Still Playing Sunshine

 Well, Summer is in swing, and that's brought a whole bunch of gaming news and upcoming releases.  Geoff Keighley, the founder and host of the annual Game Awards show, runs a show during the summer, the aptly named Summer Games Fest, though more shows air during that time, like Day of the Devs and others.  I didn't catch all of them, but I certainly caught a few, and I figured now that they've ended but are still fresh, I'd go through the 4 shows I saw, take a good look at the shows and what was shown and provide my own grad for the show!  I'll try to cover as much of each show as I can, so let's dive in starting with: SUMMER GAMES FEST: This one aired on June 5th, 2026.  This is Geoff Keighley's annual Summer show.  If you've ever watched any of the Game Award shows, the format of this show works pretty much the same- Gaming announcements followed by segments on stage that either end up funny or groan-worthy.  There were some pretty good announcements...

 If there's one thing people who play games, people who read book, or, well, people who do almost anything hate, it's censorship.  That idea that someone else can tell you what you can or can't play or read something tends to not go over well.  Enter the group Collective Shout: an Australian "activist" group formed by Melissa Tankard Reist.  Melissa being a pro-life, anti-porn activist, it was only a matter of time before she and her group eventually came after video games like they have this year. Not long ago now, Collective Shout decried that game stores were selling games that encouraged violence and/or were sexually explicit.  While some games that have made it to the stores, like the ever baffling No Mercy (one wonders how that even passed a sniff test, given its content), definitely needed to be reviewed and taken off the storefronts, Collective Shout wasn't happy with just removing the actually weird games.  They sensed blood in the water, and they ...

 It's time to talk about that thing game companies love doing.  Exclusivity is one of the most argued over practices in gaming, because we love it when we get them, but not when others do.  It's supposed to be the big draw that entices you over to one side or another, but really. it's about time this little thing ended.  Exclusivity is nothing more than a money grabbing gimmick that serves no purpose other than to block some gamers from playing.  Wanna get that new Wolverine game or maybe bring the Rare collection game wherever you go?  Well the companies say "Too bad!"  These games can only be played one a particular companies' console, and you'll just have to shell out the cash for that and the game.  What this does is entice gamers to spend more money than they should be because it's not possible to get the one game on anything else thanks to gaming heads.  Gaming should be a thing for everyone to enjoy, and unless the company keeping it f...

 Another E3 is wrapping up as I write this and the new online formula was tested.  There was much to see despite Covid-19 limiting what developers had ready to show, and things ran the gamut from great to awful this year.  E3 is full of things for different gamers, and now it's time to look back at everything we've seen these last 4 days and sort out what fell where, starting with the more lackluster and moving upwards! The Worst: Ubisoft Forward: The Ubisoft presentation was pretty standard for them.  We got a new Rainbow Six  announcement with Rainbow Six Extraction , which sees players go up against an alien parasite foe.  Players found more Farcry 6  news as well as Blood Dragon  and a new thing that sees players take on the roles of Vaas and other villains.  We got a new dance game and some sports titles, but the highlight had to be the reveal of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope , which gave us a glimpse into the more free moving gameplay...

 E3 2021 approaches fast, and since large gatherings are still out of the question, the event has become the "Electronic Entertainment Experience", going all online for the first time ever (2020 was canceled).  While many talk about what they hope to see and what series deserve a new entry, a different thought occurred to me.  Being all online is definitely convenient for more people, but given how much gets announced and shown off at the event by so many companies,  can everything be done like this well? The usual spectacle of E3 is a big draw.  So many industry big names showing off what they have planned to large crowds.  The reactions and the in person reveals make up so much of what makes E3 fun, so having pre-recorded or even live recordings of it will never be able to hit the same way as being in person would. While companies like Nintendo and Sony had already begun their shift to video presentations a few years ago, others like Bethesda and Microsof...