E3 of 2013 is nearing, and there's lots of hype surrounding it every time. While it can be disappointing, this year we got a new console generation to see and the games it brings. Perhaps we'll be blown away, perhaps we will be left wanting, no one knows yet. I will post my own predictions here, agree or disagree if you wish.
While Nintendo will pretty much be a no-show, Microsoft and Sony will both be bringing heavy artillery. Both companies will be talking about the next console generation, and how long everyone have waited for the next gen. While I do think most of us will be happy with games that most likely will be shown, with the never-to-be-pleased PC elitists being the exception, I do think people might not be very impressed with what they do with the consoles themselves.
Microsoft, to put it bluntly, fucked up with their "big" Xbox One reveal, so E3 for them will probably be lots and lots of damage control. They have promised more and better stuff for E3, but as Jim Sterling pointed out recently, they also thought the Xbox One event was worth showing us, so it's hard for them to guarantee that their E3 presentation will be worth anything as well. Sure, they could probably still turn it around, they still have a big user base, and they still dominate the American market. Only time will tell if the damage can be repaired and if they'll even bother for that matter.
If we look past the shitty details about Xbox One, being the name, issues with used games, online requirements, Kinect... Okay pretty many details there, but lets take a look at what really matters, the games. Will Microsoft deliver on that front? Well, they may deliver something, it's hard to tell really, they promise big things, yet little have been done to give us confidence to trust their promises. While they'll probably announce more games, like a new Halo, perhaps more Gears of War, maaaaybe some new IP's... I don't know if they'll actually show that much.
Worst case scenario is that they only mention a few games and just show a demo of next gen Call of Duty and call it a day. Honestly I don't think they care anymore for the core gamers even if they say they do, don't expect them to go big on exclusives or anything like that, better keep expectations low with Microsoft for now. However they are going to have to have really strong titles to get a good crowd of core gamers to go for Xbox One to make up for the online stuff, used games confusion and all that, if the games are good enough then there will be costumers.
So, Microsoft have a lot to make up for and then also push forward to become relevant again, what about Sony then? To be honest, they will probably do really good or really bad. That's the price of being on a roll for so long, they opened strong earlier this year and has gotten praise from developers ever since hyping it up more and more. With the Xbox One reveal making them look even better they really need to up the ante to keep this going on, how could it fail then? Well if they do announce that their console will also be making a fuss with used games, to have some forced online feature, simply put, don't have any huge drawbacks attached to Ps4.
Especially considering that Xbox One already has gotten a lot of shit for bad stuff that may just be rumors, it would be dumb to announce that they're doing it as well. What they need to do is be more user friendly, be more about just letting us play, win the people over by having the console that will be there for your gamer needs, not the console that needs your wallet and could care less if you end up happy about it or not. Sure, publishers might like added control, but I think they'd prefer actually selling their games before controlling every single purchase. Sony can dominate next gen, all they have to do is do what they're doing now while being less demanding than Microsoft.
I would like to think that Sony has learned from the Xbox One reveal, what not to do that is, and not have us worry about if our friends are going to be able to borrow a game of ours without paying any fees or something like it. Instead, they could just reassure everyone that they won't turn into dicks for next gen, show the actual console and even more importantly, the games! They've already announced some heavy hitters, they could go further and I'm hoping they will.
While they did actually show some gameplay at their Ps4 reveal, there's still more they can do to show off what the Ps4 is really capable off. I'm really thinking they will show off InFamous: Second Son more, being completely next gen exclusive they could really use it to show off what the hardware can do. I'm also hoping they got some surprising announcements, perhaps reviving some older franchises, perhaps a new The Getaway (personally, I still want another Syphon Filter game)? A bit too early to announce a new Naughty Dog game though, although I'd expect to hear about the next Naughty Dog game this year still.
What else... Well there's still the other big publishers like Ubisoft, EA and Activision to deal with, anyone getting exclusive deals with them could possibly get anyone an advantage. Although considering it's DLC deals I wouldn't put too much weight on such deals since it all boils down to who gets to give them money first. So far, Sony seems to be on real good terms with Ubisoft, Activision is clearly in the Microsoft camp, EA is harder to pin down since they want to get as much money as possible from everyone but if they were to be "bought" by anyone I'd say Microsoft would be in the better position to make such a deal.
There you have it folks, my thoughts, hopes and predictions about E3 2013. We will know what they're all up to by June 11-13 2013! If nothing else, E3 always seem to spawn amusing memes.
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