Tag Archives: E3

Gaming, Lifestyle, News

E3 2023 is Officially Over

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It is official, E3 2023 has been cancelled. There are plenty of speculations to the real reason to the cancellation. IGN reported that the organisation behind E3 has cited that companies interested in E3 and supposed to attend the conference were not ready and will not be ready to showcase their games in the committed timeline.

While E3 2023 was something gamers was looking forward to, the same cannot be said about the gaming industry as a whole. Ubisoft very recently announced that they will not be attending E3 2023 and will host their own hybrid event instead. Nintendo and many other developers have also not expressed interest or even committed to attending E3 2023. In this case, many speculates that the lack of interest in the conference is the main contributing factor for the cancellation.

E3 used to be the biggest platform for the gaming industry to make their announcements and demos for their upcoming games. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit though, E3 took a hit too. They had to cancel their E3 conference in 2020 forcing the gaming industry to make their announcements on their own and leverage streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Ever since that first cancellation, E3 has not been physically held until they scheduled their June 2023 date, which has since been cancelled too: another year without E3.

That is not to say that the gaming industry is asleep and is facing difficulties though. Ubisoft announced that they are holding a separate event on their own. We expect more announcements from Sony’s PlayStation camp and even Microsoft’s Xbox camp. We are expecting Nintendo to make some sort of announcement in June about upcoming games. Ubisoft and Microsoft have, in fact, announced that they are holding their own announcement event also in June 2023.

This year’s E3 cancellation raised some questions for the gaming industry. Firstly, is E3 coming back for 2024? Secondly, is E3 even relevant anymore?

To the first question, the people behind the scenes have reported that they are still “committed to provide an industry platform for marketing and convening”. The answer vaguely says that E3 is looking to come back in 2024, but is also filled with plenty of uncertainty. Us gamers obviously hopes that E3 makes a come back in 2024 in some capacity.

To the second question, there are a few things to think about. Larger developers like Sony’s PlayStation Studios, Microsoft’s Xbox, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and even Epic Games have realised that they do not really need to rely on E3 to make their own announcements. They also have enough funding to manage and create their own announcement events without constraining to space and tight schedules. Instead of announcing everything within a specified time frame, they can even space their announcements out. While having to learn to leverage online platforms for their announcements, they perhaps learned that they can hit a larger audience at a lower cost cap too. In that case, it is perhaps a more sensible platform to leverage on than having a physical presence in E3.

There is a lot of unknown for E3 in the coming years. The only thing we know is that they will not make a 2023 comeback. At the same time, we think that E3 might still have a place in the gaming industry since Gamescom and the Summer Game Fest will still be happening as scheduled. For now, we can only hope that the people behind E3 have not given up just yet.

Gaming, Lifestyle, News

[E3 2021] The Xbox Mini Fridge is Here – The Meme Comes Alive!

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When the current generation of Xbox Series X was leaked in the press years ago, there was a lot of comments on how the boxy design looks. That is naturally always the case with any design renders that comes out of any manufacturers and companies though. Before a product is out in the market or announced, a render leak of what the product would most likely look like might be ‘leaked’ to the press or the public to sometimes create a public hype. It could almost be like a litmus test of whether or not there is genuine interest in the product.

Sometimes it backfires though, and design renders get ridiculed or gets turned into a meme. In the case of the Xbox Series X, the public quickly points out that it looks like a refrigerator of some kind and that quickly turned into a meme. No doubt, there was a lot of excitement about this product coming out of Microsoft. Thanks to the public reaction at the time, it could give the designers of this gaming console a few things to think about.

Welcome to E3 2021 though, where new games get teased and launched. It is also the place where the unexpected can be expected to happen. This year, the unexpected happened on Microsoft’s stage in their ‘one more thing’ segment at the end of their show. They made it.

Microsoft introduced the world to the “world’s most powerful mini fridge” set to hit the stores in the coming months. They call it the Xbox Mini Fridge, which is thoroughly fitting of a name for this little box that holds canned drinks or other things you put in a mini fridge. They also say that it uses Xbox’s clever velocity cooling architecture to keep your drinks cool in the fridge, hence “world’s most powerful mini fridge”. How did this mini fridge meme become a reality though?

Xbox Mini Fridge - World Premiere
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Twitter Marketing ran a #BestOfTweets championship in April for users to vote on which brands ran the best twitter account. It came down to Skittles and Xbox. Xbox was trailing behind when they announced in their twitter account that they would make the Xbox Mini Fridge a reality if they won the campaign. They did, by 1 percent of votes.

Xbox fulfilled that promise in E3 2021 and the product is actually something that you can purchase later in the year, not just a concept. Except, Microsoft did not say that it will be for sale. They pointed out that it will be available in the holiday season (presumably in the United States), but not its price or where it is going to be available. It could be a free gift if you already own an Xbox, or a bundle if you buy the new Xbox in that season.

Whatever it is, it shows that tech giants like Microsoft are listening to the public and are moving with the public. While it is a little bit more marketing gimmick and move, it also shows that Microsoft has some sense of humour after all. You should be reminded also that Microsoft made a fully sized refrigerator in the shape of the Xbox Series X just for Snoop Dogg last year just because they can.

Gaming, News

[Update] E3 2021 is Online and Completely Free

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UPDATE: Microsoft and Nintendo has confirmed their presence in E3 2021. The Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo participation joins big names like Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, and Koch Media. Sony, EA, Activision Blizzard, Bandai, Sega, and Square Enix has not confirmed their presence. Sony did not turn up in 2019 and was not going to be in E3 as of last year though.

When we say E3 2021 is online, we mean two things really. For one, it is happening. That means at E3 will go on in 2021 despite its 2020 cancellation for obvious reasons. The next thing we mean when we say that it is online is that it is happening completely virtually. For obvious reasons as well, E3 will happen and showcase completely online.

There is more good news here though, it is supposed to be an all-free event. That also means that you can register yourself and attend E3 without paying a single cent. According to their Twitter page as well, there should be no contents hidden behind annoying paywalls. Attendees are supposed to have access to all the major announcements and keynotes happening at E3 this year.

E3 is one of the world’s largest, if not the largest games convention and stage. E3 usually sees developers and platform owners run huge keynotes to announce new AAA titles to be released later in the year or even beyond. One of our favourite games; “Horizon: Zero Dawn” that was launched in 2017 was teased in E3 2015. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 took even longer from its first teaser to its final launch in 2020.

E3 is where we expect huge announcements from the likes of Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox camps. They made the first announcements of their next generation consoles in E3 as well. Of course, this year we have the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S. That also means that we can expect even more AAA titles to be announced from their camps. You can expect even more announcements made for PC games as well. Best part of this year’s E3 announcement is that you do not have to pay to get access to the keynotes.

E3 2021 is expected to happen June 15th, 2021 onward this year. Early on, there were rumours of keynotes and announcement behind paywalls only for E3 to come forward to dispel the idea. Of course, as per mentioned earlier, E3 2021 will be a completely virtual event for obvious reasons. For more information on E3 2021, you can visit E3’s official website.