Looking For Hits is a weekly discussion between PlayStation Lifestyle's Managing Editor Sebastian Moss and GameRevolution's News Editor Daniel Bischoff that talks about the biggest news stories of the week.
With E3 2012 exactly one month away, we’re chomping at the bit for every announcement and reveal. Sure, they’ll start to leak out, but before it’s all said and done, join us for some E3 2012 Predictions.
What will Microsoft do?
Daniel: There’s no doubt that Microsoft will feature Black Ops II right at the outset of their press conference. Last year, the Xbox 360 themed stage darkened and Robert Bowling, ex-community manager for Infinity Ward, started up a Modern Warfare 3 demo. I’m 10,000% sure that’ll happen again with the equivalent team member at Treyarch and Black Ops II.
That said, following that Microsoft will continue to flog the cash cow that the Kinect has become, touting “games, games, games” many of which will have horribly broken stage demos and turn out shitty anyway.
THEN HALO 4 FOR AN HOUR.
Sebastian: Oh god, please don’t be filled with Kinect. Look we can mime dance to atrocious casual games that not one person in this crowd will ever want to buy!.. I just don’t understand the reasoning behind that, it’s the wrong audience, and just makes MS’ line-up look worse than it is.
Yeah, we’ll definitely see BLOPs II for ages, and it’ll end with a ton of Halo 4, but it’s the stuff in between that will interest me. Maybe Ryse will make Kinect fun for people above the age of 6, and perhaps the Skyrim DLC will look so amazing that I won’t even complain that I bought it on a different platform. I’m looking forward to seeing if MS has any more secret third party exclusives up their sleeves (I know GR posted stuff about a 360-only 2K job listing), as now that MS has splurged their focus on Kinect for a year or so, they can try and appeal to the core again.
What will Nintendo do?
Daniel: Nintendo will ultimately be forced to split their time defending the Wii U and its tablet controller and touting its admittedly strong 3DS handheld. I predict they’ll have finalized specs, a release date, and a handful of launch titles for the Wii U, but they won’t announce the price and there will be other pieces of information purposefully left out.
Remember when Sony revealed the Vita for the first time? There was a good solid chunk of time where your desire for the product just boiled up. When they finally announced the price, it didn’t matter how much it was going to cost. You wanted it.
I have to admit though that I’d rather see a big focus on the 3DS which has really hit a stride at the new price-point and a fresh line of must-have software. Please God, don’t show a 3DS Lite though.
Sebastian: There’s so much stuff about the Wii U that we don’t know about – like how the giant it’s-not-like-an-iPad controller thingy will change the game up. I can’t really see what’s so special about it, but Nintendo have proven my fears wrong before. We’ll see most of the launch line-up (at least first party) and some further out titles – maybe Starfox, Metroid, Zelda and something Mario. If we’re really lucky, we might even see a new IP for the core. There’ll probably also be a little focus on third parties, because “this console won’t just be about Nintendo games, honest”. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they announced GTA V for Wii U.
We won’t see a release date, they said as much in an investor call, but price details seems reasonable. And yeah, there’s sure to be a few nice treats for us 3DS owners, even if it won’t be the main focus.
What will EA do?
Sebastian: Mirror’s Edge 2!!! Well, probably not, but I can dream. What we’ll definitely see is Crysis 3 – expect a solid bit of gameplay for that, followed by a talk from EA Sports on why this year’s ___ sports game does things totally differently. Other probables include a closer look at the Sim City reboot and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Maybe we’ll see the next Need For Speed and Dead Space 3, and if we’re really lucky, Visceral’s Jack the Ripper game.
I also predict the Mass Effect 3: We’re Sorry Edition, which has an ending that more people will like, and retails for $99.99.
Daniel: You sonofabitch. Don’t you go trolling us with you’re Mirror’s Edge 2 predictions or your Massive Apology.
We will definitely see Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Sim City, albeit in a minimal capacity seeing as Sim City is slated for 2013. Need for Speed is almost a no-brainer, but I’d much rather see the next Burnout game. It’s been quite a few years since Paradise, but maybe EA just feels like they compete with themselves when they release an entry from both franchises.
All that said, I’m surprised we haven’t heard about Dead Space 3, and if we don’t at E3, then it’s likely been scrapped and restarted with a different concept than we had previously gotten details on.
Next Page: Ubisoft and Sony Predictions….
What will Ubisoft do?
Daniel: While Anthony Severino continuously derides Ubisoft’s press conferences, I’m looking forward to their E3 showing this year. I guess I’m excited because they have a very desirable portfolio of software lined up for the rest of this year and the beginning of next. We’re going to see a bunch of Assassin’s Creed III, a bunch of Far Cry 3, and maybe a Rayman Origins sequel in addition to the Wii U ports the company is planning.
Truly Ubisoft’s catalog makes this their E3 to lose in the third-party space. If they don’t show off a lazer tag game or an Imagine 3D Babyz demo then I think they’ll be OK.
Sebastian: I love Ubisoft’s conferences, they’re hilarious. It’s a bunch of crazy French people doing crazy things and talking about their least important games. If they have some sense, it’ll be about ACIII, Ghost Recon, Far Cry, Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell, Rayman and some new announcements like Driver, something ending in mania and another Rayman Rabbids title. I even hear they might be taking another punt at Rocksmith.
What will Sony do?
Sebastian: Sony may have kicked off their game announcements early with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, God of War: Ascension, The Unfinished Swan, and LittleBigPlanet: Karting, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything else in store for the show. Taking centre stage will certainly be the Vita, which is in real need of some new game announcements, as well as proof that COD Vita and Ass Creed weren’t vaporware. Then, there’s the PS3 games we know about like The Last of Us and Dust 514, some more half-baked promises that the Move is anything other than an inefficient torch, and then – most excitingly – some new PS3 game reveals. I’m hoping to see Quantic Dream’s next title, Guerrilla Games’ new IP (although this might be for PS4), Sucker Punch’s next game and Media Molecule’s first non-LBP game. Sony has a bunch of developers working on unannounced projects, so if they aren’t all focused on the next gen, then they could really steal the show.
Hell, if we’re lucky we might see Agent too…
Daniel: Hey! The PlayStation Move is NOT an inefficient torch. It is a pretty ineffectual sex toy though. Honestly, are we going to have to talk about the Move again? I don’t want to. Don’t make me. Please! I’ll start crying right here and now and embarrass the hell out of you Sony. I don’t care how I look so long as I’m making you look bad.
I mean, frankly, you don’t need me for that. If the next-gen console arms race is backing down, then Sony really stands to win the E3 press conference war. They have the system to own this late in the current hardware cycle. They can screw it up. I’m sure they could find a way, but walking third-party relationships out on stage and touting exclusive content and partnerships is the way to succeed at E3. Remember Gabe Newell coming out and calling his best friend a PS3?
We'll be back next week on PlayStation Lifestyle, talking about what's happened in Sony's neck of the woods, with another multiplatform-focused roundtable the week after.
