Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and the weather is finally nice enough to go outdoors once again. You know what that means, right?

E3 is almost here! An event loaded with a myriad of excuses to stay inside!

From June 8 to 13, the Electronic Entertainment Expo–E3, in the common tongue–will descend upon Los Angeles, where the world will sit and watch, waiting for news on video game franchises old and new.

Don’t have time to watch a two-hour press conference? Fret not: Okay, Cool will be bringing you coverage from the conference as it happens, summarizing as much of the info as possible for your reading pleasure.

But, what is there to look forward to, anyway? Typically, the three major companies (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) will each have a press conference of their own, complete with demos, trailers, and live guests, while other publishers (think Ubisoft, Bethesda, EA, etc.) will have their own availabilities interspersed throughout the show.

This year is a little different: back in November 2018, Sony announced they would be skipping E3 this year. It’s a bit unfortunate, as The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, and Ghost of Tsushima were three of the biggest titles showcased at the entire 2018 show; not only were consumers clamouring for more on these titles, but the promise of the next PlayStation console was an alluring one as well–looks like any diehard Sony fan will have to wait until later this year to get a big update. Alas, my hunger for Horizon Zero Dawn 2 will have to wait as well.

Even without the presence of one of the ‘big three’, E3 still promises to have a lot in store for consumers all over the world. Here are five items we’re hoping the conference sheds a little more light on.

Halo: Infinite

It’ll be four years this October since the last Halo game was released (Halo 5: Guardians), and that game ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. As you can see in the announcement trailer from last year, not much story-wise was revealed, other than teasing more of the Master Chief’s involvement. While Halo Infinite‘s trailer from E3 2018 was clearly meant to be a way to show off the new Slipspace Engine that the game will be built with, here’s hoping that 2019 will have a little more meat on the bone.

Oh, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection to the Switch. Book it.

Animal Crossing Switch

Truly, there are few games that exist today that are as relaxing as Animal Crossing. When the first entry was released for the GameCube back in 2001 (!), it was a new experience for many young gamers (excluding MMOs, of course)–a world that continues to run on its own time, even if you’re not logged in. Later versions brought online connectivity and portability, and with Nintendo already having made the announcement last year, it’s just a matter of time before we’re running around our own little town, trying frantically to pay off Tom Nook with fruit before the Underground Mafia comes a-knockin’ at our door.

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red, the developer behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has earned a lot of praise over the last few years. Indeed, TW3 has been hailed as one of the best single-player RPGs in some time, if not ever. It’s with little surprise, then, that Cyberpunk 2077 has created such fervour; it’s like Blade Runner meets Grand Theft Auto meets Mass Effect. After a CGI-only trailer (see above) at last year’s E3, fans will be wanting a bit more, including price points and release dates. It’s probably likely it doesn’t arrive until 2020, but some concrete news would be a great place to start.

Starfield

Bethesda is known across the world of video games for immersive, single-player experiences–we’ve seen that time and again with the passion that lies within the fanbases for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises. While Fallout 76 was a major misstep for the studio, I still have faith that we’ll get some quality single player content from them going forward, and what better place to start than with a totally original story? Starfield was teased at last year’s conference, and it would be amazing to learn more about the universe that they’ve begun to build for gamers. While a release date would be nice, I’m just hoping for some more info beyond a generic teaser.

Assassin’s Creed: Vikings

I know, it doesn’t seem like a very inspired name–perhaps, AC: Valhalla, as teased in an easter egg within The Division 2? Maybe even AC: Ragnarok? I’m less bullish on the latter, given the popularity of the recent Marvel movie, but still. It seems likely that after we’ve explored ancient Egypt with Origins, and followed it up with perhaps the series’ best entry in Odyssey, the Norse gods and age of Vikings seems ripe for exploration. After the success of the new God of War, why not?

Here’s the full schedule for this year’s proceedings:

E3 2019 Schedule

• June 7-11: EA Play Event
• June 8: Nintendo Invitational Tournaments
• June 9, 4pm ET/1pm PT: Microsoft Press Conference
• June 9, 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT: Bethesda Press Conference
• June 10, 1pm ET/10am PT: PC Gaming Show
• June 10, 3pm ET/12pm PT: Limited Run Games Press Conference
• June 10, 4pm ET/1pm PT: Ubisoft Press Conference
• June 10, 9pm ET/6pm PT: Square Enix Press Conference
• June 11, 12pm ET/9pm PT: Nintendo Direct Showcase
• June 11-13: E3 Show Floor Open

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You can find Sho on Twitter (@SNSAlli), where he’d love to chat with you about movies, video games, sports, and more!