Bandai Namco E3 2021: Will there be Elden Ring updates?

It's the fourth and final day of E3 2021, and Nintendo kicked it off with a bang. Fans were crossing their fingers for some Breath of the Wild 2 news, and Nintendo friggin' delivered with a stunning trailer.

Let's hope Bandai Namco follows suit and gives us what we want, too. (*Whisper* Elden Ring updates!)

Bandai Namco's E3 2021 showcase is officially one hour away!

According to an E3 Twitter post, Bandai Namco's E3 showcase will mostly be about House of Ashes, the next installment of The Dark Pictures Anthology series.  House of Ashes was announced shortly after the release of Little Hope, the previous installment, last October.

House of Ashes is currently available for pre-order at GameStop for $59.99.

Since House of Ashes is getting the main spotlight at Bandai Namco's E3 2021 showcase, I have a feeling Elden Ring news will be out of the picture. Who knows? I could be wrong. Maybe Bandai Namco will surprise us.

It looks like Bandai Namco's showcase will last one hour and 15 minutes. I mean, they wouldn't spend all that time focusing on ONE game ... right? 

I gotta say, Bandai Namco really started off with a bang this year with Little Nightmares 2. It's one of the creepiest games I've ever played. I also broke my gaming mouse in a fit of rage because it's also the most frustrating game I've ever played. However, the plot twist at the end was worth all the hair pulling, tears and screams.

I even got the pleasure of interviewing Little Nightmares 2 art director Per Bergman for Laptop Mag's Systems of the Stars series. You may think that the Little Nightmares series was created using some state-of-the-art equipment, but as it turns out, a lot of Little Nightmares' elements was created on 2016 laptop! 

Why does the Little Nightmares 2 art director use a 2016 laptop? Well, as he sees it, if he can make the game look FIRE on a five-year-old laptop, he believes the graphics will look FIRE and drop-dead gorgeous on other systems. Hey, everyone has a method to their madness.

I'm scouring the far corners of Twitter and rumors about the Bandai Namco E3 showcase being a House of Ashes presentation is disappointing a lot of Elden Ring fans who are hungry for more updates.

If there's no Elden Ring news, a Little Nightmares 2 DLC announcement would be cool.

The streets are saying that Nintendo had the best E3 showcase out of all the big publishers, especially after they teased Breath of the Wild 2.

The Bandai Namco E3 2021 showcase is now 30 minutes away!

Aside from Elden Ring, I'm seeing a lot of fans crossing their fingers for a new Dragon Ball Z game from Bandai Namco.

I'm also seeing fans hoping for a new Soulcalibur game/DLC, as well as some more anime inspired titles (e.g. Bleach and Naruto).

If Bandai Namco won't share any additional Elden Ring updates, I've got a scoop for you. The publisher said that it's looking to "expand" on Elden Ring in the future. Meaning that we will likely see Elden Ring in other mediums besides gaming.

"We will continue to develop Elden Ring not only as a game, but also in a variety of other areas in order to deliver the worldview and charm of this title to our fans around the world, " said Bandai Namco president and CEO Yasuo Miyakawa. 

While E3 has had some standout announcement throughout the four-day virtual conference (e.g. Halo Infinite, BOTW2, Starfield, etc.), I've been reading a lot of tweets from E3 viewers who seem mostly underwhelmed by all the showings so far.

I'm hoping Bandai Namco can help wrap up the 4th and final day of E3 with a bang, but I'm not holding my breath.

We're 10 minutes away from the big show! Woot!

Woot! Bandai Namco showcase is one minute away!

Yep! Bandai Namco, indeed, is kicking off its E3 showcase with a House of Ashes trailer. It takes place in Iraq in 2003 -- and it's definitely a creepy, horrifying game from what I can see. Yikes!

House of Ashes is coming out on October 21, 2022.

House of Ashes is a part of The Dark Pictures anthology, a collection of story-driven, horror stories that have connections with each other. This time, House of Ashes takes place during the 2003 Iraq war. Two groups of soldiers are plunged underground after an earth-shattering earthquake. But something creepy and perilous lies beneath! They start hearing things, seeing things — and people even start disappearing!

Ashley Tisdale (yes, the High School Musical chick!) is voicing a character named "Rachel" in House of Ashes. 

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like Bandai Namco is having some issues with their E3 showcase. The livestream is now replaying a Nintendo post-show episode.

I had to switch to E3's Twitter stream because the YouTube Bandai Namco showcase is having technical difficulties.

Wait, that's it?! It looks like the Bandai Namco showcase is over. It was just a House of Ashes reveal. Boo!

Welp, while House of Ashes looks cool, the trailer was already revealed at Summer Game Fest 2021. Lame! That's 15 minutes of my life that I can't get back. Sorry folks, no Elden Ring updates from Bandai Namco, unfortunately.