‘Speaking of Final Fantasy…’
The “Summer of Gaming,” aka “not-E3” kicked off at 3PM ET on June 8, 2023, and our old pal Geoff Keighley was available for more hard-hitting game trailer reveals and lighthearted DoorDash ad reads. Seriously, good recovery on that one!
So what did we get this year? A decent chunk of AAA and indie reveals across a large spectrum of genres, and a big Final Fantasy finish. Naturally, as it is prone to do, Final Fantasy (or more specifically, Final Fantasy 7) stole the show with a “one more thing” and gave us a smoldering Sephiroth shot, as well as confirmation that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is out in 2024 on two discs. I can’t wait to see the final installation size.
Lies of P continues to look mysteriously enticing, there were a few crossover/cameo reveals (including a segment where Nic Cage said he wanted to “fuse” with the player live on stage), and we got some brief info on Spider-Man 2, as well as an October 20 release date. You can read all of the major headlines below.
To E3 or not to E3?
I’ve said it before, but I miss the old E3 format quite a bit. The ESA had lots of room for improvement (and in many cases, failed to adapt even with bright signposts at every turn), but proper E3 events just felt bigger. That downward spiral was inevitable given the modern focus of individually curated bite-sized streams, but it was accelerated by the effective demise of the ESA’s greater influence on the industry.
Still, we got a few cool reveals and more Final Fantasy 7 at The Game Awards this year. It’s enough.
All the major headlines from The Game Awards 2023
- Not-E3 kicks off with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, a new Metroidvania
- Check out the first Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay in all of its gory glory
- Path of Exile 2 gameplay revealed, more to come on July 28
- Ryu and Guile are bringing their butts to Exoprimal X Street Fighter 6
- Finally, a real look at Nic Cage in Dead by Daylight
- Sonic Superstars will offer new thrills with old-school feels
- Lies of P demo available now on PC and consoles
- Project Sand Land is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
- Alan Wake 2 footage debuts at Summer Game Fest
- Warhaven will be playable as part of Steam Next Fest
- Toxic Commando is a new zombie masher from produced by John Carpenter
- Hopefully Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria can top the Gollum game
- Marvel’s Spider Man 2 will launch on October 20
- Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis now accepting pre-registrations on iOS and Android
- ‘Pokemon but with guns’ Palworld is coming January 2024
- Fae Farm is bringing the cozy farming to Switch and PC on September 8
- Here’s our first clip of Twisted Metal TV adaptation. Uh oh.
- Indie time traveling ARPG Lysfanga coming in 2023
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is coming early 2024 on TWO DISCS
