By: Tyler Miller

It’s E3 time everyone! E3 is quickly approaching and the hype is rising. You can almost smell it if you sniff hard enough. Okay maybe not, but you get what I mean. E3 is one week away and everyone’s anticipating the games that’ll be shown and the announcements that’ll be made, especially since many games have been leaked already (thanks Walmart!). Let’s not delay any longer though. We start on the Road to E3 2018 with the first press conference of the show: Electronic Arts.

What I’m Looking Forward To

Anthem

EA and Bioware’s biggest and most ambitious game so far, Anthem is at a crucial stage in its life. It impressed with its debut last year with its massive, detailed world and fun looking combat. At the same time, it also marked EA’s first step into the shared world shooter genre that Destiny has been running for a couple years now. With fans mostly disappointed with the way Destiny 2 has been run so far, this is the perfect opportunity for Anthem to step in and show how it’ll be a better and more fun game than Destiny is.

Battlefield V

Who would’ve thought that the reveal of Battlefield V would be surrounded by controversy and hate from the very fans that play the games? Claims of the game not being “historically accurate” and trying to fulfill a diversity quota because of the woman in the game were all that you heard about from fans *cough* entitled man-children *cough* when this game was first revealed. Despite all the issues that fans may have with the game, it still seems like it could be pretty cool and fun. While the trailer may have been HEAVILY choreographed and in no way actual gameplay, it certainly has my interest. The details that DICE revealed about the game in regards to multiplayer modes and single player paint a picture of a game that wants to be as fun as past games in the series, while introducing new ways to play and enjoy yourself as well. I’m not hyped for the game yet, but I do have my eye on this one.

EA Originals

The past couple E3’s have been home to smaller indie titles that EA dubs EA Originals. Whether it be Unraveled or A Way Out, these games have always caught the eyes of viewers and made us want to play them. While it’s unknown what games will be revealed this year as part of EA Originals, I’m really looking forward to whatever new creations are in store for us.

Star Wars

In the past year, so much has happened to Star Wars in the games industry. The highly anticipated single-player Amy Hennig directed game from Visceral Games was cancelled alongside the closure of the studio, and then given to EA Vancouver, where it is being changed into a game with the “games as a service” model. As if that wasn’t bad enough for fans, Battlefront II had its own share of controversy surrounding loot boxes, causing the game to suffer in sales, and becoming the tipping point in the conversation about loot boxes being gambling and how they’re implemented in games. It’s safe to say that EA hasn’t been doing the Star Wars franchise any favors. Now is the time to try to save face and show fans that they can do the right thing with the franchise and deliver great games that we want to play. Show us what Respawn Entertainment has been working on for all these years. Maybe give us a peak at what this new game is that EA Vancouver is making? I still have faith in you guys.

What I Don’t Want To Happen

For Star Wars To Disappoint

Although I’m hopeful that we’ll get some juicy Star Wars news from EA this year, I’m 100% ready for them to completely disappoint and not offer up anything of substance at all. Sure they’ll talk about their mobile game and The Old Republic, but that’s not what the majority of us want to see or hear about. We want to see these games that you all have been promising us for years now. That doesn’t mean showing us people in mo-cap suits jumping around with sticks in their hands, or giving us a 10-second shot of a character walking out of a building.

After all this time, if EA doesn’t have something nice and meaty to show us, then I’m most likely not going to care about these games anymore and will just want the Star Wars license to be given to a different company. I’m all for giving a game time to cook and be the best it can be (I’m a Kingdom Hearts fan after all), but with how much EA has let us down in the past couple years, I’m real close to just giving up on Star Wars games from EA altogether.

Just like last year, there’s really not much I’m looking forward to from EA at E3. There are a couple things that have me interested in and want to see more from, but there’s nothing that I’m on the hype train for just yet. This E3 could change that though if EA has a great showing. At the same time though, I’m prepared for them to blow it and disappoint, but I’m hoping for the best. All will be laid to rest though when EA has their press conference next Saturday at 11 AM PT/ 2 PM ET.