Electronic Entertainments Expo 2014

In just a few short hours the Electronic Entertainments Expo (aka. E3) 2014 will be opening in Los Angeles. For those of you unaware, this is one of the biggest annual events in the gaming calendar. It runs for four days giving companies the chance to announce, show off and generally create hype for the games they have lined up for release in the year ahead. Unfortunately, as a poor student living in the UK I am unable to attend. However, I am going to keep myself updated using various live streams, and will be posting my thoughts on the announcements soon after they go live.

I am actually excited for this year's E3. The last few have passed me by as I felt little to no enthusiasm towards them, mainly because they seemed to be focused more on the consoles than the games. I was initially looking forward to the next generation console announcements, but these turned out to be a let-down in my opinion so I lost interest. To make matters worse, these events showcasing what could well be the next ten years or so of gaming seemed to be poorly organised. The PR handling and fan responses left me with a bad taste in my mouth. If I am honest I still feel disdain towards the Xbox One and the PS4. Sony and Microsoft are trying too hard to create entertainment systems with glitzy graphics, rather than fun and enjoyable games. My attention is rather captivated once more by Nintendo and a few other third party publishers who I believe are making games that are fun rather than visual spectaculars.

E3 begins with Microsoft's press conference on Monday the 9th of June at 4.30PM GMT. They will be followed by EA, Ubisoft, Sony and then Nintendo. This year I hope that because the new gaming consoles have now been released they will go back to focusing on games. I have checked their website to see what is on display and found a list with some promising titles.

A list of games confirmed to be shown at E3 can be found here.

These are the titles that are of great interest to me:

• Batman Arkham Knight
• Disney Infinity 2.0 (Childish I know, but come on. Who doesn't want to see Captain America get owned by Maleficent?)
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (The last part to yet another awesome Bioware made trilogy)
• Hyrule Warriors (The Legend of Zelda series given a Dynasty Warriors Twist)
• Kingdomhearts 2.5 and 3
• Legend of Zelda Wii U
• Mass Effect 4
• Pokemon Omega Ruby/ Alpha Saphire
• Super Smash Bros. Wiiu/3DS
• Warhammer 40K: The Eternal Crusade
• X (Monolith's WiiU game)

Where will Mass Effect go now Shephard's story is done?

And these are the ones that I'd like to keep an open mind for:

• Sonic Boom
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Tales From The Borderlands
• The Order: 1886
• The Evil Within

There are also some that I really don't want to see. For instance, both Halo 5 and Gears of War 4; two series that I loved, yet I think both should have ended by now. I don't want new installments as I feel that both have already had their most gripping story arcs completed. Of course, there is also Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Battlefield 5,  I loathe the fact that yet more is being added to what I believe to be already stale franchises.

I can't help but wish that Master chief
would ride his Arbiter into the sunset.

Lastly, I really hope there are some surprises in store from E3. Although due to many 'leaks' that have occurred it seems like we have a good picture of what is being showcased. This is a shame in one respect as I do like a good surprise, but at the same time discovering what is being shown has also drawn my interest. One of my biggest secret wishes is that Nintendo gives me some real hope for the future of the Wii U.

E3 can be watched live from their website Here, and a list of games being displayed is here.

What are you looking forward to from E3 2014? Let me know in the comments!

Mass Effect image from the fuse joplin, E3 logo from gadgety news, Halo image from jujukind on Tumblr