Ever since BioWare’s Anthem launched – and even in the months preceding it as players heard troubling rumours about the project – there has been one consistent question: What happened? Since launch, there have been performance issues, bugs, loot drop problems, and so much more that continue to hound the game. Many still look back at the E3 2017 demo and wonder how and why the game played so differently.

According to a report by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier titled “How BioWare’s Anthem Went Wrong,” it’s because the game was still in pre-production at the time. Schreier spoke to 19 people who either worked on the game or adjacent to it, and the demo was described as “mostly guesswork” due to progressing being so slow. One developer said, “After E3, that’s when it really felt like, ‘Okay, this is the game we’re making.’

“But it still felt like it took a while to get the entire team up to speed. It was also kind of tricky because there were still a lot of question marks. The demo was not actually built properly—a lot of it was fake, like most E3 demos. There was a lot of stuff that was like, ‘Oh are we actually doing this? Do we have the tech for that, do we have the tools for that? To what end can you fly? How big should the world be?’”

At that point, another developer noted, the abilities and such was still being decided. “Nothing was set in stone at that point at all.” A third developer noted, “Going out of pre-production is never really a crisp thing. You have to just look at the attitude of the team and what they’re doing. The fact of the matter is, fundamental things were not figured out yet.” Even more concerning is the fact that when Anthem was slated at the time to launch in Fall 2018, BioWare hadn’t even created one mission for the game. Of course, Anthem would be subsequently delayed to 2019.

Schreier’s piece is well worth the read. It talks about Anthem’s original setting and story, the survival-oriented gameplay that it was originally going for, how flying was removed and re-added several times, and so on. In the midst of current problems with the game, stay tuned on more information regarding fixes from BioWare.

Extinction is the upcoming game being developed by Maximum Games and Iron Galaxy Studios. It has drawn many comparisons to both Shadow of the Colossus, as well as the popular anime series Attack on Titan. The game was first announced in June and had an epic cinematic trailer released along with the announcement. Later at E3, we got to see more of the game in the form a short gameplay session (albeit of a pre-Alpha build).

The game’s emphasis lies on fast-paced movement mixed with some elements of strategy as players scale walls and move along rooftops to fight the gigantic Ravenii (colloquially called Ogres). A new gameplay trailer for the game has just been released and it showcases the hero engaged in combat with various enemies.

As per the information given on the game’s website, there will be a deep story campaign, but as of now, what we know is that the hero (who is a sentinel) is the only one who can save mankind from the Ravenii.

If you’ve played a Mario game, then you’re no doubt familiar with tropes like the 1-Up, extra lives and the dreaded Game Over screen. However, it seems that Super Mario Odyssey will forgo those conventions when it releases on Nintendo Switch.

As per the Japanese Twitter for Super Mario Odyssey, Mario loses 10 coins when his life bar is depleted or when he “falls into a crime”. It also noted that no matter how many mistakes you make, there’s no Game Over.

Polygon also noted a statement from producer Yoshiaki Koizumi at E3 about how, “We also wanted people to be able to, you know, you get into a kingdom and you can just kind of continually keep going through that kingdom without being pulled out, so that was why we kind of wanted to get rid of the lives idea.” The publication also noted that finding coins wasn’t difficult and the checkpoint system still remains.

Super Mario Odyssey is out on October 27th. What are your thoughts on these changes? Let us know in the comments below.

Super Mario Odyssey looked absolutely fantastic at its E3 showing earlier this year- it looked so great that it won the Best of Show awards from many outlets, GamingBolt included. It looks like the official Game Critics Awards agree, too, since they awarded the game the Best of Show honors, in addition to two other wins, for a total of three awards across all categories.

This was actually the highest number of awards won by any one game- but the second place position is also held by Mario, albeit by the surprisingly great looking Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. You can check out the full list of victors below.

Super Mario Odyssey launches exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on October 27. What was your own personal Game of the Show? Make sure to let us know in the comments section below

Best of Show
Super Mario Odyssey
(Nintendo for Nintendo Switch)

Best Original Game
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
(Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft for Nintendo Switch)

Best Console Game
Super Mario Odyssey
(Nintendo for Nintendo Switch)

Best VR Game
Lone Echo
(Ready at Dawn/Oculus Studios for PC)

Best PC Game
Destiny 2
(Bungie/Activision)

Best Handheld Game
Metroid: Samus Returns
(MercurySteam/Nintendo for Nintendo 3DS)

Best Hardware/Peripheral
Xbox One X
(Microsoft)

Best Action Game
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
(Machine Games/Bethesda for PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Super Mario Odyssey
(Nintendo for Nintendo Switch)

Best Role Playing Game
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
(Level 5/Bandai Namco Entertainment for PC, PS4)

Best Racing Game
Forza Motorsport 7
(Turn 10/Microsoft Studios for PC, Xbox One)

Best Fighting Game
Dragon Ball FighterZ
(Arc System Works/Bandai Namco Entertainment for PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Best Sports Game
FIFA 18
(EA Canada/EA for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

Best Strategy Game
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
(Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft for Nintendo Switch)

Best Family Game
Hidden Agenda
(Supermassive Games/Sony Interactive Ent for PS4)

Best Online Multiplayer
Star Wars Battlefront II
(EA DICE/Motive/Criterion/Electronic Arts for PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Best Independent Game
The Artful Escape
(Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive for PC, Xbox One)

Winner Breakdown By # of Wins

Three Wins:
Super Mario Odyssey

Two Wins:
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

One Win:
Destiny 2
Dragon Ball FighterZ
FIFA 18
Forza Motorsport 7
Hidden Agenda
Lone Echo
Metroid: Samus Returns
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Star Wars Battlefront II
The Artful Escape
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Xbox One X

Publisher Breakdown

Four Wins:
Nintendo

Two Wins:
Bandai Namco Entertainment
Electronic Arts
Microsoft
Ubisoft

One Win:
Annapurna Interactive
Bethesda Softworks
Oculus Studios
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Platform Breakdown By # Of Wins
(Notes: Multiplatform games/hardware are counted in all appropriate platform tallies. Information based on announced platforms for each winner as of 6/28/2017).
PlayStation 4: 6 (-4 from 2016, -6 from 2015)
PC: 9 (+1 from 2016, Same as 2015)
Xbox One: 6 (-2 from 2016, -1 from 2015)
Switch: 5 (New)

Microsoft made quite a show at E3 2017 by announcing that the original Xbox’s games would be backwards compatible on the Xbox One. Whether you agree or disagree about the success of backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles on the console, this was still a strong endeavour to appeal to old-school fans.

However, when Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that the library of backwards compatible Xbox games wouldn’t be as large as Xbox 360, there was some concern. It also doesn’t help that Microsoft’s Dave McCarthy said that it was “too early to say” whether the Xbox’s library would be as sizable as the Xbox 360.

However, McCarthy also told GameSpot that the focus was on Crimson Skies and Fuzion Frenzy at E3 but there are more games in store. “We have multiple games up and running – we just decided to tease the first one[s]. There will be a library of games available, for sure.”

Xbox backwards compatibility is expected to go live later this year.

The Games Critics Awards Best of E3 2017 nominations have been revealed, and it’s an interesting smattering of games all around. Assassin’s Creed Origins, Super Mario Odyssey, Shadow of War, and Mario+Rabbids all lead the number of nominations, with Bethesda’s Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus and Dragon Ball FighterZ putting up reasonably strong showings as well.

Of note here are the omissions- games such as Spider-Man and God of War have not been nominated. This is because only games that were playable to the jury for at least five minutes each were considered eligible for this award. This excluded a whole lot of games from consideration. The criteria makes sense- how can you judge a game you cannot play?- and it’s good on the jury for making it clear right upfront. It should stop a lot of whining.

You can see the full list of nominees for all the categories below. What game do you think will take the honors home this year? Let us know in the comments section.

Best of Show
– Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
– Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Monolith/Warner Bros Interactive Ent.)
– Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games/Bethesda)

Best Original Game
– Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
– Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
– Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft)
– Sea of Thieves (Rare/Microsoft)
– Skull & Bones (Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft)

Best Console Game
– Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
– Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Monolith/Warner Bros Interactive Ent.)
– Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games/Bethesda)

Best PC Game
– Destiny 2 (Bungie/Activision)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Monolith/Warner Bros. Interactive Ent)
– Mount & Blade II: Bannerlords (TaleWorlds Entertainment)
– Total War: Warhammer II (Creative Assembly/Sega)
– Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games/Bethesda)

Best VR Game
– Doom VFR (id Software/Bethesda)
– Fallout 4 VR (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
– Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn/Oculus Studio)
– Moss (Polyarc)
– Transference (SpectreVision/Ubisoft)

Best Mobile/Handheld
– Durango (What Studio/Nexon)
– Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam/Nintendo)
– Hidden Agenda (Supermassive Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
– King’s Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon (Square Enix)
– Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (Atlus)

Best Hardware
– Astro A10 Gaming Headset (Astro)
– DisplayLink XR (DisplayLink)
– Razer Thresher Ultimate (Razer)
– Logitech PowerPlay Mat (Logitech)
– Xbox One X (Microsoft)

Best Action Game
– Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
– Destiny 2 (Bungie/Activision)
– Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE/Motive/Criterion/Electronic Arts)
– Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games/Bethesda)

Best Action/Adventure Game
– Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
– Days Gone (SIE Bend Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Monolith/Warner Bros. Interactive Ent).
– Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)

Best RPG
– Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Airship Syndicate/THQ Nordic)
– Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver)
– Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlords (TaleWorlds Entertainment)
– Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
– Vampyr (Dotnod Entertainment/Focus Home Interactive)

Best Fighting Game
– ARMS (Nintendo)
– Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
– Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite (Capcom)
– Pokken Tournament DX (Bandai Namco Studios/The Pokemon Co.)

Best Racing Game
– Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios)
– Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony Digital/Sony Interactive Ent)
– Need for Speed Payback (Ghost Games/Electronic Arts)
– Project CARS 2 (Slighty Mad Studios/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
– The Crew 2 (Ivory Tower/Ubisoft Reflections/Ubisoft)

Best Sports Game
– FIFA 18 (EA Canada/Electronic Arts)
– Madden NFL 18 (EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts)
– Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PES Productions/Konami)

Best Strategy Game
– Battletech (Harebrained Schemes/Paradox Interactive)
– Frostpunk (11 bit Studios)
– Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft)
– Total War: Arena (Creative Assembly/Sega/Wargaming)
– Total War: Warhammer II (Creative Assembly/Sega)

Best Family/Social Game
– DropMix (Harmonix/Hasbro)
– Just Dance 2018 (Ubisoft)
– LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 (TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive Ent.)
– Hidden Agenda (Supermassive Games/Sony Interactive Ent.)
– That’s You (Wish Studios/Sony Interactive Ent.)

Best Online Multiplayer
– Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
– Destiny 2 (Bungie/Activision)
– Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE/Motive/Criterion/Electronic Arts)
– Sea of Thieves (Rare/Microsoft)
– Skull & Bones (Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft)

Best Independent Game
– Ashen (Aurora 44/Annapurna Interactive)
– Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Inti Creates/505 Games)
– Donut County (Ben Esposito/Annapurna Interactive)
– Laser League (Roll7/505 Games)
– The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive)

Codemasters’ next big F1 title is two months away with F1 2017. Unlike previous iterations, it will support the upcoming Xbox One X, Microsoft’s super-powerful console that’s touted as a true 4K beast. What is the state of Xbox One X enhancements in F1 2017?

GamingBolt spoke to creative director Lee Mather at E3 2017 and he replied, “So, we are already running on Xbox One X over in the Microsoft stand. So that’s here this year already. It’s already running at 4K and 60 frames per second with HDR enabled. It’s still early days with that build but we’ve already started to turn up some of the features.”

“We’re going to see how far we can get to being close to a high spec PC. We’ve increased the fidelity of the mirrors, so they run a higher frame rate and higher detail. Shadows can be better. Reflections can be better. See, it’s still early days for that one. But we are already running on it, and it’s here at the show.”

Say what you will about the Xbox One X’s $499 price or lack of killer exclusives for Microsoft this year but the fact that developers are able to utilize its power so quickly is noteworthy. F1 2017 will be out on August 25th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man earned its fair share of accolades at E3 2017 but many are wondering about the number of villains to be expected. We know that Mr. Negative and Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin will be factors but what about some of the more infamous villains in the universe?

According to creative director Bryan Intihar in an interview with Electric Playground at E3 2017, there’s a pretty big cast in the game. Villains, of course, are a part of it.

“We have a great cast and Peter is just one of many, many characters we have in the game. It’s a big, big cast. We have a lot of classic villains and we have a lot of newcomers as well.”

We’ll have to wait and find out which villains made the cut and which didn’t. But it seems safe to bet that Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus or even Mysterio could make an appearance in some shape or form. Which villains are you hoping to see? Let us know below.

Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 is out later this year and as you’ve probably guessed, it will support PS4 Pro. The question then is whether it will also take advantage of the Xbox One X’s power.

GamingBolt spoke to global products manager Adam Bhatti at E3 2017 and asked what kind of PS4 Pro features could be expected. “Right now we’re committing to 4K for PS4 Pro. Any of the other features we are not ready to announce right now, we are still testing but we are guaranteed to launch with 4K.”

As for the Xbox One X? Well, there’s nothing to say about it right now. “We haven’t made any announcements about Xbox One X. They [Microsoft] made a really cool announcement about X. But it something that as we get closer to Xbox One X launch will be able to talk about it a little bit more. But right now we can’t really say anything.”

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 will release on September 12th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC along PS3, Xbox 360, iOS and Android.

The Xbox One will soon be getting backward compatibility with the original Xbox, in addition to backward compatibility with the Xbox 360. An unintended side effect of this may be something entirely cool and unanticipated- something that Xbox Head of Marketing Albert Penello called attention to in an interview with YouTuber iJustine.

‘Xbox owners will soon be able to link all three generations for LAN parties,” Penello said. “So you can get an orignal Xbox, a 360, and an Xox One, and you can [link them together to] do a LAN party from your original disc across three generations of Xbox hardware.”

Which is such a cool thing- it really is. I love it when console backward compatibility is so well supported (another cool quirk has been the Gamecube controller, which has been playable across at least three generations of Nintendo hardware). Kudos to Microsoft for all the good work that they do with backward compatibility.