Ill start with Nintendo:
Nintendo is a bit hard to say, because they said that this year E3 conference will be exclusive to games releasing this year, so games like Bayonetta 3 and MP 4 might not appear.But given how unpredictable they are, its hard to say either way.Here is what I think it will happen:
- First of all, the focus of the E3 for Nintendo will be Smash.There is no question about it.it will be the big game in their booth, and will probably occupy a space as big as Mario did last year.They will probably open with it, gameplay trailer and characther trailer, and the game will probably at least show up one more time during the conference.
-Im fairly certrain we will get updates on already announced titles.Yoshi will have an appearance there, and will have both the title shown and a release date, as the game was reported in the financial briefing to be comming this year.If I had to guess, I would say that its probably an august title.
- But the most obvious of this topic:Fire Emblem will finally be revealed.Full blowout trailer, both with gameplay and CGI trailer, and probably with a shitton of amiibos announced for it.Just for the sake of it, I think that FE will feel very different, thought the core gameplay will be the same.What i mean with this is that I think they will drop the 16 bit artstyle for the top view, and go for fully animated 3D models for every kind of view, in an effort to push the series sales and pedigree to the next level.As it is happening with every Nintendo franchise, I believe they think this next FE game can break the previous record, and manage to reach the 5 million units sold milestone.
- I thought that we wouldnt see Pokemon here.But with the lets Go! spin off games announced, its very likely we will get a trailer for that game, probably going a bit more in depth on it, with gameplay being relegated to the Treehouse.Having said that, this game makes it obvious that we wont see the mainline game, announced last year at E3, here at all or even this year.
- With MP4 and Bayonetta 3 being a noshow this E3, at least as far as Nintendo is concerned, thats about it for announced first party games.But then again, I think they will compensate with third party support.I trully believe that this year E3 is where we will see if third party will take off in the Switch(but nothing at the level of PS4 or XOne, the power difference is still there and the lack of trust and connections between Nintendo and other companies wont be fixed in one generation alone).So for whatever genre Nintendo dosent cover, other companies will fill in for Nintendo.I mean, fortnite and DBZ Foghters are heavily rumored to be announced at this E3, almost confirmed even, so I dont think expecting more third party support is out of question.
- One special mention is that i trully believe Bethesda will announce Doom 2(Doom 5) at their conference and it will also be announced for the Switch.I know that more games will probably will be announced, most likely all ports, but I felt that one deserved a special mention.
-Now to cover unannounced first party or second party games, I feel like Wonderful 101 will be announced, given Nintendo great relationship with Platinum and Bayonetta 2 good sales on the Switch.Plus all the teasing Platinum did of the game.
-We are bound to get anything related about Retro.I mean, its about fucking time, even if they wont release their game this year(yeah, Im opening an exception for this one game/studio).I mean, Nintendo knows how anxious gamers are to know about what they have been working on, and by E3, it will have been 4 and a hald years since they have been working on.... something.Even if we get a MP 4 treatment and only get a title/very small teaser, we ARE getting something.Plus all the leaks around the supposed game Retro is working on might force their hand and prepare something for this E3, assuming those leaks are right.
-Animal Crossing.I think its obvious we are getting this game.Plus, i believe that the online aspect of it will be bigger than in previous games, so it makes sense to release this holiday, in order to push the online service.And if not the holiday, then for early 2019.I think it just makes too much sense.
- Now for wishful thinking:I hope that more high quality and big budget RPGs are announced for the Switch, be them first party or not.The system is starting to get its share of RPGs, but we need more.I believe, for example, we are going to get NI No Kuni II announced at E3.Hopefully they fix the difficulty.
- Just as a sidenote: apart from a trailer for the season pass, we wont hear a pip from Monolith.Their next game is probably nowhere near close to completion, so Nintendo wont talk about it.
Now for Sony:
- At least from a first party perspective, they will be quite predictable and the least surprising.Given that they already have alot of their games announced and with release windows, they probably dont want to make the same mistake as Square and announce games years in advance just for fans to get pissed that said games never release.So we will be getting updates on The Last Of Us 2, one final push for Spiderman, actually see Ghost of Tsushima(This one will be interesting, because we know little about it), Death Stranding and hopefully see a god damn gameplay trailer instead of more of Kojima dream senquences, Dreams and that art games about painting walls.
- I can see them announcing one new game though, but thats about it.Maybe it will take form as a second party game, like Bloodborne, or a first party one(Though I dont think they have any studio that had worked enough time on a title to show stuff).And just to leave it out there:No, we are not seeing Horizon 2 yet.Too early guys.
- Having said that, I dont think there is much reason to worry, because what they will lack from surprises from the first party side, they will compensate for the third party side.As usual, we are getting updates on already announced games:KH III with a release date, FF 7 Remake with a 2025 release date, and so on.
- I also think its about time we hear something about RE 2 remake.I mean, the game was announced years ago, but we have seen nothing of it until now.With RE 7 having been released one and a half year already, I think its about time we hear anything about it.
-And I also think we will see DMC V, with the real Dante comming back.Being a heavily rumored game and usually associated with PS, I think it will make its debut there.
- As for wishful thinking:I hope they reboot the Pursuit Force franchise.Such an unique idea, and it would be a game very different from the games that Sony usually offers.It would be so awesome to see it happening.
Now for Microsoft:
Ill just comment on it, because I feel like MS is now in a lose lose situation.If they end pumping out great games for the One, they may sell great, but its not like they will recover the lost ground MS lost with XOne, much like Nintendo with the Wii U.I feel like the damage has already been done.But if they wait for the next generation to try again(which they should in my opinion), it will probably mean a lackluster E3 by them this year, first party games related.
Having said that, Ill still guess a bit about the games they will announce.As far as third party is concerned, I dont think we will see nothing mindblowing, bar new games from big companies like EA or Activision which usually isnt anything much different than there is in the industry nowadays.They might nab something like Metro like they did last year, and probably Assasins Creed, but I dont think it will be in great quantity.
As for first party games, outside of the usual suspects like Forza, I feel like its time to see Halo 6, even if it ends up being a cross gen title.Outside of that, I think MS will push for new IPs or revival of beloved old IPs.I do believe that we will see a new and properly high budget Perfect Dark game.Its a game that can and will win back some of the hardcore gamers trust, if its well done, and its something that MS dearly needs, something that MS and Phil knows that they need to do.Now, wether this will be released for this gen, or hold back for MS to try from the scratch with a new console, its anyones guess.What I think its fair to say though, I think every new game thats comming from MS, barring Forza, that havent been announced yet will be cross gen.
