What the Big Three are bringing to E3

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the largest gaming expo of the year starts in a week on June 10, and as the day nears anticipation and rumors swirl about which games, and hardware will make an appearance.

Thanks to leaks, rumors, E3 2017 public access and games unveiled during E3 2016 gamers have high expectations for this year’s E3. But higher expectations are being held for the big three, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Here’s a rundown of what to expect and hope for.

Sony

Sony is, so far, the winner of the “console war,” but can Sony maintain their lead into the holiday season? Yes, if they continue to publish AAA content, which it appears they will. To whet the appetite of gamers, Sony released a teaser trailer for the sequel to the universally praised The Last of Us back in December with little details.Since no news has been circulating about The Last of Us Part 2, we can expect to solid details during E3.

Two more Sony exclusives unveiled during E3 2016 are Hideo Kojima’s, the creator of the Metal Gear series, Death Standing and God of War. Only the bare minimum have been released about these games. Hopefully, Sony shows game play footage and announces a release date.

Finally, on the top of many Sony owners list is the highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts 3 announced back in E3 2013. Will we finally get a release date or game play footage? Or is Sony just going to keep it “in development?”

Microsoft

While Sony is placing its bets on exclusives, Microsoft is hoping its Project Scorpio can win gamers to their side. Microsoft has been quiet on Scorpio’s official name, price, look and release date, but was quick to boast it will be the most powerful gaming console on the market. Project Scorpio runs a 6-teraflop GPU with 12 GB of GDDR5 RAM and is capable of true 4k display. While the shiny new hardware is nice, what about games to justify the hardware?

Well since Halo 6 is confirmed absent, to showcase the Scorpio Microsoft can use previously announced games like Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2. Both games are, at the time of writing, slated for a 2017 release, but as we’ve seen with Red Dead Redemption 2, delays can happen. But if Microsoft plans to release Project Scorpio this year, any delay may hurt them.

Nintendo

Nintendo, the little kid in the playground has to bring a lot to the table to convince gamers the Switch won’t be like the Wii U. So far the Switch has been performing well in sales, but Nintendo will have to show gamers it’s committed to games to prevent sales from dropping.

We know Super Mario Odyssey will dominate their presentation, but that doesn’t mean other titles won’t get to shine as well. First, there’s the leaked Super Mario Rapid Rabbits crossover, which is very likely to be revealed next week. Then there’s Bethesda’s Skyrim port, but to be fair Skyrim was released six years ago and re-released this year for PS4 and Xbox One so demand for it on the Switch can’t be high.

But Nintendo was never known for third party titles. We know a Pokemon game is being developed for the Switch, as well as new Fire Emblem games and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Aside from theses we can expect any title from Nintendo’s vast and since the Wii, Wii U and 3DS never had a decent Metroid game, it’s time for one.