In years past I would be filing stories from Los Angeles and the craziness that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It’s not quite as crazy this year, but there’s still plenty of video game goodness to talk about. Here’s what happened this week at E3 online and Summer Game Fest.

Xbox and Bethesda

There were two big revelations from the Xbox + Bethesda showcase on Sunday.

First, of the 30 games that were celebrated, 27 of them will be available on launch date to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. It’s hard to deny the appeal and the economics behind getting a subscription at this point, especially as the price of a single game continues to climb.

Second, if there was any doubt left in people’s minds, it’s dispelled now. Microsoft owns Bethesda, and any new games coming from those studios are going to be Xbox exclusives.

That includes the long-awaited Starfield, the new role-playing game from the creators of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, which is slated for launch on November 11, 2022.

It also includes the new game from Arkane, Redfall, a co-op shooter which pits up to four players against a legion of vampires. It is expected in the summer of 2022.

Captain Jack Sparrow is coming to Sea of Thieves on June 22 in the “A Pirate’s Life” expansion, and Psychonauts 2 is being released on August 25.

Halo Infinite, meanwhile, has been given a “holiday 2021” release date, and multiplayer is going to be free for everyone. There’s also a new Academy mode which is designed to help new players learn how to play in the sandbox. The grapple is really going to change how Halo multiplayer works.

Lots of games that were mentioned, if not shown, including Avowed, Fable, and Perfect Dark. But the announcement trailer for The Outer Worlds 2 is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Nintendo Direct

There were also two big surprises from Nintendo during its E3 event on Tuesday.

One was the announcement of Metroid Dread, a new 2D sidescrolling game in the series that releases on October 8, 2021.

The second surprise was the lack of any announcement about a new model of Switch. An upgraded Switch with better graphics and processing and with support for 4K televisions has been rumoured for months. It is possible that a new console is being kept secret until the Tokyo Game Show, which is online at the end of September.

Among the other games announced were Mario Party Superstars, which includes 100 mini games and supports online play. It comes out on October 29.

There’s also a new game coming from the Nintendo and Ubisoft partnership in the form of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, a sequel to the surprisingly fun turn-based tactical Kingdom Battle. This new one comes out next year.

We also got a new trailer for the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which Nintendo says it hopes will ship in 2022, and a reminder that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, which ports the Wii U game to the Switch, releases on July 16.

Ubisoft Forward

Far Cry 6 is set in the fictional South American island of Yara, and Ubisoft has revealed that in the post-launch DLC players will be able to play as the villains, who are, of course, the heroes of their own stories. The game launches on October 7, 2021 for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person action adventure being developed by Massive Entertainment. The developer revealed it was working on a game set in James Cameron’s universe back in 2017. In the game you’ll play as one of the indigenous Na’vi. It’s coming in 2022 to PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

There are also new expansions coming to Watch Dogs: Legion (Bloodline, July 9) and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (The Siege of Paris, undated)

Great forthcoming games roundup

The Anacrusis is, according to developer and publisher Stray Bombay, “an infinitely-replayable, four-player, cooperative shooter”. It’s being made in part by Chet Faliszek, formerly of Valve and the writer of Left 4 Dead, and Vancouver expat Kimberly Voll, who spent time with Radial Games and Riot Games. Coming to Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S this fall.

Back 4 Blood, from Turtle Rock Studios, the creators of Left 4 Dead. This new four-player co-op game is more of the same heart-stopping action that has you and your team trying to survive against a horde of frightening creatures. Published by Warner Bros. Games, it releases on October 12 for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Diablo II: Resurrected, the remastered version of the classic RPG, comes to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 23. Blizzard is running a multiplayer open beta in August.

Elden Ring still exists, and now we’ve got proof. The game, from Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin, was first announced at E3 in 2019, and this week we got a new trailer and a release date: January 21, 2022. That is all we know for sure, except that we expect it will be available for PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is being developed at Eidos-Montreal. The single-player action adventure has you becoming Star-Lord and includes the rag-tag crew. It’s coming to PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 26.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands takes an idea that Gearbox had for a Borderlands 2 expansion, and turns it into a full-fledged game. It looks to be full of the sass you should expect. Coming in “early” 2022 for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Razer’s new Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop

Equipped with the AMD Ryzen 5900 processor and up to Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 graphical processor, the new 14-inch Blade is under 17 mm thick and delivers up to 12 hours on battery.

You can pick from one of two screens, a QHD for better resolution or full HD with faster refresh.