You never know who’ll turn up on the floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but one thing you can count on is that porn goddess April O’Neil will take time out of her busy schedule to roll through.
The renowned gamer, pinball wizard and regular E3 attendee–who was impressively decked out in an OG Mortal Kombat t-shirt–joined Maxim on a stoop at Nintendo’s New Donk City-styled booth to chat about her favorite games, the best of E3 and what she’s looking forward to playing in the months ahead.
What was your first game?
The very first game I remember playing was Pong on Atari at my grandparents house. But the game that got me into video games, the game where I was like “oh, this is a thing and I can be enthralled by it” was Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That was the first game that I was like “woooowww, this is my life now.” I had a Nintendo and played games like Aladdin and Mario and stuff but Zelda on N64 was the first one where I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I wanted to go home and play and that’s all I wanted to do. I would wake up early to play – and I hate waking up early – but it was worth it.
What’s your current gaming setup?
I’ve been playing my PS4 a lot. I’d always been an Xbox girl, I had the R2D2 special edition Xbox 360, but it didn’t really progress from that to the Xbox One. I was like meh. And I was gifted a PS4 for my birthday so that was that. The games [On PS4] are really nice and i’ve gotten used to that setup so I’ve become a PS4 girl.
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What are you playing on PS4 now?
I love the Persona series and I just started playing Persona 5…and it’s taken over my life. I was just in Europe for three weeks and I was trying to finish the game before I left but I couldn’t. So I’m in Amsterdam going through Persona withdrawal and I bought myself a PS Vita to play Persona 4 Golden. I also just got a Nintendo Switch yesterday. I’m gonna play Breath of the Wild and i’m VERY excited about it. I just did this trip and I told myself I need to come back and work hard buuuuuut there’s all these video games that I missed so i’m just gonna hide in a hole and play all of them.
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What’s the best thing you’ve seen at E3 so far?
This is the first E3 that hasn’t had major games i’ve been interested in; I’m not a huge Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed fan. This is the first time i’m looking closely at Assassin’s Creed though. I’m a huge ancient Egypt fan so Assassin’s Creed this time is set in ancient Egypt and that’s definitely got me interested. I know it’s a great series that i’ve never played but now I see it’s in ancient Egypt and i’m like, “OK, I would love to go through some pyramids. Let’s do this.” Obviously Super Mario Odyssey too. Any of that stuff, i’ll play.
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Any fun stories you want to share from the show floor?
I “accidentally” wandered into the Bethesda booth yesterday. I just wanted to take pictures in their [1950s style] diner. I love the 50s. So i’m taking pictures all over it and the guy running the booth comes over and asks “are you ready to play?” I wanted to and almost said yes but I had just skipped in front of an hours-long line for the demo and I didn’t have the heart to do it. I should have but I felt bad. My morality got the best of me. So the guy just made me a milkshake and I was happy taking that.
My milkshake brings all the boys to the sector #wolfenstein
A post shared by April O'Neil (@heyitsaprilagain) on
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With all the games that were announced here this week, what are you looking forward to the most?
There are two. One is the Life is Strange prequel because I just got into the original [from 2015] and fell in love with it immediately. And then, just as I got into it, they’ve announced a sequel. Really amped for that. Detroit: Become Human is the other. I think that’s coming at the end of the year and i’m looking forward to that. It seems like it’s a sort-of Watch Dogs kind of game but, you know, one that doesn’t fall flat like Watch Dogs did.
What category of games do you play the most?
I love RPGs. I’m also into crossover style games. I had high hopes for that Marvel vs Capcom game that they just announced but I’m not sure what’s going on there. But games like Fable and other RPGs in the fantasy genre, especially if fairytale characters know each other, I love that. I just need to find out what the heck is going on with Kingdom Hearts 3. I saw the trailer but does that even have a release date?!? I’d like it now, please.
There’s been a bunch of VR shown off this year. Anything you’re looking forward to in the VR space?
I haven’t been able to see much VR because those demos are so busy on the floor. A few years ago VR was easier to see at E3 because it was smaller but now it’s huge. I’m a huge Fallout fan and i’m really excited for Fallout 4 in VR. I checked it out here last year but I wasn’t into the teleporting way you’d move around but i’ve heard they’ve changed that now and i’m excited for it all over again.
If they offered to put you, your likeness, into a game, what game would you want to be in?
Bayonetta. I would love to be Bayonetta. Her hair! And she gets naked and her hair is fucking magic! That would be so cool. My third E3 was when Nintendo was showing off Bayonetta 2 and they had a character, a cosplayer, dressed up as Bayonetta and I remember waiting the longest i’ve ever waited on line to take a picture with her and when I got up there I told her she looked amazing and she told me that she was actually the actress who was the character model for Bayonetta in the game. It was Bayonetta! And I just wanted to knock her out and tell everyone, “Hi, it’s me now. I’m Bayonetta.”