Summer Game Fest | June Gaming Events | 2022

[Mister Pink]

 

 

E3 is not happening this year so I'm looking to Summer Game Fest (month of June) or just summer announcements in general.

 

Xbox/Bethesda showcase is happening June 12th and is actually listed as an event on the official Summer Game Fest website.

 

What am I hoping for? 

 

• Starfield gameplay
• Solar Crown trailer or gameplay (it's been nearly a year without news)
• Forza Motorsport 8 gameplay
• Skull & Bones gameplay
• Contraband trailer
• Avowed trailer
• Fable 4 trailer
• The Outer Worlds 2 trailer
• The Day Before (not going to happen, it's delayed)
• STALKER 2 gameplay
• Hogwarts gameplay (although the last video was generous enough)
• Saints Row gameplay
• Suicide Squad trailer (dying to see more from Rocksteady)
• Star Wars KOTOR remake trailer

 

Microsoft Xbox had a great E3 last year but they have been criticized for no showing enough gameplay. Hopefully this year is when they can finally show off some of the games their studios have working on. FM8 and Starfield are almost positive to show. 

 

I expect Sony will have a State of Play and will have some nice things to show as well. Fans I'm sure will like to see God of War: Ragnarok but some reports suggest there wont be any State of Play anytime soon for GoW. Spider Man 2, Stray.. I'm not on PS5 or Switch so maybe you guys can tell me what you hope to see next.. 

 

Agenda

 

 

Wednesday, June 1

• Warhammer Skulls Showcase 2022

Monday, June 6

• Netflix Geeked Week Day 1 (Series)

Tuesday, June 7

• Netflix Geeked Week Day 2 (Film)

Wednesday, June 8

• Black Voices in Gaming
• Netflix Geeked Week Day 3 (Animation)

Thursday, June 9

• Summer Game Fest
• Upload VR Showcase
• Netflix Geeked Week Day 4 (Stranger Things)

Friday, June 10

• IGN Expo
• Netflix Geeked Week Day 5 (Games)
• Tribeca Games Spotlight
• Freedom Games Showcase 2022

Saturday, June 11

• Guerrilla Collective Showcase
• Wholesome Games Direct
• Future of Play Direct
• NetEase Games Livestream

Sunday, June 12

• Xbox & Bethesda Showcase
• PC Gaming Show

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Mister Pink

[Grichka Bogdanoff]

Simple.

[Rajder]

Let us hope it will be a GAME FEST, not a SNOOZEFEST

Edited May 5 by Rajder

[Commander S]

There's been talk of some Microsoft studios showing off multiple projects this summer - the obvious one being Playground, since I'm expecting possibly some news about Fable, but definitely the reveal/release date for the first Forza Horizon 5 expansion (calling it now: same again in December for the second expansion, with an reveal/launch trailer at The Game Awards).

 

Contraband would also be good, and maybe even some crumbs about the Perfect Dark revival. Speaking of classic Rare-style shooter revivals, maybe we might get some news about the newly-reformed Free Radical (under Embracer), and their new TimeSplitters game - ?

 

Big one for me would be Test Drive Unlimited - it's supposedly coming out this year, and KT's PR machine has started putting out small teases here and there, but there's still been zero actual gameplay, for what's meant to be a September release (although such a short turnaround isn't uncommon, seeing as Ubisoft went from a June reveal to a September release for AC Odyssey).

 

Probably too much to expect any news about troubled projects like Beyond Good and Evil 2, or Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 - as for Ubi stuff, probably some more news about the Avatar game, but ...ugh, any enthusiasm I have for that is dampened completely by things like the awful stories coming out of Ubisoft, and things like their scummy NFT push.

 

Besides those, a release date for either Marvel's Midnight Suns (which has just been rated in some regions) and/or Star Trek Resurgence would be nice, since those look promising.

[Is this The Guy?]

Can’t wait for Saints Row

[Commander S]

17 hours ago, Is this The Guy? said:

Can’t wait for Saints Row

 

 

As much as that's probably my most-anticipated game right now, I actually don't know how much more they could show off between now and launch, other than maybe some hands-on previews to give a better idea of how it plays. And even then, so long as the game handles with the kind of arcade-y immediacy of past games (where there's not a lot of mechanical complexity to stuff like combat, but that's not really the point anyway), that's all good - really, the big question is 'have they avoided another technical faceplant like Agents of Mayhem at launch?', and ...that's something we can only find out once release copies are out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The only other thing is the character creator demo, and if past games are anything to go by, then SGF is likely a bit soon for that - the last two main games only put out their demos a week or two before release, so early August seems the most likely window.

[Mister Pink]

On 5/5/2022 at 8:32 PM, Commander S said:

Contraband would also be good, and maybe even some crumbs about the Perfect Dark revival. Speaking of classic Rare-style shooter revivals, maybe we might get some news about the newly-reformed Free Radical (under Embracer), and their new TimeSplitters game - ?

Solar Crown is near top of my list. I can't wait to see more of it. New studio taking the project over so maybe we wont have so much of that cringe dialogue.  

 

On 5/5/2022 at 8:32 PM, Commander S said:

Contraband would also be good, and maybe even some crumbs about the Perfect Dark revival.

Contraband is really high up there for me just based on concept alone. We know Avalanche can make open-world games I just hope that this game is a little scaled down a bit so there are more ground actions/functions. Basically scaled down but deeper gameplay. As for Perfect Dark, I'm sure you are in the know about the current situation at The Initiative. It would be nice if there is some agreed upon vision for the future of that game but I reckon they're still stuck in very early development. 

 

Skull & Bones is almost certainly going to be there..

 

 

[Jason]

Not sure what to expect at this show, the other major publishers typically have their own shows so the big big stuff tends to go there. I can see Embracer throwing some reveals in there but I suspect that Xbox and Sony will be doing their own thing.

[Mister Pink]

Yeah even though Xbox's event is somewhat independent, it's still listed on the Summer Game Fest official site as an upcoming event. 

 

Quick update: Official Summer Game Fest is Thursday 9th of June with Geoff Keighley, Tribeca Games Spotlight on Friday 10th,  and Xbox Showcase is Sunday 12th. Nothing official for the Saturday. Possibly Sony slips in there? But if I was to bet, it's probably Ubisoft. I still think Sony will do something independent, possibly a week or two after. 

[Commander S]

17 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

Solar Crown is near top of my list. I can't wait to see more of it. New studio taking the project over so maybe we wont have so much of that cringe dialogue.  

 

Contraband is really high up there for me just based on concept alone. We know Avalanche can make open-world games I just hope that this game is a little scaled down a bit so there are more ground actions/functions. Basically scaled down but deeper gameplay. As for Perfect Dark, I'm sure you are in the know about the current situation at The Initiative. It would be nice if there is some agreed upon vision for the future of that game but I reckon they're still stuck in very early development.

 

 

Solar Crown: new studio, but headed up by the original creative director (Alain Jarniou). And with the whole "Streets vs. Sharps" angle, I fully expect more cringe - but kitschy enough that it's the fun, dorky kind.

 

Contraband sounds like GTAO meets Mad Max (the game) or Smuggler's Run, or perhaps a kind of vehicle-centric 'live service' take on Far Cry 4-ish vibes with a dash of Payday. Or something like that. It's one of those things that'll probably become clearer once we actually see in action, but the idea of a vehicular co-op heist thing sounds cool in the broad strokes.

 

And yeah, the issues with The Initiative aren't great, especially compared to the stories coming out of 343 about Halo Infinite's development. I think the project is probably in a better place now that Crystal Dynamics is involved, rather than just throwing a lot of top talent together and just hoping a cohesive team comes together organically (you can't really fast-track building a new studio like that), but word is that it's effectively had a "soft reboot" (makes sense, if they've started afresh to let CD put their own stamp on it), and so that likely adds years before we see it. And unlike the aforementioned BG&E2 and V:tM-B2*, probably best to wait until we can see something representative of the finished game, rather than something based on loose concepts that might get thrown out early in development.

 

*it still absolutely floors me that Bloodlines 2 had hands-on gameplay previews back in 2019, FFS - three years later, and apparently Hardsuit managed to f*** over the creative leads (Mitsoda, Cluney and Ellison, all gone - probably too much to hope they come back to it, too... ), to the point where Paradox ditched Hardsuit, and development has been handed over to a new studio (latest rumour is that The Chinese Room is on it - the devs behind Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs). Amazing to think that you could pre-order a game with planned story expansions, and now there's no telling if the release version will include any of that stuff, if it even releases at all...

[Jason]

TDU1 and 2 were a huge part of my 360 days, I loved them to bits, but based on what I've seen thus far with Solar Crown I am not at all optimistic that they'll recapture the magic.

 

We'll see, my expectations are low but I tend to keep my expectations in check with any game these days as I'd rather be surprised than disappointed.

 

TDU was a magic formula of giant map + great selection of cars that kept the game about the cars. My worry for Solar Crown would be that they try and Need for Speed it, like The Crew did.

[Mister Pink]

Hmmm.. I don't know if, it's playing at a local IMAX, I just might for something really different for a change. 

 

 

[Jason]

Might as well use this thread as the general discussion thread for all the rumours/speculation from the incoming game announcements for this year.

 

EA look set for an utterly dreadful year:

 

 

Only sports titles and NFS until next year.

 

Ubisoft have also confirmed Skull & Bones and, to my surprise, Avatar are both expected to release before April next year. Curious to see what Avatar actually is, tbh. Open world with Ubi's classic formulaic design is a safe bet but this game has been in development for quite a long time, maybe it's got a bit more to it?

[Grichka Bogdanoff]

>Avatar

No expectations about it other than it being a generic Ubisoft open world #290453290 shat out to cash in on Way of Water's hype lol

Edited May 11 by Grichka Bogdanoff

[Commander S]

1 hour ago, Grichka Bogdanoff said:

>Avatar

No expectations about it other than it being a generic Ubisoft open world #290453290 shat out to cash in on Way of Water's hype lol

 

 

Not that long ago, I'd be fine with 'Far Cry, but with blue cat aliens', just because ...yeah, Jim Cameron's Blue Alien Cat People movies are goofy kitsch, and I'm down for a bit of that.  But between just how tired the Ubisoft copy-paste formula is (for me, anyway), and the scummy "time-saver!" microtransactions designed to take advantage of grindy progression, and the fact that Ubi's higher-ups are a den of snakes who caped for abusers, I'm pretty much done before I've even seen the game in action. And let's not start on the looming issue of them shoving "Quartz" into it once players are already onboard...

 

(same goes for Beyond Good and Evil 2 - at this point, it's probably for the best if it just gets quietly shelved, rather than the alternative...)

 

 

On 5/7/2022 at 11:32 PM, Jason said:

TDU1 and 2 were a huge part of my 360 days, I loved them to bits, but based on what I've seen thus far with Solar Crown I am not at all optimistic that they'll recapture the magic.

 

We'll see, my expectations are low but I tend to keep my expectations in check with any game these days as I'd rather be surprised than disappointed.

 

TDU was a magic formula of giant map + great selection of cars that kept the game about the cars. My worry for Solar Crown would be that they try and Need for Speed it, like The Crew did.

 

 

As much as I'd be fine with 'Midnight Club Hong Kong', I think it does need to have that unique 'cars as lifestyle accessories' vibe from the originals - that's something that the likes of Forza Horizon haven't ever tried to do since, and the next best thing is GTAO, of all things. And while the sort of people who gripe about outfit customisation in FH5 are probably not interested in things like apartment customisation in a car game, it's what made TDU stand out - and I hope that when Alain Jarniou's spoken about the "DNA" of the series and how there's nothing comparable to it in today's market, he's talking about those aspects. For one thing, it'd be awesome to have dealership options that include OEM interior trim - Forza doesn't have that, and things like GTA and Saints Row have crude single-colour textures at best. TDU2? Stuff rivalling using an official car configurator - hopefully that sort of thing isn't too much to ask for SC.

 

In fact, that's something I'm apprehensive about with Fable, too - there's a fair chance it might just be a perfectly competent (A)RPG in the vein of Dragon Age or The Witcher, and ...that's fine, but it's not really Fable, is it? Fable needs the simulation-ish aspects, like being able to marry any random NPC, or how your character ages to show the passing of time - plus that very Pratchett-esque sense of humour, and a setting that's less traditional fantasy than it is 'off-kilter period piece' (like a less grim Dishonored) with a dash of fairy tale on top. The new game not hitting those admittedly very specific notes wouldn't necessarily be a deal-breaker if the game turns out well enough regardless, but it would feel like a missed opportunity nevertheless, IMO.

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, Commander S said:

As much as I'd be fine with 'Midnight Club Hong Kong', I think it does need to have that unique 'cars as lifestyle accessories' vibe from the originals - that's something that the likes of Forza Horizon haven't ever tried to do since, and the next best thing is GTAO, of all things. And while the sort of people who gripe about outfit customisation in FH5 are probably not interested in things like apartment customisation in a car game, it's what made TDU stand out - and I hope that when Alain Jarniou's spoken about the "DNA" of the series and how there's nothing comparable to it in today's market, he's talking about those aspects. For one thing, it'd be awesome to have dealership options that include OEM interior trim - Forza doesn't have that, and things like GTA and Saints Row have crude single-colour textures at best. TDU2? Stuff rivalling using an official car configurator - hopefully that sort of thing isn't too much to ask for SC.

 

Yea exactly.

 

I wrote up a big post detailing my thoughts on it but honestly, the simplest way to sum up my feelings on what TDU1/2 were is this:

 

Back in, I think it was the first game, they finally added the F40 to the game in a DLC pack. It was probably the most hyped up DLC pack they ever put out cause of it, and it was one of the few cars you couldn't tune in the game. Why? Because they thought it would be sacrilege to do so. That's the mentality they need to have.

 

TDU's about enjoying a diverse selection of cars for what they are, not for what we turn them into through bonkers tunes and bodymods.

[Commander S]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Yea exactly.

 

I wrote up a big post detailing my thoughts on it but honestly, the simplest way to sum up my feelings on what TDU1/2 were is this:

 

Back in, I think it was the first game, they finally added the F40 to the game in a DLC pack. It was probably the most hyped up DLC pack they ever put out cause of it, and it was one of the few cars you couldn't tune in the game. Why? Because they thought it would be sacrilege to do so. That's the mentality they need to have.

 

TDU's about enjoying a diverse selection of cars for what they are, not for what we turn them into through bonkers tunes and bodymods.

 

 

Aw, man, if that doesn't describe my one big gripe with Forza Horizon 5 in particular... Horizon 4 was largely pretty good about letting you do most things just fine with stock vehicles, and enjoying them for what makes them unique (with the exceptions being Trial championships, ranked racing, and getting 3 stars on all PR stunts). Horizon 5 has a lot of accolades and weekly challenges where there's no way to complete them without slapping upgrades on them - and either you have to spend five minutes afterwards going back to the festival site and reverting them back to stock (which gets old if you have to do it for half a dozen cars), or everything starts feeling same-y, because you've tuned any idiosyncrasies out of all of your cars in order to tick completion boxes.

 

And yeah, it's one thing to have a heavy emphasis on tuning in a game where the vibe is always a bit "Race Wars" from F&F, but if TDU is about putting you in that luxury car owner lifestyle, then you wouldn't go round doing homebrew engine swaps in your ...$3 million Bugatti. Although now I think about it, maybe that's why the 'Streets vs. Sharps' framing exists for Solar Crown: you've got one faction more likely to do unspeakable things to their cars, while the other treats them with more respect (and so that caters to players inclined one way or the other - and locks you to one faction, so never the twain shall meet! ).

[Failed Again]

Homeworld 3

Warhammer 40k: Space Marines II

Skull and Bones (would be special)..

 

Edited May 22 by Failed Again

[Tacymist]

I'm kinda interested in the KOTOR remake, I never played the original but have heard good things about the game. I just hope it's not going to be an exclusive though.

[Grichka Bogdanoff]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:25 PM, Grichka Bogdanoff said:

Simple.

After Norman's interview, this more than ever lmao

[Mister Pink]

5 hours ago, Tacymist said:

I'm kinda interested in the KOTOR remake, I never played the original but have heard good things about the game. I just hope it's not going to be an exclusive though.

Yes, I forgot about this. I didn't play it myself originally but over the years it keeps popping up as being one of the great RPGs/series. 

 

The original was on sale on Xbox recently. The graphics have improved over the original because of whatever magic Microsoft does to enhance some old games. But think I'm going to hold out for the remake. Hopefully, we'll see something at SGF. 

 

 

[Jason]

I've been tempted to pick up KOTOR and install some QoL mods to freshen it up but yea with the remake coming at some point I think I'l just wait for that and see how it is.

[Mister Pink]

Sony's Day's of Play starts this Wednesday and continues to the 8th!

Big PS Store Days of Play Sale Begins This Wednesday - Push Square

[Zello]

On 5/22/2022 at 4:23 AM, Tacymist said:

I'm kinda interested in the KOTOR remake, I never played the original but have heard good things about the game. I just hope it's not going to be an exclusive though.

Played both never finished them though. I wish both the originals were available on PS4/PS5.

[Jason]

Oo!

 

 

 

OwlCat, developers of the Pathfinder CRPG's which are incredibly good games, have announced their next CRPG is a CRPG based in the Warhammer universe.

 

Can't say I'm a fan of Warhammer (never really grabbed me - yet) but a CRPG in a sci-fi setting is something I've been after for a while and OwlCat are one of the best in the business at CRPG's so I think I'll be in for this one... a few patches after launch cause OwlCat do usually have some teething issues with their games which they do always fix. It's gonna be turn based too, and given Warhammer has no CRPG history I'm guessing it'll be an original ruleset and not one tied to Pathfinder's very overwhelming combat, which should make it more accessible.

[Commander S]

In other "weird how that'd be the perfect genre for a 40K game, and yet there hasn't been one yet" news, how about a '90s retro shooter?

 

 

 

I'm sold already on the visual mix of Prodeus and 2011's Space Marine (and yet, I'm not quite feeling what I've seen of the sequel, for some reason...), but the little references to 2nd Edition 40K in the live-action part, and the game's more vibrant colour palette reminiscent of 2nd Ed.? Yeah, I'm an easy mark for that - and it's cross-gen, too, so I'll actually be able to play it!

[Grichka Bogdanoff]

No Konami, but Blooper Team's in there. Instrasting

 

[Jason]

Meanwhile, Sonic Frontier's is out here looking like someone plopped down some cheap assets on a completely random terragen map:

 

 

 

It looks... dreadful, and miles away from what an open world Sonic game should look like.

[IzzyBlues]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Meanwhile, Sonic Frontier's is out here looking like someone plopped down some cheap assets on a completely random terragen map:

 

 

 

It looks... dreadful, and miles away from what an open world Sonic game should look like.

Bruh WTF did I just watch? Also why does it seem so Breath of The Wild-like with the open grass fields, giant ass climbable towers and the sombre piano music?

[Jason]

38 minutes ago, IzzyBlues said:

Bruh WTF did I just watch? Also why does it seem so Breath of The Wild-like with the open grass fields, giant ass climbable towers and the sombre piano music?

 

I think the intention is to a BotW-like Sonic game, but they seem to have forgotten... it's Sonic.

 

An open world Sonic game shouldn't be an incredibly generic realistic looking map with some platforms and rails seemingly randomly placed around floating in the air. That's some genuinely shockingly bad level design. The whole map should be a platforming level, using the terrain to get to places using Sonic's movement and speed which should be physics based instead of mechanic based (rails, speed pads). Instead, it's a sh*tty map where they've dotted some stuff about for you to be able to use some very mechanic driven movement.

 

From leaks the gameplay loop is supposedly > run about the open world (which leakers say is terrible) to earn orbs which unlock portals which lead you to some classic Sonic levels which are apparently actually quite good.