It's been a long time since I've written anything worth calling a blog post. What cheaper way to ease back into it than to make some E3 2013 predictions? It's so easy even I could do it!

This is going to be one of the biggest E3's of all time. Two major consoles will launch this year and the stakes are higher than ever. Sony and Microsoft will be blowing out their budgets to squeeze in anything they can to declare as an exclusive.

Nintendo should not be dismissed. The Wii U will seem very competitively priced compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox One at launch. Developers have had the most time with the Wii U and by November the console will have many games available to regain sales strength.

While this will be one of the most important E3's ever, it will also be the last of its kind. While Denis Dyack's predicted "one console future" doesn't seem to be coming true, he's right in the fact that future consoles are more similar to each other than ever. How a console looks is not too important now, but it will be one of the only distinguishable differences in future platforms.

Speaking of the future, let's predict it.

Halo

Halo 5 will be given a 2014 game exclusively for the Xbox One. Purchasing Crackdown 3 will give players access to the multiplayer beta, which will run during April 2014.

More Halo! Microsoft will shuffle off a Halo 2 remake to another developer. It will be a launch title for the Xbox One.

Mass Effect

A new Mass Effect trilogy will be announced for all new consoles and PC. EA will announce some sort of anime film or series as a prequel to the new trilogy because that's the trendy thing to do.

Smash Bros.

Nintendo will show Rayman as new character for Super Smash Bros. 4. The 3DS version of the game will support the Circle Pad Pro and have an exclusive story mode and character: Mega Man. Mega Man can be exported to the Wii U version.

Wii U

Nintendo are recalling all Wii U basic consoles to preload the latest firmware and include an incentive to make purchases on the eShop. Pikmin 3 will be dated for September, Mario Kart for October and Super Mario in November. A few weeks before new consoles release, Nintendo will drop the price of all Wii U SKUs.

Plants vs. Zombies 2

Though the game will eventually come to everything, Nintendo will show a trailer for an upcoming 3DS version.

The Last Guardian

No, of course this won't be a launch title for the PS4! Even if Sony announced it I still wouldn't believe it would make that date. Instead, The Last Guardian is coming to the PS4 with the broad announced date of 2014.

PlayStation 4

Sony will announce the North American release date for the PS4. The PS4 will release on October 29 to coincide with the Battlefield 4 launch, giving them some timed exclusivity. Speaking of which, the first map pack for Battlefield 4 will release one week earlier on PS4 and PS3.

There we go. I think I've made much more sane predictions in the weeks leading up to now but these are all fresh ideas. Now to see how wrong I was.

elektrixx.

The podcast is getting older, slower and it's voice gives out several times for the first half, but the Level 3 podcast is still standing tall, ready to be delivered straight to your dome.

Featuring your host Darth_Homer from inside a library, and myself on location at The elektrixxx Estate we overcome the odds and wind up with another podcast you can almost be proud of!

We try our best to converse about what we've been playing, a Capcom film, a Stranglehold film, Sing Hero, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, a Professor Layton trilogy, THE CHAMP: John Cena and more!


Download one unit and inject into each ear as soon as possible:
http://www.archive.org/download/Level3Podcast-Episode40/Podcast40.mp3

The first of two important packages I'm expecting had arrived in the mail.

Okay, so my Xbox 360 finally crapped itself, and it's about damn time.

No, it wasn't the ye olde ring of death but my video output was totally tripping out before giving out entirely. Observe:

On location at a bar in a back shed 20 kilometres from town, I skip breakfast and brace myself through 35 degree celsius heat for my worldwide podcast debut!

Join me and host DarthHomer in two different states in Australia for a new awesome episode of the Level 3 Podcast.

Amongst my burping throughout this week's show we chat about what we've been playing, Guitar Hero, Red Ant's closure, a Mass Effect re-release, PS3 exclusivity, Final Fantasy XIII's release date, The 1UP Network and more!

Get your podcast fill right here:
http://www.archive.org/download/Level3Podcast-Episode33/Podcast33.mp3



And I think the Guitar Hero mic worked out quite well.

elektrixxx.

When was the last time you ate Maggi 2 Minute Noodles? Did you like them? Well if you've had one of these new packets over the past few months you've probably started hating them. Observe:

Normally my non-gaming topics go at the end, but how about I stick the garbage in the front?

Yeah, well I'm gonna do it anyway.


Hot For Teacher(s)

My job (which just concluded for the holidays) involved installing computers at public schools around the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales, Australia.

I've noticed a trend which has spiked since this time last year. That trend is beautiful Kindergarden teachers!

Where are these hotties coming from? Why did these teachers wait until now to emerge?

There was one particular school in which every female employee was attractive. Even the older office lady was quite the looker!

Maybe this should be used as a promotion for going to school. I still go!...

I have now realised that I have done practically nothing but go to school all my life. How depressing. Will I ever get a real job?


R* Trax

I recently purchased Midnight Club: Los Angeles. Most aspects of the game are good so far, but one thing that is a complete downer for me is the soundtrack. It makes the game feel like a Need For Speed game, which is certainly not what I'm looking for in a racing game.

At least N.E.R.D isn't in a soundtrack FOR ONCE.

I've dropped in my personal playlist that I use in Burnout Paradise and now use it in this game, so I guess everything works out. Metallica makes me drive better.


The Game That Never Comes

Guitar Hero: Metallica is my most anticipated title for 2009, and with some of the setlist being revealed I can say that I'm very pleased so far.

Quite honestly, I'd buy the game if "Wherever I may Roam" were the only track in the game. It certainly is in there, among many more significant tracks.

I urge everyone out there to put down their Street Fighters, Sonics and other junk and play something proper. Damn proper.


Rock Scam

In THIS interview Axl Rose talks about the possibility of Chinese Democracy making it to Rock Band as downloadable content. Of course with Shackler's Revenge already on Rock Band 2 this is just another tick on my conspiracy.

I might be on to their plan, and it's a pretty good one.

Some of their downloadable albums are missing a track, which just so happens to be in Rock Band 2. If you still only have the first Rock Band, you're getting screwed on the album DLC!

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and Megadeth all have DLC albums from which one track is on RB2, and if Chinese Democracy releases for Rock Band, you can add Guns N' Roses to the list.

Of course this isn't a big deal at all and hardly a scam, but merely an observation. This is just an issue for me personally because Rock Band 2 hasn't released in Australia.

The real scam here is the tentative AU$50 price tag on the AC/DC Track Pack!

Maybe we can use this method to guess upcoming content?...



Billy Idol compilation confirmed!

elektrixxx.

A lot of the time I'll never post things because of quality issues, writer's block, poor topic ideas or simply not having enough time to finish things that eventually become too old to continue.

I don't like having my work being wasted, so why don't I just wrap up the half-full glasses into one neat little package?... I dunno either. We'll see how it goes for a first run.

I'll add extra notes within []'s if needed.


From "MicroComments #4"

Mega Death

I'd never played any of the Mega Man series but with a personal demand for an old school platformer I wanted to give Mega Man 9 a go.

I've decided not to buy it. It's totally difficult. In fact I only got past the first hole in the ground on the first level ONCE.

Apart from that, I don't like the graphics.

It's nothing to do with the mostly 8-bit graphics, it's more to do with the lack of widescreen and sharpness. It even teases me by having sharp graphics on the Leaderboards screen, but not during gameplay.

Turning off Legacy Mode should have included 16:9 support and upscaling to cater for all.


Wii Space

Nintendo finally gave some sort of idea of what they're gonna do about storage space, but it seems I'm the only one who doesn't have a problem with the way it is now.

Maybe if there was something to get in the first place, then Wii'd have a problem.


Reloaded On The Revolution

Nintendo haters may have new ammo regarding the "Let's Play On Wii" announcement, but I'm all for having GameCube titles updated and released specifically for Wii.

I haven't played any GameCube titles in a while, so this is a good chance to come crawling back to them with enhanced features. I was always put off by the controls in the Metroid Prime series until MP3: Corruption, which had an excellent control scheme. If they remade Super Mario Sunshine or Zelda: The Wind Waker with widescreen and progressive scan I'd get into those again too.


Nintendo DSi Dunno

I had a little think about whether the DSi is something I'd really want.

This all goes back to the reason I didn't get a DS lite in the first place. If I'm out of the house, I'm either busy or drunk. If I'm at home I have two consoles to... console me.


Nintendo Conference Games Reveal List

Does anyone else reckon that all these titles have been overrated?

A Punch Out! sequel? Random JRPG's?

I feel bad about it because I'm not feeling any love for ANY of the new titles shown. I don't know why, but nothing from the video package interested me.


From "The Ultimate RPG" (Working Title)

Many people like having all their actions mean something in games. Whether it be statistic tracking in games like Fable II and Grand Theft Auto IV or gaining Experience Points.

In the past, keeping track of everything was generally limited to RPG's. For me, I liked knowing that everything I did actually meant something.

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Resistance 2, Battlefield: Bad Company and more all give you "XP" for shooting people and carrying out objectives.

Your gamerscore is the ultimate RPG. It tracks a score of all your games [INCOMPLETE]


From "Nintendo" (Working Title)

Price of Virtual Console games is too much. It takes titles out of the "Impulse buy" category and into the "I'll have to think about it" category.

Emulation is poor and offers now new features. At least in the US you can run things in 480p. We don't even have that option for nearly all titles.

Games like Alex Kidd In Miracle World and Street Fighter II originally had 16:9 resolutions [NEVER RESEARCHED]. Back in the day this was probably done to sidestep graphical limitations, but it can be taken advantage of today with widescreen displays. Most untouched XBLA titles feature an option to adjust the screen size.

While on the Virtual Console, not only are we subjected to a letterboxed screen on the above mentioned titles,[INCOMPLETE]



I think Nintendo stuff on my offcuts will be common.

elektrixxx.