I have been watching the Electronic Entertainment Expo for a number of years, basically since I got back into gaming in the mid-2000’s. E3 is, for most fans of video games, the equivalent to the Super Bowl. It’s a time to make crazy predictions, decide who the “winner” was and who the losers are. It’s become a tradition for my fiancée and myself to sit down and watch each of the major press conferences as they happen.
As such, there are a huge number of things that I’m anxiously awaiting to hear at E3. These are just a few things that I want to see by the end of E3 this year.
Nintendo Comes Back In Full Force
Yes, Nintendo isn’t having a major press conference this year, instead choosing to focus on their web series, known as Nintendo Direct. These, somewhat short, videos have been airing monthly and this year Nintendo has decided to simply use the June Nintendo Direct video to showcase their new Wii U titles they have in development. We know that the new game from Platinum Games, The Wonderful 101, as well as Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker HD are coming out this fall and…that’s about it.
The Wii U has, so far, been a failure by most estimations. When the system launched, there was a fairly huge line up of titles for the system. Since then, though, the system has had hardly any exclusives, leading to fairly abysmal sales numbers. Nintendo has, almost undoubtedly, the most enviable catalog of game franchises of all time, but so far the Wii U has barely touched them. Nintendo needs something huge to show people the worth of the system. The hardware is truly unique in the console market as of right now, but with no real catalog of games, it’s nearly impossible to sell too many.
Justifying the Xbox One to Me
Yes, I’m one of those people. I’m one of the people who eagerly watched the Xbox One reveal press conference and was less than impressed. In fact, following the press conference I told my fiancée that we would likely want to invest in a gaming PC before we invested into an Xbox One. The media functionality, for a person who’s “Cut the cord” on almost all television was, in a word, useless. There was absolutely nothing that I wanted or needed from the first press conference.
What I really want from the Xbox One at E3 is to show me something that I absolutely must have. As someone who’s never had a huge affinity towards most of Microsoft’s franchises (I’ve played all of an hour of Halo multiplayer and I’m just now playing the first Gears of War game I’ve ever played), Microsoft has to justify a purchase to me. I need to see new games that blow me away like it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a game. Maybe that’s Banjo-Threeie from Rare. Whatever it is, it has to be mind-blowing for me to want to invest in an Xbox One.
Fan Favorites and an Indie Showcase from Sony
The Playstation 4 is a console that I’m tentatively excited for. I have much more of an affinity for games in the Sony library. Ideally (though I’m convinced that the game doesn’t actually exist) would be an announcement about the release of The Last Guardian from Team Ico. I’m extremely excited to see more of Infamous: Second Son (one of my favorite new franchises from this generation), as well as a hopeful announcement of Uncharted 4.
One of the coolest things, though, that Sony could do is showcase all of the indie developers who are beginning to go towards the Playstation 4, thanks to their announcement of allowing indie devs to self-publish on the system. There are a ton of incredibly talented developers who don’t want to give up total control of their games to a major publisher. Allowing them to self-publish helps them to have a major platform to showcase their talent and it would be awesome if Sony were to focus a major portion of their press conference to these small developers.
A Bunch of Games
There are so many games that I’m insanely excited for this fall and once E3 closes, I’ll be even more excited for them. Games like Saint’s Row IV, Rayman Legends, Watchdogs and even more niche titles like Killer is Dead all have my eye, and aside from Watchdogs, they’re all for the current generation of consoles. For as much hype as there is over the “console wars”, there are so many awesome games coming out this fall that, if you’re not excited after E3, you might want to take up a new hobby.
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