advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

The E3 gave us a lot to look forward to.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is perhaps the biggest annual gaming event and it’s been running for more than two decades. This year’s event was all-digital because of the pandemic, but that didn’t stop the big gaming companies from showing us what they’re working on. Here are just a few highlights of what we can look forward to in the near future:

• Microsoft had an amazing conference with a ton of new game announcements and updates on already announced titles. Almost all of the games they announced will be coming day 1 to the Xbox Game Pass.
• Square-Enix announced Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin – a soulsborne style action game mixed with traditional Final Fantasy elements. 
• For the Nintendo fans out there, Breath of the Wild 2 was announced for next year along with a slew of new games for the Switch.
• Ubisoft revealed Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – a game set in James Cameron’s Avatar movie universe. This will be a nextgen console exclusive and looks jaw-droppingly good from the footage we’ve seen so far.
• Intellivision – one of the original console makers from 70s – will be releasing a new family focused console similar to the Nintendo Switch. The focus of the Amico console seems to be on edutainment and simple fun party games.
• Pokémon UNITE is a new moba game similar to DotA2 and League of Legends – but with Pokémon! - it will be releasing for the Nintendo Switch in July and mobile devices in September.

Call of Duty Warzone gets 120fps update on PS5

This comes 6 months after the Xbox Series consoles got the patch, but the 120fps mode for Warzone is finally here for PS5 players. You’ll need to change a few settings in the console and you’ll also need a compatible display but PS5 warzone players can now enjoy the buttery smooth gameplay of ultrahigh framerates. 

Nintendo coming in with shady monetization

Fast travel is a standard feature in games these days. You shouldn’t need to spend half an hour running from one end of the map to the other just to talk to a character there, and this is seen as a must-have for games with really large maps. 

However, Nintendo seems to think otherwise. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a favourite among Zelda fans and is being given the HD rerelease treatment on the Switch. The only catch is - Nintendo has locked fast travel in the game to a separate amiibo purchase. Imagine having to pay an extra $25 to unlock such a basic feature in an open world exploration game.

Cyberpunk 2077 is back on PlayStation Store

Back in December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 managed to do something that not even the comically broken game Life of Black Tiger could do – get removed from the PlayStation Store. There were so many issues with the game that the resulting refund rush forced Sony to outright remove the game from the console store. Now, six months later Cyberpunk is finally getting redeemed.

Well, no. Not really. The game still runs abysmally bad on the PS4 console generation. When the game has “console optimization” as part of the patch notes it simply means they removed almost all NPCs and vehicles in the game so that it runs closer to 30fps. The result is the game now looks like a ghost town with no one else living in the city except for the player. This is in addition to all the previous glitches and gamebreaking bugs that are still present in the game.

Overwatch is here with some positive news

Blizzard just announced that Overwatch is going full crossplay. This is great news for any game, but especially a competitive multiplayer esports title that depends on a healthy playerbase. Everyone from PC, Xbox, PlayStation and even the Nintendo Switch can hop into the same lobbies. Console players can opt out of crossplay if they don’t want to be matched with other platforms.

Hopefully Overwatch 2 launches with the feature already implemented in matchmaking.

The Witcher season 2 is almost here

Despite some confusing narrative time-jumping shenanigans, the first season of Netflix’s Witcher was a hit. Henry Cavill - himself a huge fan of the Witcher game series – helped bring the titular character to life in a very physical way in the first season. Fans are eagerly waiting to see where the story will be going after the buildup of the first season. 

A teaser trailer of the second season is now up online, with an expected full release date of late 2021.

About the author: Maldivian Gaming League is a team of e-sports organizers and competition promoters based in the Maldives. For more information, check them out on Facebook or Instagram.