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

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Sony

Despite increasing sales numbers month to month and multiple million copy selling titles like Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony is still on a downward trend in terms of cash on hand. With an operating loss of more than $3 billion dollars Sony can�t afford to do a price cut on the Playstation 3 and will instead have to rely on strong Blu-Ray and first-party sales like Killzone 2 and Resistance 2. Look forward to Sony announcing new information concerning the confirmation of several PS3 exclusive titles like Heavy Rain and God of War 3 as well as a final release date for Home. Sony will not be announcing a next generation PSP but will instead reveal a new controller for the PS3 that will break apart and function similar to the wiimote and nunchuk. Sony will demonstrate its functionality with Resistance 2 and Fight Night Round 4.

Microsoft

Meanwhile over in Microsoft country this year�s presenter (probably Bell) will be quite upbeat in regard to strong sales numbers and will reflect on the best 12 months in the company�s console history with incredible numbers in both first and third party numbers. Bell will say that the company was wrong and that this Fall will be their finest period of projected sales in company history. Peter Moore will make a surprise appearance on stage at the briefing and will talk about the new Madden and all its new features. Microsoft will announce and talk about several exclusive titles like Tales of Vesperia and Deus Ex 3 while announcing long rumored titles like Dead Rising 2 and Crimson Skies 3 as well as finally revealing Peter Jackson�s Halo project. Several titles will be demonstrated on stage like Aliens: Colonial Marines and Call of Duty: World at War. Lips, Microsoft�s answer to Singstar will finally be revealed as well as the first episode of downloadable Grand Theft Auto IV which will focus a lot more on the biker gangs. Finally Microsoft will announce Xbox Live 3.0, which will incorporate Avatars (their answer to Miis), 4-way conference chatting, and a much more robust achievement system.

Nintendo

Over on the Nintendo front the now casual company will continue in the same fashion as last year, focusing on sales numbers and their monstrous lead in console sales. Nintendo will continue to spout about their new customer base while promoting new casual titles like Cooking Mama 2. Spurred on by the success of Wii Fit Nintendo will talk about several titles that incorporate the pad including Raving Rabbits 3 and an expansion set to Wii Fit. To fill in the huge void of releases for the Fall Reggie will talk about several hardcore titles like Animal Crossing Wii but will also a new Star Fox title as well as the much anticipated Kid Icarus Wii. The hardcore will once again be brushed aside in favor of the casual crowd so guarantee a snoozefest for about 80% of the show.

General

Finally the rest of the summit will indulge a lot of developers and publishers to finally come out with a slew of information regarding most of the titles we want to see. Look forward to titles like Ghostbusters, Mirror�s Edge, Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, and Tom Clancy�s Endwar and HAWX getting release dates. Ubisoft will also reveal a revamped Splinter Cell Conviction as well as the next step in the Ghost Recon franchise. Look forward to the first demo of Prince of Persia from Ubisoft. SquareEnix will show a short new teaser trailer as well as the intention to work on sequels and remakes on previous titles in their catalogue, including Kingdom Hearts 3 (which will be multi-platform and will have a exclusivity window for the Xbox 360) and a new Parasite Eve, though both projects will have to wait to go into full production until after Final Fantasy XIII is complete. They will not show anything from XIII at the show and will dodge questions regarding both XIII games. Finally Konami will come forward with a demo version of Rock Revolution with a $200+ price point and a catalogue of songs that mainly incorporate indie rock hits and remixed versions of DDR songs. Don�t expect Konami to reveal any news regarding a new Zone of the Enders or Kojima�s new IP.