Each year at Eggplante, we postulate on what might be happening in Los Angeles at E3 that year. We’ve had some pretty exciting years recently, but it has been a very long time since we’ve had multiple major hardware releases in the same year. Sure, we had Kinect and Move announced and launched within months of each other back in 2010, but since then, things have been light on the hardware front.
That should make this year an exceptionally exciting one for at least two of the three console manufacturers, but we’ll delve more into other companies offerings as well in this year’s edition of E3: What Will, What Might, and What Won’t.
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Nintendo
This year, we’re starting with who we expect to lose the conference. We’re sorry to say it, but Nintendo has been making a lot of missteps lately regarding their home console offering, and it’s not something we see them overcoming at E3 this year. The 3DS is stronger than it’s ever been, however, and they’re going to focus on that for a lot of their showing this year. We’re just not sure how well that will fare with gamers.
- Portable bliss. Like we said, the 3DS has an exceptionally strong library right now, and it is only getting stronger from now all the way up to the holiday season. We’re expecting Nintendo to capitalize on this as they realize that they don’t have as much big Wii U news to spread around as they probably should for an event like E3.
- Zelda, Smash Bros., Mario, and Yoshi. Everyone will be on hand at E3 this year. Just like in 2010 when they trotted out virtually every character and gave each their own brand new game, Nintendo is going to try to mesmerize people with the sheer number of its franchises getting a title this year and next. With that said, we already know about most of these, so it might be a little difficult to surprise us at the show.
- Something surprisingly awesome. Plant this one firmly in the ‘might’ column. Aside from the titles we already know to be hitting the Wii U, we want to think that Nintendo is planning a big reveal of some new game (or series of them), or maybe even a piece of hardware, that will blow everyone away at E3. Really, this isn’t founded in any reality, but we’re hopeful that something comes of big-N at the show that isn’t just more of what we’ve seen in countless Nintendo Direct conferences.
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Sony
We’ve already seen the reveal of the PlayStation 4, but E3 is where we’re expecting to get all the important details as well as some much needed hands on time with the controller and its games. Expect another lengthy conference from Sony, though people in attendance can’t complain too much as word has it they’ll be feeding us ahead of time.
- PlayStation 4. We almost feel silly mentioning this because it’s so remarkably certain, but we’d technically be wrong about our predictions if we didn’t, right? So here’s our big shocker: the PlayStation 4 will play a big role at Sony’s Press Conference as well as on the show floor. Shocker, we know.
- Vita gets new life. No, we won’t be getting a redesigned Vita, but that’s because we don’t need one. The PlayStation Vita was overlooked last year as a fumble in Sony’s playbook, but they’re poised to bring it back in strides with its PS4-connectivity. We’re not sure how many games we’ll get, and after Black Ops: Declassified was such a blunder on the handheld, we’re not sure we want to guess. With that said, however, the games that have hit the Vita lately have been above par to say the least, and the connectivity between the handheld and the PS3 is only going to get better when the PS4 hits the market. Expect to see a lot of Vita at E3.
- PlayStation 3 isn’t dead, but it’s close. Our bet is that Sony will spend about 20-30 minutes talking about the PlayStation 3, throwing up a few videos for games like The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls in the process. Following that, they’ll drop the consoles price (if they announce the PS4’s price) or proceed with the rest of the conference as if the PS3 didn’t ever exist.
- The Last Guardian. We’re persistent buggers. The Last Guardian has been on this list for the past two years, but this is a game we want to see and fall in love with. We know that it is indeed still in development, and it’s actually a bit more exciting to know that it’ll be hitting the PlayStation 4, assuming it doesn’t get a release between The Last of Us and Beyond and mess up our lives as a result.
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Microsoft
The folks in Redmond are easily the biggest question mark so far as we don’t know exactly what they’re going to announce at their event next week. Of course, we know that the next Xbox will be unveiled, but we have surprisingly few details to go on after that. Regardless, we expect that E3 2013 will be Microsoft’s to lose.
- Next Xbox. Blah blah, same thing we said about the PlayStation 4, yada yada.
- Halo. We haven’t had a Halo-less E3 since the game came out, and we don’t think Microsoft is about to start now. We’re not banking on Halo 5 but we wouldn’t be shocked to see an anniversary edition of Halo 2 due out late in 2014. After all, the original came out in 2004, so it would only be fitting to release an anniversary edition of it a decade later. We’d love to hear something about Halo 5, but if a re-release of Halo 2 doesn’t hit until 2014, don’t expect to see anything about Master Chief’s next outing until next year.
- The usual suspects. Microsoft usually hosts Ubisoft and Activision at their media briefing to show off the latest in the Splinter Cell and Call of Duty series, respectively. We’re not seeing any reason they would change that this year, so expect to see something about Blacklist and Ghosts at the presser this year.
- Kinect, Kinect, Kinect. We said it then, and we’ll say it now: Kinect will be a big focus at the press conference this year. Expect it to be an even bigger deal if Microsoft ends up whipping out lip- and eye-tracking at the same time.
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Everyone Else
In addition to the big three manufacturers, we have some pretty massive developers and publishers that will be at the show this year, including Ubisoft, Activision, and Bethesda. With that said, we’ve got some thoughts on how their presence at the show will shake out.
- Rockstar isn’t there… again. The Grand Theft Auto developer doesn’t usually show up to these shindigs, so if they do this year, it’ll be a big deal. Grand Theft Auto V is also right around the corner, so if Rockstar shows the game off either on the floor or at a press conference, it’s a safe bet that they’ll steal the show. Don’t expect them to make an announcement ahead of time, though, as they’re a secretive company that likes surprises.
- Electronic Arts takes up a ton of space again. EA has a habit of taking up a massive expanse of convention centre space at E3, and we expect this year to be the same. They’ve got a mass of titles hitting this year, including Battlefield 4, The Sims 4, and a rumoured entry in the Mass Effect series, in addition to a dozen Frostbite Engine 3-based titles. Just don’t expect any of those on the Wii U.
- Cheap crap from around the world. What everyone sees on the internet from the E3 conferences doesn’t hold a candle to the amount of companies actually displaying merchandise on the show floor. Of course, there’s a lot of cheap crap from around the world that we expect to report on, but truthfully, you shouldn’t get your hopes up for it.
And there you have it, folks! In less than four weeks, we’ll be whisked away to Los Angeles to see just how many of our predictions came true and how many were blown out of the water. In the coming weeks, expect some awesome editions of Eggplante! BINGO for the show, as the first ever Eggplante Awards, and much more news leading up to the biggest gaming event of the year!
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