The Electronic Entertainment Expo begins in Los Angeles on Tuesday and unofficially begins tonight with Microsoft’s Natal experience. We’ve already told you which of the many announced games we’re looking forward to. Now, let’s dive into deeper water. Let’s make some predictions.
Disclaimer: despite how paranormal we actually are, we are not psychic. We’re only able to move things with our minds and create fire with our thoughts, unfortunately.
Sal
Microsoft
- Natal will officially be named Xbox Wave. It’ll be dated, priced too high, and receive a full lineup of launch titles from Microsoft and various supporting publishers.
- Gears of War 3 will be demoed on stage, probably by Cliff Bleszinski – minus any sort of plastic weaponry. They’ll probably unveil some new features.
- Peter Molyneux will probably step on stage to talk either Fable III or Milo – or both, even. Perhaps Milo will interact with the audience and take pieces of paper from them.
- Itagaki will show off Devil’s Third, his newly-announced game from THQ. Considering we know the Japanese developer to have had a strong preference over Xbox 360 in the past, he appearing at the Xbox briefing is pretty likely.
- Hideo Kojima will step on stage and show off Metal Gear Solid: Rising just as he did last year. This time, though, he’ll actually reveal something worth showing. That means gameplay. Maybe Microsoft will secure some sort of exclusivity for the game, whether it be timed release or something involving downloadable content.
- Rare will take the stage to announce a new game. With a countdown taking days on their website at the moment, I’m sure we can expect something out of them. It’ll probably be Natal-related, hopefully for a hardcore audience rather than the casual gamer approach the platform seems to be taking.
- Some third-party publisher publishing a multiplatform game will demo their game on stage. Afterward, Microsoft will announce some sort of exclusive content for the game. This could happen with one to three titles, I’m guessing.
- New Xbox LIVE partnerships will be announced. That means Hulu.
- Bungie presents a Halo: Reach campaign demo.
- 343 Studios will announce their first Halo project.
- Microsoft will announce a new IP. It’s kind of hard to predict anything else from them as most of their known franchises already have a title in the pipeline on the way.
- Don Mattrick’s shoulder will be left untapped.
Sony Computer Entertainment America
- Kevin Butler will take the stage alongside Jackie T. He’ll make snarky comments as Jack tries to be serious about the future of PlayStation.
- Big focus on PlayStation Move. Release date and launch titles will be announced. Pricing, as well.
- Sony will show off Move integration with games not built for the platform such as LittleBigPlanet 2, SOCOM 4, and Killzone 3.
- Big MMO push. Sony will showcase SOE’s Free Realms (already confirmed for E3), DC Universe Online, and The Agency. Square Enix will demo Final Fantasy XIV on stage and announce a release date for the title.
- New trailer for The Last Guardian will stun the crowd. Release date announced.
- In light of a recent SCEJ teaser, Sony will announce Patapon (PS)3 for… PlayStation 3.
- Sony will detail PlayStation Network premium. Cross-game chat will be announced as a feature accessible to all – not just paid subscribers. Pricing will be comparable to that of Xbox LIVE.
- PlayStation 3 XMB redesign. They’ll probably be doing this to make way for whatever new PlayStation Network premium features they’ll be adding.
- Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will be demoed on stage. To help associate the brand with the PlayStation, some sort of exclusive content will be announced.
- Sony will announce some new games. Naughty Dog, BigBig, Liverpool, Bend, Santa Monica, and Japan Studio are likely contenders. Perhaps Syphon Filter 5, Jak & Daxter PS3, or a new role-playing game. We’ve yet to see a heavy-hitting role-playing game come out of a first-party Sony studio.
- Square Enix will reveal the first gameplay footage of Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
- Sony will end the show with some sort of surprise, similar to the E3 2008 where they saved the Killzone 2 footage for last.
Erren
Microsoft
- Big focus on Natal. Microsoft has already promised a full unveiling of the product, complete with date, pricing and an official name.
- New Natal games will be announced and possibly demoed.
- With the mounting evidence of packaging refresh, it’s likely that they will announce the oft rumored Xbox slim and possibly some bundles, or price drops on current models. With a new look, they’re likely to announce a new marketing campaign as well.
- Microsoft will focus on their big first party games. I fully expect new trailers and even possibly demonstrations on stage for titles such as Gears of War 3, Fable III, and Halo: Reach.
- I’d say a Gears of War 3 stage demo is basically guaranteed at this point.
- If Rare’s website countdown wasn’t hint enough, it looks like they will have some sort of prescense at the show this year. If I were to guess, they’re definitely working on some Natal titles, but I think we may see a new IP from them, or perhaps a long awaited sequel to something like Killer Instinct.
- Like last year, expect Call of Duty: Black Ops to get some sort of showing, possibly with another timed exclusive DLC announcement.
- I also believe Bethesda will demo Fallout: New Vegas at the conference, again with the possibility of a timed exclusive DLC.
- Kojima Productions will likely show a new trailer and maybe even demo Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Kojima’s been hinting that we’d see something this year and the Microsoft conference could be the place to do it.
- Hulu will be announced for Xbox 360. It will be a paid service, probably for Gold members only.
Sony Computer Entertainment America
- Sony will announce a date and price for PlayStation Move. They’ll also showcase several PlayStation Move-specific titles, as well as core titles with Move support (SOCOM 4, etc.).
- Premium PSN should be detailed as well. Current PSN will remain free.
- Some of the conference will be dedicated to sales charts, etc.
- It’s possible that Sony will announce PS2 downloadables coming to the PlayStation store, along with complete emulation through software for compatibility.
- Many first party titles will either get a new trailer or be demoed. I expect to see Killzone 3, Infamous 2, MotorStorm: Apocalypse, and probably LittleBigPlanet 2.
- Japan Studio will showcase a brand new trailer for The Last Guardian, and we will likely get a release date on the title.
- It’s possible that we may see some other titles from SCEJ as well.
- I believe the PSP will see a price cut and some new bundles. Likely a drop on the PSP Go as well. I’m hoping they don’t spend too much time on the handheld, but they’ll probably show off titles like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, The 3rd Birthday, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and possibly some unannounced stuff.
- I don’t think they’ll reveal a PSP2 quite yet… maybe at TGS or Gamescom later this year.
- Gran Turismo 5 will be shown… again… but this time it will have a release date.
- Despite Rockstar claiming they won’t have a presence at E3 this year, I still think they’ll reveal Agent at Sony’s show. They won’t be showing L.A. Noire, however.
- Square-Enix will likely reveal a new Final Fantasy XIV trailer, and possibly show the game running on a PS3 for the first time. Final Fantasy IX will be released on North American PSN later that day (fact).
- I have a feeling Sony’s show may prove to be surprisng. They’ve obviously got something up their sleeves since they’ve gone and revealed several new titles before the event.
Matthew
Microsoft
- Definite pricing and release date, as well as name for Project Natal. We’ll definitely see something along the $130-150 dollar range from Microsoft, factoring in the previous history of them selling a wireless headset and vision camera for $60 each. This motion controller must be worth double than a wireless headset and web cam.
- I can honestly say I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new Halo game announced. Not one developed by Bungie, but the new studio heading the Halo franchise: 343 Industries. Something a la Halo Wars.
- Peter Molyneux will be talking up the stage about his great ideas for Fable III… most of which might not make the final cut of the game.
- Metal Gear Solid: Rising unveil. If this game is at the show, Microsoft will be the ones to unveil it.
- Lots of Natal stuff to be unveiled. Microsoft has always been one for accessories, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some customizable add-ons or digital content for our avatars with anything related to Natal.
- A new bundle for the Xbox 360 will be announced and that it will be hitting store shelves soon to drive more sales for the 360 and get ready for the Natal launch. Possibly an Xbox 360/Natal combo.
- I have a really big feeling about a brand new massive RPG coming from Microsoft. Western or Japanese, I don’t know, but I can feel the RPG brewing in the air with them. If it means anything, Feelplus has said in the past they were working on a “large scale RPG” for the console.
- More downloadable content for the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Expect to see more than just the already confirmed Sonic Adventure as part of their Dreamcast line up for the digital download service.
- If the E3 trend continues, they will be prepping a new update for the Xbox 360 with big features. Something along the lines of live streaming TV, or maybe even a web browser. Hulu, maybe? Who knows?
Sony Computer Entertainment America
- PlayStation Move titles! Though I don’t expect to see a big amount. Sony hasn’t been known for quantity, but rather the quality of their exclusive titles. Expect to see just a couple of them that will blow us away.
- Definite gameplay demos of LittleBigPlanet 2, inFAMOUS 2, and Killzone 3. Expect to see lots of what they have already announced.
- Full blowout on the PlayStation Network premium package deal.
- Full blowout on a whole new user interface that will better integrate a social community into the PlayStation Network. The PlayStation Network is getting overhauled this E3.
- At least one new exclusive from the first party developers at E3. They have to be saving some sort of huge surprise.
- A huge exclusive coming from a third party developer. The time is now for the PlayStation 3 to get another amazing exclusive and again, they have to be saving something amazing for the show.
- Kevin Butler will make a live appearance. (wide smile)
- It’s a big possibility we’ll see one or two currently existing games demoed with the PlayStation Move. Possibly the announcement of some sort of patching to add Move functionality to these titles.
- Some sort of big Square-Enix announcement. Sony always seems to have them despite where that announcement goes after the show.
- A lineup of a new type of game series. Similar to ‘Greatest Hits’, I’m sure we’ll see the Team Ico Collection, and possibly the announcement of more “collections.”