Next generation games and games consoles were the biggest headline grabbers during E3. Microsoft and Sony had a lot to show and a lot to prove with more details of their up and coming next gen console hardware and software. However there was plenty of PC gaming on the exhibition floors, both accessories and new games.
Nvidia on PC and console gaming
Nvidia put together an “Editors Day” in a location just a short walk from the main E3 convention area. The first thing the company talked about was ‘GeForce Works’, the collection of libraries that developers can use to help produce their games. Nvidia said it was due to these technologies that it holds 66 per cent of the add-in-boards market (figures from Q1 2013).
Five new games were revealed which have utilised its ‘GeForce Works’ toolkit; Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, The Witcher 3, Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. These titles will also appear on platforms other than the PC.
Nvidia's senior vice president Tony Tamasi talked about the next gen consoles and how he was pleased that they were on the way... “if for no other reason than to raise the bar”. Then he revealed the slide, shown below.
Tamasi went on to explain that “Developers can now build really awesome content that can then scale to the PC”. He added “To us, the consoles are great because they catch up from a features perspective.” Almost proving Tamasi’s point, The Verge concluded its report with the line “So far at E3 2013, the most visually compelling games we've seen were all running on Windows”. If you want to read more about the Nvidia Editors Day then NeoSeeker has an extensive recap of the full proceedings.
PC Games at E3
Though the spotlight was definitely on the next gen consoles, many of the games shown off and demonstrated upon these shiny new living-room friendly black boxes are also on the way to PC. PCWorld put together a collection of its favourites in an article called 12 PC gaming gems hidden among the consoles at E3. If it listed them in order of desirability then it thinks The Witcher, Titanfall II and Battlefield 4 are the tastiest morsels destined for your PC in the coming months.
Choosing a more complete approach PCGamesN decided to put an article together with (almost) Every E3 2013 trailer for every E3 PC game. These include nearly 30 games, as listed below.
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Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Battlefield 4 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Titanfall Dark Souls 2 Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Star Wars Battlefront 3 Dragon Age 3: Inquisition Castle of Illusion |
Mirror's Edge 2 Command & Conquer The Crew Rocksmith 2014 Assassin's Creed 4 Watch Dogs Call of Duty Ghosts The Elder Scrolls Online Trials Fusion The Division |
The Walking Dead Mad Max Batman Arkham Origins Oddworld New'n'Tasty Lego Marvel Super Heroes Thief Take On Mars Saints Row IV Transistor DayZ Standalone |
Among these, Star Wars Battlefront “returned from the dead” and I have embedded the teaser trailer below.
Also one of my favourites is the new Command & Conquer game because I have enjoyed many versions of this game previously.
Another interesting new game is Mad Max, which is being made by the ‘Just Cause’ developers.
