Hey, old E3 is back! How we missed you booth babes. And oh look, E3 is coming next month which means we're a month away from some major title announcements. The hype trains are ready to go and all we have to do is fill up the boxcars with some new games and hardware. So I'm gonna put on my cloak and predict what will happen in the future. So cue the In The Year 2000 music, tone down the house lights and bring in the flashlights.
By the way, there are several crazy predictions so don't get excited or anything because none of this could happen... especially my final prediction.
New Zelda Wii, Pikmin 3, and F-Zero Wii officially official.
Nintendo's E3 showing last year was... kind of a joke to be honest. Since E3 is going back to its roots with lots of fanfare, Nintendo will take the opportunity to announce games that are overdue. The next Zelda game for the Wii will be shown to lots of cheers as always. MotionPlus support will be highlighted, but the biggest surprise will be the dramatic changes to the series. A vastly different story, voice acting, and a more non-linear approach to dungeon crawling that's reminiscent of the original NES game will be confirmed. Pikmin 3 will be more Pikmin and F-Zero Wii will be more F-Zero. All will be forgiven... this year.
Everybody's favorite PSP mockup.We'll be duped... no new hardware.
Various pundits, analysts, and game developers have been spewing out rumors about new consoles and handhelds for well over a year or so, but I doubt anything will be unveiled at E3 this year. That Wii HD console Michael Pachter (bullshit spewing analyst) is claiming is on its way? Not happening. How about that new PSP with the sliding screen and touch and/or tilt controls? Not ready yet. New Microsoft console? Maybe next year.
Gran Turismo 5 the star of the Sony press conference.
Anybody remember GT5? Well I expect Sony's press junket to make this a big deal. I'm totally expecting a trailer to be shown along with some gameplay footage and some more information on the massive amount of content I'm expecting. Still expecting a 2010 release, but at least we'll know it's alive and kicking.
Rare once again jumps on the shooter bandwagon.Rare brings us a Perfect Dark sequel, new Conker game.
Rare has been quite busy with Viva Pinata and Banjo-Kazooie making the rounds. So what will Rare's next big projects be? Yes, I believe Perfect Dark 2 will be shown and a brand new Conker complete with the vulgar humor we know and love. While Perfect Dark Zero has been somewhat panned recently for being pretty bad compared to more recent shooters, Perfect Dark 2 will learn from its mistakes. I'm also expecting Conker to be even more crude than ever, possibly causing a ruckus among ratings boards and various groups.
Nintendo shows off new "core" IP that will cater to Western audience.
What is Nintendo's newest major IP to date that was not a casual title? Chibi-Robo! maybe? The Gamecube did have a bunch of new 1st party IPs, but most of them didn't quite catch on. Pikmin is probably Nintendo's newest big creation, but it's been 8 years since Pikmin and Nintendo has become a company dependent on older properties and the Wii series.
EA goes back to tried and true sequels, no new IPs announced.
EA was all about new franchises last year, but too many of those games didn't meet sales expectations. Mirror's Edge and Army of Two weren't runaway hits and even Boom Blox had a tough time breaking through. Spore was EA's biggest new hit, but c'mon! It's a Will Wright game that was expected to sell huge. This year, EA will likely stick with sequels and Brutal Legend.
Speaking of EA, SimCity 5 announced.
This one is way overdue. Spore will certainly be milked for a while longer, but I suspect Maxis is also working secretly on a long overdue true SimCity sequel with all the bells and whistles. SimCity 5 will be EA's biggest announcement and will boast online play which will be more MMO oriented and more complex gameplay than the previous games.
Could be a reality someday.Sony jumps on the motion control bandwagon again.
News stories about motion controls coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have been out there ever since the Wii became a runaway hit, but so far it's all been rumors and speculation. The Sixaxis controller was Sony's shoehorned attempt at motion controls, but it never caught on... but Sony is likely revive motion controls on the PS3 with something that may resemble the Wii Remote. It might be too late for a complete overhaul of the controls on the PS3, but I sense that Sony will announce this new controller and a few games that will make use of it.
Upset pick of the day... Power Stone 3 for the 360.
Yep, my longshot pick. In a shocking move, Capcom will bring back yet another classic franchise, this time in the form of Power Stone 3. Power Stone gained a following and many hold this game in high regard, even higher then the Smash Bros. games. And in another shocking move, it will be a 360 exclusive. Expect Power Stone 3 to be yet another game that will revive the "fighting" genre. Capcom has been pretty good to the fighting genre lately so maybe... Power Stone 3?
Can't wait to eat crow next month when nothing I said comes to fruition. Later, Giant Bomb.
