Video gaming’s biggest event of the year is coming up and rumors have been swirling around like a firestorm. Let us here at NGN put your mind at ease and sift through everything that’s out there company by company.
Hardware Confirmed
The biggest news in hardware will be coming from Nintendo on the next generation console. Since there isn’t much known about it, E3 will serve as the stage to get all the details. Nintendo isn’t the only ones using E3 to release more information about new hardware. You should expect Sony to come through and release a lot more information about the NGP to everyone including release date and price point.
Hardware Rumors
Many rumors have been circulating that Microsoft and Sony next generation consoles will be released but the likely hood of this happening is low. Sony and Microsoft has insisted for a long time that both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 are on 10 year cycles basically putting their release in 2016 and 2018 respectively. I am sure we will hear more on this in the coming years but 2011 just feels too early from the latest reports.
Software Confirmed
There have been a number of confirmed games slated to be announced during the E3 conference. We are not going to go into every single game but let’s talk about the highlights by company. This isn’t a complete list but a list of games you’ll most likely recognize.
2K Games / Sports
- Bioshock Infinite
- Duke Nukem Forever
- The Darkness II
- XCOM
- NBA 2K12
- Prototype 2
- Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure
- Spider-Man: Edge of Time
- X-Men: Destiny
- Prey 2
- Rage
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Bodycount
- F1 2011
- The Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
- White Knight Chronicles II
- Dead Island
- Risen 2: Dark Waters
- Battlefield 3
- FIFA Soccer 12
- Madden NFL 12
- Mass Effect 3
- NCAA Football 12
- NHL 12
- Need for Speed: The Run
- SSX
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
- The Sims 3: Generations
- Forza Motorsport 4
- Gears of War 3
- Soulcalibur V
- Super Mario 3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
- Resistance 3
- Twisted Metal
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
- Hitman: Absolution
- Metro 2033: Last Light
- Red Faction: Armageddon
- Saints Row: The Third
- UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
- Ninja Gaiden III
- Back to the Future: The Game — Episode 5
- Jurassic Park
- Puzzle Agent 2
- Assassin’s Creed Revelations
- Call of Juarez: The Cartel
- Driver: San Francisco
- Rayman Origins
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Warner Bros. Interactive
- Batman: Arkham City
- The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Software Rumored
This is where we get to be creative and make some predictions on what surprises we are in for. Let’s get into it.
- Final Fantasy XIII 2 – Not officially confirmed but highly likely to make an appearance at E3
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII – We know its out there, this year we learn the details
- The Next Halo Game – Even though Bungie has jumped ship, Microsoft definitely won’t give up just yet
- Alan Wake 2 - This has been in and out of rumor mills but I think its coming
- Metroid on the 3DS - Believe it kiddies, it’s coming
- F-Zero on the 3DS – A little crazy but I think it’s going to happen
- Call of Duty: The Next Iteration – Whether this be Black Ops 2 or some other console COD it’s will be announced
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - If it doesn’t get a release date before E3 it will definitely be announced at E3
- Tekken x Street Fighter – We heard about this game but we’ll see more at the show
- Street Fighter x Tekken – I think this will be playable at the show with limited characters and functionality
- The Next God of War Game – You thought you could kill Kratos that easily? Think again
- Resident Evil 6 - We saw glimpses but now it’s for sure, E3 will reveal all
- Quantic Dreams Follow Up – It’s not going to be Heavy Rain 2 but we’ll know at E3
- Sorcery - This is going to be playable at E3 especially since it looks to be the best game coming for the Move
- Last Guardian – Again we know its out there and I think this year we get a lot more.
- Metal Gear Rising – We are going to get to see a lot more of this beyond last years tech demo
- Sly Cooper 4 - We will see this with our own eyes now
- Abe’s Odyssey Game – We heard now we will see
- HALF LIFE 3 – Well a guy can hope can’t he
First off I’m just looking forward to what everyone’s going to do. The system companies all seemingly have something to say this year, except maybe Microsoft, which might turn out to be the biggest surprise this year. Nintendo’s has the new system, Sony has some games to push for the PS3, a launch lineup for it’s “NGP” and I wouldn’t be surprised if they roll out more free “We’re sorry” stuff, but then again I wouldn’t doubt if they just ignore it altogether.
I like a lot of the lineup of confirmed games, Top 5 in no order, Spiderman, X-Men Destiny, Dead Island (How do you live up to that trailer?), Batman Arkham City, and Hitman.
The rumored ones, I wait and see. It might be a little crazy to see two Call of Duty games considering they just released 3 trailers for Modern Warfare 3, but then again it is Activision, these are the same people that rode Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero into the ground.
I’ll just guess, even if Rockstar doesn’t do conferences like this, I think someone might announce a GTA 5 coming next year…Just a guess though.
Yeah there are wild rumors about Microsoft now that I doubt are true so I didn’t even address them including an xbox handheld and a kinect “slim” but they are under the radar so they could definitely come out of no where and surprise everyone.
Lots of good games coming out soon and I agree with all your choices there. I am very curious about Dead Island and if its playable (which I imagine it will be in one form or another) should be interesting to see how it lives up to that crazy trailer.
I say there is potential for 2 Call of Duty games because of the sheer number of companies involved in the brand. You have Ravensoft, Sledgehammer, Treyarch and Infinity Ward all working on Call of Duty projects. I would expect MW3 and possible the open MMO style COD to be talked about. I know I got a little bold in some predictions but that’s how you get street cred lol.
Rockstar avoids big announcements at E3 and lots of people are saying that GTA 5 is going to be announced and even their other project Agency may take a front row seat but I have a feeling they are going to wait till after the show to talk about what’s going on with them.
I can see the 2 C.O.D. games, maybe one’s going to be for a handheld. I just think if they do have two it’s going to cause a lot of exhaustion from eventually because now there’s a Call of Duty every November, so to have two games out, it might turn away that core fan base that made them popular, and it might get those C.O.D. fans turning to something else like a Battlefield.
Rockstar has always been seemed like they’re too cool for these things, however I think I remember someone from Rockstar coming out for Microsoft’s conference with a IV temporary tattoo on his forearm a few years ago. Still it doesn’t seem like they’ll announce anything, but anything’s possible.
As everything stands right now, it looks like Nintendo’s year to really walk away big, Sony’s year of “apologizing”, so Microsoft is in that position where if they have something big, they’re going to surprise, if they don’t it’s going to be what everyone expects from them