E3 2019 | Highlights & Final Thoughts

I had been intending to do a write-up for each of the E3 conferences this year. However, in the end, I didn’t feel that there was enough content to do a write-up for each conference individually and also it was a lot of work for each post! This year’s E3 was incredibly disappointing and a lot of the games that were featured were ones that had already been premiered last year or even the year before. Whilst it was good to get updates on the games in development and some 2019/2020 release dates for those games, it meant that there was little to get excited about in terms of new games.

This year I watched the presentations/live-streams for EA Play, Microsoft, Bethesda, Ubisoft, the PC Gaming Show, and Nintendo. I did a presentation write-up for EA Play and Microsoft, but the other presentations (with the exception of Nintendo) didn’t leave me with much to talk about. So, instead, I’ll be sharing with you all my game highlights of E3 2019 in this post featuring the games that I’m most looking forward to playing in 2019/2020.

E3 2019 | Microsoft Highlights

Yesterday I shared my highlights of the EA Play live-stream from E3 2019. Today I’m catching up on yesterday’s presentations; Microsoft and Bethesda. Usually, I give no cares about the Microsoft presentation. I don’t own an Xbox and usually find the Microsoft presentations hilariously over the top with their obsessive focus on cars, sports and first-person shooters. However, as Playstation isn’t in attendance this year I thought I’d give the Microsoft presentation another go and actually kind of enjoyed it? Don’t get me wrong, there was still A LOT of shooting games (mostly of the undead variety) but there was definitely a lot less reliance on pew-pew vroom-vroom games (as I like to call them).

As always, Microsoft likes to bring a lot to the table and, as someone who doesn’t have an Xbox, not all of it was very relevant and/or exciting for me. They announced a lot of stuff that would probably be exciting for Xbox players (Project Scarlett announcements, Xbox Elite Wireless Controller with more customizable features, and Xbox Game Pass news) that I won’t go into, I’ll just give you a quick snap shot into some of the games that piqued my interest.

Games I Want to Play in 2019

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, I’m a gamer as well as a reader! However, my gaming often gets put aside for reading so one of my goals for this year was not only to play more video games but also blog more about video games. Although I already write articles for Sidequest, a great website which focuses on the unconventional in gaming and centers marginalized voices, I want to share more about gaming here on my blog as well. Video games have always been such a huge part of my life, so much so that I am (hopefully) doing a PhD about them, and so I’m aiming to make a lot more time for them in 2019.

Inspired by Becca and Destiny‘s posts, I thought it would be cool to kick off my video game blogging and the year with a little list of the backlist and new release games I’m looking forward to playing in 2019. Obviously this isn’t the entire list because I don’t want to keep you here all day, so if you’re curious ask in the comments.

What I’m most excited about at E3 2017: Xbox Conference

Anyone who knows me will know that I am not a massive fan of Xbox, and their presentation at E3 did nothing to change that, even with their announcement of their new Xbox One X console which they dub “the most powerful console in the world”. Whilst I admire (and snark on) their enthusiasm and release of a diverse array of Xbox “exclusives” which suit a wide range of audiences, there is nothing in there makes me gasp and go “I must immediately sell everything I own to get me the new Xbox One X console”. So, whilst I have provided a list below of the games that excited me most at the Xbox One X conference, it’s good to bear in mind that these are ‘Launch “exclusives”‘ aka we just got to announce the game, or ‘Timed exclusives’ meaning that they will be quickly available on other consoles, if they not immediately.