Summer Game Fest: Bond and Game of Thrones among the big reveals

BBC News

21 hours ago

So gaming's biggest weekend for new announcements is here, with dozens of titles being shown off for the first time.Summer Game Fest kicked of the annual preview marathon in the US last night as the industry's major studios tried to grab attention with new reveals and glossy trailers. This year, some of the biggest stars from film and music were there to add some stardust too.Against a backdrop of lots of firms cutting jobs as people spend less on new games, developers use more of their time on big hitters like Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto and Minecraft.That means they need to work a lot harder to convince you to splash your cash on new games.BBC Newsbeat has been through all the Summer Game Fest announcements that were hoping to get us doing just that.Here are some of the highlights...
Dragons at the ready for Game of Thrones
For years it was the TV show everyone was talking about. Now Australian developer PlaySide is hoping we'll do the same for its new game based on the popular series. War for Westeros is a real-time strategy game - or RTS - out next year, where players can control the armies of the Great Houses across some of the locations you might know from the show and books it's based on. We've been told you'll be able to take over Westeros solo, or play against your mates online when it launches on PC next year.
Mads Mikkelsen stars again as Bond villain
What's your favourite Bond film of all time? If the answer is Casino Royale, you're in for a treat.Mads Mikkelsen is reprising his role as villain Le Chiffre, albeit as a digital double based on his appearance. But there's a twist, this isn't for a Bond game - instead he'll be in an update for the popular Hitman series.It all makes more sense now we know the studio behind that game, IO Interactive, is working on a brand new Bond game, called 007: First Light. Players will unlock awards in that game if they take on this challenge in Hitman too.It also gives us our strongest hint yet that Le Chiffre will make an appearance in 007: First Light.
Resident Evil returns for its Requiem
Capcom's zombie-horror Resident Evil series is almost 30 years old, and we now know it'll celebrate that milestone with its ninth game.An action packed trailer revealed Resident Evil 9 would be called Requiem, and showed off what looks like a destroyed version of the game's iconic Racoon City. It's launching across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC next year.No word on it coming to Nintendo's new, more powerful Switch 2 console yet though.
Team up with the Wu-Tang Clan
Yes you read that right. Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver promises to let you and your friends fight alongside the '90s hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan in a game that mixes combat and music.The developers have teased an Afro-surrealism style mixed with anime in the first trailer, as well as plenty of tracks from the band itself.It's not the first game to feature them though - back in 1999 they released a fighting game called Wu-Tang Shaolin Style to mixed reviews.
Dinosaurs... made in Cambridge
Stating the obvious a bit... but there was no shortage of dinosaurs in the first full trailer for Jurassic World Evolution 3.It's a game where you build and manage your own version of the amusement park from the movies its based on.The studio behind it, Frontier Developments in Cambridge, also revealed a launch date in October across consoles and PC.
Stay tuned...
So that's you up-to-date with some of the biggest moments from the opening night of summer Game Fest in Los Angeles. But that's not all, there's plenty more showcases and announcements Newsbeat will be keeping across over the weekend......including Xbox's big showcase on Sunday night where we might hear more about titles like Call of Duty, Games of War or even the long-dormant Halo franchise.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.