E3 2021 concluded this week and there were a lot of interesting new titles. We got to see Starfield, Forza Horizon 5, and Guardians of the Galaxy. At the Xbox and Bethesda showcase, Microsoft also gave us a look at the free-to-play multiplayer mode of Halo: Infinite — the next version of the popular Xbox and Windows first-person shooter game. Mario fans were pleased with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope at Ubisoft’s E3 presentation.
On this week’s Gadgets 360 podcast Orbital, host Akhil Arora is joined by deputy video head Cyrus John and chief sub-editor Shayak Majumder to talk about all the key announcements of E3 2021.
We start off with our favourite games, including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy — a new action-adventure game based on the zany superheroes of the Marvel universe. It was showcased by Square Enix and has Star-Lord as the prime character. However, the game will not come with multiplayer support, something that might disappoint Marvel fans who want to play with characters such as Groot and Rocket as well. I am Groot!
Xbox E3 2021: Forza Horizon 5, Starfield, Free Halo Infinite, and More
Microsoft surprised us with Forza Horizon 5, a new arcade racing title that is coming in November. It will let you form a co-op convoy, participate in minigames, and challenge other players in Horizon Arcade. The game will be available in 1080p at 30fps on Xbox Series S and 4K at 30fps on Xbox Series X, with an optional 60fps performance mode.
Bethesda Softworks, which was acquired by Microsoft last year, came up at this year’s E3 event with a bunch of new titles. Starfield is the highlight, with the sci-fi role-playing game revealed to be exclusive to Xbox Series S/X and PC.
The Halo: Infinite multiplayer trailer was very promising, but weirdly, Microsoft wouldn’t give us an exact release date — it’s simply Holiday 2021 — even though we have exact dates for Xbox’s 2022 titles, including Starfield (coming November 11, 2022 — exactly 11 years to the day since Bethesda launched Skyrim).
For people who want to build and wage war with new civilisations, E3 2021 brought another trailer for Age of Empires IV that will be released in late October. The game, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios, revealed two new civilisations — France, with returning Joan of Arc, and Abbasid Dynasty — and the concept of naval battles. Hopefully, Age of Empires IV will take more after the beloved Age of Empires II, and not the much less liked Age of Empires III.
This year’s E3 also gave us a look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora that is releasing in 2022. The first person game will be available across platforms, namely Windows PCs, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. As you can tell, it’s a purely next-generation adventure.
Gamers on Nintendo Switch are getting Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The former is the successor to the original Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle that was launched back in 2017. It reunites Mario, Peach, Luigi, and their Rabbid counterparts. You’ll also have toy guns to kill enemies during the adventure. The new Legend of Zelda title, on the other hand, brings gamers to the cloudy world above Hyrule. The trailer of the new Zelda segment included an Easter Egg embedded into its music track.
That’s not all in this week’s episode. We also discuss the anticipated Nintendo Switch Pro console and some more interesting games that are coming in the future.
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