Eight changes I’ve seen in watching Game Hour from Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and more | Sports

Did you spend hours on weekends watching video game commercials? No? I don’t blame you – Summer Game Fest, the gaming series that has replaced the big annual E3 show in Los Angeles, is a big deal. There are big, long shows: the PlayStation and Xbox streams, the main SGF show hosted by Geoff Keighley and Lucy James, the Future duet of the Future Games Show and the PC Gaming Show. Each show is two hours long. Then there are all the indie shows: adventure games, female-led games, Black Voices in Games, Devs Day. Between them, they present hundreds of games that will pique your interest.

I chose exactly 34 reviews here: great stories, great fun mini-games. But because of the number of trailers I was also able to notice some things. Here’s what we can learn.

A solo player I’m back | There were few announcements of action games or online superhero shooters, which have plagued game publishers for years. In fact: we’ve seen a lot of expensive-looking single-player games. There was a God of War: Laufey; Marvel’s Wolverine; Exodus, a new game from a team of Naughty Dog veterans; Crossfire, a shooter in the mold of Naughty Dog; even a teaser for Persona 6, the latest in Atlus’ brilliant series of Japanese games. We saw a lot of these I’m a little worried that they won’t be able to sell enough of them to make money, ruining us all from a free nightmare.

Dangers are everywhere | | Gwilym Mumford wrote in Guide, our sister letterof the box-office hits Backrooms and Obsession which show a real moment of horror on the big screen. Well, it’s the case on the smaller screen, too.

I haven’t counted the number of horror games that have been announced, from the classics of the genre (Silent Hill: Townfall, Resident Evil Veronica) to a bunch of indie riffs on them. Tenebris Somnia is a pixel-art point-and-click-style horror game that transforms terrifyingly into action movies. Catechesis is about a boy caught in the altar, inspired by Deadly Premonition. This disease is unashamedly disgusting. There was even a horror game called Wicked Delights, for those who like their scares with music. As I wrote in last week’s newsletterthe action-packed adventure game Until Dawn finds you in the future; so is the mysterious guest of Alien: Isolation.

Speaking of gold, multiplayer advertising is getting worse by the minute. There were a lot of decapitations, exploding heads, spilled intestines and throat stabbings that made me think: is this necessary? I was extremely dirty after that.

Y2K nostagia is in | | Celebrating 25 years of Xbox, Microsoft showed the product for a green Series X console with a teenage bedroom set in 2001. Meanwhile, Sunday’s PC Game Show took place on a fake set of a late 90s sitcom show. These were far from the only missiles. For a long time the retro aesthetic was the pixel art of the 90s, but now it’s becoming circa-2000 early-3D. I also saw a lot of riffs on the lost genres of that era, from antigrav racer to where figure skating. It doesn’t mean reality turn-of-the-millennium games and characters that are being revived: among them Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, Rayman and Spyro the Dragon.

We have our picks for Chinese games | After Black Myth: Wukong sold a squillion copies, we’re seeing some really cool Chinese-made games that are more common in these shows. Dinghai: Pillar of the Ocean, Messages of Blood and Swords of Legend all look pretty polished, and Where the Winds Meet just came out. Xbox.

Almost everything was instant Aside from the Summer Game Fest stage, none of these shows were in front of a live audience. This prescriptive sterility has left no room for organic activity. Annoying as it is and screaming for a live audience, they breathe some life into this scene. Will we ever find something else? Keanu-Reeves-is-in-Cyberpunk-2077 minute?

Xbox is back to action (more) except | | The comfort wars were dead; long life comfort wars. Under the new leadership, Xbox is now keeping several of its games on its platform, namely the new Weapons of War and the steampunk-style Dishonored-like Clockwork Revolution. Some games will eventually come out on PlayStation and Nintendo Change 2.

A dangerous game of fish | | A micro-trend, but I counted two dangerous fish games. Two. First up is tinyBuild’s Last Harbora zombie game where you just sit on a ship, and go on land to face the evil monsters. And in Dread moor you take your boat to fish in the most amazing seas. I bet we have one of the favorites for 2023, DredgeThanks for this.

Everyone really hates AI | Last year in the smaller shows we saw a number of games that rely heavily on artificial intelligence. Now studios are walking a mile away from it, trying to distance themselves from any association with genAI. This is demonstrated by the new Crazy Taxi, whose popular AI content on Steam has inspired. great comeback.

Toys

Unsurprisingly, I discovered that I have many time to play any of the games soon, but most of last week’s announcements came with free demos. Nintendo has just released a new Star Fox trailer for Switch 2; I did different opinions about the game, but playing it is starting to bring me around. You can play the first half of the new Assassin’s Creed game created by Patrice Désilets 1666: Amsterdam. The newly announced Star Trek: Outposts Unknown colony-simulation game is no exception available to tryand I’m about to get into black and white photography mode Toem 2 show.

Available at: Display pages on the eShop, PS Store, Xbox Store, Epic or Steam
Estimated time: up to one hour each

For you to read

• As Pushing Buttons pushes the symbolic press, Nintendo held another show – which surprised us with the announcements of Fire Emblem and Xenoblade games, the new Nintendo Switch Sports, the proper reveal of the Disney-flavoured Kingdom Hearts 4 game and… The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timeit’s out later this year. I needed a minute to find myself after seeing it that cart. Nintendo Life has everything on what is shown.

• British home computer enthusiasts will be delighted this easter egg in the new Lego Batman game.

• Grand Theft Auto 6 it’s still coming in November, and with competitors scrambling to get their new games out, the release calendar for August, September and October looks packed. Like Kotaku’s Zack Zweizen writesThis series is scary for any player, but for social media? Terrible.

Worth clicking

Question Block

Before releasing Bob’s California Toys announced its own a new Spyro the Dragon game On Sunday, I spoke with studio head Paul Yan and director Lou Studdert about bringing back the little purple guy. Since Bob’s Toys made the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and the Crash Bandicoot remakes, I think they are the best people in the world to answer this question: “Who is the best 90s platformer icon, Spyro or Crash Bandicoot?”

Paul said: “Why choose us among our children, who does this?”

And Lou: “You know, I’ll say this: Crash Bandicoot is, well, my favorite. Spyro hands down, dear four.”

It is safe to say that the question is still open. One thing is for sure, though, both are better than one Bubsy.

If you have a Question Block question – or anything else to say about the newsletter – post a reply or email us at pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.