E3 2015 Recap - PC Gaming
The first-ever PC Gaming Show was a fitting finale for Day 2 of E3.
Welcome to the final article of our E3 recap series here on ZAM!
Yesterday's last E3 main event (3 of 3) was the PC Gaming Show. It was a brand-new event, and likely the start of a new E3 tradition.
All Events: Bethesda, Xbox, EA, Ubisoft, Playstation, Nintendo, Square Enix, PC Gaming
Table of Contents:
- Killing Floor 2
- Rising Storm 2
- Star Citizen
- AMD
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
- Total War: Warhammer
- Xbox / Killer Instinct
- Fable Legends
- Gigantic
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
- American Truck Simulator
- EVE: Valkyrie
- ION
- STRAFE
- Pillars of Eternity: The White March
- Planet Coaster
- Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
- HITMAN
- AMD, pt. 2
- ARMA III: Tanoa
- Beyond Eyes
- Dirty Bomb
- Tacoma
- SOMA
- DayZ
- Take On Mars
- "Project Bluestreak"
- Enter the Gungeon
- Heroes of the Storm
- StarCraft: Legacy of the Void
- No Man's Sky
Killing Floor 2
John Gibson (President), Tripwire Interactive
- Goal is to not screw up the core gameplay; bolt new, fun things on top of that.
- They've learned how important it is to communicate during Early Access.
- Fans of modding, e.g., community-created maps; free content pack coming.
Announcement!: A brand-new reveal! Tripwire's working on Rising Storm 2, next game in the Red Orchestra series.
Star Citizen
Chris Roberts (CEO), Cloud Imperium Gaming
Chris goes behind-the-scenes with some of the motion capture they're currently doing.
AMD
Richard Huddy (Chief Gaming Scientist), AMD
- Explored the new range of graphics cards they just launched, the r7-300 and r9-300 series.
- DX12 will help deliver the maximum value out of your hardware.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Jean-François Dugas & Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, Eidos Montreal
- Showing the visual polish possible with the Dawn Engine.
Total War
Andy Hall & Ian Roxburgh, Creative Assembly
- Cinematic trailer celebrating the 15 years of Total War.
- Total War: Warhammer discussed.
Xbox / Killer Instinct
Phil Spencer (Head of Xbox), Microsoft
- Having a closer ecosystem between Xbox and PC (with Windows 10) will be helpful for developers.
- Announcement: Killer Instinct is coming to PC!
Fable Legends
David Eckelberry, Lionhead Studios
- Why Free-to-Play? It's a different kind of game, so they want people to find out if they're going to love it.
- Planning for years of content. New quests, new characters, etc. F2P helps allow for that.
- Trailer from the Xbox event.
- The variety of characters should allow for people with different skillsets.
- Twitch-aim skills, strategic thinking, or straight-forward brawling.
- Closed Beta coming this August; Open Beta later this year.
- Trailer from the Xbox event.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Rod Furgusson, The Coalition
- Announcement!: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition coming to PC!
- Only Ultimate Edition videos right now, Vid #1, Vid #2, Vid #3
American Truck Simulator (New!)
From SCS software, makers of Euro Truck Simulator
- Made in part using Google Maps.
EVE: Valkyrie
Ryan Geddes, CCP Games
- Valkyrie created from the ground-up for VR.
- Very separate from EVE Online.
- Recent E3 footage of Valkyrie.
- "It's not Star Citizen, not Elite: Dangerous, not EVE Online"
- More about what happens inside the (space) stations as a Pioneer
- Diablo-style camera; 3D environment
- Based on a game SpaceStation 13
- Wants to have a more Besieged-style approach to early access, meaning a polished core game
- Best recent ION bug: When you clicked on another player, all their organs fell out
- Tech allows to simulate all entities in the world
- Recently revealed ION teaser trailer.
STRAFE
Thom Glunt & Stephen Raney, Pixel Titans
- Goal to be an homage to old games.
- Strafe has lots of procedural generation.
- On-stage demo (no video).
Pillars of Eternity (Expansion)
Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian Entertainment
Fredrik Wester, Paradox Interactive
- Announcement!: Upcoming Expansion, The White March (Part 1)
- "Higher level cap, new abilities, new companions", soul-bound weapons
- Teaming up with Paradox Interactive as their Publisher
Planet Coaster
David Braben, Frontier Developments
- Announcement!: Roller Coaster Tycoon is being revived as Planet Coaster!
- "Simulation Evolved"
- Coming to PC in 2016
Guild Wars 2
Colin Johanson, ArenaNet
- Showing off the next expansion of Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns.
- Primarily features Guild Halls, an immense map a guild can own.
- Lots of new guild-specific features, like missions, guild PVP, crafting, a War Room, etc.
- Announcement!: Pre-purchase starts right now!
HITMAN
Hakan Abrak, IO Interactive
- Graphical fidenlity of Absolution, Sandbox from Blood Money
- 6-7x Bigger Locations, No Checkpoints
- Things like over 300 NPCs on one map
- Reveal trailer here, and 'gameplay' trailer below:
- Just started shipping a new flagship card, the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X.
- Also launched the AMD Radeon R9 Nano, a tiny graphics card that can output 4K.
- They brought out a slick-looking 16 teraflop gaming system.
- This section is well-covered by this PC Gamer article.
ARMA III
Joris-Jan van't Land & Jay Crowe, Bohemia Interactive
- Announcement!: Upcoming expansion, Tanoa. A new terrain, coming 2016.
- Pacific islands are a first for the series.
- Developers are excited for modding. "Dinosaurs, for example!"
Beyond Eyes (Summer 2015)
Sherida Halatoe, tiger & squid
- Biggest challenge was trying to reign in scope.
- Recent E3 trailer.
Dirty Bomb
Paul Wedgwood (CEO), Splash Damage
- Cinematic trailer showcasing the game's characters.
Tacoma
Steve Gaynor, Fullbright
- First-person exploration game in a near-future, high-tech space station.
- Recent E3 announcement trailer.
SOMA (September 22nd, 2015)
Ian Thomas, Frictional Studios
- New horror game set deep under the sea, from the maker of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
- A brief glimpse of footage was shown. (no video)
- E3 2015 Trailer.
DayZ
Brian Hicks, Bohemia Interactive
Announcements!
- Coming up soon: pack of 3 new vehicles, requiring parts & operational fluids.
- Going to introduce a single-player DayZ option.
- Allows modders to test locally before pushing to the Steam Workshop.
- Going to release a tool to allow people to host their own DayZ servers.
Take On Mars
Bohemia Interactive
- A space-sim exploration game w/ a multiplayer survival mode.
- Dynamic destruction; advanced physics simulation.
- Now on Early Access. Beta coming Summer 2015.
"Project Bluestreak"
Cliff Bleszinski (CEO), Boss Key Productions
- Lots of room to have a wide variety of weapons for a first-person shooter.
- Wants a game that's easy to learn, hard to master.
- Will have more realistic visuals than comparable games.
- Showed the Pre-Alpha Teaser from March.
Enter the Gungeon
Dave Crooks & Joe Harty, Devolver Digital
- Mix of Binding of Isaac and "bullet-hell shooters".
- Showing off co-op for the first time.
- Over 200+ hand-designed weapons in the game.
- Here's a recording of the live on-stage demo.
Heroes of the Storm
Chris Sigaty & Dustin Browder, Blizzard
- First expansion for Heroes of the Storm, Eternal Conflict
- All about Diablo for the next several months
- Coming June 30th
Trailer features multiple new Heroes!
King Leoric (Diablo Warrior)
- Trait: When he dies, he turns into a Wraith, and stays on the battlefield for the duration of his death. Any damage he would've dealt reduces his death timer. People can't deal damage to you. You return to the battlefield exactly where your Wraith is.
- Heroic 1 - Entomb: Create a U-shape of walls to trap Heroes.
- Heroic 2 -March of the Black King: Moves forward slowly and swings his sword for tons of damage; Unstoppable.
"The Monk" (Diablo Support)
- First Diablo Support coming to the game. Very mobile & agile.
- Unique feature: Can choose his own trait at the beginning of the game.
- Choose betwen traits which allow styles more like a brawler or traditional support.
StarCraft: Legacy of the Void - Beta in July 2015
- Whispers of Oblivion are three prologue missions. (free to anyone!)
- Connects the end of Heart of the Swarm to the beginning of Legacy of the Void.
No Man's Sky
Sean Murray, Hello Games
- Announcement!: No Man's Sky is coming to PC!
- Quick flashes of gameplay in this trailer: