E3 is this week and as a gamer I am pumped. This year, Nintendo will be revealing more
details (except for price point apparently) about their newest console the
Wii-U as well as new titles for the 3DS, Microsoft will be showing off Halo 4
and Gears of War: Judgment, and Sony will be showing off their new thriller
“The Last of Us”, PlayStation All-Star Battle Royale (their answer to Smash
Bros.) among many other new PS3 and PS Vita titles. I am going to be watching all week for E3 and
I can’t wait to hear what new titles (and possibly new consoles?) will be
revealed. In this piece, I am going to
discuss my top anticipated known titles from the official list (currently from
IGN and I’ll do a little speculation.
I’m going to open up with my top 5 most anticipated titles.
Top 5 Most Anticipated Titles Officially Announced (According to the
IGN and E3 Official Website Lists)
5. Double Dragon Neon (PS3, 360)
4. Guacamelee (PS3)
3. PlayStation All-Star Battle Royale (PS3)
2. Pikmin 3 (Wii-U)
1. Resident Evil 6 (360,
PS3)
Okay, while I’m a gamer and still love
picking up games, I must admit, I am getting old. 20+ years of gaming, multiple
consoles, I still play, however I have a lot more interests now than I did as a
kid (comics/manga, cosplay, conventions, social networking, movies/Netflix,
running, etc.) Unfortunately with the
expansion of my hobbies and working full-time, I don’t devote as many hours
towards towards games as I used to. Hell, I still haven’t beat Zelda: Skyward
Sword (that’s totally unheard of from me.)
Anyway, there’s a lot of great games I’d like to play here, many that
are fairly easy to pick up but many that I just have a hard time turning down.
Resident Evil 6 is another sequel in one of my favorite series of
all-time! I love the Resident Evil story
(no matter what crazy twist it takes.)
The fact you can play as Leon Sinclair or Chris Redfield is awesome and
I like the idea of Sherry Birkin from Resident Evil 2 becoming an adult in the
game. I can’t wait for more details and I really can’t wait to play it!
Pikmin 3 on the Wii-U should be
amazing! I love the first two Pikmin titles from the Nintendo Gamecube as it’s
a simple concept but with very challenging yet strategic gameplay. Pikmin in 2001 looked amazing for it’s
time. Upgrading it to HD will make it
look even more realistic in terms of real life environments. Plus I can’t wait
to grow an army of Pikmin and have them attack! PlayStation All-Star Battle
Royale (I’ll call it PABR for now) looks like they definitely “borrowed” a lot
from Nintendo’s incredibly successful Super Smash Bros. series, but it looks
like it will be fun it’s own merit. As
long as it plays like/as close to/better than Super Smash Bros, it should be a
fun title! I can’t wait to see more characters announced for this title.
The last two titles look like they are
easy to pick up games. For those that don’t know what Guacamelee is, it’s a PSN
game featuring a lucha libre Mexican wrestler brawling in a Metroid/Shadow
Complex like level setting. From the
video I have seen, its animation is very similar to a cartoon like Samurai
Jack. It looks like a lot of fun. Double
Dragon Neon is from Majesco and Wayforward (the makers of Contra 4 for Nintendo
DS) and is an enhanced version of the original arcade/NES classic. It is said to be an all-new title in the
series but will retain the classic game play with updated graphics. At the bottom, I have an honorable mentions
list. Many are sequels to series I love while Far Cry 3 (I have never played
the originals) just looks amazing from the trailer alone. The Last of Us is a zombie title from
Sony/Naughty Dog (makers of Uncharted) so I expect a very awesome game, however
I will be picking up Resident Evil 6 first before I play that title.
Honorable
Mentions: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Gears of War: Judgment, Mario
Wii-U, The Last of Us, Sly Cooper: Theives in Time, Far Cry 3, New Tomb Raider,
WWE 13, and New Super Mario 2 (3DS).
My Prediction and
Speculations for E3:
·
Nintendo will show off several titles for Wii-U
and 3DS. I believe a new Zelda title
will be revealed for the 3DS however I’m predicting Nintendo won’t yet have an
official demo or trailer for a new Wii-U Zelda title as Skyward Sword just came
out last year. I do believe they will
have a trailer and new details for the new Super Smash Bros. and I believe they
will continue the idea of having it a cross compatible title between the Wii-U
and 3DS similar to that of the PlayStation 3 and PSVita.
·
While lots of first party titles will be
revealed for the Wii-U, I’m predicting on their main first party launch titles
will be at least one new Wii Sports title, possibly another Wii-centric title
(either Wii Fit, Wii Play, or an all-new Wii series title), Pikmin 3, and the
Mario title that is being talked about being revealed. I believe they will
learn from the mediocre 3DS launch that they must have some higher profile
titles at launch to sell the system and they will believe that a new Mario
title will do it. While it’s possible, I
don’t believe the new Wii-U Mario title will be cross compatible with New Super
Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS.
·
I’m thinking Sony or Microsoft will show
concepts or at least tease the idea of a new console launching in 2013. I just can’t see either company waiting too
long for Nintendo to launch a new console and they do nothing about it.
·
Microsoft will attempt to regain their hardcore
gaming fans this year at E3 by showing off more titles (including the already
announced Halo 4 and Gears of War: Judgment) appealing to the core gamer. They will continue to show off the Xbox
Kinect, but the last two years they put a lot more focus on Kinect than the core
Xbox gaming. Perhaps some of their first party titles such as Halo and Gears
will include modes utilizing the Kinect.
That is all for my E3 speculation and pre-show thoughts!
This week I hope to Tweet and possibly Facebook some E3 info as I find out!
With that said, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and subscribe to my YouTube channel as I hope to do some new videos after the week is over (might do one
this week depending on how things are going.)
Also, I am currently holding a contest on the Facebook STVO Universe page where the 160th fan on Facebook will receive a free drawing and
a shout out by me to you on my next YouTube video! The count is currently at 148, so tell your
friends to spread the word please?!? :D
Also a special shout-out to my cousin SlashAsterisk on Facebook as well our friend’s event tomorrow in LA. Check out the SMOG Facebook page here for more details! Until then,
have an awesome week and enjoy the E3 Coverage!
