E3 Predictions

When I saw this news story on my RSS feed I decided I should get around to posting my E3 Predictions post that I've been thinking about for a little while, and quickly. We are now less then a month from the biggest event in the gaming industry, and things are beginning to leak like a sieve. So before every surprise is blown, let's get on with my foolish predictions that will end up being wrong.


Sony

What I'm sure will be a big part of their press conference has already been leaked, the PSP Go!. It might prove to have been just a rumor, but it seems pretty concrete, and with the attention that Sony has suddenely put on their handheld it certainly seems likely. The new PSP and the bevvy of new games for it is sure to be a big part of their focus, but what of the PS3? We can only hope that that fabled price cut will happen, and that it will be $100 one and not a measly $50 one. Other then that most of the attention will be on the upcoming holiday and spring 2010 games, and possibly some new announcements of games even further out. I doubt that the next Team Ico game will finally be announced here in America, as that's usually saved for Tokyo Game Show, though I would love for it to be. Heavy Rain will probably be hands on this year as it was shown behind closed doors to select journalists at last years E3. I'm going to take this time to call something now, I don't know if it'll be said at E3, but that M.A.G. game that the Socom team is working on has to be somehow branded with the Socom name. They wouldn't really put it out the door with the name Massive Action Game would they? My guess is it'll have the Socom name attached to it at some point soon.


Microsoft

This press conference is going to go one of two ways. 1. It'll be the same old boring thing. They'll say how great their sales are, give hands ons for all the fall releases, and that'll be about it. Or 2. They will show something off that we won't be expecting. Up until today, I didn't know what that could be, but now I'm suspecting that it will be some sort of motion controller or sensor bar. The 360 Arcade unit is already $50 cheaper then a Wii, if Microsoft could pull motion control off as well and support it then they might be able to grab onto the Nintendo train thats quickly racing away from it's competitors. They've already got Rare in their pockets to make perfect Wii type games for a new motion controller. As for games, I have no clue, maybe a new Crackdown?? Microsoft doesn't like to show things off until they are coming out that year, so there might not be very many surprises gaming wise. Perhaps we will finally see more Alan Wake though.


Nintendo

This press conference will go one of one ways. Nintendo has nothing up their sleeves that will be at all exciting. DSi just came out, Wii Motion Plus is on its way, and the Wii itself is selling gangbusters. We won't be seeing any price cuts, new gadgets, or new hardware guaranteed. The only thing they will be doing is talking up the Wii Motion Plus and DSi. They might have a few games to unveil, my guess is Red Steel 2 will be announced and shown off with the motion plus controls. Possibly they'll pull out a big gun and announce a new Wii Zelda game or something else like a Donkey Kong, Star Fox or that fabled Kid Icarus reboot. I'm doubting that though, it'd be nice but probably won't happen. If anything, we'll see some DSi Ware games that are actually good to try to convince people that theres a reason to buy a shiny new DSi.


Well, that's all I've got. I'm not going to get into third party companies and games that they might announce. Yeah, I kind of played it safe, it's less a list of predictions and more just general thoughts on what will probably happen. Sure I didn't get all crazy and start calling out things that will be announced, but I prefer to not get my hopes up for that kind of stuff anyway. Either way, I'm really excited for this years E3. Even if nothing else is exciting, all the PSP love will be enough for me. It'll be nice to be playing it much more over the next year or so. Anybody else have any thoughts on what'll happen at E3 this year?