More gaming news from Summer Game Fest 2024!

    Summertime has always been one of the best times to be a fan of video games. For over 20 years, E3 was treated as something like a second Christmas for us who tuned in every year to see what would be announced. Of course, there weren't presents, besides the ones that we would buy eventually once they came out, but it just always felt so good to know what was coming down the pipeline for some of our favorite developers. This is the first year since the official death of E3 after several years of warning signs, leaving Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest to become the one show of the summer to unite the fans of different companies. Of course, the big three (Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony) all have their own shows to tend to now, while Keighley is in charge of some announcements that may not have the same attachments to the console makers as their own first party studios. We got some cool things on Friday during their kick-off event, and we got a few more cool things from Xbox's games showcase on Sunday. Let's talk about a few of the highlights here today, shall we?

Summer Game Fest First!

    There are always jokes to be told about how many world premieres there are at these big events, and this one was no exception. Obviously I can't talk about everything, but I have to mention the things that I am the most excited about, because there are quite a few! If you've talked to me, there is a good chance that I've discussed Lego games as being some of my favorites to complete, and that's why the first announcement of the show was so exciting. Lego: Horizon Adventures is a wild idea that I never thought would happen. It's a Lego game set in the universe of Horizon Zero Dawn, and for it to be their first time adapting another video game (Lego: Rock Band doesn't really count), I thought it would be some franchise that is much better known, like Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda, but on the other hand, this could be a really good move. Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West both came out in a time when a much bigger title had either just come out or was about to come out, so both of them flew under the radar, so maybe they're banking on getting younger players invested in the game so that when they get older, they can become fans of the series. I don't know if that's what they're playing at, but I am very excited for this game, and I will be completing it almost certainly as soon as it comes out this holiday season. Neva, the next game from the creators of Gris is coming sometime later this year, and it's looking just as beautiful and stunning as their last game based on the new gameplay that we saw! Metaphor: ReFantazio looks like another persona game without actually getting that naming convention! It looks really cool from the little that they showed, though I think the job system that they introduced may be a little too over intimidating. Hopefully people will like it because it looks pretty cool, combining some of the Persona elements that we all know and love with some elements of the Final Fantasy series? Either way, it looks like it'll be really interesting.

    Fans of the Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi series are surely happy now because Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero looks to be a continuation of that, and it wasn't the only fighting game included in this presentation. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves brings back some of that SNK charm from back in the day. It's amazing that Terry Bogard appeared in two announcements during this event after being largely out of the spotlight for quite some time. He showed up along with Mai as DLC fighters for Street Fighter 6, which was exciting, along with M. Bison, who apparently wasn't in the base game. Mechabreak looks to be a game for those Gundam fans who have been wanting to scratch an itch for a mech game for some time. Hopefully it'll be able to stand up against Armored Core 6, which just came out last year. Power Rangers is not a show or a franchise that I've ever cared about that much, being one of the few shows that my parents never let me watch as a little kid. That being said,  Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind is a beat-em-up that looks a lot like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, which is a very good thing in my book. There was a horror/action game called Slitherheads that was directed by the creator of the Silent Hill franchise. You fight bug creatures and you can possess new people and do unnatural things through the game, I don't know how to best describe it, but it looks really cool. Killer Bean is almost at the exact other end of the spectrum, which is looking to be a really goofy parody of Grand Theft Auto games, but you play as a giant bean taking out other beans who have wronged you.

    Alan Wake 2 was announced to have the first DLC coming out the next day, Night Springs. That game was definitely among my favorites to come out last year, and I've already played the DLC now. Jesse from Control makes an appearance as the main character of one of the three episodes. The whole package is wild, hilarious, and very fun. There was another trailer for the new Skate game, starring Tim Robinson as an executive at a big company that doesn't like skating. There's still no release date or window announced, but it is a relief that they're still working on it. They also put out a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, and it still looks really good, even if it's not exactly my cup of tea. The new trailer for Sonic X Shadow Generations looked fantastic, and I have to say it was definitely one of the highlights of the show for sure.

    All in all, it was a pretty strong showcase, with at least a few games piquing my interest! Honestly, I've spoken so much about the Summer Game Fest, I'll split this post into a few of them, since I still have the Xbox showcase to go, and there's a rumored Nintendo Direct coming sometime this month. It's just a very busy month for gaming news, and I'll continue reporting it very soon!

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! If you can believe it, I actually held myself back from reporting on a lot of stuff, and still ended up with a whole lot of announcements reported on. I hope you're enjoying your summer so far, it's always nice to have a little bit of downtime! Until next time, I'm Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed Games Journalist, and I'll talk to you again soon!