Laevatein: Hey everyone, Laevatein here!
Kaushik: Kaushik here.
Laevatein: And today, we thought we’d debate about what could happen in E3! Now Kaushik, to start, is there anything you really want to see at E3?
Kaushik: Well, for starters, I’m really looking forward to details on the Wii U. There’s a lot to learn, and a lot ot sell me on. Hopefully nintendo can knock this one out of the park for me… Though I’m not certain they will. Besides that, there’s the handhelds, 3DS and Vita. I’m expecting some more from them since they’re still relatively new to the scene.
Laevatein: Yeah, this year’s E3 seems to be make or break for the Wii U. Though I think as long as they can show they have strong third party support, it’ll be golden. I’m sure they won’t fail on first party games, what with Mario, Zelda, the new Super Smash Bros., Retro Studios, and Monolith Soft. However, considering how Nintendo’s conferences went in the past, I don’t believe we’ll see pricing. Though I don’t think they’ll show too much more of the 3DS, since that already seems to be established. Less so with the Vita.
Kaushik: Well I’m expecting a pricing for the Wii U for sure at E3. I dunno about 3rd party titles since Nintendo generally manages to sell me on their first party titles alone. I mean great 3rd party titles would be awesome, but not necessary to my purchasing of the console. Insofar as the 3DS is concerned, I expect some new announcements insofar as software is concerned. Perhaps some new info on Paper Mario 3DS or Luigi’s Mansion 2. The Vita on the other hand.. I dont’ know what to expect. I know I’ll end up buying a 3DS and Vita eventually. E3 is just gonna tell me when I’ll buy it. On the flipside, insofar as Xbox is concerned… I have to admit, I don’t have an xbox so I’m not AS concerned, but I’m mildly interested in what they can cook up. I’m expecting some more kinect things, possibly some multimedia connectivity. Other than that hopefully Microsoft can surprise me; my expectations are low.
Laevatein: I don’t recall Nintendo giving pricing details at E3 in the past, or at least, in their conferences. Of course, Nintendo also left out Pikmin 3 in their conference last year, so who knows what sort of bombshells they’ll drop outside of their main conferences. Yeah, we’ll probably wind up seeing more 3DS games. I’m not sure what, but I’m almost sure we’ll see Fire Emblem: Awakening confirmed for the US, for instance. Some new Zelda for the 3DS might be in the works, too, since it’s around that time. Though it’d be cool if they were working on a Majora’s Mask 3D remake, but eh, not sure about that one. But as I said, I don’t think we’ll see any major confirmations regarding new 3DS hardware since the 3DS seems to have already settled in, I imagine they’ll let it stay comfy for a while. I’m positive we’ll see information about Wii U/3DS connectivity, but nothing more. There’s a possibility we’ll be seeing a Vita price cut since, let’s face it, it’s not doing all that well. Regarding Microsoft… well, I think they’ll try to advertise more multimedia features. The 360 is already seven years old, so I don’t really see anything more than Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 in terms of games. If they want to surprise us, maybe a Halo 5 teaser?
Kaushik: Well, I’m at least looking forward to Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 for sure. I don’t think there would be any new 3DS hardware either, that’d be ridiculous so quickly. I just think there’ll be some new software announcements for both handhelds. I guess Sony can try to pull in the hardcore with some new excellent PS3 announcements. Maybe some new info on The Last of Us, or whatever that new Naughty Dog game is called. Other than that… I think I’m outta predictions.
As unlikely as this is, this makes the 3DS quite a lot more appealing.
Laevatein: Well, here’s something to chew on. It appears that the ongoing lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola is coming to a head. And it appears 360 imports into the US might actually be banned. I think this might put Microsoft on some pretty thin ice, and might force them to play their 720 hand early, maybe show us some details. What do you think about that?
Kaushik: Hm, well, I didn’t know about the whole lawsuit situation. I’m not sure what to make of the results of that situation until it actually resolves. Insofar as them showing the 720 at this E3… I find that kind of unlikely. But hey, like all gamers, I think it’d be cool if they did.
Laevatein: I dunno, I think we’ll be seeing at least a tiny bit of the 720, since that seems to be going south. I literally cannot think of anything Microsoft could do at this point to wow people any more. I mean, they keep pushing Kinect, but I wouldn’t say a lot of people own one. So I think if they do try to come up with any surprises, the 720 might be as good a reveal as any.
Kaushik: I didn’t think the kinect would be a success either, but from what I understand it’s not doing all that poorly. Of course I don’t know any official numbers on that, but that’s just my understanding on the situation, since Microsoft is coming out with Windows 8, more integration on that front could be a certain wow factor. I mean it wouldn’t wow me, but I think seamless integration between console and computer could be a neat starting point for future innovation. Just like I think the kinect is an incredibly neat little piece of technology to be given to the home consumer and will probably open the floor for a lot of innovation in the future. At least, here’s hoping to that. Insofar as the 720 is concerned, it depends on the timeframe of the whole motorola lawsuit. I think events like E3 are planned well in advance. So unless they have a pretty solidly working prototype to show off I dunno if they’ll show a 720, but hey, I’d love to be proven wrong on that front.
Laevatein: Oh, yeah, I was thinking we’d see some Windows 8 stuff, but who knows how far they’ll go with that. More Games for Windows Live nonsense? I hope not. I find it rather sad that Kinect doesn’t have any real killer apps. It’s some really cool technology, I’ll give you that, but I don’t think we’ve seen games that really take advantage of it. Realistically speaking, Microsoft will probably try to sell you their Kinect even harder. In fact, that’s probably going to be the main portion of their conference. I think Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 will only really be there as an excuse, in case anyone accuses them of not doing anything really gaming related. But who knows. I don’t plan to be amazed by Microsoft’s conference, so any real surprise at this point will be interesting.
Kaushik: Yeah I’m not really expecting any killer apps for the Kinect for the hardcore audience. But that’s fine for me I think it has some great applications for multimedia browsing and could potentially do some wonders for seamless PC to console integration. Insofar as their actual games are concerned… Yeah I don’t see much coming up, but that doesn’t bother me much since I don’t have an Xbox. Like I said I’ll look forward to blops and halo 4 but I’ll just play them and not buy them. But yeah Microsoft is definitely the least hyped conference this year.
Not gonna lie though, this game looks really fun.
Laevatein: Well, what do you think about Sony? I know you mentioned them, but Sony seems to be faring rather poorly. I’m of the opinion that this could very well be Sony’s last E3 showing, or at least their last big one.
Kaushik: Nah I doubt this will be their last major E3 showing. Sony has been facing losses across the board, it’s not just their games division that isn’t doing well. It’s just a symbol of a downed world economy more than anything else I think. I doubt there’s any major corporate restructuring in Sony’s future, insofar as their E3 showing is concerned. I’m expecting some new software for the Vita, and I think they could really pull some surprises on the PS3. Maybe The Last Guardian release date announced? Wishful thinking there, probably. MGS5 is another possible big name title that could be announced. And the sky’s the limit with the Vita.
Laevatein: Well, they could always come out with Uncharted Team Racing, or something.
Kaushik: Yeah that’d be the day.
Too bad Naughty Dog had to come up with a new IP.
Laevatein: Well, here’s an interesting topic, how about Apple? How far do you think they’ll push iOS for gaming?
Kaushik: No clue and frankly that hasn’t really interested me. As for how they’ll push it… Honestly, I don’t know. I think there could be some potential there but if Apple could just interest a lot of indie developers to their platform. That could probably have them do the best. Just hope for another Angry Birds, I suppose.
Laevatein: Well, I guess this is getting decently long. Let’s cut this short then. Half-Life 3 at E3 this year?
Kaushik: No. I believe Valve has outright stated there will be no Half-Life 3 announcement at E3 this year.
Laevatein: Well, that they did. But I don’t think they ever said anything about Half-Life 2 Episode 3!
Kaushik: You got me there.
This game's announcement would automatically make E3 pretty awesome, in spite of anything else.
Laevatein: But in all seriousness, I think Valve is a large wildcard here. They could very well not show anything important, they could announce a new entry in any of their series, they could announce a new IP, or they could very well start getting into hardware.
Kaushik: Yeah I dunno. Steam integration for a console would be really big news too. They are coming out with a new Counterstrike so that could be the start of something big. Only time will tell, I suppose
Laevatein: Yeah, that’s the best we can do at this point. Anyway, that’s been our take on how the big E3 stuff might go! Hope you’re all as excited for E3 as we are!