the music is written by Jessica Curry, the games co-director. She aims to give her next game the type of powerful music that made Dear Esther so celebrated, only on a much larger scale. And that makes sense given that the overall scope of this game is bigger than anything Currys team has made before. But can all these small moments add up to something grand? Well see when the game hits the PS4 in 2015.

This years E3 was a cornucopia of delightful games. If all E3s games were ground-down into a massive burger, even that bloke from Man vs Food would struggle to eat it without having at least one tactical chunder. And yet some games that probably dont exist were missing. How dare they not show up?

Where is Ride to Hell 2: Ridest to Hell? some people said. Whatever happened to Knack 2: The Knackening? others yelled, while weeping. Well, folks, I feel your pain. I understand that--despite the fact that the next 12 months contain more games than any one person could possibly play--something was missing from E3. In fact, several things were missing. Thats why Ive collected together the following seven games, and tried to explain precisely why they never appeared at E3 2014.

Whatever happened to Sonys third instalment in the ICO trilogy? The game appears to be stuck in development hell; caught between console generations and fraught with an irresolvable tension between creative aspiration and technical limitations. Either that, or ex-Sony President Jack Tretton borrowed it back in January and forgot to return it before he left the company.

Yeah, thats what Ive heard. At the Sony Christmas party last year, Shuhei Yoshida got a bit squiffy on gin and gave Tretton the only copy of The Last Guardian. Jack took it home, and put it on his gaming shelf. But then he started playing Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag and just forgot to play The Last Guardian. When he left Sony in March, no-one thought to ask for the Blu-ray back. Jack has promised to bring it over to the office at some point, but his wife tidied it into a box and put it in the garage somewhere. Hmm maybe its in with those awful old curtains from the spare room.

Oh Rockstar--how you teased us all with the news that youre going to release a new-generation console game before 2015. Given your rhetoric of developing your IP, we hoped and prayed that a Red Dead Redemption sequel would be the centrepiece of someones E3 press conference.

Rumour has it that Red Dead 2 is still a long way off, though, with Rockstar reportedly turning all its development resources to creating a perfectly made, photorealistic version of Eddie Murphys 1992 film Boomerang. At the moment, were really trying to nail that bit in the film where Grace Jones pulls off her pants and shoves them into the perfume geeks face, said a source at Rockstar that I just made up.

Michel Ancels whimsical sequel was semi-revealed back in 2008, but weve seen precious little on the return of Jade and PeyJ since. Leaked footage suggests that it belongs on this newer console generation, and that it has chosen to go photorealistic. So why wasnt it at E3? The answer lies with Ancel himself.

BG&E2 was actually 90% finished back in 2012. That summer, creator Michel Ancel spent much of his time watching Handball at the London Olympics, obsessing over the unusual sport. In fact, his passion for Handball quickly overtook his desire to make games, and he quit Ubisoft Montpellier to pursue his new dream of playing Handball for France. Rumour has it, hes now on the fringes of the national team, and may debut for his country at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Good luck, Michel!

Several leaked images of the logo suggested that wed see a sequel to steampunk stealth adventure Dishonored at E3 2014. Indeed, Bethesda itself implied that there would be a significant reveal at the show, leading many to surmise that Dishonored 2 was a dead cert. Sadly, Dishonored 2 may never happen.

Back in 1994, when he was a young man, Bethesda CEO Pete Hines was cursed by an old gypsy woman from Hull. He was told that in 2012, his company would release a game called Dishonored, which would be about rats and stabbing. However, Hines would never be able to green-light a sequel, no matter how much he wanted it. Despite wearing a necklace with a dead frog on it, and burying a goat called Jeff in his back garden under a full moon, Hines has been unable to break the curse. So, no Dishonored sequel.

While Epic is now finished with Gears of War, Microsoft has bought the franchise and handed it to new studio, Black Tusk. Given the impact the original game had on Xbox 360 sales, many anticipated a new-gen Gears at Microsofts press conference. And it would have been there, if not for an outbreak of a debilitating virus at the Black Tusk development studio.

The disease--known as Woahbroitis--affects the victims hand/eye coordination, leaving them physically unable to render burly space-marines within a game engine. The infection is passed via high-fiving, and spread quickly through the Black Tusk offices after one employee picked it up at a baseball game. Microsoft considered replacing all the space-marines with feminist icons from the early 20th century, but decided that would go against the core values of the series.

Like that kid at school with glandular fever, Half-Life 3 just never shows up. Ever. Theres little doubt its in development at Valve, but the legendary development studio is notorious for taking its time with games, and was clearly unprepared to show it at this years E3. Or was it?

According to a report from someone I dont know, he was sat next to Valve head honcho, Gabe Newell, on the plane travelling to LA on the Sunday before the conferences. Gabe was in high-spirits, admitting to his fellow passenger that hed decided to finally give the fans what they want. He brandished a dirty USB memory stick with Half-Life 3, crudely written on it. Sadly, though, at the airport he was stopped by an overzealous Immigration Official, and in the confusion, the memory stick was chewed up by a drug-dog who thought it was a crackpipe.

Of all the games not shown at E3 2014, the most notable absence was Fallout 4. Many had tipped Bethesda to finally reveal a PS4, Xbox One, and PC version of its legendary RPG series, and pre-show hype was at an all-time high. Surely this was going to be the year.

Why didnt it get shown? Dunno mate. Quite fancy another Fallout myself.

Another year goes by, another batch of games I expected to see fail to appear. I suppose it's my own fault--I should have known that some of these requests were too good to be true. I need to stop getting so overexcited... until next year.

And if you're interested in more, check out what this year's E3 would have been like in 1994 and 100 games you might have missed at E3.

Even taking its free-to-play nature out of the equation, the scale of PlanetSide 2 is unbelievable, spanning multiple continents, each with over 100 bases to attack and defend. Each of those bases alone is about the size of a standard Call of Duty multplayer level, meaning that each complete map effectively amounts to a full-blown country waiting to be explored, occupied and fiercely fought over. That fighting focuses on combined arms combat, Battlefield-style, so aside from the capabilities of the six core character classes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, and aircraft are all yours to take control of. One particular vehicle, the Sunderer, can hold up to twelve players at a time, and be modified into a mobile spawn point for you and your teammates. That's the kind of scale and tactical breadth we're talking about here. It's huge.

PC shooter fans have been enjoying the game for about 18 months now, but the PS4 PlanetSide 2 experience is being completely reworked to comfortably suit the console shooter faithful. The complicated user interfaces and cluttered screen of the PC MMOFPS are being replaced with a more streamlined shooter heads-up display, hopefully making the console gamer's transition to PlanetSide 2's highfalutin action almost seamless. And its not just the UI thats getting tweaked. The controls are being modified and honed to comfortably fit the DualShock 4, adding standard console comforts like aim-assist and look acceleration. When playing the PS4 version, it's almost imperceptible that this is a port. PlanetSide 2 just feels that at home on console.

PlanetSide 2's online war has been raging for a while now, but it looks like PS4 players should be able to enjoy an excellent version this fall. Check out the following slides for even more information, so that you can prep to join the effort and start making a difference as soon as it launches.

With Marvel now firmly cradled in Disneys massive, copyright-grabbing arms, it was only a matter of time before the likes of Black Widow and Thor hit Disney Infinity. As E3 2014 kicked off, the company announced that not only would we be getting the Avengers in our Toybox, but wed also be able to soar through the rooftops as our friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Thats probably the biggest, best kept secret of Disney Infinity 2.0, and its still just skimming the surface of what the game has on offer.

Disneys theme this year was player creation, which they ramped up to 11 in Infinity. The Marvel characters bring with them a whole host of new abilities like flight, and for the first time different playsets--namely for Spiderman and Avengers--can interact outside the amalgamation Toybox. This will only extend to playsets that make sense together as the Marvel ones do, but its still a step toward what many fans have asked for.

Of course, for those levels that dont mesh together well still do have the Toybox, which is seeing a serious upgrade. Templates have been created that allow you to build entire mini-worlds at once, like adding Agrabah or a working soccer field, to streamline the building experience and remove the tedious parts. You can still edit them once theyre built though, so they customizability of the game stands strong. Other features are being added into the Toybox as well, such as a tower defense mini-game set in Asgard, and other more structured features that can be experienced by any character. It looks like a lot of content for the Toybox to handle, but if done well, it looks to be a true upgrade to what Disney Infinity has to offer.

Want to know more? Check out the following slides for screenshots and more info.

E for All

With another E3 in the books, it's time to discuss the greatest games shown at the convention. Sure, there were exciting reveals by way of Uncharted 4 and a new Legend of Zelda, but those were only briefly teased. Here, we'll celebrate the games that were actually at the show--the ones we could play, or at least see in-action.

We played dozens of games and watched hundreds of demos, getting an inside look at what 2014 (and 2015, and 2016, and 2017) have to offer. Want to know what your gaming obsessions will look like in the future? Look no further than GamesRadar's list of the best games of the show, all of which have received some very specific awards.

Dragon Age: Inquisition wins the "How to Maim Your Dragon" award

Why is Dragon Age: Inquisition one of our absolute favorite games of E3 2014? Where to start... How about the fact that, for the first time in the series, there's a giant open world to explore? Hell, just one of Inquisition's zones is bigger than the entirety of Origins. Then there's the revamped combat, which seems to be an excellent middle-ground between Origins and Dragon Age 2; the moment-to-moment battles are very heavy on the action, but you can also use the Tactical View to pause the game, issue out commands to your team, and then execute on your strategy. Yes, please.

Perhaps the most exciting new feature is that players have the opportunity to lead the Inquisition, an ancient order whose purpose is to restore balance in times of chaos. You'll bring an end to the war between the Templars and Mages by recruiting forces into the Inquisition, capturing precious keeps, and sending your troops on critical missions. Oh, and the dragon fights in Inquisition? Absolutely insane. These aren't a cakewalk--you need to coordinate your party if you hope to defeat the massive fire-breathing creatures. But knowing victory will lead to some sweet, sweet rewards will make it well worth the effort. This is the sort of massive RPG we can't wait to dig into.

Bloodborne wins the "Wait, Why Isn't This Just Called Demon's Souls 2?" award

Pfft, check out this Dark Souls wannabe. We've written at length before about what makes FromSoftware's Dark Souls series so special--so when we got a chance to see Bloodborne, the dev's next game, in action at E3, we were eager to learn what it actually was, and how it would separate itself from the Souls games we know and love. In short: it's very much a spiritual successor to Dark Souls, but with a much bigger emphasis on aggressive play.

You'll be happy to know that Blodborne's core is all about deep exploration and perilous combat. Where Dark Souls is a more passive experience--you spend a lot of time cautiously learning enemy attack patterns--Bloodborne requires a more proactive approach to battle. You have no shield or defensive tools outside of dodging, so you have to act quickly and strike down enemies before they kill you. Expect to die fast, and expect to die a lot. Sure, this might be a faster-paced experience than any of the Souls games, but it'll offer the same sense of challenge and reward. Sounds good to us.

Battlefield Hardline wins the "Shake it Up, Don't Break it Up" award

Ah, the eternal question for game developers: how to keep your series fresh while retaining the stuff players know and love? Battlefield Hardline is repackaging the rather lovely shooting from Battlefield 4 with an exciting, new copsnrobbers theme. We've been playing the Beta, and while it feels familiarly slick, the new modes open up an array of fresh tactical options.

The new modes--Heist and Blood Money--force players to rethink the way they approach combat and movement around each map. And this is the real reason to get excited about the latest Battlefield; its a very different spin on a game that we already love. The deep customization, even more advanced levolution, and more vibrant urban maps are just neat little extras that round-off an exciting prospect for the end of 2014. And who knows: maybe the single player will be good this time too. Maybe.

Rainbow Six Siege wins the "Rising from the Ashes" award

Rainbow Six Patriots is dead--long live Rainbow Six Siege, the next entry in Tom Clancy's acclaimed series. Instead of trying to follow in the footsteps its action-based contemporaries, Siege opts to double down on small-scale, competitive multiplayer. The demo at the show featured a small house, and tasked a team of Rainbows with breaking in to take out the Rogue Spear enemies inside and to rescue a hostage. It was a small and intimate match, and a breath of fresh air when compared to the massive, sprawling arenas where most modern shooters take place.

Nearly everything is destructible, but it's not a nonstop cacophony of explosions and drywall. Dying knocks you out for the round, so you'll need to be careful when blowing holes in the wall or planting a breach charge. It just adds more strategic options to a game already high on strategy.

Far Cry 4 wins the "Best Selfie" award

Any game that allows--and encourages--you to storm an enemy fortress while riding a rampaging elephant and cackling like a gun-toting maniac (what, was that just us?) has our vote. And thats just a random ten minutes of Far Cry 4.

The demo Ubisoft laid out during its press conference was slick and pulse-pounding, showing our hero hopping from rooftop to hijacked jeep to wingsuit in a haze of action and insanity. When we got our hands on the game for that aforementioned elephant ride it handled smoothly, letting us tear through the compound with--barring the heavily armed terrorists--the greatest of ease. This edition of Far Cry also promises at least a hint of multiplayer to supplement your exotic adventure, a feature we think will add even more value to the experience. Throw in a throat-stabbing, psychotic villain and this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Assassins Creed: Unity wins the "Sassiest Public Execution" award

Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men? Well, Assassins Creed: Unity didnt have much singing (too busy with the stabbings and beheadings), but it looks to be seriously sweet nonetheless.

Unity attacks the series first wholly new gen experience head-on, improving the gameplay weve come to know so well with small but critical changes. Refined vertical movement, a HUD that can be toggled on and off, greater environment variety, and crowds you can actually hide in all bring significant improvements. Theres also plenty of acrobatic kills and mayhem to look forward too, in addition to dozens of conspiracy theories and Assassin-Templar shenanigans, so whats not to love? We, for our part, cant wait to get ahold of our hidden blades again.

Ori and the Blind Forest wins the "Ugh, it Taps Into Our Cartoon Affection" award

In the last few years, there has been an 8,000-percent increase in games that feature a stunning handdrawn aesthetic: Child of Light, Rayman Origins/Legends, Valiant Hearts, and more. Now, you can add Ori and the Blind Forest to that list. This 2D metroidvania game caught us totally by surprise. Not only is it super gorgeous, it makes a great first impression with its challenging platforming and focus on mobility.

You play as Ori, a forest spirit raised and fostered by some sort of owl thing. But one day, the forest in which you live goes dark, and you set off to discover what's going on. In practice, this means exploring the richly detailed environments, battling deadly creatures, and unlocking new abilities that grant access to areas that were previously inaccessible. The controls feel incredibly tight, and the game is immensely challenging; battles are more about dodging projectiles and enemy attacks than they are stringing combos, so the focus on platforming comes through in all aspects of the game. Don't let its cute looks fool you: Ori and the Blind Forest is a metroidvania game that promises to put your skills to the test.

The Witcher 3 wins the "REAL Men Hunt With Swords" award

Make no mistake: Geralt of Rivia, a badass monster killer, he's a better hunter than any of us could ever hope to be. He doesn't need fancy bait piles or tree stands: he just turns on his Witcher instincts to see the tracks of his prey, follows said tracks to the target's nest, then slashes it to death with one of his two swords. Guns? Who needs 'em when melee weapons do the trick? Of course, Geralt being a Witcher, he can also just use some of his spells to catch things on fire, so that's pretty cool, too.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is downright massive in scope. This open world game is noticeably larger than Skyrim, and is packed with tons of quests to complete, monsters to hunt, and gorgeous vistas to admire. It'll be one of the first open world games to truly tap into the hardware potential of the PS4 and Xbox One, so get ready for a vast experience packed with awesome combat and some great opportunities for exploration.

Evolve wins the "REAL Monsters Hunt Alone" award

After years of playing shooters that went out of their way to make sure everything was as balanced as possible, there's something magical and exciting about asymmetrical multiplayer. In Evolve, one team plays what is basically Left 4 Dead, trudging through the jungle and trying to hunt down a massive monster. That big beasty is more than just an AI-controlled brute, though--there's a player behind those big, nasty eyes, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Though it might sound complicated, it's actually quite brilliant in action. Unlike some other multiplayer modes that cast players as either a super-powered hero or mindless grunts, both sides feel satisfying and rewarding. The hunters are all about strategy and camaraderie, like something out of Predator or Jaws. And the monsters? Well, they're just badass.

No Mans Sky wins the "Too Big To Comprehend" award

After seeing No Mans Sky in a private E3 demo, we started to get an idea of what exactly the game encompasses--which is basically the infinity of the universe. The sci-fi game procedurally generates plants, spacecraft, and entire planets full of wildlife into the inky void of virtual space, constantly creating more and more for players to discover. In our short time with it, we saw the protagonist walk out of a cave, pass by a few massive dinosaurs, hop into his ship, fly out of the atmosphere into space, blast past a fleet of starships, and then land on an entirely new planet.

As the devs tell it, thats just a fraction of a fraction of what can be explored and discovered in the galaxy theyve already created. And thanks to the procedural nature of the content, they fully expect players to discover things the devs never imagined. The devs intend to boldly going where no one has gone before--not bad when you consider the developers last game was the much smaller scale Joe Danger.

Mortal Kombat X wins the "Most Delighted Squeals of Horror" award

We thought wed seen it all with Mortal Kombats gleeful brutality, but we underestimated the developers at Netherrealm. Mortal Kombat X is the teams first game for the PS4/Xbox One, and that next-gen upgrade means that the gratuitous gore is more detailed than ever. Just watching the E3 trailer made us scream multiple times with a mix of excitement and horror.

Its even crazier to play and see the new bone-crushing, spine-ripping X-Ray moves play out. You'll wince seeing Scorpion jab Sub-Zero in the eye with a kunai. You'll cringe when a skull shatters into dusty fragments. You'll likely scream the first time you see an new move that shows someones testicles getting punched until they explode. And if this is what theyre showing at E3, just how creative (or kreative) will the rest of the action get?

Batman: Arkham Knight wins the Is it 2015 Yet? award

This years E3 was full of games that wont be available until the next calendar year--and that makes waiting all the more difficult. But no wait feels as painful as the one for Batman: Arkham Knight, especially now that weve played the E3 demo. The game looks gorgeous, with the transforming Batmobile being a particular standout that makes next year feel very far away.

The demo showed some of the earliest meetings between Bats and Arkham Knight, the newest nemesis intent on putting Gotham at risk. The Batmobile helped fight Arkham Knights army of thugs, becoming as good a sidekick as Robin has ever been. After 30 minutes with Rocksteadys next Bat-adventure, we really hope the game gets released in the first half of 2015, because we dont think we can take the frustration of another E3 tease next year.

Yoshis Woolly World wins the "OMG IT'S SO CUTE" award

OMG IT'S SO CUTE. Yoshi's Woolly World is an absolutely adorable platformer, turning the already-charming land of Yoshi's platformers into a bundle of overwhelming cuteness. Everything looks like it was created by hand, from the knit trees to the puffy cotton clouds. The world, and everything in it, is tangible and beautiful.

But, more importantly, it's fun to play. Following in the footsteps of the Yoshi's Island franchise, the green (or red, if you're down for co-op) dinosaur can jump, flutter, eat, and toss eggs at its enemies. Wait, did we say eggs? They're actually BALLS OF YARN :3.

Super Smash Bros. wins the "Welcome Back, Wavebird" award

After a year of teasing, we finally got to go hands-on with Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS, and yeah, it plays exactly like you want it to. Grab a GameCube controller, plug it in to the Wii U adapter, pick a character, and you're brawling just like you did in the past. There are, of course, plenty of little differences that make it feel unique, but it's really the ways it stayed the same that has us excited.

But the thing that really pushed it over the edge onto this list was Amiibo, Nintendo's NFC figurines. Launching with Smash, the toys will sync up with your system to allow you to train and fight different characters. It's a great concept, and should make the wait for the game a little easier.

Alien: Isolation wins the "Too Scared to Breathe Award" award

Alien: Isolation is relentless. It has no respect for you, your nerves, or whatever watered down, weak-sauce horror games you might have played before. It is intelligent, it is calculating, it is even beautiful in its own way, but it absolutely will not stop until it has horrified you into a coma. Its nigh impossible to relate the experience to someone who hasnt played it, being so unlike any other survival-horror game in its methods, emotional impact, and sheer, invasive sense of terror. But once you do play it, youll have trouble looking at the genre in the same way again.

The truly intelligent, unpredictable, decision-making Alien is essentially alive. There are no easy, video game-y ways to manipulate it. It wants to kill you, and without a consistent, flawless display of improvisation, tactical evasion, and so, so much hiding, it will do exactly that. And the stark, oppressive, ink-black 70s sci-fi interiors all of this plays out in are nigh indistinguishable from the film in both look and atmosphere. Fear it.

Until next year!

So, that was E3! Obviously there were plenty of other great games to talk about--and believe us, we'll talk about 'em--but these were the ones that most ferociously tickled our fancies. Disagree? Agree? Let us know in the comments, below!

And if you're interested in more, check out what this year's E3 would have been like in 1994 and 100 games you might have missed at E3.

You butcher down two flailing, ax-wielding zombies that come out of nowhere, hearing the goosh and splat as they hit the ground. Hurt and weighed down with a hundred pounds of armor, you lumber around, desperately searching for medicine. You approach a chest--which ultimately mocks you with its emptiness, only for a giant spider to drop behind and spray you with deadly poison. That's Lords of the Fallen in a nutshell: dark, heavy, gross, and punishing. And really, really good.

Set in a dark and unpleasant medieval world, Lords of the Fallen is heavy on the atmosphere. You can hear every drop of the water from the leaky walls, your enemies' belly-shrieks and the twitch of giant spider mandibles. It's not all just background noise either: watching and listening to the environment is critical, because you'll frequently have to face enemies that appear from around corners and slash you to bits.

The gameplay has been frequently likened to that of Dark Souls, and the comparison is apt. Your character is slow and heavy, realistic for the amount of iron he's sporting, and your undead enemies are frustratingly fast. Other, extremely tough enemies come at you relentlessly, and the game all but demands that you repeat the same stage over and over again until you can do it perfectly. While many players will find that frustrating, those who take pride in learning exactly what to expect from the world, building a plan, and working until they achieve it will love the rush of accomplishment when they finally pull it off. Lords of the Fallen looks to provide that feeling in spadesjust try not to throw your controller in rage.

Want more dark and grisly details? Check out the following slides for screenshots and more info.

Relive all the awkwardness in the video below!

It's tough to present at an E3 press conference. Whether you're an executive, developer, or professional dancer, you're in charge of making a specific product look good to hundreds in attendance and millions watching around the world. One awkward moment, and BOOM! Twitter, NeoGAF, and a GamesRadar feature are poking fun at you.

As with the undersole of an Xbox Avatar's shoe, we'll never really know what it's like to face the unique pressure of being on-stage for an E3 showcase. But as the people behind the following moments can assure you, it's not all fun and games. Typically, E3 is full of cringe-worthy moments--and while E3 2014 wasn't nearly as awkward as its predecessors, there were still plenty of wince-inducing gaffes and painful jokes. Here are those moments that made us pause, before uttering "Uh...what was that?"

The Microsoft E3 press conference gave us a closer look at some impressive games, but the showing wasn't without its strange phrases and awkward moments. Click on to the next slide and see what we're talking about.

Hey guys! Conker's back! Sorta. Some 13 years after his last original adventure (remember, 2005's Live and Reloaded was a remake), Rare's foul-mouthed squirrel made (the opposite of) a triumphant return as part of Project Spark's game-maker system. So is there going to be a pre-made game featuring Conker? Or is he just going to be a personality-free prop we can put in our adventures, like a wall texture or a fence? If there's a way you shouldn't reintroduce a character after nearly a decade, it's as an afterthought for a game that doesn't play to that character's strengths.

While we give kudos to Microsoft for acknowledging the video game ecosystem outside of the Xbox, asking people to share #myfavoritegame in little vignettes kinda blew up in its face. Why? Pretty much every presenter and speaker highlighted a game that wasn't a notable Xbox release. From Insomniac's Ted Price and CD Project Red's John Maimais to SNL's Bobby Moynihan and Taran Killam, almost everyone of note named a game that's better played elsewhere. We'll accept industry vet and Killer Instinct supervisor Ken Lobb when he gave props (and some foreshadowing) to Crackdown, but Phil Spencer declaring his love for Voodoo Vince is flat-out unbelievable. It's a nice game and all, but, er, really? You have Limbo on your shirt, dude.

As obscure as Phil Spencer's "favorite" game was, it's freakin Super Mario Bros. in comparison to the weirdest revival ever. A decade ago, Microsoft wouldn't even publish the in-house, already translated Phantom Dust in the US, instead leaving it to Majesco to bring the game to the OG Xbox for $20 just months before the 360 made it irrelevant. So when Ken Lobb threw to the reveal of this obscurity, did anyone at Microsoft actually expect the fans to jump and cheer in anticipation of a new Phantom Dust? Good thing the trailer looked awesome, or this reveal would've been a total bust.

EA's E3 press conference might not have had a ton of new reveals, but there were definitely some odd times that made us bury our faces in our hands.

First off, EA Sports UFC is out next week. Why is this game taking up more than a minute of time during a major press conference? Oh--it's because most of EA's other games are more than a year away? Fair enough. Anyone who's paid attention to this MMA revival already knew famed martial artist Bruce Lee was a posthumous part of the roster. With nothing new to really reveal, EA showcased a match featuring the dearly departed movie star as he dispatched UFC Featherweight contender B.J. Penn without much fanfare. It wasn't nearly as tasteless as Activision's use of Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero, but it still made us feel... weirdly uncomfortable.

Popular as the Sims franchise is, it doesn't do well in front of crowds. No matter how you slice it, no one in the core gaming audience--y'know, most people an E3 presser--wants a casual game like The Sims taking up precious stage time. So this year, when the executive producer of The Sims 4 came on stage to tell a story about hot-head bodybuilder Chuck and the eccentric Gladys (oh, Gladys!) and the ensuing party they attended, EA's conference momentum died an on-stage death. Hey, just like Chuck!

While the first gameplay for Battlefield Hardline was action-packed, there were a few weird moments in the demo. First off: what in the world is this crew stealing that necessitates millions of dollars in property damage, hundreds of deaths, and a downed skyscraper? All we know is that it's "loot." Because anytime the on-screen player had the loot, Battlefield Hardline reminded us that "YOU HAVE THE LOOT." Minutes later, having toppled half of the L.A. skyline without dying, it remained on-screen. "YOU HAVE THE LOOT." Visceral hopefully doesn't need a beta to understand that the prompt doesn't have to plastered front-and-center 24/7, right?

EA Sports UFC's demo featured a famed action star who died a tragic death at a young age. For some reason, that was the only sports demo of the entire presser that didn't have a melodramatic trailer. Does NHL 15 need a song proclaiming "We'll see creation come undone/These bones that bound us will be gone"? We know the entire world likes football, but Idris Elba comparing the sport to family and a soccer match to an epic battle is probably a tad too much. The worst part? You know EA will have even sappier intros to the trailers for the handful of annual updates coming next year.

The Ubisoft E3 press conferences are notorious for having embarrassing and downright awkward moments bombarding our eyes and ears. This year, it was no different.

Here's a few words of advice to any publisher planning on having a live musical number to hype their upcoming motion-controlled dance game: Stop. Please. Whether you have devs playing or trot out E3 celebrities like Usher and Flo Rida, no amount of wacky frolicking will keep the attention of a crowd thirsting for more important reveals. Unfortunately, Ubisoft decided to double down on the dancing and not only filled the stage with gesticulating gamers, but added a bunch perched on adjacent balconies. It was a full on dance invasion, which we neither wanted nor enjoyed.

Also on the "not so fun to watch at a presser" list: fitness games. It seemed as though that genre had run its course, but Ubisoft decided to give it one more rep with Shape Up. The demo dived into awkwardness right from the start, as the rail-thin developer ran and played floor piano without a real-life partner. But things shot up into the stratosphere of strange as Ubisoft staged a US-versus-France push-up contest. Fortunately, the US won the competition, bringing enormous, unbounded pride to our fair country. Um, yeah...

We understand: years of development will make you impassioned about a project. But when you're showcasing a game to a group of people who may be completely unfamiliar with it, your seriousness can come off as just a little creepy. Or, in fact, extremely creepy. Case in point: the presenter for Ubisoft's open-world shooter, The Division. As he started to discuss the conceit of The Division, explaining the sleeper cell of Americans set to rise up and defend the country during an outbreak, his grave, solemn tone made us wonder: Is this real? Is he an actual member of The Division? Why are we sitting here watching a press conference? MY GOD... THE OUTBREAK IS ALREADY HAPPENING!

If you're trained in hostage handling, please correct us if we're wrong, but the otherwise stellar Rainbow Six: Siege seemed to break a pretty big rule in that regard. Mainly; if you're trying to extract a hostage, wouldn't you try a little harder to actually, y'know, protect them? Any time a member of the heroic SWAT team found a hostage, they'd hold the innocent girl right in front of them like a shield. Um, that's where bullets go. Wouldn't a better plan be to have the hostage stand behind you? And why didn't you bring an extra flak jacket to protect her? In Ubisoft's defense, short of putting a mirror on a soldier's shoulder, it'd be tough to visually represent the hostage in first person if she was standing in any other spot.

If there's an E3 Hall of Fame, three-time Ubisoft press conference host Aisha Tyler is very likely to be a first-ballot inductee. She's extremely enthusiastic about games, and isn't afraid to call out moments that are a tad awkward with a bit of quick wit. That said, even Aisha had trouble traversing the minefield that was the awful segues of Ubisoft's 2014 press conference. Bringing up the need for dancing in a post-apocalyptic New York was brutal enough, but following up Far Cry 4's exhilarating intro by saying things were only getting bigger and better, knowing full well that dancing and fitness games were on the horizon? That's a tall order. We salute your courage, Aisha.

There were some pretty hard hitting announcements at the Sony E3 press conference. We got a look at a ton of games we definitely have to play, but the developers didn't help build the hype when they were making us cringe.

If you've never heard of Brian Michael Bendis' award-winning comic book Powers well you've probably long forgotten about what you were told about it at Sony's E3 press conference. During an already depressingly empty stretch of the overlong PlayStation press conference, Bendis explained how the upcoming TV adaptation of his comic will revolutionize watching a show on your game console. Would've been nice if he actually had more than a bunch of sketches to show it off, though.

In between some pretty epic indie announcements, PlayStation VP of Publisher & Developer Relations Adam Boyes let loose with some pretty groan-worthy jokes on-stage. Whether it was the string of "bro" puns to celebrate Bro Force or performing the ultimate act of feeding the trolls by acknowledging the existence of NeoGAF, there were more than a few points where we wanted less of the gags and more of the games. However, he was there to tell us Grim Fandango is coming to PlayStation 4, so all is forgiven.

Worry not, Jeff Bell. You may have just been unseated as the worst-performing on-stage executive in E3 history. Shawn Layden may have a long and storied history with Sony dating back to Vib Ribbon, but it's pretty obvious he hasn't been on stage at a game conference during his tenure. Between his constant hand motions straight out of a Communications 101 handbook, and the fact that it took what seemed to be 20 minutes to reveal two things (YouTube sharing and PlayStation TV), Layden laid waste to our attention spans. With incessant flicks of Layden's wrists, the momentum Sony had built via impressive demos and reveals over the previous hour was demolished.

Look, most gamers keen enough to catch a live E3 press conference know what's what. They know that yes, you can technically play a free-to-play game for free--but the temptation to spend on certain items and features will require cold hard cash. However, as a capper to Layden's awkwardness, he made sure to boast about the PlayStation 4's free-to-play lineup, making sure to accentuate how FREE these FREE-to-play games are, you game-loving FREEaks. Sadly, once the sizzle-reel started, a "YOU HAVE THE LOOT"-level overlay made sure to remind us, "CERTAIN FEATURES AVAILABLE FOR A FEE." Oh, like every other free-to-play game in existence, then?

The award for the coolest intro definitely has to go to the Nintendo Digital Event at E3, but between the Dragon Ball Z-style fight between the company execs and mind-blowing reveals, there were still a few moments that were embarrassing.

It's always a little weird when a developer makes an unexpected innuendo in front of an audience of thousands. And when you're describing a hero that uses his tongue as his primary weapon, the slip-up is understandable. It might just be our dirty minds spending too much time in the gutter, but when the developers at the Good-Feel Company said Yoshi's tongue is "his most powerful weapon," we just stopped everything for a second and said, "What?" Actually, there's no excuse for this happening. The phrase was translated from Japanese and then edited into American English for a pre-recorded video. As in, this wasn't live. Get it together, Nintendo.

This one was a bit of orchestrated awkwardness, but nonetheless it was quite the awkward confrontation between villain and damsel-in-distress. We just had to feel a little bad for Bowser. Sure, he did kidnap Peach countless times over the decades, but the big guy just wanted that rainbow sprinkled doughnut. He even wanted it enough to apologize for years of being a jerk. Then it was just snatched away. Awkward.

It wouldn't be an E3 without the legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto showing up and teasing us about some project he's been working on. At the end of the Nintendo Direct, Miyamoto did just that: teased some current projects while playing a blurred-out screen of Star Fox Wii U. Nothing wrong with that--but the awkward moment happened just as he finished his little tease and turned back toward the screen. Instead of playing it smooth, he sort of just stared blankly at the camera for a second, before bashfully spinning around real quick right as the silence got uncomfortable. The moment was just a touch on the odd side, but we totally felt awkward.

There you have it. Those were the most awkward and embarrassing moments from all of the E3 pressers. Did we miss any? Were there any times when the developers and presenters made you feel uncomfortable? Let us know your favorites in the comments below.

For even more on our E3 2014 coverage, be sure to check out our articles on What to say to your friends if you missed E3 2014 and 100 games you probably missed at E3 2014.

E3 2014 has been a storm of amazing games. Microsoft showed 36 games in its 90 minute press conference, and every other major publisher followed suit. Despite that, we still managed to dig up a list of 100 games that you probably missed. It has been--and continues to be--total, digital chaos. As such, youve probably missed a load of news from the show. And that can be hugely embarrassing if your school friends / co-workers / victims expect you to chat knowledgeably about E3 2014.

Well FEAR NOT, my friend. To help you avoid the embarrassment that comes with video game ignorance, Ive prepared a bluffers guide to the show. Its definitely not a joke*. Just have this article handy and you can act like a total expert on every aspect of E3 2014, even if you didnt watch a single video or read any articles. Alternatively, feel free to copy and paste these nuggets of wisdom into the forum / comment-field of your choice to make yourself seem like an absolute guru of cutting-edge opinion. Youre welcome!

*Its definitely a joke.

Wow--Microsoft showed a lot of Xbox One video games didnt they.

Its good news that Microsoft is not saying as many things about its Kinect motion sensing peripheral, because I don't like that aspect of the Xbox One experience.

Im confident that its ok to like the Xbox One machine again but Im not buying one! (You should also laugh here).

Phil Spencer is a handsome man, and although he mainly deals with houses, he knows lots about games.

Video games journalists hate Microsoft because theyre biased against Xbox, but I dont visit their websites any more because I like the Xbox console now.

Wow--EA showed a lot of Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Personal Computer video games didnt they.

The third Dragon Age game looks good. I cant wait to see all the sex scenes in it.

Sports games are the same every year. (It's acceptable to either laugh or snort with derision at this point)

The Sims 4 is for female gamers. That doesnt make me sexist, you understand.

Battlefield Hardline looks good, but I bet it will have lots of technical problems when it first comes out in November.

Wow--Ubisoft showed a lot of Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Personal Computer video games didnt they.

Aisha Tyler is a very good host of video game shows, but shes also a very strong, attractive woman who does the voice of a character in the TV show Archer.

I like Assassins Creed Unity, but it really annoys me that there are no strong, attractive women in it like Aisha Tyler.

Ubisoft is a French company.

I didnt expect Ubisoft to reveal Rainbow Six: Siege, but Im really happy that they did because I like that kind of multiplayer game.

Wow--Sony showed a lot of PlayStation 4 video games didnt they.

Several months ago, I expected the fifth Grand Theft Auto to be made for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

I will definitely play Grim Fandango when it comes to PS4 because I am a seasoned games player, and I remember playing that particular game when I was younger.

It was boring when that bald man talked about comics.

Video games journalists are biased towards Sony. Im ok with that because I own a PlayStation 4, but I dont trust them because of it.

Wow--Nintendo showed a lot of Wii U and 3DS video games didnt they.

I was blown away clean out of the water from the ground up because of Zelda, but I am also frustrated because Nintendo didnt tell me enough details.

I wish Nintendo would release Super Smash Brothers sooner than they are releasing it.

I love Nintendo because they make fun video games.

Because of Nintendos fun games, their Wii U console will be saved in 2014, and Im probably going to buy one very soon.

I am sad because Sony did not show The Last Guardian game.

There are too many shooting games these days.

I watched all the press conferences, but I don't care about any of them because I own a PC and / or Macintosh.

I think Rockstars Agent game has been cancelled.

There were many leaked stories before E3 started, and that meant there were fewer surprises at the show.

There are lots of games for 2015, so we will see many of these games again next year.

By 2015 I think independently published games like Cuphead and Knack will really have taken off.

I think many stories about E3 2015 will leak before the show starts.

I plan to stay awake for all the press conferences next year. I will probably buy lots of snacks and drinks in preparation.

I'll probably buy a Wii U if Nintendo shows lots of good Wii U games next year.

So there you have it: your guide to bluf MOTHER OF GOD, who is that sinister bastard lurking in the background of the Fantasia demo? And what does he want? Oh man, Ill be seeing him in all my nightmares from this day forward. Where was I? Oh yes, leave your comments below. Please remember this feature is meant to be a joke, so if you get all ruffled up about anything in it just breathe. In and out. In and out. Gooooood.

Want more hot E3 2014 coverage? Heres our round-up of the Sony Press Conference. Like a bit of that do you? Youll probably enjoy our Microsoft Press Conference recap too.

Honestly, it might just be best if you check your Fable expectations at the door when it comes to Fable Legends. The team-based, four-on-one multiplayer action RPG is a move away from what most would associate with a Fable game, even if it looks like it fits right in line with Lionhead's previous entries.

Set hundreds of years before the previous Fable games, you're playing as a hero arriving in the city of Brightlodge. From there, you're able to grab quests and set off on adventures, jumping into three-part, linear missions that put the emphasis on action over storytelling. But instead of heading out to make your mark in the world as your own hero, you're picking from a dozen or so pre-made characters to play as, and you're entering into missions that pit four good players against one villain.

Each area has you fighting a group of enemies and dodging traps set by another player, who is serving as that level's villain. It's vaguely Dungeons & Dragons-like, with the evil character serving as the mastermind of an area. Different characters have different abilities, and there are a few archetypes (like healer, support, DPS, and tank), making the encounters somewhat like MMO dungeons. It's plays well and looks great--running on the Unreal Engine 4 gives Legends an impressive aesthetic. But while it's fun, and you'll likely enjoy playing as either the hero team or the devious villain, it doesn't feel like it's going to provide the sense of exploration and narrative that previous Fable games have. It might--the developers are promising an in-depth story (for both the good and the bad characters)--but so far everything I've seen makes Legends look more like a competitive game than anything. That's not bad, mind you--just different.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

People raised skeptical eyebrows when Square-Enix announced Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a rhythm game for the 3DS and iOS, since it sounded suspiciously like an April Fool's joke. But make it they did, and it was so successful that they're back for an encore with Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, the reported last in the series. After playing it myself, I feel like I get what the whole song and dance is about.

Theatrhythm gives the player a list of 221 songs from the entire Final Fantasy collection to play through. The gameplay is simple: tap, slash, or hold with the stylus as colorful icons move across the screen. You have three different modes to do this, the big difference between them being what happens in the background (a battle, a famous scene from one of the games, et cetera), but the actions you complete stay consistent. While that may sound dull, these tiny tasks still command attention, and getting into the rhythm becomes engrossing. When you'll on a roll you feel less like a player and more like a conductor, making your favorite songs from the series come to life.

Curtain Call not only introduces music from a greater range of titles, like Final Fantasy X-2 and Tactics, but the availability of songs for download. This is where curtain call part comes in: rather than making a new Theatrhythm game sometime down the road, the company plans to add to Curtain Call's digital offers continuously to keep content fresh. In addition, the game comes with a new mode called Quest Medley, which challenges the player to clear several songs at random to get rewards and unlock characters. Give it a try, because who knows--maybe you'll find your new favorite Final Fantasy song that way.

Check out the rest of these slides for screenshots and more info.

Activision's Skylanders series is nothing if not innovative. A pioneer in the toys-to-screen mode of play, every generation of Skylanders toys brings something new to the table (or little glowing platform) to keep them ahead of the game. Two years ago it was giants, last year it was swapping hero parts, and this year it's capturing the game's most dastardly villains and getting them to work for you. And does it look good.

After persistent series villain Kaos destroys the Skylands' crystal version of Alcatraz, pieces of the powerful Traptanium are scattered throughout the world along with all the baddies that were previously imprisoned there. It is now the task of the Trap Masters to round up the wayward villains, but it's more than a clean-up mission: every jailbird you defeat can be captured and used as a teammate, tagging in for your Skylander, up to and including Kaos himself.

For that you'll need Traptanium traps, small vial-looking toys that can be loaded up right beside your hero on the game portal, which can be taken out and swapped at will just like any other toy. Baddies must be caught with a trap set to their associated element (one of a possible eight), but if you don't have the right trap or don't want to swap out, they can be transported to an in-game vault for later use. You can also share your captured villains with others as easily as you can share your Skylanders, with cross-console and backwards compatibility; Trap Team will be available for all major last and new gen consoles, and will support all previous Skylanders releases. Combine that with 16 trap masters, 8 new categories of villains, and a whole new world to explore, Trap Team makes for an all-encompassing experience.

Want to know more? Check out the following slides for screenshots and info!

Do you remember E3 2011? When everything Sony said was underpinned with an assurance that 3D was the future--and PlayStation 3 was going to be right at the heart of that future? Well, that didn’t last long. Sony cannily recognised that its customers didn't share that vision, and quietly got out before it was in too deep. Similarly, you must remember how Kinect has been an integral part of Microsoft’s E3s since Project Natal was unveiled in 2009. You probably see where I'm going with this.

You can't really get 'in' much deeper than claiming 'Xbox One IS Kinect' as recently as last August, yet this year's press conference also suggests that Microsoft is getting out while it still can. Consensus seems to be that most people don't want the Kinect future. They just want video games. And Microsoft responded with a conference focused solely on games. Good thing too--doing so is the only way the company can repair the goodwill of the hardcore gaming crowd.

I cannot emphasise enough how vital customer goodwill towards a brand is to a games company. It's an integral part of the purchasing decision and, whether consciously or otherwise, "What does this product represent to me?" is a question you ask yourself when you're thinking about buying a new console. So it doesn't matter if the product itself is actually great or not. If it's associated with bad things, it won't sell as well.

It's the old Eddie Izzard supermarket thing, where you walk in and see fresh fruit, because they want you to feel that the shop is full of fresh things. Nobody wants to buy from a shop where the first thing you see is toilet rolls, because then everything has connotations of poo. As an example from history, look at this: when Sega unveiled the Dreamcast in 1998, it didn’t even have the name ‘Sega’ printed on the front of it:

At that time, while Saturn was in its death throes, the Sega name had moved away from representing speed, fun and awesomeness and instead represented failed hardware, inferior ports and basically not being as good as a PlayStation. Basically, poo. Eventually, the name was reinstated to the DC unit, but the fact it was ever missing at all demonstrates how serious companies take this sort of thing. And right now, Xbox One doesn’t appear to have as much goodwill attached to its name as Xbox 360 before it, and Kinect is more than a little responsible for that backlash.

It's nothing new, of course. Microsoft is only experiencing the situation Sony was in at the start of the previous generation. Each new brand needs to be built up on its own merits because previous success doesn't guarantee a repeat. Same with Wii U. It is now associated with low sales, few games and last-gen visuals. It just is, and it doesn't matter that the games are often amazing. And the longer it goes on, the harder it is to turn around.

Let's play a game. What do you think of when I say ‘Xbox 360’? For me, my mind's eye flashes up a picture of the power button on the front of the console (and the lights are green these days, not red) and then I think of Achievements, closely followed by Xbox Live Gold. That is a very good association and I’m sure Microsoft would be very pleased that the brand they’ve built up for almost a decade is being linked with exactly the sort of things they would want it to be. Especially in the mind of a professional critic. Good job.

Now, think again: what do you see when I say ‘Xbox One’? For me, I see the VCR-like casing, the confusing front end UI, and that I don’t want Kinect in my home, listening to me all the time. That’s a disaster in terms of brand association and it needs turning around sharpish. And that's why this E3 saw Microsoft presenting Xbox One more like Xbox 360 of a few years ago.

In fact, now you've got your brain into imagining Xboxy things: Do you remember Microsoft showing a single picture of the console itself during this year's press conference? And do you remember a single reference to Kinect? I'll tell you, there was one reference during the segment about Indie development, and another in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Dance Central Spotlight announcement. And the only picture of the console seems to be this...

...which starts with Kinect in-shot, but then zooms in to crop it out. The press conference was presented almost as though Kinect doesn’t exist and Xbox One is simply a console that has got some excellent games heading its way. A wise approach. But I can't help but think if that approach had been the taken last year at the Xbox One reveal event, then Microsoft and Sony would likely be neck-and-neck in the console war again.

So if Kinect is barely mentioned, surely the casual observer would assume that it is unimportant? An optional extra. And the past few months would seem to back that up. Microsoft appears to be giving up on it, ditching its original, fundamental philosophy of ‘Xbox One IS Kinect’ and instead releasing a Kinect-free version of the console, simultaneously freeing up the space allocated to its future firmware updates and processing overheads to allow developers to make better games. And now it is barely mentioning its beloved baby at the biggest press conference on the gaming calendar. Is said baby being disowned?

Maybe so. And the reason is simple. To be blunt, Kinect has a bad rep. It has so much bitterness attached to it, I don’t see how it can ever recover now. Its name has become associated with privacy invasion, finicky voice control, price inflation and using up precious system resources that are making the competition’s games look better.

I think that’s it for Kinect. I don’t think next year’s E3 will be any different in terms of steering clear from mentioning it unless absolutely necessary. I do think there will be a return to some talk of apps and development for the future, the same way Sony showed its PlayStation Now and Project Morpheus. Right now, I think Microsoft have made a decent start towards positioning Xbox One as a worthy successor to Xbox 360 with this year's show. The new-gen games console with good exclusives. I like that idea and I can picture it. The glowing power button on the front of the Xbox One, achievements snapped to the side of the screen (with game guides from GamesRadar just a button push away), and Xbox Live offering a superb connected experience. I like that picture. But Kinect is not a part of it.

E3 2014 is one of the best in years. In terms of the sheer volume of brilliant, exciting games shown at the conference, it’s an absolute bonanza of excellence. Doesn’t matter that many of them are skipping 2014, doesn’t matter that a bunch of expected games were missing: this E3 is vintage. But who impressed the most? I’m sure you have your own opinion, but here are some of my observations on the show so far.

Microsoft kicked things off on Monday, and showed a whopping 36 games in 90 minutes. It was a breath-taking display of eagerness from a console maker desperate to reclaim its core audience from Sony. And many of the games it showed are class acts: Rise Of The Tomb Raider, COD Advanced Warfare, Crackdown, Assassin’s Creed Unity… even Halo: Master Chief Collection is exciting in an ‘already-played-it’ kind of way.

So all good, right? Well, not quite. Microsoft showed so many games, so fast, that it’s tough to recall any real highlights. The common consensus seems to be that ‘Microsoft showed a load of games’, not that ‘Microsoft really impressed with X, Y, and Z’. I absolutely applaud the Xbox One owner for showing such a strong dedication to ‘proper games’, but I also worry that it has ignored forward planning and strategic vision in favour of quick-fix thrills. Microsoft said nothing of how Xbox One will evolve over the coming years, and it ignored Kinect entirely. I’m no fan of Kinect, but it’s worrying how fast Microsoft is willing to abandon key aspects of its console strategy to satisfy the vocal corners of the Internet.

Still, a strong showing from Microsoft, and it looks like the company has (so far) avoided the clangers that plagued its E3 2013… Not sure the same can be said for EA. The home of Battlefield and Mass Effect had the most inconsistent showing of all the press conferences. Battlefield Hardline and Dragon Age Inquisition are both resounding ‘thumbs up’, but EA was far too vague on Mass Effect and whatever the hell Criterion is working on. Its sports line-up looks strong, but its tough to get excited about the slight improvements most seem to be making in this new console generation.

Ubisoft, however, really impressed. For me, they’re right up there with Sony as one of the ‘winners’ of E3. The French publisher has a fantastic mix of games, and showcased a slick combination of well-produced trailers and impressive gameplay demos. Assassin’s Creed Unity and Far Cry 4 are nailed-on hits for 2014, and Rainbow Six: Siege is one of the most exciting reveals of the show. Plus, Aisha Tyler continues to be the Ace up Ubi’s sleeve when it comes to presentation. There wasn’t even an attempt to get us excited about endless Rabbids spin-offs this year: it was all quality games. Ok, maybe the bearded hipster dancing thing was a bit weird…

Next-up was Sony--the second of the ‘big three’ console conferences. Confidence is sky-high at Sony, and that was perfectly reflected in its balanced, exciting show. Core games impressed (hat tip to LittleBigPlanet 3, Bloodborne, Mortal Kombat X, and GTA 5), indies were well represented, and we got a good feel for where Sony is taking the whole PlayStation console family.

And that really is crucial. It’s obvious that Sony has a plan, and it isn’t just about games--it’s about VR, PSN, Vita, TV and all kinds of other things. However, this vision doesn’t come at the expense of games; they live side-by-side, complementing each other. Hey, I’m not saying everything is going to be brilliant. Project Morpheus could be a total flop like PS Move, and Vita is essentially just a peripheral for PS4 now--it’s not all smiles and sunshine. But Sony’s show left me with the biggest feeling of confidence that console gaming is in safe hands.

Finally, Nintendo showed its hand via digital event on Tuesday. It’s clear that there’s a huge cultural and technological divide between Nintendo and the other console makers (and PC). There are positives and negatives to take away from this. It’s apparent that Nintendo is laser-targeted at its own zealous fanbase: from the introduction of Miis and Palutena to Smash Bros, right through to the Captain Toad and Yoshi spin-offs, Ninty is out to please hardcore fans. However, that comes at the expense of variety, and the kind of games likely to win them new Wii U buyers. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand Nintendo’s appeal unless you have a long, loving history with its consoles--they’re becoming ever more inward-looking, and detached from other game makers.

New Zelda was the highlight of Nintendo’s show but, frustratingly, it lacked the kind of solid details and exciting features to make a massive impact. Plus, 2015 seems an awful long time to wait for a killer game on a struggling console… Perhaps the most promising idea from Ninty was Amiibo, the Skylanders-style NFC toys designed to corner the ‘Mummy, can I have a Mario figurine, pleeeeeease!’ market. They could well bankroll Nintendo until a new console arrives to compete with PS4 and Xbox One… if that’s even a thing. Nintendo is becoming so detached, it may eventually eschew traditional console gaming entirely.

So, who ‘won’ E3 2014? It’s such a massive cliché, but we--the players--have won by a mile. Pretty much every digital preference is catered for, from whimsical indie games that defy categorisation, to meat-and-potatoes shooters. There are great games for 2014, 2015, and beyond because the focus really has been placed on the players this year. Yeah, don’t worry--I know that’s a bit of a cop-out, here comes the stuff you can all grumble about in the comments…

Putting on my personal-preference hat (which looks a little like a posh, jazz-era top hat), I’d say that Sony and Ubisoft absolutely smashed it. Of all the conferences, they were the most confident, balanced, and forward-looking. With real verve and swagger, they showed the titles that really made me sit up and pay attention-- Far Cry 4, Rainbow Six: Siege, Uncharted 4, Bloodborne, LBP3--the ones that made me truly excited for the next 12 months of gaming.

I arrived at Nintendos booth just a couple minutes before E3 opened, which afforded the chance to see the area fill up as fast as Smash Bros. biggest fans rushed to the area at the start of the show. The many demo stations had dozens of people camped out, waiting for a few rounds with the first playable version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. And I have to think those fanboys and girls were satisfied, because the demo plays exactly like Smash Bros. veterans expect.

I battled through three brief rounds, all in time limit matches. I tried out new characters in the first two rounds, lacing up Little Macs gloves in the Dr. Wily stage ripped straight from Mega Man 2. It was a lively fight, and my skills didnt feel too rusty--no doubt it helps that I played on a GameCube controller. Mac is quick and packs a few powerful charge attacks, like a mini-Donkey Kong (though not as tough). My second round was spent as the Wii Fit Trainer, whose moves look more in sync with a yoga instructor than a martial artist. Theres an extra feeling of accomplishment from knocking folks off the screen with the graceful movements of a fitness expert.

Then came the final round. The Nintendo representative mentioned that the winner of the round would get a free t-shirt, which isnt an incentive for me, but it certainly was for my opponents. Everyone switched to their most familiar characters (Mario in my case), and gave it their all. As I played with my goto character, on a GameCube controller no less, I realized the core of this series was truly unchanged. And thats the best news me, and the fanboys that surrounded me, couldve heard.

Played side by side, its difficult for the 3DS version of Smash Bros. to keep up with the Wii U iteration. Smashing on consoles means HD visuals on a large screen, all playable with multiple controller types. Despite the advantages of portability, how can the 3DS release even compare? Well, at E3, the handheld iteration of the fighter is easily the most fun to play in single player.

The E3 2014 demo of Super Smash Bros. 3DS has the expected four player matches over wifi, which are enjoyable even if the screen feels a little cramped. But things get more unpredictable when I entered the Smash Run mode. Played solo, Smash Run begins by dropping you into the a massive sidescrolling stage thats randomly generated. Your chosen character searches out treasure to collect and opponents to fight, gaining items that boost your characters stats. It becomes a lengthy platfomer filled with well-known Nintendo enemies like Shy Guys and Dodongos getting wiped out by the likes of Samus and Mega Man. If you dreamed of seeing Little Mac knock out one of Super Marios Hammer Bros., this is your chance.

Beating up enemies earns boosts to stats like strength and speed, making your fighter uniquely skilled by the time they reach the end of Smash Runs five minute time limit. At that point, your uniquely skilled version of Fox McCloud or whoever faces off against other altered characters in a brief battle with somewhat random rule sets. The previous exploration defines your character and makes you extra invested in the outcome but even if you lose, Smash Run is still great solo fun for the time invested. Smash Run is exclusive to the 3DS version, so it looks like youll have something beyond multiplayer to keep you company while waiting several weeks for the Wii U version.

Street luge is one of those sports--it's a sport, right?--that I knew from a very young age that I'd never try. I mean, I couldn't even count on myself to stay put in the batter's box in little league baseball whenever a pitch was thrown; I didn't want to get smashed in the face by a fastball, ya know? So, yeah. The idea of lying down flat on an oversized skateboard and plummeting down a street at a 90-degree angle isn't exactly appealing--that is, unless I can do it from the safety of a bean bag chair while wearing a virtual reality headset. That's exactly what I did thanks to an awesome Street Luge VR demo running on Sony's Project Morpheus. Man, what a ride.

I've written before about the sorts of experiences we can expect from virtual reality's early years, and the Street Luge demo perfectly reinforces the notion that immersion trumps complexity when it comes to VR games. Here's how it works: you lean on an incline surface to mimic the posture you'd have on an actual luge. When the demo begins, I steer left and right simply by tilting my head--no controller necessary. At first, I go slow as I build up momentum. A minute later, I'm barrelling down a winding road at speeds of 80+ miles per hour. Oh, and by the way, I have to dodge cars. No big deal.

Admittedly, there is a bit of a disconnect from what my eyes perceive as fast-paced motion, and what my body actually feels--which is to say, nothing. The experience didn't generate motion sickness, but there was an odd sensation that I wasn't actually moving even though my eyes were convinced that I was. Even so, the luge experience was pretty great, and I can't wait to see what the future of VR has in store.

Last year's reveal of a yarn-infused Yoshi game proved to be a bit premature. In the months that followed, as every other 3DS and Wii game Nintendo revealed was released, we heard nothing of this imaginative game. When it finally did at this year's E3, it had gone through a minor metamorphosis and gained an official name: Yoshi's Woolly World (AKA cutest name of the E3 and maybe all time). Set in a world where everything is made of yarn and string, Woolly World is a beautiful 2D adventure that'll charm your pants clean off right before putting them back together. With the yarn. This analogy has gone on for too long.

Yoshi (or Yoshis, if you're playing two-player co-op) looks hand-made and crocheted, sort of like Little Big Planet's Sackboy. But while the knit body is great, it's his amorphous form that surprised me the most. When Yoshi double jumps his bottom half warps and becomes propellers--when he runs full speed, his legs turn to wheels. It's fluid, and animated brilliantly. The world, too, has that same crafted aesthetic. Everything from the ground to the clouds look physical and like, super squishy. For as fun as it is to play, it's hard to avoid the temptation to just climb into the screen and roll around in the calming, adorable world.

After the relatively disappointing Yoshi's New Island, it's good to see the green dino get another game so quickly--especially one that seems to play pretty similarly to other Yoshi games. You're eating dudes, tossing eggs, and doing everything that makes Yoshi's games unique. It's set for a 2015 release, and we'll hopefully find out more soon.

Check out the following slides for additional images and more information.

Before loading into one of LittleBigPlanet 3's unbearably adorable platforming stages, I'm given a choice of which character I want to play. Sackboy? He's old news; been there, done that. Maybe I'll go with Oddsock, a cute little doggie--or Swoop, a bird that looks as though it's the product of a fancy arts and crafts project. But then I see him: a big, goofy, lumbering character with an unending smile; a fun-loving bipedal cloth-Hulk; a truly magnificent humanoid named Toggle who doesn't know his own strength. "My God," I think to myself. "LittleBigPlanet 3 has Hodor as a playable character." I immediately lock in my selection without a second thought.

All four characters in LittleBigPlanet 3 have unique abilities, which makes co-op platforming a mostly simple, but undeniably fun, experience. Progression largely consists of figuring out how best to combine the abilities of each character to overcome obstacles. For instance, Toggle leverages his size to push or pull heavy blocks and levers, opening up pathways for his teammates. He also has the ability to transform into a much smaller version of himself, which allows him to travel through tiny pathways no one else can enter.

The platforming feels very similar to that in the previous LBP games. It's very floaty and easy to get the hang of, but it's the inventive stages that'll keep you coming back, particularly when they tap into each character's unique skills. And don't forget: half the fun of LBP is building your levels and--though I haven't had a chance to check that aspect of the game out just yet--there are more creation options than ever before. Bonus points if you make a Game of Thrones stage, then troll your friends by picking them up in Toggle's giant, musclebound cloth-arms, and carrying them around while chanting "Hodor."

Be sure to read on for more LittleBigPlanet 3 images and information.

If you've heard of Mario Maker, you already know pretty much everything there is to know about it. Using simplistic tools and a touch screen, you're able to make your own 2D Mario levels styled after either the original NES release or the more recent New Super Mario Bros. games--just tap on a block, cloud, or platform, and you can go about placing them into a world. It's not as in-depth as the tools in Little Big Planet or anything, but you're able to create quick, simple levels in only a matter of minutes. Or, you're able to make sadomasochistic monstrosities if you put your mind to it. Up to you.

Since I didn't have a huge amount of time, the first thing I did was create a pyramid of sorts using destructible blocks. Then, feeling like a young Shigeru Miyamoto, I carved out the middle of the tower, turning it into something that resembled a volcano. I dropped some turtles in it, created some platforms, and tried to kick a turtle shell in such a way where it would destroy the tower. After a while, it worked. My level freaking sucked.

I was able to play some of the pre-made levels, though, in order to see what was possible. Here, I witnessed true brilliance--levels made entirely of springs, worlds filled with so many Koopas the NES would have melted, and other cool concepts. So long as the game contains adequate sharing functionality, I've no doubt that Mario Maker will be worth spending time with when it launches in 2015.

Check out the following slides for additional images and more information.

Ever wanted to invite Barack Obama bartend at your house party? Face off against luchadores in a chess game? Maybe go stargazing with Fidel Castro? If you answered yes to any of these questions...then you've probably already done all of that in The Sims before, but The Sims 4 has a pretty good twist on EA's formula. Now you can adjust your Sims' personalities to your heart's content, making it much easier to replicate those real-life counterparts, and get your hands on cool mods the easy way by downloading them from within the game itself.

The Sims 4 allows for a level of customizability that even this series hasn't yet seen. You can adjust your Sims' physical features as always, with even more options and tactile manipulation to adjust your Sims down to arm thickness and eyebrow arch. What The Sims 4 really brings to the table though is personality, allowing you to customize your Sims' swagger, values and ultimate life goals, combined together to make your Simdom more organic and alive than ever before. This also brings in your Sims' emotions into play, allowing them to improve certain skills faster depending on what mood they're in, giving the whole affair a lite strategic feel too.

The game also incorporates a new creation called the Gallery, an in-game shop of gamer-generated mods that you can purchase with Sim currency and load up in seconds. Anything from people to rooms to entire houses can be pulled from the Gallery (or put in by you), streamlining access to user-created content. Now you have more control over your Sims than ever before, but it's when you let them go and see what crazy stuff they'll do that things really get interesting.

Check out the following slides for screenshots and more info.

This year's E3 is now in full swing, and already we've started to notice some common threads among the many E3 2014 games shown off thus far at the press conferences and on the show floor. Make no mistake: most of the games shown offer up unique premises and new spins on existing franchises. But amidst all the innovation, some concepts seem to popping up over and over again.

Granted, the trends aren't nearly as obvious as E3 2012's obsession with archery and Kanye West's music. But they're definitely there--and we want to clue you in on them. These are the recurring trends we noticed during E3 2014, and should persist well into the coming year of exciting game releases.

If you need to get from Point A to Point B in no time without dropping your gun, you're gonna need a grappling hook. With shooters getting faster and wilder, you can count on grappling hooks, ziplines, and all sorts of quick-travel items that make it easier to get closer to the things you need to shoot. It's no surprise to see the main character in Sunset Overdrive weilding one; we knew that was going to be a fast-paced game the moment Insomniac announced it.

On the other hand,Battlefield: Hardline's ziplines were a bit surprising. It's not as though the DICE-developed games were slow, plodding affairs, but with Visceral's more fast-paced take on balls-to-the-wall heists, being able to get from one building to another in a matter of seconds is vital, and a grappling hook is key. Rainbow Six Siege and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare also employ tactical grapples. Of course, there's also the Caped Crusaders classic grappling hook in Batman: Arkham Knight, in addition to Darkwing Ducks grappling hook is in Disney Infinity 2. WHAT'S UPPP!?

Not to be outdone by Battlefield: Hardline's grappling hooks, Activision's rival shooter has a method of fast traversal all its own. Putting the game 40 years in the future gives Sledgehammer Games some room to play with futuristic tech in Call of Duty: Advance Warfare, and chief among the new toys are jetpacks that take the advanced soldiers to new heights. If you're going to take down giant robot spiders and enemies wearing insanely armored exoskeletons, you're going to need the higher ground.

And while we knew Evolve was going to employ jetpacks so that your team of four hunters could search and destroy monsters, we got to see yet another reason why flight is a requirement instead of a recommendation. When you're being chased by a giant Kraken-like creature that can crush you with its tentacles or fry you with bursts of electricity, you'll want to escape as fast (and as high) as possible. And again, Infinity makes three, as we know Buzz Lightyear's prefered method of traversal.

Yes, dragons have been a mainstay of video games for years--there's just something naturally intimidating about a giant, scaly monster who can immolate you with its breath. But judging by the Microsoft E3 2014 press conference, dragons are the hot new thing to feature in your trailer. Between Dragon Age: Inquisition, Fable Legends, and especially Scalebound, you'd think the Chinese zodiac would mark this as the Year of the Dragon. (For the record, it's currently the Year of the Horse.)

Unlike Sean Connery in Dragonheart, we didn't see any of these dragons conversing with players or one another; it was mostly just spewing fireballs onto noble warriors and a Dante lookalike. But hey--we're totally cool with dragons making a comeback as the new fantasy villain in vogue. Anything to move us further away from retreading zombie territory. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't add much to the fray, as their press event came and went with nary a mention of any Dragon Quest translations.

As gaming becomes increasingly invested in online communities and connections, more and more games are working to let you share your experiences. And while this trend isn't anything particularly new, the E3 2014 press conferences practically beat us over the head with demonstrations of four-player co-op woven into AAA games. Assassin's Creed Unity, Evolve, Tom Clancy's The Division, Dead Rising 3's DLC (which boosts the co-op action from parties of two to four), Fable Legends, and The Crew all emphasized that cooperating quartets are the wave of the future. Nintendo's unique foray into online shooters, Splatoon, will also pit teams of four players cooperatively covering stages in paint before their opponents do.

Though four seems to be the magic number of E3 2014, there was also an emphasis on massive multiplayer, as seen in games like Just Dance 2015, Rainbow Six Siege, and Battlefield Hardline. Basically, if you don't have an Internet connection in this day and age, then 1) you're not going to enjoy upcoming games to the fullest and 2) how are you even reading this right now.

We've long known of the DLC exclusivity war being waged between Xbox and PlayStation when it comes to the annual military shooters. Microsoft has Call of Duty, Sony has Battlefield, and it shall be so into perpetuity. However, this E3 revealed that Microsoft and Sony have nabbed a few additional exclusives to make their version of third-party games more attractive than the competitor's.

On the Xbox front, if you want the DLC for the new FPS experiences offered by the likes of Evolve and The Division, Microsoft's console will be the place to play it first. Xbox fans of fantasy have more than Scalebound and Fable to call their own--for a brief window they'll have Dragon Age: Inquisition content before it comes to PlayStation 4. Not to be outdone, Sony fired back with exclusive content for the likes of Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition and Disney Infinity.

Let's get one thing out of the way, first; it was refreshing to hear so many E3 demos end with exact 2014 dates being delivered alongside the new footage. After fretting about how barren this holiday season seemed due to recent delays, hearing some high-profile titles announced for October and November was a nice change of pace. That said, there were plenty of games announced today that seem pretty far away, as they came with reveals that we won't be seeing release anytime over the next six months.

The reveal of the November-due Halo: The Master Chief Collection was nice, but it came with a twinge of disappointment that we won't be playing the final version Halo 5 this year (though we are promised entry into the multiplayer beta before year's end). For as long as its taken to see Playdead's next game after Limbo, we'll have to wait until early next year to play Inside. Nintendo's had a history of announcing games with a short turnaround time, but even their digital event was replete with 2015 releases like Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Yoshi's Wooly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the new Legend of Zelda coming to Wii U. Combine those with previously announced delays for the likes of The Division and The Witcher 3 and the fact that anything revealed for the first time during a press conference likely won't see the light of day until 2015 or later (heck, EA even said new info for Star Wars Battlefront won't even be revealed until next year), and we're starting our New Year's countdown a little bit earlier this year. Like right now.

What do you do when you need to drum up hype for a game, but it's not really ready to be shown off just yet? If you're EA, you say "Screw it" and tease the game anyway. Footage of early prototypes served as the basis for everything related to the new Mirror's Edge, an unnamed Mass Effect follow-up,Star Wars: Battlefront 3, and Criterion's untitled multi-vehicle racer.

It was like EA was hellbent on showing off these games in their infancy, hinting at vague concepts without showing anything truly concrete. Hey, we'll take any bit of information we can get on these titles--but still, it was a wee bit of a letdown to be left scratching our heads at what we should expect rather than jumping up and down with anticipation.

Where most pressers came with release dates and in-game footage, EA couldn't be bothered to even name some of its reveals. In addition to the new Mass Effect game (which doesn't have a legit title mind you), BioWare is also working on an unnamed IP. That weird first-person racer which Criterion performed serious feng shui on their cubicles to make happen? Also too early to name.

Sure, we're used to "Codename: This" and "Project That" (heck, Microsoft still hasn't settled on a real name for Project Spark, and that debuted a year ago, and you know Nintendo's gonna milk the subtitle anticipation with The Legend of Zelda on Wii U for a few more months). But there comes a time when you just need a name to the game, EA. Here, we'll do one for you: Mirror's Edge 2. MIRROR'S EDGE TWO. No subtitle you can think of will be clearer than that.

You know what's exciting?! QA testing games for developers--FOR FREE! We kid; in all seriousness, it's pretty awesome that so many triple-A titles are opening the gates for multiplayer beta well before release. At E3 2014, it seemed like publishers were chasing after cred with the gaming masses by offering up beta sign-ups on-stage.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection grants access to the Halo 5: Guardians beta this December. The Crew and Battlefield Hardline sign-ups are available now. Xbox One gamers will get exclusive access to the Evolve beta this fall. Fable Legends multiplayer beta starts this holiday season. Destiny has both a beta and an alpha for fans to test. With that many betas to choose from, it's a wonder how anyone could find the time to play games that have actually gone gold.

We have to write about E3 2014's weirdest trend, but first let me take a selfie! Both of the third-party publishers had games featuring the hottest trend in amateur photography, albeit in drastically different forms. EA reflected the practice a little more normally, as it showed that Sims can photograph themselves. You may be able to alter a Sim's emotions, but you can't stop Maxis' faux-humans from being vain as all heck. EA earns extra points for incorporating an IRL selfie, as famed exec Peter Moore snapped this shot before the presser began.

Ubisoft tackled this pop-culture trend by making it extremely creepy. After offing one of his underlings for messing up your capture, Far Cry 4's offbeat villain Pagan Min tried to lighten the mood by taking a selfie with the game's presumed protagonist before a still-alive crony pulled a bag over the hero's head. Say cheese!

Hot off the eight arachnid heels of Watch Dogs' success in integrating robot spiders, two of the most disparate reveals of E3 showcased giant mechanized bugs. With Call of Duty: Advance Warfare, the Microsoft presser mainstay franchise showed a new side of shooter combat with some futuristic implements of destruction to take down insane enemies like you guessed it a giant robot spider tank.

During the final E3 pre-show presentation, however, Nintendo showcased that you don't need an army to take down giant enemy arachnids. While Link's bow was still pretty advanced (OMG TRANSFORMING ARROW), it was still pretty impressive to see one Wii U-bound warrior have enough skill to take down the mechanized spider.

Those are the trends we noticed so far at E3 2014. Got any common threads you've seen between the big-name games? Enlighten us in the comments below!

And if you're looking for more trends, check out our Nintendo E3 2014 press conference recap, Sony E3 2014 press conference recap, and Microsoft E3 2014 press conference recap.

E3 is upon us! Hear us chat about the Microsoft, Sony, EA, Ubisoft, and Nintendo press conferences. We've also gone hands-on with some games, too. We decided to talk about all of it in one podcast. Yay! PARTY CITY, PEOPLE.

Hosts: Hollander Cooper, Sophia Tong, Henry Gilbert, Ryan Taljonick, Ashley Reed
Intro song by Danny Baranowsky

Ubisoft's The Crew is a racing game that has as much in common with World of Warcraft as it does with Need for Speed. Put another way, it combines the thrill of fast-paced driving with the exploration and rewarding progression inherent to an MMO. Pretty much every genre trope you can think of shows up in The Crew, tweaked to perfectly fit this modern-day arcade racer.

Open-world? The Crew's massive sprawl of real estate offers the best-of America's most iconic territories, each one the size of Grand Theft Auto 5's Los Santos. Quests? Roadways are littered with challenge markers; drive through one, and they start instantly. Quest rewards? Depending on how well (or horribly) you do during a challenge, your corresponding medal determines the stats (yes, stats, including health) of your car part prize. Parties? That's basically your Crew, a group of four players who can warp into each other's missions in an instant. Factions? Instead of Horde or Alliance, The Crew lets you align with one of five different factions, each presiding over its own region. PvP? Yep--though The Crew is built for co-op, you can challenge your fellow drivers to races just as easily as you can team up with them. And like most MMOs, The Crew is intended to be played as an online-only affair.

As with the best MMOs, quest--sorry, mission--variety is excellent in The Crew. One moment, you're evading a parade of squad cars in hot pursuit; the next, you and three friends are ramming into a fleeing bad guy's truck with reckless abandon. It's a neat spin on the typical racing formula, and I'm hoping that eventually, people start taking The Crew's faction wars as seriously as MMO reputation grinding and PvP.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!

Want to watch a video that tells you NOTHING about the trailer? Check out our Teaser Teardown!

It was only a few months ago that we were playing Pokemon X and Y (which, by the way, is one of the best 3DS games), and now Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are already planning a brand new pocket monster title for the 3DS. Well, maybe new isnt the correct word for Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which are remakes of the GBAs Ruby and Sapphire games from 2002. Nintendo's E3 2014 digital conference has lifted the lid on some details, most noteworthy of which is a release date: November 21, 2014.

Beyond the title, the box art, and a few other scraps of intel, theres still a ton of mystery surrounding the game. Heres everything we currently know, along with the most important questions we want answered about these exciting remakes...

Pokemon X & Y represented a huge step forward for the franchise, not least of which graphically, and the new remakes follow suit with detailed polygonal models for both playable characters and Pokemon. The game does look even slicker than X/Y with better lighting and self-shadowing

But even though X & Y looks better than any previous generation, it wasnt without its flaws. For one thing, it had very sparse use of the 3DSs stereoscopic three dimensional visuals. Sure, it couldve come off as gimmicky, but perhaps Game Freak wouldve found deeper uses for the feature if it really wanted to. Could Omega and Alpha thoughtfully expand on the simple uses of three dimensions in X & Y?

Our guess: The answer to this may be in the fine print. Omega and Alphas teaser trailer had this text at the end, game in 2D, some areas also playable in 3D. That sounds very similar to how X & Y dealt with 3D, so expect the stereoscopic thrills to stay limited to a few areas and key moments.

Nintendos press release and first trailer for the game said very little, but one word kept popping up again and again: new. But how can a remake of Game Boy Advance titles have new adventures and worlds? Just how is Nintendo defining that word? Because it flies in the face of expectations when you see Ruby/Sapphire come back--which is likely part of the reason Nintendo is using that phrase. Also, why differentiate between "Epic" and "Dramatic" in the text? It makes no sense.

Our guess: The newness will be more surface level than not. Like FireRed/LeafGreen and HeartGold/SoulSilver before it, these remakes will retain the basic structure of the originals. The world may theoretically be renewed by all the updates, but the story, locations, and starters should all be intact from the GBA versions. But just what will those fresh features be?

X & Y introduced a whole new dynamic to the world of Pokemon: Mega Evolutions. No longer are Pokemon contained to their third form--instead, they're able to briefly go Super Saiyan and become even more powerful during battle. After Mega Evolutions became so popular in the first game, it isnt surprising that more are coming in the next release. Cover legendaries, Groudon and Kyogre, are technically getting new Mega forms for the remakes (more on that later), and the starter monsters are also getting an upgrade.

Fans will recall that X & Y had a bonus Mega Evolution for Blaziken, one of Ruby/Sapphires starters, which in retrospect looks like a tease of the Alpha and Omega remakes. Now we know via a magazine leak thats accompanied by Mega Sceptile (Grass/Dragon type) and Mega Swampert (Water/Ground type), both of which look awesome. Theres also a Mega Diancie, a Rock/Fairy type whose normal version isnt yet available in X & Y. But will any other classic third generation monsters get an upgrade? We think so.

The aforementioned covers for Alpha and Omega clearly show Kyogre and Groudon in new forms, but if a recent leak is to be believed, these arent simple Mega Evolutions. According to fan translations, both are devolving from their previous states into more primal, ancient forms. That may imply these Mega versions will be more powerful and uncontrollable, but how did this happen?

Our guess: As Poke-legend goes, a long ago battle between Kyogre and Groudon helped to form the oceans and the continents, a power the evil Team Magma/Aqua looked to capture in the original Ruby/Sapphire. Perhaps these older forms of the legendaries are how they looked before that terraforming battle. And wed bet that the legendaries transformations have something to do with the strange items hurtling at Kyogre and Groudon in the all too brief gameplay clip a few slides back. So how much is the plot going to have to change to deal with this new wrinkle?

That takes care of the Mega question, but will Game Freak stop there? Why upgrade old Pokemon when you can introduce brand new ones to the region? Alpha and Omega allow for a chance to update the Pokedex with a new legendary or two (at least), so why pass up the opportunity?

Our guess: This one seems a bit unlikely, particularly in a post-Mega Evolution world. Going Mega allows Game Freak to have fresh Pokemon without adding to the already massive Pokedex. While the Red/Green remakes did add Deoxys to the series, the more recent Gold/Silver repackagings didn't bring any unique mon to the campaign, so it's doubtful to happen with third gen.

Usually, Pokemon follows a clear cycle. You got a brand new generation of monsters, then one year later you got an updated version in the mold of Yellow, Crystal, or Emerald. It doesn't always follow this pattern (Black & White were followed by straight sequels), but more times than not, you're getting some retooled version each generation. However, at the moment it looks like Game Freak is just skipping X & Y outright. Has The Pokemon Company completely moved on to GBA remakes without an X & Y update?

Our guess: Well, that's debatable. Pokemon Emerald did come out after FireRed and LeafGreen, so I wouldnt put it past the developers to put out Pokemon X & Y 2 in 2015, but things could be totally different this time around. But it'll likely be another year before we know the truth.

The previous Pokemon remakes have seen some level of redesign for its core characters, likely because the newer graphics allow for more details. Alpha and Omega are doing that as well, as some new images from Japan show leads (Brendan and May) shows some slightly revamped designs. Now we can see for certain that Brendan is wearing a hat, and doesnt have white hair, clearing up years of confusion.

Outside of the leads more fashionable attire, the antagonists are getting an update as well. Both Team Magma and Team Aqua are looking good in their 3DS-ready outfits, as does Steven Stone, the Pokemon League Champion of Ruby/Sapphire. The dashing young man looks more spiffy than ever, and he seems to have a Mega Charizard X on his team. It cant belong before we see redesigns for the Gym Leaders and Elite Four, right?

X & Y didnt just upgrade the graphics, it also gave Pokemon a ton of new features, such as interactive minigames like Pokemon-amie, more customizable protagonists, and numerous online upgrades. It's a much more streamlined experience than any entry before it. Thatll only continue in Alpha and Omega, right?

Our guess: Pokemon history says yes. The previous remakes both took full advantage of the updates from the most recent generation, even improving on those new features. I expect Game Freak to get even more experimental with the many gameplay techniques introduced in X & Y, making the Ruby/Sapphire reimaginings the most current Pokemon titles around.

Back in 2005, Pokemon Emerald was an expansive update to Ruby/Sapphire, adding new features, story elements, and the new legendary featured on the cover. Like the Gold and Silver remakes before them, Im betting Alpha and Omega will incorporate much of the plot from its third version, but what new will be on offer? How much does Game Freak want to change the experience?

Our guess: Hardcore Pokemon masters spend so much time exploring the late game stuff that theyve come to expect a hearty collection of post-game content. You can anticipate Game Freak fulfilling those demands with a ton of new fetch quests, legendary hunts, and heavy fanservice to unlock after you defeat the Elite Four. Maybe the new late content will even answer some plot holes we didnt even realize Ruby/Sapphire had.

This one was revealed from the start, but lets just make it clear: the game will be out this November. And that date is worldwide, reflecting the newly international perspective of the Pokemon Company. Just as had be done with X & Y, Alpha & Omega will be out at roughly the same time globally, if not the same day.

For older Poke-fans who grew up in a world with six months to more than a year separating the Japanese and international launches of Pokemon games, this new normal is very refreshing. Now the whole world gets surprised by finding mysteries in each new entry, instead of learning every secret far ahead of time thanks to importers. Also, while theyre being coy about the specific release date, bet on it being the same day worldwide.

Those all are thoughts on the game right now, and we'll bring you more info on the contents of the E3 trailer soon. What did you spot in it? Let us know in the comments.

And if you're looking for more, check out GamesRadar's lists of Pokemon trivia and this lengthy Pokemon history.

There are human enemies in Alien: Isolation. There are androids. There are also guns and Molotov cocktails. Surely this is the point when we all become disappointed, and the smug, Itll be just like Colonial Marines contingent cracks a misanthropic grin? Well sorry guys, but no. Alien Isolation is resolutely not turning into a shadowy man-shooter. The inclusion of humans, synthetics and fire-arms does not detract one iota from the sickeningly tense, improvisational, horrifying stealth survival Ive already experienced. Ive gone hands-on again, so I know this. I can tell you without one hint of a doubt that this new stuff actually makes the game more scary, upsetting, and intelligently panic-fuelled than it already was.

When the humans arrive--looters, in my case, populating a siren-blaring medical bay stalked by the Xenomorph--they dont behave anything like normal video game grunts. Like the Alien, theyre entirely driven by AI, motivated by their senses, emotional responses, and the stimuli of the immediate situation. If they have other priorities (be they profit or escape), they might well ignore you and go about their business. And if they perceive you as a threat, anything can happen. They might pull a gun, before backing off if you behave diplomatically. They might attack on sight, killing you with one shot. They might run away. They might run away and come back with friends. The only thing thats certain is uncertainty.

Every encounter can be tackled, initiated or avoided depending on your chosen approach to the evolving situation. Every evolving situation is the product of controlled chaos theory, interactions, responses and outcomes expanding and playing out like causal ripples in a pond. No scripting, no pre-set results, all emergent chaos. Even the very appearance of NPCs is a randomised, dynamic event. And dont even think about blindly shooting your way out. Even if youre lucky enough to get the first shot off, theres every chance the sound will just bring a 9ft, spiny nightmare down upon you like a ton of bricks. Same goes for your selfish, unthinking human brethren. Any reckless shout, gunshot, light or explosion can end it all. Better start thinking fast.

Click through the slides above for a few more tasty fact-nuggets from my latest playthrough.

After endless speculation and secretly hoping, it's official: Mirror's Edge is coming back. The original adventure is far from your average first-person game--this is a franchise that zeroes in on the thrill of human mobility. As the nimble runner Faith, you sprint across futuristic rooftops, performing physically demanding feats of parkour while outrunning--or just straight-up beating down--armored bad guys. The thrill of climbing, jumping, sliding, barely surviving death-defying leaps; it all makes for an exhilarating high, no trigger-pulling necessary.

This new Mirror's Edge builds on much of what made the original so great, from traversal to combat and everything in between. So what can you expect from this sequel (which everyone will probably call Mirror's Edge 2 even though it doesn't technically have a name yet)? Read on to find out.

You probably know DICE from its work on the Battlefield series--but it also broke new ground by making the original Mirror's Edge. The studio that brought Faith to life will be crafting her world in the sequel, with a similar minimalist aesthetic and ridiculously smooth and acrobatic exploration of multi-tiered stages (likely to be set on many a rooftop).

The focus remains the same for the new Mirror's Edge: free-running traversal through levels that contain tons of different paths towards your end goal. But DICE also wants to incorporate new techniques into Faith's movements (though it won't say exactly what just yet), as well as refined audio and new-gen graphics that are just as elegant as the preceding game. As DICE says, this is "Faith for a new generation."

As with the first Mirror's Edge, picking the quickest, most efficient path to your destination is all part of the challenge. To help out beginners, the most obvious path will be highlighted in red, showing a clear path towards pipes and air-units-turned-launch-pads. But those who are more adept at freerunning will often discover trickier travel routes, which seem to stray from the beaten path but end up being faster in the end.

This should give the game a universal appeal, inviting new players to enjoy Faith's runs at their own pace, while giving speed demons ways to shave off those precious seconds. We can't wait to see how the stage design in the new Mirror's Edge plays this up to the fullest.

In the very short trailer, the developers touched on the new and improved combat system. With Faith returning as the main character, we already know she is the tough-as-nails protagonist we expect to get in a game that was built around the concept of parkour. To go along with that expectation, Faith can also kick some ass, just as in the original.

The combat for the sequel has been made to flow with Faith's parkour abilities, meaning she can basically bowl through any guard that stands in her way. Faith is extremely efficient and powerful, and when she hits an enemy she pulverizes them in one swift motion and moves on.

In terms of story, the details are sparse at best. The reveal trailer touched on the role of the carriers--a group of parkour-skilled messengers to which Faith belongs. The developers are looking back at the role of the carriers and changing things up a bit to enable more varied gameplay.

In the previous game, the carriers were more or less noncombatants that needed to go from point A to point B as fast as possible. Perhaps with the reboot, the developers will change the carrier's role to be more aggressive, maybe encouraging players to take the more risky or violent path through a level if they see fit.

Don't think that you're going to be able to play the next Mirror's Edge this holiday season. We're going to have to wait at least a couple of months before we step into Faith's red shoes again. The developers didn't even have completely built-out levels to show in the reveal, as many of the gameplay clips had placeholder textures.

There's still a ton we don't know about the game. Will it take place in the same city as the previous title? Will the narrative surround the origin of the heroine? With there be any kind of cooperative or multiplayer modes? There are so many questions. But since the cat is out of the bag (meaning the game has been officially revealed), hopefully we'll get some answers very soon.

That's everything we've seen of the new Mirror's Edge thus far--but we can't wait for more details as they arrive. What do you want from the original game to come back for the sequel? And are there any aspects--like the shoddy gunplay--that you wouldn't mind seeing abandoned? Tell us about it in the comments below.

And if you're looking for more, check out our EA E3 2014 press conference recap and Ubisoft E3 2014 press conference recap.

Here's the wacky premise: a bunch of idiot human beings binged on too many (tainted) energy drinks and turned into monsters. Now it's up to a guy wearing some sweet Soulja Boy Tell 'Em sunglasses, another guy wearing a Cat in the Hat hat, and some other goofy saviors to stop said monsters from ripping into a huge cache of the aforementioned energy drinks. This, my friends, is the basis for Sunset Overdrive's Chaos Mode, an 8-player slaughterfest that plays like a mix of tower defense and traditional wave-based horde modes. Is it fun? Yeah, mostly.

The map I played looked like your average city block: tall buildings, tons of construction barricades, lots of neon pink cables perfect for using as zip lines--you know, nothing out of the ordinary. Each player had access to a trap that could be placed and forgotten--spinning blades and rocket turrets--as well as tons of awesome weapons. How awesome? I'm talking hand cannons that launch fireworks; grenade launchers that actually shoot explosive teddy bears, and weird guns that fire razor-sharp records (a weapon ripped straight from 1994's Revolution X, perhaps?), in addition to your standard AK-47s and shotguns.

The moment to moment gameplay feels a lot like your standard horde mode. Waves of eccentric enemies charge toward toward two nodes your team must protect, and you have to use everything at your disposal to blow them into glorious neon chunks. One thing that impressed me straight away: Sunset Overdrive's incredible sense of mobility. You can jump onto just about any surface and quickly grind across it while still attacking enemies. It's easy to quickly get from one side of the map to the other to protect your objectives, and the weapons are really fun to use. Will Chaos Mode imbue Sunset Overdrive with long-term appeal? Eh, maybe. But it certainly makes a decent first impression.

Be sure to read on for more Sunset Overdrive images and information.

Here's the first trailer:

Suda51 and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture have earned a reputation for games that, no matter the quality, will at the very least be unique. Titles like No More Heroes, Killer 7, and Lollipop Chainsaw have earned it a reputation for extra violent oddities, and now Suda51 (a.k.a. Goichi Suda) is bringing that style again to the PS4, and only the PS4. Shown for the first time at Sony's E3 2014 press conference, Let It Die was shown in a quick, mostly live action trailer that left us with a lot of questions, but it's hard to deny its uniqueness.

The action took place in a dimly lit, grimy stage, with multiple people walking around with gore-soaked weapons like baseball bats covered in nails, and flamethrowers. The trailer then ended with a shot of a weird look at a victorious killer getting shot in the face himself, implying multiplayer gameplay. We'll hopefully know more about the game real soon.

If you go strictly by the numbers, Sony is pretty much winning the console war at this oh-so-early stage. So how did its E3 2014 press conference go? Pretty good...but maybe not as phenomenal as last year's Microsoft shame-fest. Still, the PS4 game line-up with games like Destiny, The Order: 1886, and LittleBigPlanet 3--along with announcements like PlayStation Now and PlayStation TV--are making Sony look pretty damn strong.

Did you miss any part of the two-hour presser? No problem, because we took the liberty of condensing it into all into one easy-to-read recap. So what are you waiting for? Let's relive Sony's press conference from E3 2014 together.

Sony's press conference started with a new trailer for Destiny that began with a trio of explorers on present-day Mars, before expanding to showcase the terror that has overtaken the universe. Fortunately, your soldier (and your Guilty Spark-like companion) are there to fight against the glowing aliens and giant warships laying waste to humanity's empire.

In addition to the sci-fi CG intro, we got to see plenty of gameplay focused on combat encounters small and large, from skirmishes with Grunt-like enemies to giant robot behemoths that will likely require a pretty big party. Destiny's beta will begin on July 17, but the alpha will start this weekend, both exclusive to PlayStation. In addition to the pre-release opportunities, Destiny will also come alongside a slick new model...

Capping off the new look at Destiny during Sony's conference was a surprise announcement that Sony will be releasing a white PS4 console as a bundle with Destiny on September 9. Beyond the initial excitement of "Dude! White PS4!", this was a pretty no-frills announcement, with Sony even skimping on one important detail: The price.

As it stands, the bundle includes the following: one (1) white Playstation 4 with a 500gb hard drive, one (1) white DualShock 4, and one (1) copy of Destiny. Because this is presumably a limited-edition bundle with more than what's included in the base PS4 package, you can probably expect to pay a bit of a premium for it.

Just after the reveal of the shiny white PS4, Sony showed off new gameplay of The Order: 1886, dropping players into the darkness under the city streets and giving us our first look at the werewolf-like monsters the heroes will have to face. The game plays with a mix of cinematic elements, quick-time events, and fully controlled gunplay.

Our protagonist Galahad was shown running away from a monster, through narrow underground corridors, as he fired at the beast to no avail (he probably didn't have any silver bullets on hand). The gruesome encounter seemed to alternate between the impressive, cinematic scenes and taking direct control over the third-person shooting. Hopefully we'll get to see more on the E3 show floor.

Coming from a new development team is Entwined, an artsy indie game where flying orange and blue dragons (which look like origami cranes) create patterns in the dark black sky as they race against each other and attempt to become one.

While the concept may be a bit confusing, we won't have to wait long to become Entwined ourselves. This new indie game is available now on PlayStation 4 for $10, with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita cross-buy versions due later on.

Sony revealed a new title from Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch in Infamous: First Light. The newly announced game is a standalone expansion for Infamous: Second Son, much like Festival of Blood for Infamous 2. All we got was a brief CG trailer, but it did confirm a few details. For one, it looks to be straying a bit from the urban environments of the previous three games in the series, with a snowy, mountainous landscape being the initial focus of the trailer.

Also, in a first for the franchise, First Light appears to have a female protagonist: Fetch, who supplied Delsin Rowe's neon powers in Infamous: Second Son. Our guess is that this expansion will delve into the prelude to the events of Second Son. Lastly, the game will be out very soon: Sony pegged it for an August release.

LittleBigPlanet 3 returns with new features, allowing players to jump into the background environments, use a pump gadget to manipulate objects, and partner up with tons of new characters. In this sequel, you won't only be required to play as Sackboy--you'll also be able to play characters such as the dog-like Oddsock, size-altering Toggle and the flying Swoop.

The focus of LBP3 is on using the different character's abilities to work cooperatively and solve puzzles. Oddsock allows you to wall-jump to reach new heights, Toggle can shrink down his size to fit into any space, and Swoop can fly up into the air and pick up other characters and objects. We can't wait to see how this new dynamic with the characters changes the series' level-building editor.

Hidetaka Miyazaki (the mind behind Demon's Souls and Dark Souls) sat out Dark Souls II for a reason. That reason is the PlayStation-exclusive horror-adventure Bloodborne, where an armor-clad soldier explored frightening environments like caves and desolate streets, discovering weird sights like a bloodied and bandaged warrior and a creepy misshapen skull amongst what seemed to be a batch of unlit candles.

How closely will this hew to Miyazaki and FromSoftware's previous adventures? How exclusive will the game remain? If the info about Bloodborne were a person, it'd only be a newborne (sorry), so the coming months will shed new light as the game slowly moves in the dark towards a 2015 release. Prepare to die again...again.

Complementing Ubisoft's cinematic Far Cry 4 presentation was a full-on gameplay demo at Sony's conference. As expected, it looks similar to Far Cry 3, but the differences in the environment--namely the more vertical nature of the Himalayan setting--made for some interesting gameplay changes. The first, and perhaps most significant, is a new grappling hook, which allows players to scale walls and swing across gaps.

Well, there's also a freaking wingsuit, which is obviously more awesome than a grappling hook. But after all the new traversal goodies were shown, the demo made a move surprising move into some co-op, which seems to be integrated into the main campaign this time around. Lastly, Sony's Adam Boyes took the stage to tease that on PS4, there'll be a way to play the game in multiplayer with friends who don't even own the game.

It seems zombies still have their teeth sunk into gamers. A new trailer featuring the walking undead revealed that developer Deep Silver is working on Dead Island 2 for new-gen consoles. The trailer showed a jogger that got been bitten by a zombie, running as the people around him get eaten by zombies, helicopters crash into buildings, and cars careen into buildings.

The PS4 will be getting an exclusive PS4 beta for Dead Island 2 that will last for a 30-day time period. Expect more crazy dismemberment, outlandish characters, and tons of loot upgrades.

If you're hoping for Hulk to crash your adventures in Disney Infinity, it's looking like Sony consoles will be your home for Marvel's first additions to the the action-figure-driven adventures. The big green dude and his Avenger friends will be exclusive to the PS3 and PS4.

That's pretty rad, but will it mean future Marvel content won't be Xbox- or Wii U-bound? Will Microsoft strike back with exclusive Skylanders figurines? Will we even care when Nintendo rolls out their figure-infused games? So many questions...

Who's up for some cross-genre synergy? For some reason, the worlds of The Last of Us and Diablo are mixing on the PlayStation 4. The infected creatures that haunted Ellie and Joel over the course of Naughty Dog's award-winning adventure will be coming to Blizzard's action RPG.

The Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition on PS4, which includes the Reaper of Souls expansion with the fight against Malthael, will also pit you against the flower-faced undead of The Last of Us. A strange crossover, to be sure--but darn it if we aren't intrigued by this exclusive dungeon.

It was revealed through a clever live-action trailer that Magicka 2 is in development, and it will be a PS4 exclusive. After the comical intro, some brief gameplay footage was shown. Very little is known about the new title, but in brief: Dude, it looks like Magicka. Not a bad thing.

All that was really shown in the trailer was a bit of co-op action, but, to be honest, you could have fooled us if you said it was footage from the first game. But it looks like it'll earn its tagline of "Learn to spell. Again." We're in.

While reading its fanmail, Sony brought up one special letter that was written by young Sally. She asked that Sony make some of the classic games playable on current systems, specifically asking for some of Tim Schafer's old games. Turns out it was Schafer all along, posing as a 10-year-old girl. Classic Tim.

Well, one good thing came out of this strange announcement: the PS4 will be getting Grim Fandango on PSN in the near future. If you haven't played that classic Day of the Dead-inspired adventure, this is your chance.

Is there such a thing as a big-name indie publisher? Because Devolver Digital may just be that company, as it revealed a batch of PlayStation 4-bound downloads. Bro Force and Not A Hero will deliver 2D action on par with the Xbox's Super Time Force. Titan Souls promises epic-yet-retro-feeling battles. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number should allow for even more top-down 1980s-style murder.

If you're looking for something a bit more modern-looking, there's The Talos Principle, an adventure-puzzle game that looks like a modern-day Myst or Riven. Who knows when each of these games will make their debuts (and if any will buck the trend started by the original Hotline Miami and have a multiconsole release), but Devolver has quite the quintet.

Brutally violent, crazy dark, grimy If not for the numbers popping off of dudes being horrifically injured, you might mistake the trailer for Let it Die, Suda51's new game, for some kind of a Saw revival. This is another reveal that got very little stage time at Sony's conference, so precious little is known about it--but we can definitively say it'll be fairly disturbing.

Beyond that, the trailer took place in a dank sewer tunnel with a lot of shadowy corners. Oh, and an extremely unsettling dude with a nail-filled baseball bat. If this game doesn't end up being rated M for violence (and possibly partial nudity), we'll eat our hats. Violently.

The trailer opens in the ocean showing schools of fish and a lone diver that seems to be able to walk on the ocean floor, swim with whales, and explore the depths as he (or she) sees fit. The game, called Abzu, is being made by developer Giant Squid...and that's about everything we know about it so far.

Despite having very little information, the environments, creatures, and character designs already have us intrigued. Your character seems to be able to interact with all of the creatures you encounter on the ocean floor, like sharks and other not-so-dangerous wildlife--but exploring the fascinating environment looks to be the game's main focus. We're eager to see more.

The new trailer for No Man's Sky, which has been radio silent since December, essentially looked like a gussied-up version of the first trailer we got all those months ago. But we're not complaining: The new title from Hello Games shows as much promise as ever, with the potential we saw in that initial reveal being complemented with greater visual fidelity and more gameplay complexity than was hinted at before.

Adding to that complexity is the space combat, which was shown in greater detail than we've seen. On top of that, we saw quite a bit more of the immense scale and environmental variety that the game promises. Snowy environments, jungles inhabited by dinosaurs, gaseous atmospheres the possibilities seem truly endless in No Man's Sky.

Andrew House took the stage to detail new changes coming to the PlayStation 4 hardware. The PlayStation Camera, previously available separately since launch, will work in conjunction with the recently revealed Project Morpheus. Also, a trio of VR demos (EVE: Valkyrie, Street Luge, and Jurassic Encounter) will be showcased on Sony's section of the floor during the conference proper.

How, exactly? Sony didn't say! But we'll find out once we get our heads-on demos.

Sony showed more than 25 games coming to PSN in the near future. Those games will include: Planetside 2, Kingdom Under Fire, Fat Princess, My Singing Monsters, War Thunder, Loadout, and more. So, if you're looking for a new game to play while you wait for the release of your most anticipated title, you'll have plenty of games to take up your time (and possibly some microtransaction money).

If F2P games don't excite you, well--no need to download them.

In a resoundingly dull period of Sony's presser, it did manage to squeeze in an exciting announcement: Playstation Now will be available as an open beta starting July 31st for PS4. Shortly after that, it will become available for PS Vita and PS3 as well. The open beta will start with PS3 titles, and Sony claims it will have over 100 games available to start.

Another surprise about the new service: It will be available on some Sony TVs. Not hugely surprising, but it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, Sony skimped on details about this service. All they confirmed was that it would be on select models in select areas, and unfortunately there was no release window.

It's been available in Japan for quite awhile, but PlayStation TV will finally release stateside, bringing the expansive PS3, Vita, PSP, and PlayStation Originals library to audiences at a very low price. For $99, you'll be able to pick up the standalone device (provided you have a DualShock 3 and HDMI cable).

Dishing out $140 will net you the PSTV, a DualShock 3, an HDMI cable, an 8 GB memory card, and a digital download for the Lego Movie Videogame. Everything is awesome... about PlayStation TV!

At the Sony presentation, the first gameplay trailer of Mortal Kombat X was shown--and we got to see more than just Sub-Zero and Scorpion duke it out. In addition to the iconic ninjas fighting to the death, we also got a glimpse of a few new characters.

The new combatants shown were a female fighter that looked like a mix between a wasp and Killer Instinct's Orchid. The other headlining newcomer was actually two fighters in one: a giant, ogreish brute, and a small child-like creature-from-hell riding his shoulders. The X-ray special moves introduced in MK 9 are returning, with MKX also incorporating the interactive environment feature from Injustice: Gods Among Us. And, of course, the trailer closed out with a display of gruesome Fatalities that had Scorpion shooting a fireball through Sub Zero's chest, leaving his heart dangling by the aorta.

Next, Sony announced that original video content will be produced for Playstation (for some reason). Apparently geared towards gamers specifically, their first stab at it will be a superhero series dubbed Powers, based on the comic of the same name.

Sony didn't give us any footage of the show, but they did spend quite a bit talking about the narrative conceits and the creative forces behind it. From the sound of things, Powers be a Watchmen-style, gritty, realistic look at the kind of impact superheroes would have on our world. Sony claims the show will roll out in December, with the additional perk of being free for all Playstation Plus subscribers.

PlayStation Plus will be expanded beyond its traditional value with added original video content. Plus subscribers will get to watch the entire run of Powers. Sony also showed off the CG film Ratchet and Clank: The Movie (which Insomniac will be making alongside Xbox-exclusive Sunset Overdrive scandalous!).

The original Ratchet and Clank will also be reimagined for the PS4 by a non-Insomniac developer, with both film and revisited original due in early 2015. Here's hoping Plus subscribers get the movie gratis after it finishes its run in theaters.

Sony introduced our first look at the upcoming PS4 version of The Last of Us by way of a brief gameplay trailer. There's not much to say about the remastered version, but the trailer did indeed make it look quite pretty.

It's out July 29th. Moving on!

We got another close look at Hideo Kojima's upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain in a brand new trailer. The emotional scenes showed Snake doing all sorts of epic things, like standing in front of the burning pyres of dead soldiers, rubbing their ashes on his face as he looks at the open ocean, getting stabbed, and subsequently stabbing a soldier to death. You definitely can't say that Snake isn't a badass.

The trailer also gave us a closer look at a young Ocelot, tank battles in the desert, and lots of soldier fight clubs. Some of the series staples seem to be returning as well; we also got to see an interrogation take place with Ocelot. The Phantom Pain definitely looks like it will stand up to the pedigree of the series.

We've been awaiting a next-gen GTA for actually even before GTA5 released on previous-gen consoles. Luckily, Rockstar is finally delivering the award-winning, open-world crime-sim to PlayStation 4 this Fall (along with Xbox One and PC). In addition to the new details and effects the upgraded hardware will bring, you'll be able to port over your previous-gen GTA Online progress onto the PS4, regardless of what console you played on. That's right--your Xbox 360 online data will play nice with the PlayStation 4.

Of course, all of this begs an important question: Will the online save data be equally-fluid (meaning PS3-to-Xbox One data jumps)? Hopefully the traditionally coy Rockstar Games will be open with answers sooner rather than later.

With one of the most visually impressive gameplay demos of the show, Sony trotted out a lengthy presentation of Batman: Arkham Knight. It started off looking like a way prettier version of what we already expect from the Arkham games, but quickly showed off some of the new advances--namely, the Batmobile, which is apparently more versatile than we're used to. For example: It can strafe and has impressive firepower.

The trailer concluded with a chilling speech from the Scarecrow, who looks even freakier than he did before. There's not much else to say about this one other than the fact that damn does it looks good.

Sony's press conference closed with the best-possible non-Last Guardian game. Naughty Dog's next-gen debut for Uncharted started with Nathan Drake passed out in a pool of his own blood as he heard ethereal words of inspiration in his head previously uttered by his pal Sully.

Summoning the courage to get to his feet, Drake set off on an all-new adventure. That adventure, titled Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, will start in 2015. Sounds pretty final, no?

That was Sony's showing at E3 2014. What did you think? Did you have to stop yourself from falling asleep during the statistics bit? Then you thanked God that you awoke to see Batman: Arkham Knight gameplay? Tell us about it in the comments below.

And if you're interested in more, check out the best PS4 games and PlayStation trivia.

Once again, Ubisoft proves that it knows how to host a party at E3. At E3 2014, the publisher showed off only a handful of games--yet presented them in a way that felt utterly engrossing. Assassin's Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, and the newly revealed Rainbow Six Siege are looking incredible, and we can't wait to see more.

Did you miss the action, including Aisha Tyler charming us all to death once again and former GamesRadar EIC Gary Steinman doing push-ups on the E3 stage? Not a problem--read on to find out everything that went down at Ubisoft's E3 2014 press conference.

Ubisoft started its show with a snow-covered showstopper by way of a beautiful Far Cry 4 gameplay demo. Beginning with a peaceful bus ride into the game's Himalayan locale, the demo quickly devolved into a chaotic gunfight, right before introducing us to the fearsome villain we caught a glimpse of in the initial reveal for the game.

Not unlike the E3 reveal of Vaas for Far Cry 3, the Far Cry 4 demo spent much of its time giving us an idea of the new Big Bad's attitude. For example: He stabs one of his own men to death, and then stabs him several more times--then takes a gleeful selfie with the player character. Yeah, pretty sure that's the definition of insanity.

Ever since the addition of motion controls to home consoles, gamers have been forced to move their living room furniture to stand up and dance to a game. But hey, as soon as we saw the first seconds of the Just Dance 2015 announcement, the fox on the logo immediately revealed to us that the "What does the Fox say" song has to be in it--and if that is indeed true, we are in.

Along with the main game announcement, Ubisoft also revealed the dance title's new companion app. Just Dance Now app allows you to connect any number of players to play all at once. All you need to have is a cell phone with the app and be able to see the main game's screen. Now your Lady Gaga dance parties won't have to involve taking turns.

After the Xbox press conference, there was even more of The Division on display at Ubisoft's dedicated event. Another creepy Christmas hymn (an eerily quiet "Silent Night") started off things as time-lapse video showed the the continued decay of what used to be a family home as a daughter's bed went unoccupied, trash began to compile, and gunshots scattered on the wall.

This continued into the street, where cars were looted and destroyed as blood splattered on the road, up until the members of the elite group of citizens stopped the fighting. However, they were faced with a menace worst than garden-variety looters, as flamethrower-weilding brutes on a dumptruck stood in the way. There wasn't much gameplay on display (Microsoft presented a pretty hefty chunk of that earlier), but it went a long way towards showcasing the dire tone of The Division.

Ubisoft's presentation on The Crew began with an artsy new trailer that seemed more than a little desperate to convince us of the veracity of its ridiculous claim of representing the entire continental United States. The trailer was a time-lapse piece showing off the game's impressive visuals and similarly impressive environmental variety, with players racing through locales like San Francisco and the Grand Canyon.

Also discussed was the news of a beta for The Crew, with signups starting immediately. On top of that, Ubisoft appears to be banking on the title's competitive aspect, with a multi-national competition already ongoing with a pre-release version of the game. We're still not sure the entire United States will be represented in there, but we'll find out for sure on November 11th, the game's newly announced official release date.

In the wake of a new gameplay trailers for Far Cry 4 and The Crew, Ubisoft showed a new cinematic trailer for the next entry in the Assassin's Creed series. Assassin's Creed Unity takes you through the crowded streets of the French Revolution. But this time you won't have to take you're assassination contracts on your own. Up to four players can work together to fight your enemies.

New elements of gameplay have been revealed, including a wrist mounted crossbow, a multi-barreled pistol, and quests such as solving murder mysteries. You'll partake in all of the typical parkour, swashbuckling combat, and crowd stealth found in the assassin's creed series, but thanks to the next gen hardware, the visuals, size of the crowds, and ability to seamlessly walk into buildings have never looked better.

Ubisoft is bringing a new form of fitness to Xbox One in November. Instead of the traditional workouts in faux-gyms provided by the likes of EA Sports Active and even Ubisoft's old Your Shape series, Shape Up will add some fresher environments to break a sweat in. How about running a mile on the moon, pushups at the circus, or doing dancercizes on a neon-infused keyboard that plays "Eye of the Tiger" in tune with your jumps.

If you can't find a friend to work out with, you can play against a previously recorded version of yourself. It all takes place with plenty of background noise, arcadey-style high-scores to top, and general insanity that you'd assume would only work in dance games. If they can tie the crazy workouts into actual fitness regimens, it could make for a nice change of (workout) pace.

Ubisoft's next UbiArt project, Valiant Hearts: The Great War is out in just a couple of weeks, but that didn't stop Ubi from devoting some precious stage time to it with a new trailer. Our new look at the game didn't shed much light on the gameplay (the company showed Valiant Hearts a few weeks back for info on that), but it did impress upon us all how depressing the WW1 game will be.

Ubi also announced its partnership with WWI Apocalypse, a documentary series that will be hitting later this year. That partnership is where much of the in-game text and history is derived from. Check out Valiant Hearts: The Great War when it arrives on June 25th.

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, walked on stage during the Ubisoft presser and introduced the company's next 5-v-5 multiplayer title, Rainbow Six Siege. The gameplay demo showed a 5-man SWAT team breaking into a suburban home to rescue a hostage that has been captured by heavily armed assailants.

Players can use a variety of gadgets and weapons to get the leg up on the opposition. Remote controlled drones allow you to spy on the other team and riot shields protect yourself and your team from incoming gunfire. Breaching charges were also prominently feature as they were used to completely destroy any wall or floor. The environments seemed to be completely destructible, allowing the players to make creative use of the map and team tactics.

Did Aisha Tyler win your heart over all over again this year? Are these multiplatform games everything you hoped they would be? Let us know in the comments below.

And if you're interested in more, check out Mario trivia and the best Wii U games.

During Ubisoft's press conference, a few minutes were spent showing off the next entry in the Just Dance franchise: Just Dance 2015. It includes everything you'd expect from the series: dancing, pop songs from a year ago, and weird music videos. We saw "What Does the Fox Say" and a Tetris level. It was weird, but cool.

Most exciting, though, is Just Dance Now. You're able to sync a large number of mobile phones to your system and play a huge game of Just Dance, and everyone can play at the same time. On stage, over 20 people danced around to a Lady Gaga song. Their phone's accelerometer worked like the Wii controller, letting everyone dance together. It's a cool idea, and should help get more people dancing together.

Youre unlikely to sell many videogames by emblazoning its different, but the same! on the front of the box, so EA coming up with other slogans such as Feel The Game for FIFA 15 is probably a good thing. But make no mistake: this is very much last years effort with some necessary tweaking and tuning.

Heading and through balls needed a bit of balancing after FIFA 14, and neither are as all-powerful as they are in that game. Both mechanics still require work--I missed a string of easy aerial chances during my day-long hands-on--but a change had to be made. Unquestionably improved are ball control, which now offers an even higher degree of intricacy, and player intelligence.

The latter goes for your lads as individuals--making sensible runs into space, or shepherding rather than diving in when the last man--and as a team. Earn a late lead and the computer now smashes desperation balls into your area; trail with seconds left and its forwards look to retain possession near the corner flag.

Its still not quite on a par with playing against a real human, but its closer than weve seen before from FIFA, PES or any of yesteryears footballing line-up.

That Feel The Game mechanic wasnt me taking the mick, either. It pertains to emotion, with everything that happens on the pitch affecting your players off-the-ball animations. Depending on the current context of the game they encourage team-mates or lambast them after bad misses, and might shake off an early foul before losing the plot completely on the back of a late one.

For now this is strictly an aesthetic deal. EA is keen to avoid calls of scripting so youll never see your midfield headcase losing it to the point of getting red carded, but it certainly adds to the story of each match. Visually, anyway.

Those expecting EA Canada to rip things up and start again will be disappointed in FIFA 15, on this evidence. But it doesnt need massive change at this stage. After a year of improvements across the board, subtle changes are the key to another big season for those creative Canucks. Its an approach that looks likely to pay dividends. The question now is, will the same ring true for Liverpool?

Snore, another boring golf game, huh? Can't wait to see how next-gen the checkered pants look in this E3 2014 trailer. Well, don't be so quick to make assumptions. The next entry EA Sports' golfing franchise has dumped Tiger Woods, and replaced him with the Frostbite 3 engine. And early shots made it clear that photorealistic stages that recreate famous golf courses are there, but you expected that. But what about a course based on Battlefield 4?

The first footage of the game went into extreme new stages that would be impossible in real life. Know that Battlefield map with the "Levolution" of a crashing battleship? That's a golf course now, and that's awesome. It makes you wonder just how crazy EA is going to get when connecting this to its other famous franchises. But we can say that this has made us more excited for this golf sim than ever before.