Game news is never trickier than it is right before E3. This is usually when leaks happen, and companies are extra tight-lipped about their big news -- both for obvious reasons. So, with the understanding that the “big” news will happen over the weekend, here are the biggest, most important pieces of gaming news that happened this week.

Rainbow Six: Quarantine renamed as Rainbow Six: Extraction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3m3BmvFA3c

The new Rainbow Six game was originally revealed at E3 2019 as Rainbow Six: Quarantine. As you might expect, that name took on new meaning in 2020. The game was renamed internally as “Rainbow Six: Parasite,” and now has the official new name Rainbow Six: Extraction.

In this game, you and a team of operators will face off against an encroaching alien menace, which appears in the trailer to be some kind of yucky, creeping, black thing. The goal is to successfully extract without leaving anyone behind, but the parasitic mass will be working to stop you at every opportunity. We’ll presumably see more of the game at the Ubisoft Forward event this weekend.

Fortnite Chapter 2: Season 7 launches with an alien invasion plot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NycdXYBeG4

It’s always fun to see what Fortnite comes up with each time a new season premieres, and this time the plot has gone for a campy alien invasion story. Mysterious extraterrestrial ships have invaded the Fortnite map and destroyed the Spire, so it’s up to the players to deal with the visitors.

The headliners are, as always, the pop culture characters who have made their way into the game. The invaders meet their match in fellow alien Superman -- who, by the way, is also apparently a Fortnite fan. He’s joined by Rick Sanchez of Rick & Morty fame, as well as by Instagram’s scary bunny Guggimon.

Battlefield 2042 officially revealed -- and it won’t have a battle royale mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASzOzrB-a9E

Leaks about the upcoming Battlefield game became especially prevalent right before its release, and yet it was still a treat to see the game finally revealed during a dedicated Livestream event by Electronic Arts. The stream only showed the cinematic trailer, with the understanding that gameplay footage is soon to come -- on June 13, to be exact.

From what was shown in the trailer, and revealed by EA press shortly after it aired, we do know that the game takes place in the near-future (as the name suggests), and will be an entirely multiplayer experience with no single-player campaign. The gameplay modes shown include the classic Conquest and Breakthrough, and unlike other games, Battlefield 2042 will not have a battle royale mode.

Oh Elden Ring! Summer Game Fest finishes with a look at From Software’s new game

Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest is the unofficial kick-off event of the summer gaming event that culminates in E3. For the most part, the reveals at the Fest were of smaller games not really big enough for their own shows, but which were nonetheless fun to see: Evil Dead gameplay footage, a Metal Slug tactics game, a Borderlands fantasy game spin-off called Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.

But the Fest had one big ace in the hole: A new trailer for Elden Ring, the mysterious From Software title that appeared at E3 2019 and then promptly disappeared. Penned by George R. R. Martin, Elden Ring got no new reveals for two solid years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Huy2cdih0

We finally got not only a trailer for the game yesterday, but a release date: January 21, 2022.

All the games that WON’T be at E3

I’m not sure what bug bit the game publishers who’ll be showing at E3 this year, but several of them have come forward to clarify which of their games won’t be at E3. This is helpful, as it keeps gamers from getting excited at the thought of seeing a game that we know is in development. Still, it’s a pity some games won’t be there.

As of the time of this writing, here are the games we know for sure won’t be at E3 2021:

  • Saints Row
  • Timesplitters
  • Metro, Dead Island 2 (Deep Silver)
  • The Division, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake (Ubisoft)
  • Hogwarts Legacy
  • Gotham Knights
  • Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (Warner Bros)
  • Call of Duty: Vanguard (Activision)

Sony might also be working on some games, but they are unlikely to be present at E3 either. Nintendo has also said its show will be solely about software that’s coming out this year, so don’t hold your breath for a Switch Pro. That Switch and Switch Lite stay valuable for longer.

We’ll be back next week with all the news from E3.