With a little over a week to go until the Super Bowl of the gaming industry, that would be Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 for those of you who don't know, there comes a time to examine the evidence and try to predict what the major players in the industry will showcase. We will take a look at the evidence on a company by company basis and tell you what we expect from this years show. First up, Sony's PlayStation 3.
Its been a roller coaster year for Sony thus far. The year began will system sales up and a great catalog of games available early in the year many with PS3 advantages. This included the PlayStation exclusive blockbuster Killzone 3, the Move enabled Dead Space 2, and the special steam enabled edition of Portal 2. Sony also tipped it hand and showed the Next Generation Portable and the Xphira Play phone, showing the companies re dedication to the portable brand. Hardship struck Sony's box in waves though as the Move was outsold 4 to 1 according to NPD data in comparison to the Microsoft Kinect over the holiday season and the first quarter of 2011. Then, after the keys to the PlayStation Security were published on the internet by hackers, the plethora of security updates and the litigation brought against the responsible party ultimately brought the hacking community against Sony and lead to the hacking and security breach of the PlayStation Network in April.
While the PlayStation community now stands on the edge of what seems to be the worst part of the storm, daylight is in site. PlayStation's Conference should showcase many of the reasons to be a PlayStation 3 owner with games like Uncharted 3, Infamous 2, Star Hawk, Twisted Metal, and Resistance 3 all on the horizon and launching this year as well as the showcasing of the new NGP system, there are many reasons why this could still be the year of the PlayStation. With the preface out of the way, lets get to the reason why you are even reading this article, the E3 Predictions.
Predictions
1) At least 30 minutes of the PS3 brief will be about sales statistics-Jack, we love you but the worst part of every E3 is having to listen to the sales stats of the PS3. Yes, the system is still selling well, we do know that the PS3 will have a 10 year life span at least, and yes the game library will be large. This will most likely be the portion of the event where they also speak about their commitment to 3D and showcase the games that are 3D supported.
2) PlayStation Portable Remastered coming to the US with an announcement from Hideo Kojima
-The new PSP Remastered series is a great idea and really needs to be available to every PS3 owner. The God of War, Monster Hunter, Syphon Filter, and Metal Gear Series need to be available on the PS3. This will truly make the PSP a portable PS3 experience. This will also mark the moment where Hideo Kojima walks on stage and showcases Metal Gear Peace Walker in its High Definition glory for the first time. I hope and prey that Sony will also announce an additional library of 4 to 6 titles that will be getting this type of treatment which if you count the titles that I listed above could work out perfectly.
3) Next Generation Portable gets a name, price, and date
-This almost goes without saying now that Sony is still focusing on releasing the NPG this year. The system will get its name, the "PlayStation Portable 2" aka PSP2, and be priced at $299. The release day will be most likely mid November to ensure a holiday presence. The system will also get a release day catalog of games including Killzone, Resistance, Uncharted, Ape Escape, and a new Monster Hunter title.
4) PSP Remastered is just the beginning
-Along with the announcement of the PSP2, the new feature will be detailed including the ability to play a full PS3 game and then take your save to your portable and play it on the road, a truly portable PlayStation experience.
5) Tetsuya Nomura takes the stage to welcome us to Final Fantasy Versus 13
-Let me make this perfectly clear, there will be no date announced but the game play and cut scenes should be shown. This should be a teaser as Square-Enix has always been big on showing most of their work at the Tokyo Game Show.
6) Team Ninja will take the stage to show off Ninja Gaiden 3 with Move support
-Simply enough, according to recent reports, the next outing of Ryu will tout Move support and enhanced PS3 features over it's 360 counter part. Techmo is playing it close to the chest with this one and news of the features and game play should become clearer during the conference.
7) Another Move montage with more games being announce by the one and only Kevin Butler
8) Valve takes the stage once again to announce Left for Dead 3 cross platform
-Being owned by EA means a focus on multi-platform releases are a way of life. The announcement of this on the Sony console may be due to the relationship between Activision and Microsoft over the Call of Duty Franchise.
9) DICE takes the stage and talks the console version of BattleField 3 with PS3 exclusive content
-This is almost guaranteed due to the Medal of Honor treatment that the PS3 was given. Simply enough, Call of Duty owns the 360 fanbase, why not try to monopolize the quickly growing PS3 audience. The exclusive content will most likely be maps and a beta but only time will tell.
10) Sony's First Party Studios take the stage and announce various features to their games each will be shocking
-Uncharted will feature in story coop as well as the coop mode from Uncharted 2
-Twisted Metal will show off more of the game play features including a vast customization feature of the character models in the versus mode
-Star Hawk will show its first space battle scenes and give more details on the multiplayer features
-Resistance 3 will show off its 3D and Move capabilities as well as showing more multiplayer
-Sly 4 will be shown for the first time, with Move and 3D ability
Long shots (These are completely baseless but would be awesome if they were true)
-God of War 4 announced-Kingdom Heart 3 announced
-Bungie Project shown
-New David Cage (Heavy Rain Creator) project shown
-Killzone 4 shown
-Legend of Dragoon 2 announced
-NPG Move support announced
As I said before these are just predictions, none of which have been proven or confirmed yet. Based on what has been seen in the news and industry leaks, these could all be things we could seen in two weeks. Have better ideas or could prove these wrong? Let us know in the comments. Next up Microsoft.
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