Bethesda at E3 2016: all of the latest news and biggest games

No, we didn’t get to try the Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition, a real-life version of Fallout's iconic wrist computer. But we got an up-close look while visiting Bethesda’s E3 booth, even if the thing was behind glass. (Note: this isn’t the real-world Pip-Boy from last year, an oversized phone case that wasn't nearly as cool.) The new Pip-Boy looks as solid as we hoped it would, and it’s almost kind of stylish, in its retro-futuristic way. Granted, as we've written before, it’s a limited-edition novelty device that costs $350. There is really no reason to buy this, unless you're an incredibly dedicated cosplayer or have a lot of disposable income. Still, it’s fun to dream.

Bethesda announcing that it would bring Fallout 4 to the Vive VR system raised a lot of very good questions. How would you convert things like the user interface to virtual reality, where it's hard to just overlay text on your field of view? Would the VATS combat system, which drastically slows down the world and zooms in on your target, be disorienting? Would running vast distances in the wasteland make you sick?

The company hasn't answered those questions, but it did provide a short demo on the show floor. It's an interesting taste of what the game could look like in VR, but also hints of what could be difficult to adapt.

High-profile games and sequels tend to launch with both standard editions (just the game) and premium-special-ultra-limited-legendary editions (the game plus a number of hardware and software trinkets that will be lost in a desk drawer or garage). Those trinkets can be posters, special jewel cases, figurines, and — what seems to be exceptionally popular today — headgear. Helmets and masks that can be adorned to a human head and worn in public places (at least theoretically) or hung on wall (preferably).

Today we have two helmets you can look forward to in the near future: a Titanfall 2 helmet (above) and now a Dishonored 2 face mask from Bethesda.

Remember last E3, how Bethesda announced a real-life Pip-Boy? And remember how it was essentially a crummy smartphone shell? Well, this E3 Bethesda has revealed a new Pip-Boy and this one looks maybe — just maybe — like it’s the Pip-Boy Fallout fans wanted all along.

Unlike the old version, the Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition has "an integrated screen and its own on-board software and hardware." The gadget pairs to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, and allows wearers to take calls, view contacts, read messages, and display various Fallout related screens.

Bethesda has become one of the most important players at the annual E3 video game conference, despite only having hosted a major press event for two years. Last year, the company aired trailers for Doom, Dishonored 2, and Fallout 4. This year, Bethesda sought to outdo itself, revealing first trailers for Prey and Quake Champions, along with footage from upcoming Fallout 4 DLC and a remastered Skyrim.

Here are some of our favorite trailers from Bethesda's E3 2016 press conference. Check out our E3 hub for all of this week's news.

Dishonored 2 — the sequel to stealthy steampunk stabfest Dishonored — is coming on November 11th, and now we've got a better look at how it will play. Publisher Bethesda showed its first actual footage of the game at its E3 press conference tonight, showing a world run by Empress Emily Kaldwin — the same child players helped protect in the first game.

Last year, Bethesda surprised everyone at E3 by both announcing and then immediately releasing Fallout Shelter, its first mobile game. And it was a huge hit, with more than 50 million players as well as its own upcoming pseudo-adaptation for Fallout 4.

Tonight, Bethesda announced update 1.6 for Fallout Shelter, which will include Quests (with a capital 'Q') with new characters, enemies, and locations.

Bethesda Softworks is releasing last year's Fallout 4 for the HTC Vive virtual reality headset in 2017. The company made the surprise announcement at its E3 keynote, and we know almost nothing besides that — but for lots of people, that's probably enough. This will make Fallout 4 the first big open-world game to get an official, studio-released virtual reality mode.

This is going to take some adaptation. Things like Fallout 4's conversation interface — which is just text overlaid on the screen in the current game — will probably need to be tweaked for VR, and we're not sure how (or whether) the Vive's motion controllers will be used. We're also not sure how Bethesda will deal with the motion sickness that can happen when you're moving long distances very quickly. But Fallout already has a diegetic interface in the Pip-Boy, which could easily be tacked onto one of the player's Vive controllers.

Bethesda showed one of its secret projects tonight, lifting the lid on Prey, the pseudo-sequel to 2006's game of the same name. A marked difference to the decade-old Prey, this new game casts you as Morgan Yu in the year 2032. Yu's the key subject of an experiment on the space station Talos One, but things aren't going quite so well — the space station has been overrun by aliens. Fortunately, Yu has some special powers to fight back.

Lead designer Raphael Colantonio was tight-lipped on what those powers might entail, but he did indicate that the player will be able to steal abilities from the aliens on the station. Players will also be able to have some customization over their character, with Morgan Yu chosen as the protagonist's name so people could choose to embody either male or female avatars.

"Contraptions Workshop" and "Vaultec Workshop" will be the next pieces of downloadable content for Fallout 4. Footage of the DLC was shown at Bethesda’s E3 2016 press event. The former will arrive next week, while the latter hits in July. Those seemingly smaller downloadable updates will lead to "Nuka World" in August, which looks to be more akin to last month's Far Harbor DLC.

These will be the fourth, fifth, and sixth pieces of DLC, following up "Automatron," "Wasteland Workshop," and "Far Harbor," the latter of which received a glowing review last month from our own Andrew Webster. DLC details are expanded upon in the video above.

Nearly five years after it first came out, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues to have a very impressive fan base that keeps the game pretty through HD mods. Now it's Bethesda's turn: tonight at its E3 press conference, the company has announced a remastered version of Skyrim coming to PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Judging from the footage just released — jump to 3:18 if you want to skip all the new Fallout — Skyrim Special Edition has been improved dramatically for the new generation (all relevant technical details are mentioned in the video above, including VOLUMETRIC GOD RAYS). The console versions will also now support PC mods. The remastered game is launching October 28th.