The Electronic 3 is right around the corner, and we wouldn’t be a team that writes about games if we didn’t throw out some predictions or expectations on what we believe will be shown. Sure, we’ll probably be wrong, but here are the IP Writing Team’s thoughts on what to expect from E3 2014.
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Alex~
Do
look for a huge swell of indie support. I feel like just looking at the reaction to No Man’s Sky from the Spike VGAs, we have seen a big change in how the average gamer responds to an indie game. With the success of indies on the PS4, maybe Microsoft will double-down and bring the Summer of Arcade to the Xbox One? We can only hope, but I think indies will be a big part of this year’s E3.
Don’t
expect any more Vita love than what you’ve seen before. Two years past has shown that Sony just doesn’t give the Vita the love it deserves on their E3 stage. I love my Vita, and as much as I’d like to see a solid chunk of the press conference devoted to it, nothing in Sony’s behavior in years past lead me to believe they will.
Don’t
think that Nintendo has any better grasp on how to sell the Wii U. I’d like to believe that the dire situation they’ve been put in has helped encourage them to take a leaf from the competition, but I just don’t see it happening. They’ll keep nailing it with the 3DS and make that the Nintendo platform to own, but I don’t see any one announcement Nintendo has changing your opinion on the Wii U if you haven’t found a reason to buy it already.
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Jarrett~
Do
get prepared for huge first party titles to be front and center at both Sony and Microsoft’s press conferences. Without real barn-burning, AAA titles coming from Sony-owned studios during the PS4’s reign (despite outselling the competition every month of its life thus far), critics and civilians agree: we need something fun and unique to do on our platform. Especially now that the Xbox One is competing price-wise. I’d bet the farm on an Uncharted trailer on the Sony side, and something Halo-related on Phil Spencer’s ship.
Don’t
think for a second you’re going to get any news about release dates or time frames for Square’s big ticket titles, Final Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3. No matter what the popular belief may be, you will not see those titles this year, and you will be incredibly lucky if you see them in 2015, either.
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Jacob~
Do
expect to see more on Ubisoft’s The Division. Although it was recently delayed, the game created massive waves at E3 last year with what it is trying to do. Hopefully there is some more gameplay moments this year and we get to see how far the game has come in a year. The Division jumped to the top of most peoples “Most Excited For” list last year for good reason. Let’s hope it will stay there this year.
Don’t
plan on seeing much gameplay for all the newly announced games. Although there are always cool demos at the press conferences, announcing many games with gameplay footage is becoming less and less of a priority. Expect to see a very flashy and probably very cool cinematic trailer of quite a few games but ultimately nothing that tells us anything about how the game works or plays.
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Zack~
Do
expect to see EA’s DICE stir up some excitement with a more in depth look at the Star Wars: Battlefront 3 title that was teased briefly last E3. Emotions were running high over this installment a year ago when only a 15 second trailer was shown, so as DICE showcases more of what to expect from this title from a galaxy far, far away, anticipate more jaws to drop from pure ecstasy.
Don’t
hold your breathe for a star-studded third-party PS4 and Xbox One lineup. Even though both are going toe to toe as usual, especially since Microsoft upped the competition with the price cut, these systems are still fairly new. Developers are still becoming accustomed to these different devices, so the only real blockbusters that may come from these conferences, is as Jarrett stated, the first-party franchises. As the year progresses we’ll begin to see more quality third-party games come into the mix, but for now, just try to keep patient.
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Charles~
Do
go in expecting some news about Halo 5 and the other titles that 343 Industries is making for this year. Whether it be the Halo HD Bundle, or as everyone suspects, Halo 2 HD. Also you can expect some fancy talk about Ubisoft’s love child, Assassin’s Creed: Unity. I would personally like some concrete details about the setting and time period and also where it fits into the storyline of it all.
Don’t
believe that you will see anything about what Rockstar is planning, whether it be their port of Grand Theft Auto V or even Red Dead Redemption II. Also, I would never go into an E3 fully or even barely believing that Valve will be there with anything that rhymes with Half-Lite 3 or even Left 4 Bed 3. They’re always the longshots.
