It’s getting to feel a lot like Christmas.  As in that gaming news keeps clawing its way earlier and earlier on the calendar.  Back when I was a kid, it was all about CES.  Then the gaming industry started its own show so it wouldn’t be lumped in with TVs and Camcorders called E3.  Then the REAL news started showing up before E3 at Press Conferences. Finally, here we are two weeks before E3 and the game industry is throwing out announcements and teasers like they were 8 month old spaghetti you found in some Tupperware in the back of the top shelf of the fridge that you can never see all the way unless you crouch down so you forget things back there a lot and oh hey we DID have butter!

Anyway, let’s get into it.

Fallout 76

What we know:  Fallout 76 is being developed by Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Game Studios Austin (Formerly BattleCry Studios).  We know its set in Vault 76, one of VaulTec’s “Control Vaults” that didn’t have any weird experiments and was set to open 25 years after the bombs fell – making this one of the earliest Fallout games chronologically.  We know that Bethesda Austin has experience with multiplayer (they assisted Id Software with making Doom 2016’s multiplayer mode) and we know that they were hiring people with Free-to-Play/Micro-transaction game experience.

What We Think:  My money is on some kind of squad based multiplayer game that are all the rage with developers right now (From what I can tell, the public isn’t really biting) – probably to compete with EA’s Anthem and Activision’s Destiny.  No clue how required the multiplayer aspect will be for the game, but you can bet that micro-transactions will be involved.  The game will probably center around venturing out of the vaults and trying to stake a claim in the post-apocalyptic world, establishing the earliest settlements in the wastes, etc.

I also wouldn’t be shocked if there was some PvP elements to this, since then Bethesda can recycle the canceled BattleCry game with its 5v5 squad based combat as some level of return on investment.

Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee

What We Know: Pokemon’s first major outing on the Switch is a return to basics with a semi-reboot of the original Red/Blue games updated with new mechanics.  Everything from Team Rocket to Mewtwo was shown in the trailer as well as being a return to “Your First Adventure” in the Kanto Region.

However, this time you have a shoulder-riding pal in Pikachu or Eevee that can be dressed up and played with.  The wild pokemon catching mechanic seems to built on the Pokemon Go mobile app’s core mechanics rather than battling but battling with your pokemon is still a thing with other trainers.

There will be additional functionality between Pokemon Go and Pokemon Let’s Go where you will be able to send Pokemon back and forth from the two games (depicted as being possibly temporary or in a minor way – it was shown being imported into a “Go Park” in the trailer).

The game will have a multiplayer component.  The game only uses a single joycon to play, so if someone hops on using the the second joycon, you will have a second player join you in the game.  It appears you’ll be able to try and catch pokemon together with properly timed ball tosses giving some kind of special bonus perhaps.

Finally, there will be a ‘substitute’ joycon in the form of the Pokeball Plus – a pokeball with a joystick/button at its center.  Meaning the the mechanics to play the game can likely be distilled into a joystick to move, a button to interact, and motion controls to throw balls.  The Pokeball Plus can also store an ‘uploaded’ pokemon that you can take with you.  Unsure if its ANY pokemon or just Pikachu/Eevee.

What We Think:  In terms of a first outing on a new console?  I think this is a great idea.  It combines the already popular Pokemon Go app with the traditional pokemon experience,  it takes full advantage of everything that the Switch can offer a game (Multiplayer with multiple joycons, motion controls, etc.), and gives a fresher update on the original Kanto games (Let’s be honest, LeafGreen and FireRed didn’t bring a ton of ‘new’ to the table beyond using the Ruby/Sapphire game engine and allowing you to trade to old pokemon to the newer games).

For those who were hoping for a more tradiitonal Pokemon experience, Nintendo was nice enough to make mention that another ‘brand new’ Pokemon game was slated for 2019.  I however will be VERY happy with this one in the meantime.  It looks fun and has a lot of fresh new ideas to play with.  I do want to dress Eevee up as a mad scientist.

Pokemon Quest

What We Know:  Don’t care.

What We Think:  Really don’t care.