Whatever you expected E3 to look like in 2022, you probably didn't bet it would be suspended in its current limbo. The ESA says that this year's E3 is a no-op due to COVID restrictions but that the expo will return with all bells and whistles next year. Some gamers regard the association's "Brb" response as PR fluff or wishful thinking, and it's possible that after so many false prophecies, this is finally the death of the expo. Yet, people also said E3 was dead in the ground when it took a year off in 2020, and what do you know? It emerged from its hibernation the following summer.

We often talk about the games industry as if it's a closed system, subject to only its internal pressures and releases. When we do that, we forget that whole economies and societies are running through it, whittling it into shape. That these economies and societies can transfer the consequences of a global pandemic to the games industry is proof of their symbiosis. Given that that pandemic still rages, it's probably for the best that physical events like E3 are ruled out. PAX thought it would be a fine idea to fling open its doors earlier this year, which predictably led to one of its staff's needless and senseless death.

Sony's State of Play briefing technically never would have been part of E3 and wasn't planned as a boots-on-the-ground operation. Yet, given its content and proximity to official E3 conferences, it's culturally part of the festival, even if it's organisationally divorced. Most of us experience the show as a series of streams anyway. Throw it on the pile, I say.

At the base of that pile, we had a Resident Evil 4 remake. I wasn't a particular fan of the survival horror's fourth outing last time around. At least Dead Space lets you move and fire simultaneously, even if slowly and stiffly. RE4's iron sights bolt you to the ground like one of those seaside binocular sets. I understand that the design immobilises you to generate paranoia and a sense of vulnerability, but it made me feel straight jacketed all the same. It also came across as unfairly punishing to have a zombie tear at my back flesh because I couldn't stomp away from it or see much in the rear view.

But then, I didn't connect with Dead Space the first time around, and it grew on me. Plus, the REmakes thus far have been a breathtaking dive into video game visuals pushed to their limits. Painstakingly detailed lighting and texturing let you see every speck of dirt in the grungy hallways and bring to life the inhuman perfection of the Umbrella Corp labs. An RE4 upgrade can apply Capcom's technological artistry to a game that was always horridly frank about the rural setting it depicted. While RE4's theatrics were sometimes at odds with its attempts to scare the player, it was often grounded in a naked depiction of a mundane, dilapidated village. Yet, if this trailer was anything to go by, the developer is also looking to render more scenes through a thick, atmospheric fog. This revival may also represent the last time for a while that we'll see Capcom bring one of these classics back from the grave. The seventh and eighth episodes in the series are too recent to merit renovation. At the same time, 5 and 6 are generally considered low points of the franchise with their pandering lapse into unfiltered action.

REm4ke joins Resident Evil: Village, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, No Man's Sky, and Horizon: Call of the Mountain on the maiden voyage of the PlayStation VR 2. With the Oculus Rift first launched in 2016, it's been several years now that tech optimists have been saying full-length, feature-packed VR titles are right around the corner. Instead, the large majority of virtual reality releases are still short-form toy boxes. The expectation for financial return on AAA games has ballooned sky-high, but it's a slim minority of gamers who own VR equipment. Targeting that minority means limiting the revenue for your game. So, the vast resources that flow into major non-VR releases often don't gush into the VR space. That's before you get to the pragmatic difficulties of developing processor-intensive motion control games in a nascent creative discipline.

Overall, the entertainment business has done its best to tear down hardware as a barrier to accessing media. You don't need a physical player to see films at home anymore, and most programs are a couple of clicks away on an app store. For the gaming industry's part, they've adapted console games for cross-generational compatibility and established cheap subscriptions to extensive game libraries. You also see first-party games that would have been console exclusives a couple of product cycles back getting PC ports. All these developments made themselves visible during this State of Play.

With its eye-watering price tags, imposing spatial footprint, and burdensome setup, VR is the odd piece of video game technology swimming against the tide of convenience. That doesn't make it non-viable as a business or art form, and I'm the last guy who will beat up on the little games. However, there isn't the volume of shorter experiences for your Quest or your Vive to rival the monthly playtime PC, console, or mobile games will lend you. What's tentatively promising about Sony's display here is that they've got more polished, and in a couple of cases, lengthy experiences coming to their next iteration of VR headsets.

I'm not sure how these simulations will innoculate against the disorientation and nausea associated with tumbling around in a synthetic world. However, it's a complication VR developers are acutely aware of. I'd contend that we can't view virtual reality releases like those for the PSVR 2 as just more ports like Spider-Man's PC debut. The change of perspective VR headsets facilitate is transformative to the underlying experiences. It is being "in" the game in a far more literal and somatic way. That's why many virtual reality curiosities have to be designed from the ground up and why you don't see every conventional game translated into the format.

If you are interested in shifting your perspective, perhaps you'd like to see the world on a smaller scale. Stray is a game that holds my interest just in that you can show me a cat doing anything, and I'll clap like a seal. Cat in a bucket? Great. Cat knocking over bottles? Great. Cat just standing in an alley? Also great. And why not a kitty as a video game protagonist? Cats can do so many things that we associate with the action-adventure genre: balancing on narrow ledges, jumping great distances, climbing high walls, and stalking or sneaking past prey. Playing a small and agile animal is potentially empowering because you can get to all the places humans can't. Just ask my little guy when he leaps up on the bookcase.

A Dead Space by any other name would be just as sweet, and The Callisto Protocol is flying as close as it can to the old Ishimura without hitting a Necromorph. Visceral's dormant horror shooter is present in The Callisto Protocol's darkened industrial corridors, fleshy tentacled space zombies, and camera that breathes down the neck of the blue-collar protagonist. Even the authoritarian villain extolling zombification as transcendent immortality reminds me of The Church of Unitology. There's certainly a gap for Striking Distance to fill here, given that EA has voiced no intentions to carry Dead Space forward. However, I'm still looking for the magic ingredient that makes The Callisto Project more than another gory, professionally-produced action escape. Given that the game is slated for December, I'm surprised we didn't see some more gameplay.

All pulse-pounding shooters thrive on slick gun controls and impactful combat. A select few push the excitement further by making it exhilarating to approach or distance yourself from enemies. We have a surfeit of FPSs and TPSs where we hold down sprint and hoof it across acres of map without any particularly worthwhile sights or interactions. But look how a Vanquish or a Titanfall make an activity as practical as traversing terrain an invigorating thrill ride. With its ceaseless forward momentum, Rollerdrome is poised to join the club. The game is also integrating slow-motion for its classic purpose: giving us a non-diegetic aid to aim with so that the moves we do diegetically look superhuman. See also: SUPERHOT. You'll see cell-shading in plenty of games beyond Rollerdrome, but Rollerdrome's faux-drawn look and stark colour contrast contain everything neatly within thin but distinguished lines. That compartmentalisation is intrinsically satisfying and lets you recognise and target enemies at speed.

Trust a JRPG like Eternights to show you the date and weather even while you fight for your life against a raging demon. Heavy as the game's red and blue colour filters are, they really juice me up. Keeping a strong tint over your scene allows you to retain a recognisable and powerful visual identity, even as locations and subjects change. It is, however, my grim duty to inform you that anime dialogue is still cringe.

With the amount of gameplay at these summer showcases diminishing, it's often the graphics of games that we have the most information about. I certainly appreciate them in the new Street Fighter. The messy, thick brushstrokes of Street Fighter IV and V weren't for me. VI exchanges them for a softer cartoon style, but with splashes of coloured graffiti appropriately accenting the most dizzying punches and kicks. Between its spray can eye candy and its urban open-world, this looks to be Street Fighter leaning as far into the "street" as it ever has.

I don't have any particular feelings about Final Fantasy XVI, so let's close on Season: A Letter to the Future. As progressive as media is meant to be in 2022, it's still uncommon to see a black lead in a game that didn't emerge from a character generator. And while there are other games where you can photograph people, places, and things (e.g. Pokémon Snap or Fatal Frame), being a photographer rarely becomes part of the main character's identity. It's rarer still that entertainment software lets you record sounds, but without them, how do you capture everything about a moment, place, or person? I'm feeling a lot of Ghibli vibes on this one, and the trailer emphasised strong themes of leaving an impression on those around you. Footage and recordings are letters to the future, of course.

And that's it. A respectable showing from Sony. E3 season is here, baby. Thanks for reading.