Nintendo wasn’t afraid to get weird at E3 2017

ABC
Jun 14, 2017, updated Jun 14, 2017

E3 is like Christmas in June if you're a video game fan. Photo: Getty

The hype train for all things video games pulled into Los Angeles this week for the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

For the uninitiated, it’s an annual conference where developers and publishers get together to show off and reveal their latest hardware and games.

It runs for another day, but all of the big players have held their major press briefings.

Here’s five of the biggest things gamers are going to be talking about from this E3.

Microsoft pulled the wraps off a shiny new Xbox

The tech-giant had the biggest hardware reveal of the show when it finally debuted its new console, the Xbox One X.

Microsoft revealed the Xbox One X at E3 2017. Photo: Microsoft

It’d been rumoured for a while (it even popped up at last year’s E3 under the name Project Scorpio) and it delivered what most had been expecting – this will be the most powerful console on the market with an equally big price tag to match, setting Australians back $649.

Without getting too deep in the weeds, the X will be a seriously souped up version of the Xbox One (Microsoft says it’ll be 40 per cent more powerful than its competitors) and it all comes packed in a very small box.

The biggest surprise was the console’s impressive backwards compatibility, stretching back to the original Xbox (Who can’t wait to play Blinx the Timesweeper again?…no? That’s just us?).

Nintendo had the biggest surprise and wasn’t afraid to get weird

The world of video games is notoriously leaky (looking at you Ubisoft) but Nintendo still managed to surprise when it announced two new games in its Metroid series.

It’s remastering Metroid II for the 3DS, which originally released in 1991 for the Game Boy, and announced Metroid Prime 4 for the Switch.

We also found out more about Super Mario Odyssey. Gameplay showed Mario turning into a taxi, a human and a T-Rex using his hat.

Yes really.

Nintendo also confirmed an unlikely team up with Ubisoft on a new title called Mario X Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

It’s…..weird.

VR is the new hotness but it’s still not the main game

Virtual reality gaming seemed to have a much bigger presence this year.

Bethesda showed off VR versions of three of its flagship titles, Doom, Fallout 4 and Skyrim, Sony’s beefing up the library of games for its PSVR headset and Ubisoft revealed its new VR game Transference with a creepy trailer starring Hollywood star Elijah Wood.

And yet … not a single announcement set the gaming community alight in a way that’s going to turn VR tech into a must-have.

For now, the technology remains an impressive but extremely expensive excursion away from traditional gaming experiences you’d expect on a console and a PC.

Pirates might be the new zombies (but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any zombies)

Slap a parrot on your shoulder and grab the rum because pirates are IN!

We got a look at two new swashbuckling games in the main conferences: Skull and Bones from Ubisoft and Sea of Thieves from Rare.

There was even first a look at Naughty Dog’s Uncharted spin-off Lost Legacy.

Zombies didn’t shamble off stage completely though. Sony showed gameplay from the previously announced Days Gone and Bethesda looks like it’ll be giving us nightmares with a sequel to The Evil Within.