E3 is hands down the most exciting time to be a gamer. New announcements, official release dates, kand big surprises are almost always in store. This week we will be getting huge press conferences from EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Sony, and Ubisoft, with Nintendo kind of joining in on the fun with a livestream event at the tail end. And of course, countless third party and indie companies will be showing off their goods too.

EA kicked things off this week showcasing what they have in store for us in 2017 and beyond. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of EA, but this year’s conference felt a bit underwhelming. I definitely felt a heavy dose of deja vu. That’s not completely a bad thing, but I did leave the conference yearning for a bit more.

Most of my deja vu and underwhelmed feelings are a product of my complete disinterest in sports. I know a lot of you out there go buttz nutz for these games, but I just don’t care. MADDEN 18, FIFA 18, and NBA LIVE 18 were on display and they threw in yet another NEED FOR SPEED game NEED FOR SPEED PAYBACK for good measure. Granted, if I love sports and/or cars, these all look pretty excellent.

Near the beginning of this conference there was also a healthy amount of BATTLEFIELD 1 love showing off tons of new DLC that included 8 new maps and is positioned to land September 2017.

A pleasant surprise was definitely the reveal of a brand new game from Hazelight called A WAY OUT (trailer above). It’s a split-screen only co-op action adventure game revolving around a duo that needs to work together to break out of jail and survive while on-the-run. It looks pretty damn amazing and fun if you ask me. And I like how it’s split-screen only encouraging couch co-op but still offering online play. That said, this looks like a must-own to me when it lands in early 2018.

EA quickly snuck in a tease for a new Bioware IP called ANTHEM promising more to come during Microsoft’s conference. It peaked my curiosity for sure.

Then the rest, and definitely the bulk, of this presentation focused on EA’s bread and butter STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT 2. We already knew about this game, but it was great seeing some new gameplay footage. Highlights for me included:

-A meaty single player campaign set between RETURN OF THE JEDI and THE FORCE AWAKENS.

-3 times the amount of content than what was in BATTLEFRONT.

-The games maps cover ALL eras of STAR WARS including the prequels!

-A new class system adding much needed diversity to the gameplay.

-DLC being FREE this time around.

-Playable characters Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn, Phasma, Yoda, Darth Maul, and Boba Felt with many more to come!

After the BATTLEFRONT 2 showing, the conference concluded. Smart to end it on a high note, but by the end, I was really only excited for 2 games. Like I said before, not necessarily a “bad” showcase, but definitely underwhelming.

Stay tuned, we’re going to be covering all the conferences this week and there are surely some huge announcement just around the corner!