E3 2018: The schedule and what to expect from Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation and more

The annual video game industry trade show and promotional event known as E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is almost here. For 2018, the show is once again at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA.
While E3 evolves year after year, sometimes growing, sometimes shrinking (and sometimes moving to Santa Monica), early reports indicate that this will be a fairly typical year of press conferences, game announcements and promotional events.

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The big press events

Most of the big news and announcements come at events hosted by the major game publishers and console hardware companies in the days before the E3 show floor opens. Many of these are streamed live online, so check back for links and instructions on how to watch.




Saturday, June 9
Sunday, June 10
Monday, June 11
Tuesday, June 12

The E3 2017 show floor.Josh Miller

Who can attend?

The biggest recent change is one that officially started last year, where the previously trade-only show was finally opened up to the public, with a limited number of $150-$250 “gamer pass” tickets for fans. (This replaces a poorly received secondary E3 fan event held nearby in 2016.)
The fans have definitely given the show an energy boost, even if it leads to bigger crowds and congested hallways. Having attended the show off and on since 1999, I called for E3 to be opened up to the public as far back at 2010 (and again in 2016), after placing the show on the endangered species list a couple of years earlier.
Here’s what to expect, how to attend and where to keep up with the biggest press events.

When and where is E3?

The show happens from June 12-14, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA. The general pass for people in the games industry is free. A three-day pass for members of the public is $250 (a limited number of early bird passes were $150). A business pass with access to VIP services and panel discussions is $995.
Show floor hours are below, and note that Gamer Pass buyers have different hours than industry attendees. More details are available at E3Expo.com.

E3 2018 Show Hours

	Industry hours (PT)	Gamer hours (PT)
Tuesday, June 12	11 a.m.-7 p.m.	2 p.m.-7 p.m.
Wednesday, June 13	9 a.m.-7 p.m.	12 p.m.-7 p.m.
Thursday, June 14	9 a.m.-6 p.m.	9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Leaks and predictions

The biggest pre-E3 news item was a purported list of upcoming games accidentally posted by Walmart. The list included Rage 2 — since officially confirmed — plus Just Cause 4, Borderlands 3, Gears of War 5 and others. (If you don’t recall the original Rage, it was a 2011 technological marvel from Doom/Quake co-creator John Carmack.)

John Carmack and the original Rage.Dan Ackerman/CNET

The current PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ($449.98 at Amazon.com) consoles are both about five years old, which means everyone is speculating about the next generation of console hardware. Both Sony and Microsoft changed up the game by releasing 1.5 versions of their consoles in 2017 — the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X ($499.99 at Dell Home) — so seeing a PS5 or next-gen Xbox is certainly far from a sure thing.
Nintendo is riding high on the success of the Switch console. At E3 2018, we may get to hear about a purported new Star Fox game, a possible Fortnite port, and more details on the next version of Super Smash Bros.
More detailed predictions for the major game companies can be found here:
We’ll update this story with new information as E3 2018 approaches.
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