PlayStation 5

ESA Has Confirmed “E3 will Not Be Held in Person in 2022”

The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed down by a long shot. For the past 2 years, the pandemic has really impacted many video gaming events, including the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or as its known as E3. E3 2020 was even cancelled, and E3 2021 ended up being a digital-only event after being absent for a year. As of today, there has been a update on if E3 will be a thing this year.

The ESA has issued a statement, saying that:

“Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in 2022. We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon.”

As for a digital-event, they told VentureBeat that they are “excited about the possibilities of an online event,” but they did not say that one is happening.

SOURCE

Thoughts & Opinions: 2021 Game Awards Reveal Predictions

Welp, it’s that time of the year in video game world, and it’s the Video Game Awards show time! I’m personally am a bit indifferent about this show for this year and kinda stumped on what they could possibly show. I do have some bits of ideas that’s been mostly rumors that’s been put out for awhile around the Internet.

So, with all of that in mind, here are a few Game Awards announcements/world premieres, some feel like fairly safe bets, while some others may be some big swing type predictions that I’m more hopeful will be in there.

CHRONO CROSS REMASTER/REMAKE REVEAL

It’s been leaked a while ago that a BIG PlayStation game will be getting a remake from months ago. As of recently, it’s been revealed (or leaked) that the big PlayStation game getting the remake/remaster treatment will be the 1999 Chrono Trigger sequel, “Chrono Cross.”

There’s been a lot of smoke with this game in particular as of recently. Where there’s smoke there’s usually some fire. My gut is telling me that this game is real, though it could be possible that it may be a bit too early to show off or do a some big blowout. Though, brief teaser will suffice for most people and to tell us which platforms the game will eventually be available for. Chrono Trigger deserves its sequel to be acknowledged by Square, if you are an RPG fan or just  play video games, mostly everyone knows the story of the first Chrono Trigger, but not many even know that there even was a sequel. To see that Chrono Cross will finally be getting some recognition at a big platform like the Game Awards will be a very welcomed surprise to Chrono fans and to JRPG fans.

SONIC FRONTIERS

So, this one may be one of the more obvious predictions. As of yesterday, the Sonic Twitter account and Geoff Keighly had some interactions online teasing that Sonic will be involved with the Game Awards in some way. It’s been confirmed that the Sonic 2 movie trailer will officially be revealed there, but what about Sonic Frontier, the upcoming 3D outing. After how disastrous, the last Sonic outing was, with Sonic Forces, it seems like SEGA is going all-in on this particular Sonic game. It needs all the push it can get.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2

As far as Nintendo announcements go, something on Breath of the Wild 2 seems the most likely to show up. The last time we’ve seen something about this game was at E3 of 2019. Its about time we at the very least get the name so we can stop calling it Breath of the Wild 2.

While yes, they could just save news of Zelda in a direct, but its been almost two years since we’ve seen anything of this game. They could just reveal the title here and then have blowout at a Direct, at least revealing the title of the sequel would get people excited again while going into next year. Hopefully, we can also get a reveal date as well, along with the name.

FINAL FANTASY XIV

This one may be the far out there one, if Square is going to reveal something at the Game Awards, I’d be surprised if we end up getting two reveals from them. Of the two, I do think a teaser of Chrono Cross is more likely than Final Fantasy XIV. Again, I think we get one or the other, just not both. Though, Final Fantasy XIV is another game we haven’t seen that much of.  It didn’t even show up at the Tokyo Game Show this year, and Final Fantasy XIV does have a lot of hype around it, the next major venue to show something would be the Game Awards to get people to start talking about it again.

XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3

This is probably my high in the sky hopeful, but I’ll take it if it shows up here. I don’t think Monolith Soft has yet to really appear in the Game Awards, but I’ll be ecstatic if XC3 shows up here. It’s also possible that we could be getting this game sometime in 2022. So, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, would be a great place to start drawing up hype for it. The Xenoblade IP has been growing within the past couple of years, and showing something. As far as Nintendo announcements go for the show this one may be the most out there one. Though as of recently, Nate the Hate and Jeff Grubb apparently believes that it’s even the most likely option as a Nintendo reveal.

RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE

While the recently VR version of Resident Evil 4 has been the closest we’ve gotten to an actual Resident Evil 4 remake, it still does seems like Capcom still intends to fully remake the beloved game of the franchise.

Its been a debate on whether or not that rumored remake will actually make any significant changes to the original gameplay, but again it seems like Capcom may be getting to the point where they’re ready to reveal this project that we all know is coming at this point, it’s just the matter of when and where.

GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK

God of War was one of the game that defined the PlayStation 4 with its breathtaking visuals, outstanding gameplay, and its emotional story that came from the franchise. God of War is taking some risks by moving on to the Norse pantheon mythology with Kratos as a father, but hey it worked out really well. God of War Ragnarok is also up for Most Anticipated Game for next year, because it already has a huge following and an established IP, and fans are waiting to see more from this game.

So, these are the announcements that I think will more than likely and are hopeful that could show up this year as a world premiere at the 2021 Game Awards! The show will be a livestream event that will be held on December 9th at 8 P.M. EST.

RUMORS: Square-Enix’s Chrono Trigger’s Sequel Chrono Cross Might Be Getting A Remaster

It’s being rumored that the PlayStation sequel to the iconic and well-beloved JRPG game, Chrono Trigger’s, “Chrono Cross ” might be getting a remaster.

Chrono Cross, was released for the original PlayStation console in 1999, and it’s one of the many unannounced titles that’s been listed in that Nvidia database leak from September. The company Nivida has even admitted that the leaked list was real, and has even said the games just don’t necessarily exist as of yet.

According to XBoxEra’s co-founder Nick Barker, the remake in question is Chrono Cross Remastered.

“Chrono Cross Remastered, I think, was already on the Nividia leak list, so the game shouldn’t be a surprise-it was on Nividia’s list. But I was told that VGC’s article is about Chrono Crosss Remastered,” this was said on the latest XBoxEra Podcast.

“What else I was told-because everyone’s working under the assumption that it’s a PlayStation exclusive-I’ve been told that it’s not. The only word that was used was multiplat.”

“Now when I hear JRPG and multiplat, I automatically assume PC, PlayStation, Switch that’s my assumption. That’s not what I was told, that’s just my assumption. All my source said to me was ‘multiplat.’ That’s what they said, told me it wasn’t PlayStation exclusive.”]

Here’s the video of the XBoxEra Podcast, the Chrono Cross rumor gets bought up in the Rumor Mill section of the video:

So far, neither Square-Enix has nor PlayStation has no events confirmed for Christmas at this time, but the Game Awards 2021 is set to take place at December 9th and could more than likely be announced there.

Diary Entry #4: Why Sony Is Skipping E3 2020?

Welp, once again Sony is going to be skipping out on E3 for 2020. There are numerous of reasons as to why Sony has been absent for E3 for the past two years in a row. Here’s going to be a breakdown as to why Sony may not want to be involved with E3 anymore and not just these past two shows.

Here’s a good reason as many bought up from Twitter and even other gaming forums, E3 as a whole from influence and cultural relevance has been slowly evaporating. From last year there’s only been 60,000 people that was in attendance last year. This is a bit of a troubling number even when you compare it to other gaming events and conventions who will pull out hundred thousands of people from all of the country or the world. Conventions such as PAX, GamesCom, TooManyGames, are starting to take over and fill in the gaps in between the year and not just for one part of the whole year.

Don’t E3 can still be an exciting show and event to go to. Though without Sony, it does feel like a BIG gap is missing in between the other two big dogs being Nintendo and Microsoft. Another thing as to why Sony has been skipping E3 may be the cost to put on a show. It’s probably expensive to hold and host a part on the show floor.

So, I do think money could be a factor, but not the MAIN factor. Sony does have other ways they could be able to show off their own stuff and their own announcements. Probably the biggest thing they have for this is their State of Plays. As of now, it’s not currently as popular as the Nintendo Directs has gotten over the past couple of years, but whose to say it won’t get to Nintendo Directs levels of popularity.

If given the time and patience this could be Sony’s new way of giving out announcements. If Sony’s State of Plays ends up getting bigger for them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this is how they do their E3 formats like how Nintendo has been doing their E3’s through Nintendo Direct presentations and pre-record them and send it to E3 to be streamed.

Honestly, the news of Sony skipping E3 again, doesn’t surprise me! Another reason is that they could just not be ready to show much of anything for the upcoming PS5. Even if that were also the case, Sony doesn’t really need E3. It’s really E3 that needs Sony. Again, the attendance level from the past two years haven’t been that great from what been said by press who actually do go to that event. It almost feels somewhat empty. While it’s probably easier to manuever around for press, that does sound a bit not worth to attend. Sony may also be feeling, is it worth it to go to an event, where’s there not many eyeballs watching as their once use to be.

As of these days it feels like E3 doesn’t feel like much of a big thing anymore. Every time the summer rolls around, for gamers it’s like an early Christmas because of E3 and to see what companies have in store for not just the rest of the year, but also for the holiday season as well.

So, in a way it kind of sad to see how much E3 has somewhat fallen, but with Sony not going again, isn’t much of a big deal for them. It’s more of a big for E3 and the event itself. With the hype around PS5, who knows maybe after the reveal this could be Sony’s return to E3 and this is just them waiting for PS5 to be revealed, known, and released to the general public and we could end up seeing them back again at E3 2021.

As far as what I think reasons for Sony has been for not possibly attending goes to three things: money for hosting a booth and room for press, E3 almost not being relevant, having their own event to showcase news (i.e. State of Play), and they could just not have much to show. Well, I guess that’s technically four things, but whatever.

Who knows what this could mean for E3 going forward. Not to mention Microsoft has already put their confirmation of attending this years show almost shortly after Sony dropped out. So, there goes monkey-see-and-monkey actually not do. As far Nintendo we don’t know their status as of yet, and we probably won’t know until maybe April or May of this year if I had to guess on a confirmation of Nintendo’s status for E3.

What do you guys think about Sony dropping from E3? Do you guys think Sony needs it or don’t? What do you think Sony’s reasonings are for not going to E3 2020. Please, let me know in the comments.