E3 2012 Predictions

Not to undo tradition I will post my brief thoughts on what may occur this year at E3 with a minor update to follow on my thoughts after it's over.

Nintendo:

They already released their pre-E3 video so I'm kind of cheating here. Nintendo will almost solely focus on the Wii U and how it connects families and bullshit. They'll talk about how it's a unique experience nothing like we've ever had before yadda yadda... Last time they promised us this we got a Zelda game we could flail to a Mario game we could flail to and countless other games that would have been better minus flailing. Now we have a system with a controller that still flails and has a screen on it. I'm guessing this will cause even more untold damage when kids fling it across the room.

Some may ask where's you're unbridled Nintendo fanboy optimism? I'll tell you it's in my rather empty game chest drawer that was supposed to be for Wii games. I have about as many Wii games as I do PS2 games which for me is less than 20 (of course being a Nintendo fanboy during that era I accumulated over 50 Gamecube games). Maybe for the normal gamer 20 or so is acceptable for a system. All right fine I'll jive with that logic for the moment even though that's not my personal view. But also consider of those 20 games a few were experimental games just to better understand how the Wii's controller functioned such as Call of Duty 3, Elebits, Dragon Ball Z, and a few others. All told I have about 6 or 7 games that I bought mainly just to see how the genre reacts to the Wii-mote giving little regard to the quality of the game itself. So nearly half of my collection is a constant reminder that "oh yeah, this shit didn't work well on the Wii either." And then there are a scant few games that should have been good but sucked anyway somehow like Fire Emblem and Zelda Skyward Sword. Of the games that don't blow absolute chunks I still regret not being able to play them in an "un-unique way" ie a regular controller. So did 6 or so great games justify a $250 system? No...they don't.

Bearing all this in mind my hopes for the Wii U are very minimal at best. The system specs alone on the unit leave much to be desired and knowing the other two companies are going to blow it out of the water graphically speaking once again, we can surely expect developers to ignore the Wii U. Why go through the efforts of making a lesser version of a game just for the Wii U? Also consider the Wii was something of a flash in the pan item everyone bought like it was an iPod or something. Can you honestly expect people to do this again as their Wii Fit boards collect more dust? Of course not. What is the incentive, a controller with a screen on it? People have iPads now and smartphones why buy a game console where games cost upwards of $50 each just to play something your iPad most likely does now anyway for .99 per game? They demoed throwing a ninja star from the Wii Pad to the TV like it's some amazing thing yet there are countless iPad games where you can flick shit on the screen. Also the Wii Pad uses the shitty touch screen the 3DS and DS uses not the really good iPad  or Vita screen. I only compare the two because they are the same audiences. The people that bought the Wii were looking for a less expensive alternative to quick interactive entertainment at the time and the Wii fit that demographic. With the advent of smartphones, they don't anymore.

So they are still pandering to a demographic that ignores them now and are losing the support of people that just want another Donkey Kong or Mario game and not more Mii games. What does all this mean for E3? Well just what I said, they're going to be pandering to a crowd that won't be listening. This will be like the "soccer mom" E3 debacle before they shifted gears and tried to win back the gamer crowd. Why they are reverting probably is reflected in their ever decreasing bottom line. They are reactive to the market and trying to win back the people that made the Wii initially successful. Sadly, I'm not in that crowd...

Sony:

They will most likely try to push the Vita and lie about sales numbers. The Vita is doing about as well as sales of bulk energy bars at Costco. This is sad because it's a really good piece of technology. It definitely caters to the hardcore crowd desperate for a handheld console that has buttons and joysticks but at the same time offers other input options like touchscreen and rear tocuhscreen which is still retarded. Never the less it hasn't done well with a poor lineup of games and nothing much to look forward to. The 3DS had a similar road when it began but upticked with Mario Kart and Mario Land 3D. Sony needs that for the Vita but time may be running out for it. Resistance was supposed to help spur sales but it ended up being a rushed sack of garbage. Hopefully Sony will give good reasons to own the Vita at E3.

I also predict Sony will finally stop mentioning the Move, (I hope). If they even bring it up one time I'll shoot a baby kitten. There will be blood on your hands Sony!

Aside from that they'll tout sales numbers as usual and hopefully have a great E3 show like last year keeping Move to a minimum and game release information at the forefront with a large swath of trailers.

Microsoft:

As much as I don't bother with Microshit they COULD likely have the most interesting E3 of all if they pull a rabbit out of the hat and show off the new Xbox. It is NOT very likely though seeing as they will probably push the Kinect more along with Halo 4 and the new Gears of War game. All of which will be on the 360 so why divert attention. They might...MIGHT mention their new system in passing but I doubt we'll see it sadly. Chances are we'll see new games, perhaps some new apps, maybe a new Xbox live subscription options with more stuff included. Hard to tell since I don't follow them much, lol.

**UPDATE**

Well looks like I was largely correct about most of my E3 predictions. Nintendo ignored the 3DS mostly and spoke of family and gathering around the Wii U and didn't really hard sell anyone on the idea the Wii U will be a capable gaming device. Sony repeated their last year successful conference with many unique game offerings and new IP's along with old staples like God of War. They also didn't talk about the Move much apart from their new Wonderbook game idea. What I got wrong here was the Vita, they ignored that more than the Move! That is NOT a good sign. Microsoft was the worst of all as all they talked about was a new Gears and new Halo rounded out with Smartglass that will see about as much support as Vita crossplay in the end, and .... an Usher dance number....ugh...

Overall the real winner of E3 was....Ubisoft! They were a large force in ALL 3 conferences showing off Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed 3, a new Rayman, new Splinter Cell, and a bunch of other great looking games. Regrettably they had the worst host of all time for their own show and by far the most awkward presentations I've seen at E3 since Nintendo's soccer mom or drummer boy.

Biggest disappointment was Microsoft not talking about a new system. The console cycle is reaching its end and now was the time to let gamers froth at the mouth over new tech. We all knew Sony wasn't going to jump the gun on it but Microsoft could have. Either they don't want to show their hand to the ever copy-cat Sony (cough, Move, cough Playstation Smash Brothers), or they really didn't have anything tangible to show, or they didn't want to direct attention away from the Xbox 360 yet. Any of these reasons are good ones I guess, but console reveals are usually 1 year out before they are released and rumor has it Microsoft is planning to launch their new system next year soooo....let's see it!

Apart from enhanced graphics I really want to see a revolution in game distribution. The Vita has somewhat begun this where nearly all new Vita releases are also available for download. Cut the middle man out, cut development costs, cut costs of gaming, go digital! For those without internet though I can see that being an issue. But something tells me if you can splurge on a gaming device the chances are good you have internet too.