Video Games Weekly: E3

If you ever wonder where you can get tons of information about upcoming video games, E3 is one of the best places to check!  E3 stands for “Electronic Entertainment Expo”.  It is a large annual conference held in LA that brings video game professionals from all kinds of gaming into one place.  This year, E3 is June 14th-June 16th.

Here are some of the things you can expect to see at E3:

Game Trailers and Previews: Have you noticed how some of the YouTube videos have “E3 Trailer” in the title? That’s because many companies reveal their latest games at E3!  These video games are usually coming out in the following fall or winter.  It’s beneficial for librarians to watch E3 trailers because it’ll help gauge what video games will be popular in the coming months.  It’ll also give you a sense as to what the game is about before it’s released, which can help with gamer’s advisory.  Click here to see Gamestop’s 2016 list of E3 trailers.

Press Conferences: E3 hosts press conferences for the largest mainstream gaming companies like Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo.  These press conferences will have in-depth coverage of that company’s newest games, announcements, and trailer teasers. You can stream these press conferences for free!

New Consoles Will Be Revealed: I know, it’s a doozy. Most libraries are still supplying games for both older consoles and the newest ones, and now there might be ANOTHER new one?!  Well, according to GameStop, Xbox will reveal a new version of Xbox One.  On the other side of the playing field, PS4 is also slated to reveal a new version of the PS4.  Finally, Nintendo may be coming out with a new Wii U.  The other exciting part is there are rumors going around that virtual reality (VR) consoles will get some attention.  I’ll probably write about VR gaming at a later date, but for now it’s a good idea for librarians to have VR on their radar.

These are just some of the reasons why you should check out E3!  It’s a conference that I would love to attend someday, but I’ll be at ALA Orlando instead. The good news is all of the big announcements, press conferences, etc. are available to view for free online, and many gamer news outlets will be covering E3.  Don’t forget to mark your calendars!

Questions? Comments? Tweet them at me!

By: Alanna Graves
Twitter: @LannaLibrarian

Filed under: Uncategorized, Video Games, Video Games Weekly