E3 2014 quick predictions

So i've decided to go ahead and make a very quick set of predictions for what to expect from each set of conferences, plus a few shots at what games each company will be bringing with them to the event. I expect a fair few will be a million miles away in terms of accuracy, but i hope a few will hit the target. So here goes!

Nintendo

1. Mario Maker will probably be a 3DS title, could be the one that has the other developers roundtable next to Smash this year
2. Obligatory Zelda WiiU prediction
3. I'm expecting Nintendo want to capitalise on the success of Mario Kart 8, so will have something lined up for release in the next month to continue the momentum for the WiiU.
4. METROID WHERE
5. Tecmo-Koei may show off their other third party venture with Nintendo, if not i expect we'll see a few more third party colabs from nintendo at the event. Maybe something with Mario, or perhaps Star Fox
6. WHERE IS F-ZERO
7. They may take this opportunity to showcase their figure style games, which work much in the same vein as Skylanders, but can connect to multiple games(this was introduced at their last financial meeting). Will be interesting to see if it comes attached with a new title
8. Expect some regional announcements, so as a UK person. SMTIV
9. On the note of SMT, it's about time we heard about SMT x Fire Emblem
10. Region Freeness?

Microsoft

1. Expect Halo 5 and Halo 2 Anniversary to be showcased side-by-side somewhere in the middle of their conference. it's the microsoft way. Oh, Master Chief collection will be there too.
2. I hate to sound like a broken record but, Gears of War. Gotta beat sonys GoW with their own
3. From what i've heard, they have a new IP to show off at the event. I can't honestly remember who's developing it, Microsoft Studios maybe? but my hope is that they pull away from their shooter obsession for a little while. Something platformy or maybe something RPG-like would be good.
4. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare will have time-based exclusive DLC to xbox first. as always
5. A long shot, but microsoft seem to have picked up a couple of japanese devs to work on their system, so maybe a titles originating from japan?
6. Platinum are rumoured to be developing a game for Xbox, this would be as fine a time as any to show it to the world

Sony

1. Getting it out there. The Last Guardian. I DID IT. WE HAPPY NOW?
2. More than likely, i expect to see Project Beast officially revealed during their conference. We know it exists, now they need to show it.
3. SquEnix have a new game in store, so expect it here. Maybe a new final fantasy. God please no more XIII.
4. I'd expect another God of War to be shown off. You know. GoW Sony vs GoW Microsoft. As it is. Nintendo where's yours? 
5. Expecting possible showing of ports to PS4. So Last of Us HD, GTAV for PS4 confirmation, etc.
6. Since Tomb Raider has more in development, a teaser of the upcoming sequel will be at least mentioned.

Other predictions

1. Deep Silver have 2 new titles to show off at E3 this year. One of which i expect will be the reboot of Saints Row that's been discussed previously. The other i can't really speak for.
2. Nordic games bought Darksiders a year ago, and at the time said "not to expect Darksiders for 2 years". This would be a good a time as any to show off what they've been doing with the IP so they can release the title in a year/year and a half.
3. EA are likely to show off Mass Effect 4, probably won't release for a good year, but it could be there
4. Residen Evil might rear its ugly head in too. Whether it'll be a reboot or a new one in the franchise, it's hard to say. Possibly DmC as well?
5. Cryteks new title will actually be Timesplitters(let me hope damnit)
6. VALKYRIA CHRONICLES
7. Konami, knowing konami may come out with a new Castlevania. Hopefully one that plays to the old timeline instead of the new.

I've tried to avoid commenting on stuff that is already well known for being there(X, Ace Attorney, Smash) but some you always cover anyways. I think Aonuma said Zelda was going to be there anyways, but its not really a Nintendo prediction without it. I have a few other ideas, but they are either too close to reality or far off being possible. we'll see. Please Understand

Return to blogging, E3 + and beyond

Hey guys, it's been a while. I realise i had made a promise to you all that i'd make a blog on E3, and i kind of didn't. Sorry, there isn't really a good excuse to what i can say for that, i got caught up with a few other bits at the same time, and never got round to making a full blog on the matter. So what i'll do now, i'll condense everything worth mentioning from each of the conferences into a paragraph or two, and then move onto july news and my plans for the future of this place.

E3 - Microsoft


Microsoft once again got E3 off to...a start. It wasn't exactly spectacular, but they had made some decent choices in titles to show off. Halo 4 got the show off to a pretty good start, with a very Metroid Prime-like feel to the game. Very much welcome if you ask me. Has huge promise, and 343 studios can certainly capitalise on that. They moved onto the new Splinter Cell title which looks very splinter cell like, but with Kinect voice commands, much like what you saw in Mass Effect 3. Gears of War Judgement got it's teaser trailer reveal showing off Baird mostly, but we know that Cole train will feature as well, and it looks to be set prior to E-Day, so will make for an interesting sequel. After this, Tomb Raider was shown to be fairly nice looking, but it went fairly downhill from there. Dance Central 3 feat. Usher,  Fable The Journey trailer, Xbox Smartglass(controls xbox + extra features on a windows 8 smartphone/tablet), more 3rd party apps for the 360, Black Ops 2, you get the idea. It was a strong show for the first half, then died down after. We got some of the South Park game from Obsidian in there though, so it wasn't to bad nearer the end. Good news was, there was far less kinect this time round. They might have finally caught on how to use it properly

Sony


Sony was interesting, they where by far better than Microsofts conference, with strong showings of games like The Last of Us, Playstation All Stars battle Royale, God of War Ascension., Assassin's Creed 3(+ Vita 3) and the guys behind Heavy Rain showcased their new title, Beyond: Two Souls. They did however, try to get more coverage for what is quite widely deemed a flop, The PS Move. new games for the "Wonderbook" including one written by J K Rowling where shown off, however it didn't impress much. If they removed this and put in PSVita coverage instead, they would have been better off. All in all better than microsoft, but still fairly weak.

Ubisoft


Never was there a day when i though i'd say this but, Ubisoft stole the show. They showed off Rayman Legends for WiiU which looked fantastic. Keeping to the same style as Origins but incorporating the extra things that the WiiU will offer. Moving swiftly onto more Assassins Creed and then ZombiU was shown a little next to some of the other titles for WiiU. What stole it for them however, was the last title they showed off; Watch Dogs. I don't think i could do the game justice by my description, so i highly recommend you check out Youtube or a gaming site for the gameplay they showed off, it was...fantastic to say the least.

Nintendo


Finally Nintendo, who somehow managed to disappoint amidst high hopes. They even did two shows, one focusing on the WiiU, the other on the 3DS, yet still managed to show nothing of spectacular worth. The console itself looks fantastic, Pikmin 3 was shown off, Batman Arkham City Armored Ed was shown, ZombiU, NintendoLand and New Super Mario Bros for WiiU, but they didn't give us an extact date or price range. the 3DS show gave us Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, Kingdom Hearts 3DS, Luigis mansion 2, New Super Mario Bros 2 and Paper Mario, but it just wasn't something new or gripping.

So was there an outright winner? no. You could say Ubisoft for showing proper stuff, but honestly, noone stole it. I didn't see EAs, but all it had basically was Dead Space 3. I just hope the Tokyo Game Show can give us more from Nintendo.

Now, for this month and beyond. July has had a few decent announcements here or there. Many will know that Tales of Xillia has been announced for EU/US possibly alongside it's sequel but that is TBA, but no release date confirmed. Persona 4 Golden has helped the Vita get it's drive back, as you'd expect now it's released, Persona 4 Arena has 30-40 hours storyline content, and of course, there is the continued concern for Mass Effect 3 now that the extended cut DLC is out. That's just a taste of things, but expect a weekly update on news from here on out.

As for what i plan to do, i intend to do 3-4 posts a week, one focusing on my gaming at present, one on news, a review if i can, anime updates, and something else which i'm still considering. It may take me a week or two to get into the right state of mind for it, but please look forward to what i put up here, and if you wish to contact me at all, you can always find me on twitter @ARX7Laevatein or watching over everyone at  www.animeuknews.net.