Kyle

With two new flagship consoles on the horizon, and a slew of brand-new games coming to them and making the most of the hardware, now is an exciting time to be a fan of video games. However, while there is plenty coming out in the next six months to get ready for and play, there’s always a part of us that is looking even further ahead, to announcements and teasers that get us even more hyped for the future.

E3 might have been cancelled this year due to the ongoing pandemic, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still get hyped together for the games of tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. In fact, many livestreams are continuing to take place, sharing what developers and companies around the world are working on for the future in virtual showcases. We’ve compiled a short list of some hotly anticipated games that, while not on the immediate horizon, are worth waiting for.

Skate

It’s been over ten years since the release of Skate 3 on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, a game that pioneered with its open-world skating simulation and multiplayer social aspects. Recently, skating games have been undergoing a little bit of a resurgence, and so it felt about time that EA revisited this much-loved franchise.

Fans have been clamouring for a sequel or revisit to the series for years at this point, and every time EA had something to announce they were always there on social media, with ‘Skate 4’ this, and ‘Skate 4’ that. Well, after all this time, and coincidentally right after Activision have announced their remake of the first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, EA has answered their hardcore skater fans’ prayers. They revealed at their recent EA play event that they were bringing back the series in some capacity – whether it’s a remake or sequel is yet to be seen – but it will take some time, as the project is still very early in development. Perhaps we’ll be able to see some grinding gameplay at next year’s EA event!

Did you know? – With games in development that span multiple years and are of a huge scope, sometimes it’s hard to predict what will happen with the console market, and often developers will have to pivot onto new consoles as they come out to make sure their game is still relevant when it eventually sees the light of day. Porting and transferring games to different consoles and platforms can be a difficult task, and this explains things like game porting services from Abstraction, a company that specialises in realising a company’s vision in a wide range of different formats.

The Elder Scrolls 6

While it’s almost undeniable that Skyrim is one of the greatest video games of all time, and one that will be forever replayable for years to come, Bethesda have released it on an incredible amount of platforms and in a variety of different forms at this point, from PC, to Nintendo Switch, to even in virtual reality. It’s about time for a new Elder Scrolls game, and if you’re not someone that can get their satisfaction from an MMO in the form of TES: Online, then you’ll be looking out for the next instalment in the main franchise.

At this point, The Elder Scrolls 6 is some ways out, and all we have seen about it is a splash screen showing some text. That was revealed over two years ago at this point, and they stated that it would be ‘years’ out then. Sadly, that seems like it is very much still the case. We have also yet to hear more about Bethesda’s project Starfield, a SciFi RPG, and that’s going to be out before TES6, which means it will be plenty of time before we even see some gameplay. Nevertheless, the mere knowledge that a large-scale Skyrim successor will one day grace our presence is good news, and it’s a white whale to look forward to in the future.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

A fascinating narrative-driven game that pits players as the tragic and pitiful Gollum/Smeagol combination, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from Daedelic will surely offer a unique twist on the Tolkien universe, different from something that we’ve seen before in Middle Earth games. Based on the books rather than the films, the development team have discussed in Edge magazine how they have taken inspiration from some Tolkien drawings and paintings, and want to follow some of the intricacies of the book differently to how the popular Peter Jackson film trilogy did.

We’ve already seen some screenshots and concept art of the title, discussing how systems and combat will work from the perspective of the feeble former hobbit that is Gollum, and it also shouldn’t be too long before we can get a closer look at this one, with it set to launch at some point in 2021 on modern consoles.

Number games and grids like Sudoku have been around for hundreds of years. Today, these are everywhere – you’ll find them in newspapers, magazines, websites, and also as smartphone applications. But, believe it or not, the modern-day Sudoku dates back to almost 4000 years.

Overview

Howard Garns is officially credited for the invention of this puzzle game. His version of the free Sudoku puzzle game first appeared in the Dell Puzzles magazine in 1979 by the name “Number Place.” But, it wasn’t an immediate hit in the US then. However, five years later, in 1984, the game became incredibly popular when the editor of Nikoli magazine introduced it to the Japanese audience under the name “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru,” which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence.” Eventually, the name got abbreviated to “Su Doku.”

This game brought about a revolution in the history of Sudoku puzzles, making Sudoku the best-seller in Japan. Since Sudoku has always been a logic-based number game, it worked well in Japan because language-based puzzles are always challenging to incorporate as crosswords. For these reasons, most people believe that the game is of Japanese origin, but that’s not true.

Though Howard Garns is recognized as the inventor of Sudokus, he’s still far from the first person to actually discover the concept. Famous Swizz mathematician, Leonhard Euler, derived the “Latin Squares,” which is similar to today’s Sudoku but was then based on the concepts of “Magic Squares.” So, the idea of these number games in general dates back to ancient China.

Global Outbreak

Even after getting published in the Dell Puzzles magazine, the reach of this game was virtually confined for around two decades until a man from New Zealand, found these in Tokyo and decided to develop a dedicated computer program to produce Sudoku puzzles on the spot. What turned the free Sudoku puzzle games into a worldwide phenomenon was the effort of Wayne Gould, who brought these puzzles to life in the West. Post-2004, the popularity got massive, and since then, there’s no looking back.

Sudoku Today

Sudoku has worked its way into the lives of millions all around the globe as a daily staple of fun, entertainment, and great mental exercise.

So now, with your Sudoku knowledge established, test your skills with these wonderful free Sudoku puzzle games available in this app called Sudoku.com developed by Easybrain. It’s a big hit on the Google Play Store with more than 10 million downloads. It offers 10,000+ free Sudoku puzzle games along with intuitive gameplay. The players have to place numbers 1 to 9 in a specific pattern on a 9×9 grid, where each figure is to be used only once in every row, column, and 3×3 sub-grid.

So, take your part in some of this history – install the app right away!