E3 kicks off next week. Because we have a fear of air hostesses (and in-flight meals) we won’t be attending. We will though be covering the conferences from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo and writing a round-up of all the other good stuff announced.
Microsoft start off the conferences on Sunday 13th June, followed by a media briefing on the 14th. Nintendo and Sony are both holding theirs on 15th June.
But what can we expect? Microsoft will be showing Natal, now rumoured to be called Wave, and its first batch of software. Rumour also has it that the free to play Joy Ride – announced at the last E3 – is now a Natal/Wave title. You can also expect Gears of War 3, Halo: Reach, Fable 3 and Crackdown 2. I think this might possibly be the third E3 running for Crackdown 2 now.
Sony will no doubt be shoving their motion controller in people’s hands and showing off their new 3D PlayStation 3 titles. Please, Sony, don’t use Brunswick Pro Bowling to demonstrate the PlayStation Move again.
Sony have also been telling the press that they’ve “learned at lot†from the PSPgo, speculating that the next PSP could go back to having a UMD drive. PSPgo 2? PSP 2? PSP 4000? Who knows that it’ll be called. Well, Sony probably does. Speaking of PSP, we should see more of God of War: Ghost of Sparta and that Resident Evil game that was announced yonks ago. Maybe we’ll get to see The Last Guardian on PlayStation 3 too.
Which leaves us with Nintendo, who usually have a surprise up their sleeve. Wii Party has already been announced as their next big first party game, while Zelda and Pikmin 3 have too been confirmed to be in development. Metroid: Other M must be near to being finishing by now so expect that to be playable. Potentially, the Nintendo 3DS could very well steal the show. It was recently reported that the 3D-ness can be turned off, while IGN have heard whispers from developers that the graphics are on-par with Xbox 360. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has laid eyes on it already: “I will tell you, I’ve seen it; it’s cool,” he said.
A few publishers have been poking our e-mail inbox with lists of what they’ll be showing. 2K Games are airing Mafia 2, Sid Meier’s Civilization V, Spec Ops: The Line (due out next year?) and XCOM plus Nickelodeon Fit and New Carnival Games on Wii. Bethesda meanwhile have a very promising line-up consisting of Brink, Fallout: New Vegas, Hunted and RAGE. Hopefully this means they’ve given up publishing tat like Rogue Warrior and Wheel Spin.
We’ll also be posting news E3 news as on our Twitter feed. But only when our boss is away from his desk.