E3 has changed. Not something necessarily new to folks with their eyes on the industry for a while, but you can see that fallout is significant now. From an airplane hangar to the LA convention center, E3 has had its trials and tribulations, but the one that it can’t seem to surpass is relevance.

When Nintendo said, “hey we’re just gonna do an E3-style press conference from the comfort of our own home, anytime we want,” there wasn’t really a good reason to tell them, “no! Don’t do that because that sucks for us!” Years later and Playstation has their own event every December (for two years running, at least) that involves their own little press conference for Sony to shine and Sony alone. The game has changed. And as EA pulls itself out to host it’s own conference, that just stands as more and more apparent. Anyone can do these, and they don’t need E3 anymore.

But hey, E3 isn’t dead yet. This year promises to be especially interesting with so much hardware out there. Sure, we know Nintendo isn’t showing their new hardware, but Sony and Microsoft have been existing in this in-between state of leaks and announcement with their new iterative console. Even with Playstation VR on the horizon for this year, I think it’s ludicrous to have this entire show without one or both of them at least addressing what’s going on in the background. Even a couple throwaway lines about something coming in the future, without a formal announcement, has to be present from one or both of them. Letting this rumor sit over their show presence is just going to stagnate hardware sales more and more.

But let’s get specific. I’ll go press conference by press conference and give you an idea of what I expect to see at each of them.

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EA

Finally, finally EA has games to show. It seems like we’ve been in EA-limbo for a while here, where they’ve been cooking stuff, and now they’re ready to share.

Outside of their sports line up, I think their first out-of-E3 show but still-kinda-E3-show is going to focus on three big titles: Titanfall 2, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Visceral’s Star Wars game. Now, the last of these I know won’t be out any time soon. Maybe not even 2017, but it’s time to give it a name. I’m not expecting much, but at least some kind of formal reveal trailer. I don’t think it’s a horror game, but I expect an Uncharted-like game in the Star Wars universe. Maybe even with a little Prey 2 in there (if it shows up anywhere, it’d be allusions here).

Titanfall 2 is gonna be a big shower. I can feel it. We haven’t actually seen any gameplay of it, and I’m sure it’s gonna be a fully featured release for this fall. I mean that game is coming out this year and all we’ve seen is a very illusive announcement/reveal trailer that says “Titanfall 2” and that’s about it.

Mass Effect is out early next year so this is EA’s chance to blow it out. Show us our hero, our team, and what we’re dealing with. I really don’t know what to expect from this one. I’m sure we’ll get some kind of demo, but what the quality of that ends up being? I can’t really tell. They’ve been super hush-hush about any of the specifics with this game. The general outline of a team of explorers sent from Milky Way to Andronmeda is cool enough, but what kind of game is this, even? Where, between ME1 and ME2 does it fall? Does it straddle the line like ME3 did? We’ll see.

1. EA brings their big trinity: Mass Effect, Titanfall 2, and Star Wars.
2. Battlefield 1 probably takes their other big spot.
3. I don’t’ see as much experimentation out of EA this time around, like with Unraveled.
4. Sports!

Bethesda

Ahh Bethesda. Who thought they’d return? I mean, I hoped, but this means they have things to talk about and games to show. That’s exciting! With the big tease of Dishonored last year, I think that’s going to be their central piece this time around. With the general disappointment I felt about all of Fallout 4, almost from the second they showed it at this conference last year, I can’t wait to see Dishonored 2. Arkane has only ever made Dishonored, and though flawed, there was incredible potential to develop on. Dishonored 2 is going to hit that, I think.

Rumors have recently starting spilling about for Bethesda as well. The big reason this piece is going up so close to the show is because of that, but some of these Bethesda rumors are pretty crazy. Skyrim Remastered seems quite likely, and it’s a great release for this holiday, I just wonder if eats a little of what Dishonored needs. Also: Prey 2 coming back? I think that’s a long shot. If it does resurface, it’ll be as something entirely new.

My big guesses here are that Tango Gameworks comes out with either an entirely new horror game, or Evil Within 2. The latter is rumored to be coming, and the original did well, apparently. I think Tango has definitely been quiet for long enough. Oh and Machine Games have to be working on another Wolfenstein game. After the response to The New Order, they must know it’s their best course of action. Doom has continued their groundwork for focused, single player FPS games, so this is the time to talk about another one.

Breakdown:

1. I think Dishonored is this year’s showpiece.
2. Skyrim Remastered is probably real, coming this holiday.
3. Tango is working on something horror, whether it’s EW2 or a new IP.
4. Machine Games brings their new Wolfenstein game, at least to unveil it.

Microsoft

Microsoft is a bit of a lesser known quantity. I feel like they’ve been pretty quiet recently. Hey Quantum Break came out. I haven’t finished it, but it’s been polarizing, just like most Remedy games. Oh hey that Gears 4 beta did well, and that’s coming in October. But what else is on the table?

Well we know Recore, the new game from Metroid Prime devs and Inafune, was quietly delayed from spring this year to presumably fall. I think we’ll definitely see what that game looks like, and get a date. But outside of Gears of War 4, which I’m sure will get a great stage demo, what do we see? Maybe Titanfall 2, which even though it’s coming to PS4 this time around, we could see it show at Microsoft’s stage. And their Dragon Game (Scalebound) was pushed to 2017 pretty early on this year, but we may hear more about it.

Is it too soon to talk Halo 6? Probably. Who else in the Microsoft camp do we have to check in with? With Lionhead gone and Fable Legends finally cancelled, I don’t know what else they have to show. A big update on Sea of Thieves would be nice.

My big hope is finally the long-awaited (by me, at least) return of Summer of Arcade to Xbox One. With Below and the new game from the makers of Limbo out there and set to release on Xbox One this year, let’s please make it happen Microsoft.

I’m curious to see what they have to say about a new Xbox One. Or, Xbox Two as it’s been jokingly called. They get to spill on their new, iterative console first, if it’s gonna be at this conference. Let’s see how they start the conversation.

Breakdown:

1. Recore is this year, it’s soon, and it gets a date here.
2. Titanfall 2 takes this stage.
3. A big update as to what is going on with Sea of Thieves. I could see an open/closed beta for this soon as well.
4. The return of Summer of Arcade. Please!
5. Microsoft starts the conversation about iterative consoles, somehow, at their show.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft is always exciting. Not just for Aisha Tyler, who is always great, but because they’re so into doing at least one new thing every year. Last year it was weird war-army battles (For Honor) and Cocaine the video game (Ghost Recon Wildlands). Sure, not my style, but they’re making out-there games, and that deserves recognition.

Obviously Watch Dogs 2 is a guarantee. We’ve seen it unveiled at this point, and I hope it’s as impressive as my optimistic side wants me to believe it is. More of the character, maybe a demo, and it’s coming out this November, so they have a good turnaround for this one, unlike the first. I’m really interested to see their pitch on this one, and how they respond to the listlessness of the first game.

Outside of that, I’m hoping for another Rayman-style game. Maybe something in that engine, like Child of Light, smaller and more exciting.

Please lord no more Far Cry. Not for a while. Not until they’re ready to make something more interesting that cave-men.

With Watch Dogs 2 coming out this fall, it’s hard to believe that Ghost Recon or For Honor will be coming out soon. I could see For Honor slipping out in the July-September range though, and it seems like that game could be ready to ship.

Breakdown

1. They’ll have their big surprise at the end. Maybe something totally new!
2. A new Ubi-Art game.
3. For Honor is out sooner than we first though. July-September I think.
4. Please no Far Cry.

Sony

Oh Sony. I mean, really, Sony has been making a ton of promises, and not delivering on any of them. Sure, they get the crowd excited, but what do they really have to show for it? They announced Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and the long-awaited FF7 remake on their stage, and two out of those three are still clearly far off. It’s optimistic to even say Kingdom Hearts 3 hits next year.

But hey, third party plays well with Sony nowadays. We see Call of Duty here. We see the new Destiny Expansion here (probably in trailer form). We’ll hear more about Kingdom Hearts 3 here. We’ll hear more about the Final Fantasy VII remake here. If we are seeing Persona 5 at a press conference, it’s this one. Maybe an English trailer, now that it has a date in the west?

As far as what Sony’s got cooking? I don’t know. I just get the feeling they’ll brush it out of the way, like they always do. They’ll talk all these cool indies, maybe give us an update on Horizon, which was recently delayed, and then Sucker Punch, Bend, San Diego, all end up being no shows. Sony has had a terrible track record of brushing first parties under the rug at E3, and I think that continues this year.

They obviously need to talk about VR, and with Andrew House admitting that the “Playstation NEO” exists in a recent business briefing, and stating it won’t be at E3, I can only hope that they just address the system. It exists, and people should know about it before they willfully go and buy a new PS4. But VR most assuredly gets a date here and a launch line up of some kind.

1. Check it with all our broken dreams: FF7 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3, and Final Fantasy 15.
2. Call of Duty and Destiny have a big presence.
3. Updates on Horizon, but I don’t see other first parties making big announcements.
4. A Big segment on VR, and hopefully some address of the NEO.

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What do you think of my predictions? Think I’m crazy? That’s valid. Tweet me what you think, and let me know what you think is going to happen too! I’m @ALFighter27.

I am VERY excited. If you wanna see my reactions after they happen, here is Irrational Passions’ schedule for E3: