From Halo’s return to a new Nintendo Switch – five things to watch out for at E3 2021
All eyes will be on E3 this weekend as the world’s biggest gaming convention gets going online, with some exciting announcements expected.
The industry event has taken place every June (except last year, for obvious reasons) since 1995, and is hotly anticipated by gamers around the world.
Fans can usually look forward to new games, sneak previews, updates to old favourites, and sometimes even fresh consoles – with this year looking no different.
Fans usually gather in Los Angeles for the convention. Pic: AP
Among the companies in attendance will be Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Microsoft – all hoping to wow the crowd, which this year will be virtual.
One gaming giant that is notably absent though is PlayStation maker Sony – who ditched the convention a few years back in favour of making announcements elsewhere.
With video games having become ever more popular during the pandemic, as much of the world’s population was ordered to stay at home, plenty of players are chomping at the bit for new experiences.
Here is a round-up of some of the biggest announcements we’re expecting.
Halo Infinite should emerge from its COVID-enforced hibernation
Microsoft revealed some new gameplay footage of the latest Halo instalment last year – but it was largely criticised by fans and the press, forcing a delay to its release.
It had been due to arrive at the same time as the new Xbox Series X and S consoles last November, but the developer 343 Industries clearly struggled with the shift to working from home.
Fans believe Halo Infinite will be at the heart of Microsoft’s showcase on Sunday (6pm UK time), and is set to pick up the story of Master Chief on a mysteriously damaged Halo (the ring-shaped planets that have been a staple of the series since it debuted on the original Xbox in 2001).
The launch of Microsoft’s next-gen consoles was overshadowed by the PS5, which has boasted exclusive games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart, adding to the pressure on Halo Infinite to deliver.
Hopefully we get a new release date on Sunday – at the moment the game’s only pencilled in for a vague 2021.
Fans panned Halo Infinity when gameplay footage was released in 2020. Pic: Microsoft
Fans could finally learn what Starfield is – three years after its announcement
Microsoft has made a big deal in the last 12 months of buying Bethesda – as they darn well should.
That’s the studio behind iconic and long-running franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, so you can see why Microsoft shelled out an eye-watering $7.5bn (£5.3bn).
There are very scant details on the studio’s next big release, Starfield. We do know it will be a sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) but we’ve only seen one image since the announcement that is was being made in 2018.
Bethesda have managed to attract some Hollywood talent to their games in the past, including the likes of Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart, and there are rumours that one Tom Cruise may be involved this time.
A 2021 release seems unlikely given how little we know about Starfield, but we should find out more at the Microsoft showcase on Sunday.
Little is known about Starfield – but that could soon change. Pic: Bethesda
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2’s release date may be revealed
Breath Of The Wild’s sequel is one of the most anticipated games in YEARS – and it’s expected to get its release date this weekend, as well as a rumoured first gameplay trailer.
The multi-award-winning Breath Of The Wild was a runaway success when it was released at the launch of the original Nintendo Switch in 2017 (emphasis on original, more on that later), with fans of the franchise begging for a sequel to the first truly open-world Zelda game.
The Zelda games celebrate their 35th anniversary this year, and it shows no sign of slowing down. With titles including Ocarina Of Time, Twilight Princess and Link To The Past, it is one of the most highly regarded game franchises ever.
Earlier this year, Nintendo revealed it was remastering Skyward Sword for the Switch console, after getting its initial run out on the Wii about a decade ago.
Eagle-eyed fans have already spotted some major gaming retailers taking pre-orders for the second instalment of Breath Of The Wild – so we may not be waiting much longer.
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild was a runaway success following its 2017 launch. Pic: Nintendo
Ubisoft will give us more on Rainbow Six and Far Cry 6
Although not new announcements, we’re expecting more information on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction (just renamed from Rainbow Six Quarantine because of you know what) and Far Cry 6.
A few bits of gameplay have previously leaked for both, but we expect to get the first official look at the new games in action at Ubisoft’s event on Saturday (8pm UK time).
Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian star Giancarlo Esposito stars in Far Cry 6 as villain Anton Castillo, and players will be able to unlock a number of different endings.
Ubisoft will have plenty else to show, and there’s nothing to suggest that everything will involve the number six. A new Assassin’s Creed seems unlikely, though, given that content is still arriving for last year’s Valhalla.
More details about Far Cry 6 could be revealed. Pic: Ubisoft
Nintendo could… switch up the Switch
Nintendo is adamant that its convention slot will be purely focused on games – but that hasn’t stopped rumours of it announcing a new beefed-up version of the Switch.
Reports have had it named as everything from the Nintendo Switch Pro to the Super Nintendo Switch, but industry insiders seem to agree that it’ll feature a bigger screen (seven inches to be precise) and be able to output at 4K when hooked up to a TV – bringing it in line with its Sony and Microsoft competition.
What better way to show off Breath Of The Wild 2 than with a shiny new console, after all.
We’ll know about both either way at Nintendo’s event on Tuesday, broadcasting at 5pm UK time.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
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