E3 2008 predictions

Feature

Publishers are at their most secretive just around the yearly E3 show. What games will they reveal this year? And the console makers, what will they do? Some predictions from the HG staff.

July 13th, 2008 by HG Staff

Keato

Sony

Sony is a hard one to call. There are the basics, like Resistance 2, Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, and Motorstorm: Pacific Basis being shown and dated. God of War III is also expected to be shown off, and I wouldn�t be surprised if Home and Final Fantasy XIII are aswell. Concerning the Playstation Network, I would hope that more PS1 titles are released, and the announcement that PS2 games are coming. As for the PSP, either a large group of games from the likes of Capcom, Ubisoft, and Activision are revealed, or the PSP2 is announced.

Microsoft

Microsoft has never really embraced E3 to announce killer-app games, instead taking the time to make some minor announcements, business talk, and gameplay demonstrations. Dates for Microsoft�s lineup for this year should be set, from Halo Wars, Fable 2, Gears 2, and Viva Pi�ata Trouble in Paradise. Since Rock Band 2 has been announced to be a timed exclusive for the 360, it should be featured heavily at Microsoft�s event. A new Resident Evil 5 should tide fans over, and I wouldn�t be surprised to see a more specific release date mentioned. Also, expect Microsoft to play up those Square Enix RPG�s big time.

Rumors of a price drop have been floating around for a while, and it seems like Microsoft will announce that as well. Much like last year, Microsoft will talk about the Xbox Live Arcade lineup, and then announce that one or two of those games are available as they speak. Microsoft will once again try and capture the casual gamers interest with either A.) a new game or B.) Scene It expansions.

Nintendo

After last year�s disaster that was Nintendo�s E3 press conference, they had better step up their game big time. I wouldn�t be surprised if Kid Icarus Wii, Pikmin 3, or Animal Crossing 3 are shown off to satisfy the hardcore and quasi-hardcore crowd. Of course, Nintendo can�t leave without mentioning some new casual friendly games, and I wouldn�t be surprised if some of them didn�t include Balance Board support. Nintendo should also mention the recently launched Wiiware service, especially after the Mega Man 9 announcement.

Guitar Hero World Tour will probably appear in some form or another at the conference, since Guitar Hero III sold HUGE amounts on Wii. GHWT includes downloadable content straight off the SD card, I wouldn�t be surprised if Nintendo announced that they are opening up the SD card slot so you won�t have to delete and re-download everything.

Tenchu 4, Fatal Frame 4, and (hopefully) a surprise third party game should remind everyone that third parties haven�t forgotten entirely. On the DS side, things seem to be on the downside, so hopefully a new Nintenpets game or New Super Mario Bros 2 will be announced.

I don�t really expect a Nintendo solution to voice chat, or the revealing of Retro Studios next project or the next Zelda game (what if they are one and the same!), but surprises could happen.