E3 Predictions And Expectations

We are finally in the home stretch of our long wait for E3. We suffered through other shows that turned out to be lesser forms of the real thing, and now we wait with baited breath for the big announcements. This year’s E3 is something that’s a bit influx. With every major console now out, the speculation about a lot of hardware features can basically lay to rest. All three companies are going to have an interesting ride with E3. The Playstation 3 has almost nowhere to go but up, and with the Wii riding such a huge wave of affection, it could easily prove to be a disappointing conference.

First on the E3 predictions list is Microsoft, however. Microsoft is sitting at a point where it has everything mapped out extremely solidly for the year. Undoubtedly the other consoles have some big games coming as well, but the 360 dominates with an amazing software lineup. Having had more time on the market then the other consoles, developers are becoming comfortable with the system, and it will show in this year’s lineup. What big announcements can we look for from Microsoft?

More software is a for sure thing. Peter Moore has a tradition to carry on, and you can expect he’ll have a new tattoo showing off another exclusive game they’ve managed to take over from Sony. If this doesn’t happen at the keynote, I can guarantee a lot of fans will be disappointed. Peter Moore has been in several interviews already bugging him about his next tattoo, if he’s man enough, you can expect a big surprise waiting under his shirt. All signs right now point to Devil May Cry, although I wouldn’t put it past him to have a tattoo on each arm, setting fanboys into howls of joy.

On the hardware signs of things, the 360 will be nearing the 600-day benchmark without a price drop. That’s a long time on average. Microsoft will not be stupid, they’ll be announcing one step ahead of Sony their console is now available at a cheaper price tag. As long as we are on the topic of jealousy, Microsoft wants a piece of the casual market, could waggle control be in their near future?

Finally, the one obvious untapped market. Will Microsoft finally take the plunge into the portable market? It’s a risky business trying to go head to head with the Nintendo DS these days. It’s a possibility with lots of great features, but I’d much rather see Microsoft not get ahead of themselves, or they could quickly find themselves in a tricky position.

Read on for more things from Sony and Nintendo.

The Playstation 3 needs software and it needs a price drop. There is no denying either of those points. Sony needs to ignore everything else for the moment, and focus on the fundamentals before their get too caught up in running a million directions at once. Now that’s easy enough to say, but will they actually go through with it?

A price drop is basically guaranteed at this point. I would honestly be shocked and amazed if this doesn’t happen. In fact, I’d be willing to wave the white flag of defeat for the company if they don’t make a smart pricing move. The company could head towards bundle territory, but if the 360 experiences a one hundred dollar price drop and Sony does not go through with it, consider them out as a contender for this round. But let’s just say I’m very positive this won’t be the case.

On to other obvious features, rumble seems a likely candidate. As does the long rumored PSP redesign. Unfortunately with all these things likely, it seems like the thing they should really be focusing on isn’t as certain. We’ll be getting new looks at software, and be seeing some news titles, but will Sony be swaying developers in their favor, or still be out of touch with the general consumer. Expect them to be pimping Home like no tomorrow, I wouldn’t be that shocked if it found its way to PSP either.

Finally our wildcard in the matter is Nintendo. We can expect things from all the other companies, but the only thing we know for sure is that Smash Bros. won’t be playable. Actually that’s not completely true. Just as certainly the PS3 will be receiving a price drop, the Wii will not. In fact hardware wise, I expect the Wii will be taking a bit of a break. The hard drive isn’t needed (for the general consumer) until 2008 for the Wii ware channel (perhaps GDC 2008). Nintendo really doesn’t even need to make any changes color wise to the console. New colors would be nice, but I don’t expect them. These are all things that would encourage people to buy the Wii, but as we all know it needs no encouraging.

Instead you can bet Nintendo will be working overtime making as much software as possible. They’ve got a money tree on their hands; they only need to keep feeding it with top-notch titles to keep the ball rolling. Even the DS needs not be touched. It’s unlikely the next iteration is ready to be spoken about, so it seems, as Nintendo claims, they will really be focusing on software.

On the software side of things expect Wii Music and Wii Health to be at the conference. I could actually see one of their big announcements being a Wii Sports 2 or Wii Motorsports for this holiday season. As well, Smash Bros. and Mario Galaxy should be dated, if they aren’t that’s some reason for concern. There’s a backlog of titles in the works, expect them all to be there in some form, that’s probably a certainty. As far as new announcements; we are missing Mario Kart, Pikmin, Star Fox and others. Nintendo has so many titles in the works, so hopefully we’ll get a huge video montage that will keep us satisfied for a while.