Month: June 2018

After years of anticipation, Kingdom Hearts III has now been given a firm release date. As the conclusion to the core trilogy of games, focusing on Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s adventures through Disney-themed worlds, the third game looks to expand its scope even further while still showing that its still got charm and plenty of heart. Coming to PS4 and Xbox One, the Kingdom Hearts III will arrive on January 29, 2019.

This news came rather suddenly, with the official Kingdom Hearts III twitter page unceremounously revealing the release info. While it’s been in development for years, series creator Tetsuya Nomura previously stated at last year’s D23 event that the release was planned for 2018. During a Kingdom Hearts III fan event in May, he also revealed that the final release date for the game would be unveiled soon.

Last month, we had some hands-on time with the game, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much the game’s style and tone has held over the years. While fans can still expect to explore worlds themed after many classic Disney animated films, Pixar is now set to make its debut with the Kingdom Hearts series. As of now, the confirmed Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III are Tangled, Big Hero Six, Hercules, Toy Story, and Monsters Inc.

For more info on Kingdom Hearts III and other Square-Enix titles during E3 2018, be sure to keep up with us we publish more content from the gaming world’s biggest event. The game will likely feature in Square Enix’s press conference, which is scheduled to be held on June 11.

After getting hands-on time with Anthem at E3 2018, we chat about how this online multiplayer RPG is a big change from developer Bioware.

The E3 2018 Xbox briefing, which is around 100 minutes long, will apparently include a lot of game reveals and other big announcements. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on Twitter today that he is excited to “world premiere 15 games” during the event, and announce “much, much more.” The exact wording leaves some things ambiguous, however, as “world premiere” could mean the premiere of a new mode for an announced game or something other than a full game announcement.

He tweeted after finishing the final rehearsal for the Xbox briefing. Spencer didn’t tease any of the reveals. However, EA announced during its own briefing today that more details on Battlefield V‘s single-player mode will be announced during the Xbox briefing.

Microsoft’s press conference kicks off Sunday, June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 11). We don’t know yet what Microsoft will show during the event, but game announcements, new gameplay footage for existing games, and surprises are expected.

You will be able to watch the entire event here on GameSpot, while we will have a liveblog of the show as well so you can see a blow-by-blow breakdown of the event.

Following Microsoft’s briefing on Sunday will be Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference at 6:30 PM PT / 9:30 PM ET. The show then rolls on from their with Ubisoft and Sony on Monday and then Nintendo on Tuesday.

For more, check out GameSpot’s E3 2018 hub to get up to speed on all the big news, videos, previews, and more.

The Madden franchise returns to PC this year, but what about Nintendo Switch? It’s not happening. Producer Ben Haumiller told GameSpot today at the EA Play event ahead of E3 2018 that while Madden 19 isn’t coming to Switch, future instalments could.

“We always think about every platform out there,” he said. “It’s really a decision of what’s best for Madden and us as EA and where we’re going.”

2017’s Madden 18 also skipped Nintendo Switch, but another EA Sports game–FIFA 18–came to the hybrid console that year. FIFA 19 is also scheduled to hit Switch, so it’s a bit of a bummer for American football fans to see the Madden franchise skip the console two years in a row.

In potentially more positive news, Haumiller said EA Sports has “always” evaluated bringing Madden to new platforms such as Switch. He suggested that if the Switch’s install base grows big enough, EA would more seriously consider bringing the game there.

“You never rule out getting you game in front of players. you want to go where everyone is. We’d never rule it out,” he said. “We just don’t have any current plans right now.”

It is understandable that EA would launch FIFA for Switch before any other sports franchises given the global appeal of soccer relative to the America-centric nature of football. While FIFA 18 did come to Switch, it was not the best-looking or most feature-rich version of the game. GameSpot’s FIFA 18 Switch review scored it a 5/10, compared to 7/10 for the PS4/Xbox One editions.

Haumiller didn’t give a specific reason for why Madden 19 isn’t coming to Switch. Like last year’s game, Madden 19 runs on the Frostbite engine, which also powers the new FIFA games. FIFA 18 for Switch, however, used a modified game engine.

In other Madden news, EA Sports told us to that Madden 19 will not address the NFL’s controversial new kneeling policy.