E3 is almost always an exciting time for gamers, and this year has brought an especially healthy amount of good news for the PC. So, we made a list of our favorite things! Let’s get straight to it.
AMD’s 300-series and Fury graphics cards
We’re still analyzing benchmarks before making a verdict on AMD’s new graphics cards, but it is certainly refreshing to see them with something new.
The company has announced details on its 300-series of cards, as well as a new line of ‘Fury’ branded cards utilizing their new Fiji GPU and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Here are some basic details for the new cards:
- R7 360, 2 GB GDDR5, $109, June 18 release
- R7 370, 2 & 4 GB GDDR5, $149, June 18
- R9 380, 2 & 4 GB GDDR5, $199, June 18
- R9 390, 8 GB GDDR5, $329, June 18
- R9 390X, 8 GB GDDR5, $429, June 18
- R9 Fury, 4 GB HBM, $549, July 14
- R9 Fury X, 4 GB HBM, $649, June 24
AMD also announced a Dual Fury X and a Fury Nano card for some time down the line, but details are scant. Overall, we’re just happy to see AMD back with cards that will hopefully compete against the best of NVIDIA.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 Trailer
We might not have rated MGS V: Ground Zeroes very highly in our review, but make no mistake: We love MGS and can’t wait for Kojima to bring the Phantom Pain.
Fallout 4′s laser musket (OK, and the rest of the game)
https://youtu.be/w-rpof6LFc4
Crank, crank, pew.
No Man’s Sky confirmed for PC
The inaugural ‘PC Gaming Show’ at E3 was a bit of a bore, but they still saved some exciting news for the end, when the developers of No Man’s Sky announced that the game – which was previously suggested to be a Playstation 4 exclusive and looks like the best universe exploration game ever – would be coming to PC.
Dark Souls 3 announced
The Dark Souls games have been a big success on PC, but this is the first one to get a PC release at the same time as the consoles.
StarVR headset announced
In probably the most unexpected move at E3, Starbreeze Studios (makers of Payday and the Chronicles of Riddick games) announced their own virtual reality headset, StarVR, which reportedly boasts 5K displays. We’ll be waiting a long time to see if it’s any good, but it’s exciting to see new companies entering the VR space and pushing the market forward.
Cuphead to be released on Steam
Cuphead, a co-op platformer that looks like a twisted 1930s Disney cartoon, will be coming to Steam next year. Don’t let the “Xbox One” trailer fool you, unless RockPaperShotgun is playing a dirty trick on us.
Shenmue 3 reaches Kickstarter goal in one day, PC confirmed
Shenmue 3 is back from the dead and it’s coming to PC. Not familiar with Shenmue? You can learn everything you need to know in this one gif:
Star Wars Battlefront looks good
We have been worried about how EA might mess up the new Star Wars Battlefront game, but the new footage from E3 looks… really good. Just don’t preorder it.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst means more Mirror’s Edge
We thought the first Mirror’s Edge game was fantastic. Seeing some gameplay would be nice, but until we see evidence of the contrary, we will expect the same level of quality from the sequel. (But please, everyone, stop preordering games until you know they’re good!)
More stuff we’re optimistic about
A wealth of other potentially great news has come out of this years E3 – too much for us to detail all of it:
- The Final Fantasy 7 Remake will likely come to PC. The reveal trailer says “Play it first on Playstation,” instead of the “Only on Playstation” slogan used for exclusives. That could just mean it’s coming to Xbox One, but given the recent appearances of Final Fantasy games on Steam, that’s doubtful.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a very solid, modern take on a beloved classic. The sequel, Mankind Divided, looks to improve on DX:HR’s strong foundation.
- For Honor looks like a fun take on medieval swordplay in a 4 vs. 4 arena combat game. We hope it’s great, but Ubisoft has a track record of burning PC players with low-quality console ports, so we will wait and see.
- EVE: Valkyrie is still making VR space battles look very pretty.
- A new DOOM is coming, and there will be lots of gibs to render.
So, that’s all of our favorite stuff from E3 2015, but it’s far from everything. What did we miss? What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below, or forever admit we’re right.