E3 Round-up

Age of the Geek Column: Another E3 has come and gone.
This year's celebration of commercials, an odd but accurate description of the video game expo, was an odd one. Sony was absent from the conference for the first time ever, leaving Microsoft the lone console developer to present live at the show (Nintendo has long since abandoned live presentations in favor of pre-recorded videos).
But while there was a Sony shaped hole in the schedule, the conference still had its share of notable games to look forward to for next year. Here are some, but by no means all, of them.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Still smarting from the catastrophic failure of "Star Wars: Battlefront II," Electronic Arts is presenting their next licensed game as an apology for letting the allure of microtransaction overwhelm their better judgment. Almost immediately after the game was officially announced last April, the EA Star Wars account took to Twitter to assure gamers that there would be no microtransactions or loot boxes within a parsec of their single-player Jedi experience.
It's weird to market a game by essentially saying, "We're not going to nickel and dime you this time, we promise!" As though gamers should be giving EA credit for releasing a product that you don't need to continually pump money into to enjoy. But that's where we are in the industry today.
As for the game itself, E3 brought us our first look at the gameplay for "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order." It looks fine. Like a Star Wars themed "Dark Souls." To be honest I could take or leave it, but it will be interesting to see how reaction to the game changes EA's business practices moving forward.
Cyberpunk 2077
In stark contrast to EA, CD Projekt RED is flush with good will from the gaming community. Their last major release, "The Witcher 3," earned them many well deserved accolades and the community has been eagerly waiting for their next project.
"Cyberpunk 2077," an open world RPG that will have you navigating the underworld of the future, was already one of the most anticipated games to be highlighted at this year's E3. So how do you make people even more excited for the most anticipated game of the year?
By adding Keanu Reeves of course.
I don't know why CD Projekt RED decided the game needed a major NPC to be played by Keanu Reeves, but I'm not questioning it.
Ghost Wire: Tokyo
Without news of the next Elder Scrolls game or their sci-fi themed "Starfield," Bethesda's E3 presentation seemed to mostly be a waste of time. Sure, "Doom Eternal" and "Wolfenstein: Youngblood" look neat, but they looked neat last year too. As far as new titles go, there wasn't much to be excited for.
Fortunately, Tango Gameworks came through with the announcement of "Ghost Wire: Tokyo." It's unclear what kind of game it is, how it plays, or what it's about but that's never stopped gamers from getting pumped about a game, particularly when there is a pedigree developer involved (see: "Death Stranding").
Presented by accomplished developers Shinji Mikami and Ikumi Nakamura, "Ghost Wire: Tokyo" is certain to be a game worth keeping an eye on. If only to figure out what it is.
Watch Dogs Legion
Ubisoft did not have their strongest presentation ever this year but in between a half-dozen variations of the Rainbow Six franchise one game stood out among the rest. "Watch Dogs Legion" is an ambitious new entry in a franchise that has seen steady improvement since its lackluster first outing.
Set in a near-future dystopian London, the game once again pits the player as computer hacker against a dystopian authoritarian state, but this time the roster of characters includes essentially the entire city. Rather than playing a single pre-determined character, you recruit a team of dissidents out of the various NPCs that inhabit the game world, each with their own backstories, motivations, and skills.
This includes recruiting Helen, a little old lady who also happens to be a retired assassin with an attack robot in her purse.
If recruiting a senior citizen into a plot to thwart a corrupt police state isn't enough to sell you on a game, I don't know what is.
Final Fantasy VII: Remake
Originally announced in 2015, it has long been feared that Square Enix's remake of "Final Fantasy VII" would never actually materialize. With nary a trailer to be seen and rumors of development troubles, the future has looked grim for the project for a long time.
Thankfully, it looks like things have finally gotten back on track. This year's E3, four years after the announcement trailer, eager fans were finally shown what the game would play like. And it looks good.
Square Enix has long struggled in combining the turn-based mechanics of older JRPGs into a more action oriented modern style, but "Final Fantasy VII: Remake" looks like they have finally managed to find the right balance.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
Nintendo's E3 Directs always have a few surprises but nobody was expecting a story-centric teaser announcing a sequel to "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."
While the game doesn't even have a proper title yet, much less a release date, confirmation that the next mainline entry into the Zelda franchise is in the works is as much as any Zelda fan could have reasonably hoped for. Especially since it appears the game may be closer to release than it seems.
Normally, the announcement of a game means very little. As noted above, the "Final Fantasy VII: Remake" was announced in 2015 and is finally set to release next year. Breath of the Wild itself was announced way back in 2011 but didn't hit shelves until 2017.
However, those games had to be built from the ground-up, and then scrapped and rebuilt again. In this case, the Breath of the Wild sequel is clearly utilizing the same game engine and character models of its predecessor. Not having to re-invent the wheel has a drastic effect on development time.
With the announcement trailer already showing off hints of story, something that generally happens later in the development cycle, it would not surprise me if the game is actually farther along than Nintendo would have us believe. I would not be shocked if "Breath of the Wild 2" is out for holiday of 2020.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and may have a pretty busy gaming year next year.