E3 2010: Previews, Rumors and Predictions

So E3 starts tomorrow officially while today is the Microsoft Press conference. As you have already seen, we have gotten some advanced notice on some of the happenings going on at the event.  A few changes will be happening with our coverage of the event compared to last year.

This year we won’t be giving a fully detailed recap of the BIG 3 Press Conferences from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo as a formal post. We will, however, be posting our thoughts and coverage on the big announcements and trailers as well as give a full indepth discussion with Matt Raub, Chris Ulrich and myself on this week’s episode of the podcast.

We have also gotten official word from various industry sources on what companies will be showing at the event. These have come from various press releases, other industry insiders and various leaks from the LA Convention Center itself regarding the event.

There has also been tremendous speculation around the event. Some of those rumors will be examined below as well. Finally, some of my own personal E3 2010 theories and predictions will be put out there too.

Official Announcements

Company: Ubisoft
Ubisoft has put out an official list of four games that will be discussed at E3. They are:
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Shaun White Skateboarding
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier
New game from Driver franchise. (Leaked pictures have revealed the title as Driver: San Francisco)
Ubisoft has also stated they are planning to show “many other titles that are yet to be announced.”

Company: Capcom
Capcom has promised to show off the following, including two of our most anticipated games of 2010, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds and Dead Rising 2:
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Ōkamiden
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2
Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Dead Rising 2
Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO
MotoGP 09/10

Company: SEGA
Instead of letting the cat out of the bag on a lot of information, Sega has promoted only one game thus far to be discussed at the event:
Yakuza 4

Company: Rockstar
Rockstar has publically stated they would not be showing any new games at E3. Though they were expected to show more detail on the previously announced Max Payne 3 and LA Noire, it looks like Rockstar will not be the center of attention at this year’s conference as it was with the GTA4 announcement years ago.
It was expected that Rockstar may plan on debuting a new title at this year’s E3 but a spokesman said that, “In the end, we feel we simply don’t have enough time to show as much as we would like in the time available.”

Company: Tecmo Koei
Most known for their Dynasty Warriors franchise and of course the classic Tecmo Bowl for the NES, Tecmo Koei has announced the following:
Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage
Quantum Theory
Warriors: Legends of Troy
TRINITY: Souls of Zill O’ll (PlayStation 3 Exclusive)

Company: NEXON
Keeping with the longstanding E3 tradition of booth babes who have nothing to do with the games being announced or covered, Nexon, the developers of Maple Story, will have actress and former swimsuit model Michelle Lombardo as their official babe. In addition, they will be allowing access to playable versions of their upcoming free to play RPG’s Vindictus and Dragon Nest and playtime on their most recent release Dungeon Fighter Online.
Vindictus
Dragon Nest

Company: LucasArts
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Company: Warner Bros. Interactive
F3ar

Company: Square-Enix
Final Fantasy XIV Online

Company: Activision
Call of Duty: Black Ops

Company: THQ
SmackDown vs. Raw 2011
Red Faction: Armageddon

Company: Midway Games
Mortal Kombat

Company: Obsidian Entertainment
Fallout: New Vegas

Company: 2K Games
Mafia II

RUMORS

Microsoft Will Announce Hulu for Xbox 360

Originally reported on by Kotaku, the theory is that the Hulu service which allows for streaming television programming will become available to the XBox 360, much like the Netflix and last.fm applications.

This rumor seems entirely plausible as Microsoft has ventured to call the 360 a total entertainment platform and television has thus far been empty from the XBox 360 experience.

Redesigned XBox 360 Reveal

This has all but been confirmed by Microsoft as pictures and video are floating around the internet featuring a redesigned XBox 360, which is black, thinner and is promoted as featuring connectivity with Kinect, the renamed Natal project.

The Wii HD Announced

It is the greatest selling console of the current generation but still, it looks pitiful. It has been hypothesized for the past few E3’s that this system would get an HD redesign. Sadly, this probably is not happening as the Wii is still consistently the highest selling console each month without HD graphics.

The main target market for the Wii also is not a hardcore market who cares about high def visuals in their purchasing decisions. This one we are going to have to call bunk.

The Next Zelda Game Announced

Discussed on 1up.com, this is a pretty likely announcement coming from the Nintendo camp this year. With no real new blockbusters to be released, Nintendo is going to be counting on its strongest first party properties. The Legend of Zelda, always being a top selling title, hasn’t had a true release since the Wii’s launch and is due for its next iteration.

PSP 2

Since before the PSP Go last year, the PSP 2 has been discussed as the next iteration of the Sony portable platform. This one could be up in the air as Sony may not want to continue their foray in to portable gaming. So far, the PSP has not been a true success as software for the platform has been lacking since its original debut.

PERSONAL THEORIES

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 bundled with Portal 2
When it was first announced, the idea of episodic gaming was incredibly exciting. Get smaller pieces of epic storylines for a cheaper price and more often. The most recent episode of Half Life 2, which was only Episode 2 was released in November of 2007. Not exactly a “more often” scenario being played out here.

With the talk of Portal 2 almost set for release, Valve would do the fans of the Half-Life series to finally release the third episode so we can move on with our lives at some point this year in a bundle fashion, much like they did with the Orange Box that contained Half-Life, Episodes 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Elder Scrolls V
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, though not the launch title it was intended to be, gave XBox 360 owners more than their fair share of content in the system’s early days. With a fairly streamlined main quest, players found the true heart of the game in the hundreds of hours of additional content there was to play around with in this world.

Whether questing to join the Dark Brotherhood or become the champion of the Fighters Guild, Oblivion was where it was at on the XBox 360 for a while. Now, it is due for the next release. Bethesda has backed away from Fallout for the time with Obsidian taking the reins of Fallout: New Vegas so they have no excuse to not be working on the sequel to this blockbuster title.

Halo: Reach Single Player Campaign Playable on Show Floor
While the full game is not likely to be available to everyone at this time, it would be reasonable for Microsoft to show part of the first level of the game, much like Activision did at last year’s Microsoft Press Conference with Call of Duty: Modern Warfar 2 and later have it available for media to check out on the floor of the convention.

There is without a doubt lots more to come from this year’s show so keep it right here for all your E3 news.