It's been awhile since we've taken a break from talking about the latest in film and television news and turned our collective eye towards the gaming industry, but with E3 now upon us we would we remiss if we didn't dive into all the major announcements coming out of gaming's biggest showcase. From Sony and their stellar first party lineup featuring "The Last of Us Pt 2", "Spider-Man" and more to Nintendo and their concentration on all things "Super Smash Bros" and everything in between, the guys discuss the biggest reveals, trailers and demos from this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

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Show Notes

Nintendo Direct

"Super Smash Bros Ultimate" is coming to Switch December 7, 2018.
- Features the return of every fighter to ever appear in a "Smash" title, along with new additions: Ridley, Inklings and Daisy, for a total of 65 playable characters.
- It will feature a variety of new and returning stages, numbering 66 in total so far.
- Tweaks to gameplay to speed up the pace of play.
- Gamecube controller support.
"Super Mario Party" is also coming to Switch on October 5, 2018.
Fortnite was (unsurprisingly) announced for Switch and is available now.
Nintendo also showed off some third party and indie games coming to the Switch.

Bethesda

"Elder Scrolls 6" was announced with no further details.
Todd Howard went into detail about "Fallout 76".

Microsoft

A new "Halo" is in development called “Halo: Infinite”. Not much is known about the project at this point but it will apparently be “Master Chief’s biggest adventure yet” according to Phil Spencer.
"Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice", a game by From Software, was announced as well.
A WHOLE PILE of "Kingdom Hearts 3" was shown. Seemingly making up for lost time, KH3 was at basically every conference, showing off different parts of the game.
3 new "Gears of War" games were revealed:
- "Gears Pop!" is a mobile game where all the characters from the Gears of War series are replaced by Funko Pop-style figurines.
- "Gears Tactics" is a turn-based strategy game.
- "Gears of War 5" is also announced as a core entry in the main series.
CD Project Red, makers of "The Witcher" series, showed off a new trailer for "Cyber Punk 2077".
Microsoft announced the acquisition of five new internal game studios. A brand new studio called The Initiative as well as 4 established studios: Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games..
A new "Battletoads" game is coming in 2019.
"Shadow of the Tomb Raider", will launch on September 14. 2018.
"Metro Exodus" is coming out on February 22, 2019.
"Devil May Cry 5" is coming in 2019.

EA

Bioware’s "Anthem" will be released on February 22, 2019.
"Battlefield V" will get a battle royal mode, they also showed off some of their single player content called “War Stories”.
“Sea of Solitude” looks really strange but also beautiful and melancholy. It comes out in early 2019.
"Titanfall" developer Respawn is working on "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order". We don’t know much, but we know it’s a single-player story game and it's slated for release during the holiday season in 2019.
- This is the game that went into development following last year’s cancellation of the Amy Hennig Star Wars game from the now defunct Visceral Games.
"Battlefront II" is getting content from the Clone Wars, including playable versions of Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ubisoft

"Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" takes players to ancient Greece and will drop on October 5, 2018.
"Beyond Good and Evil 2" got a new trailer and looks spectacular.
"Starlink: Battle for Atlas", a toys to life / space combat game will feature Star Fox and his Arwing in exclusive Switch content.
"The Division 2" was announced and is set in Washington DC.

Sony

"The last of Us Pt 2" trailer and gameplay demo was amazing.
Sucker Punch’s "Ghost’s of Tsushima" trailer and gameplay demo also impressed.
The "Resident Evil 2" trailer was a big hit. The game appears to have been built from the ground up and features Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, and will be out January 29, 2019.
"Death Stranding" also received a trailer with gameplay. Unfortunately we have no idea what was actually happening.
Insomniac’s "Spider-Man" also showed off some gameplay.

May 6, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 9 & 10 / Season Finale

There it is, folks - the season finale to the latest creation from Lucasfilm Animation. It was certainly gorgeous to look at, with the new painterly stylings, and there was no shortage of thrilling action to sink your teeth into, nor did they skimp on the stakes. But while the season started off on a welcomed unfamiliar foot, by the end of this season, and certainly in these final two episodes, the hallmarks of what we've come to know from Star Wars animation showed their head. Early on, the admitted inspirations from films such as 'Heat' and 'The Dark Knight', provided a needed grit to a show which was ostensibly following a villain. This provided the show with a fresh personality - distinguishing itself from it's predecessors in animation. Unfortunately, the creatives couldn't seem to maintain that tone, as by this two-part season finale the old tropes and predictable beats of 'Clone Wars' rose into prominence. And while the appearance of a certain fan favourite character adds some very cool action, the unoriginality from a narrative perspective robbed the final moments of the needed pathos and drama required to land the plane in the most satisfying of ways.

April 30, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 7 & 8

There's two of them now?! With the arrival of another Inquisitor things really start to escalate on Janyx. We see Maul at his lowest since probably his spider-leg days (he goes on a self-guided therapy session/vision quest that results in something quite inspiring actually!), providing us a deeper understanding of his motivations, beyond simply "revenge!". Meanwhile, Devon continues to be the most interesting character on the show as she takes two steps forward, one step back, flirting with the dark side (though bonus points for the slick ride she acquires for their getaway). On the action side, the show continues to bring the goods, with dynamic, large scale battles (heavy on LAATs which is always a treat), intimate lightsaber combat, and a special shout out to the speeder chase this week that included a new Star Wars techno track (get outta here Niamos!), which combined for a chef's kiss of a sequence. The finale is next week, dropping on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), so stay tuned to see how much the show wants to tie up and how much it wants to leave dangling ahead of season 2!

April 25, 2026

Episode 205 - CinemaCon 2026 + News Roundup

It's been a minute since Matt and Julian sat down to cover the latest in film and TV news. Some might say it's been dearly missed. Well wait no more folks because this week it's all news and nothing but the news so help me god! If the last few weeks (months?) of stories weren't enough, CinemaCon 2026 also just concluded which had it's own news deluge. The guys unpack it all (well most of it anyway)! Of utmost priority is the news of Michael B Jordan and Austin Butler's reboot of 'Miami Vice', which is close to Matt's heart. Plus 'Spaceballs 2' gets a title and release date, trailers for 'Dune 3', 'Clayface' and 'Street Fighter' all surprise (in a good way), and a new 'Lord of the Rings' movie is announced (and you won't guess who's writing it!). Plus, a 'Game of Thrones' movie, more 'Transformers' and is 'Avatar' over? All this and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

April 23, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 5 & 6

We’ve reached the halfway point of the season and with it comes a tonal shift back to the roots of Star Wars animation - 'The Clone Wars'. With the arrival of the Empire, the focus shifts away from Maul and his dealings and toward the pair of Jedi as they are now in the crosshairs. The noire tone takes a back seat, next to Maul, as things become more pulpy, mixed with an impending doom that is reminiscent of the final season of 'The Clone Wars'. The set-piece action sequences get an injection of scale and danger, which is exciting, and some of the early seeding of characters like Rylee start to pay off. While maybe a bit different from the previous 4 episodes, the quality and the stakes remain high (well... for every character except Maul I suppose). Join Julian and Rachel as the unpack it all in excruciating detail.

ToB Games - E3 2018