With E3 being about 40 days from now (and apparently starting to return to its 'former glory'), hype is starting to take over a lot of gamers (though history has taught many times not to let hype take over, lots of people can´t help it :P).
Yesterday, I decided to ask 3 vgchartz posters about their predictions for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft....makingmusic told me his predictions for Sony, Khuutra for Nintendo and Onyx for Microsoft...all 3 are very good in my opinion.
Now, with their consent, I´m posting their views on what might happen.
IT´S A LONG READ.
First we start with makingmusic´s predictions for Sony:
"Hm. Well, I think this E3 will be truly great for Sony, but I also think they'll be focusing on PSP just as much as the PS3 (if not even moreso). But they'll also be focusing heavily on the ps3, no doubt about it, and given the titles you've mentioned, plus a few new announcements, the ps3 will have a lot going for it.
On the PSP side of things, I think we'll see:
1. LBP PSP finally shown off, and probably playable. It's being worked on by Sony Cambridge with assistance from Media Molecule, and it should turn out quite well.
2. A few new PSP games announced. They said earlier in the year that the games they had recently announced (LBP PSP, RB PSP, AC PSP, MS PSP, etc.) were less than 50% of things they have lined up for the PSP for the year. Of course, they hadn't announced the new Jak & Daxter at the time, but I think they'll have a few more tricks up their sleeve for E3.
3. PSP-4000/PSP2 will be unveiled. I'm not sure what it'll be, and what it'll include, but it'll be there. It may be an upgrade similar to that of the DSi over the DSL, or it may be a full generational leap akin to the DS over the GBA, but it'll be the biggest hardware change we've yet seen for the PSP.
4. Now this one I'm not so sure about, but I have a feeling it'll happen. Gran Turismo 4 Mobile will return, re-dubbed GT5 Mobile. It'll either be announced as a standard PSP title, or, if they are truly releasing a PSP2, a PSP2 launch title.
Now onto ps3:
1. Trico! Yes, the game we've all been waiting for! It'll finally be unveiled! ...I think. It's been a long time coming, and they have to show it at some point, and this seems like the perfect place. My only doubts stem from the fact that SCEI tends to focus more on TGS than E3, so they may wait to unveil it there. However, E3 is slowly returning to its former glory, and it really is the place to be making any big announcements these days. Plus, I feel that TGS might just be too far away, unless they don't plan to release the game until late 2010 or possibly 2011. I highly doubt that's the case (or rather, I fear it to be the case =( ).
2. We'll see some other new ps3 games, though I'm not sure what. I think it's too soon to show off Starhawk, and David Jaffe confirmed on neogaf that his people won't be showing anything at E3, so that rules out Twisted Metal, but there are a few developers that have been awfully quiet as of late. Sony Liverpool, for example, has released nothing but Wipeout HD for PSN over the past 2.5 years. It's been long rumored that they've been working on a third person action title for a while, and we might see that, or something else from the team. And there are various other teams we may get some info out of. And who knows, we may actually get a teaser for Starhawk.
3. Gran Turismo 5 will finally return to the limelight, and we'll get a release time frame. God of War III will also be there, playable, and we'll also get a release time frame. Same goes for a few of their 2009 titles, like MAG and Heavy Rain.
4. White Knight Chronicles announced for the West, with a rough release date. Hopefully Demon's Souls will be announced for the West too, but I'm finding that more and more unlikely. Though I already imported it, so it doesn't effect me much. We may also see Sony get up on stage with SE and announce that the FFXIII demo will be on the Western release of FFVII: ACC, and thus the demo will be "exclusively on the ps3" haha. Then I'll feel like an ass for having spent way too much on importing the Japanese version, assuming we wouldn't get the demo for awhile. =x
5. A new ps3 SKU or two. Silver ps3 controllers are now up for pre-order at GameStop, set to release on June 24th, and it's quite apparent that the Silver ps3 will finally be making its way out of Japan, and we should see an announcement at E3
As for a potential ps3 price cut, E3 would be a great place to announce one, but I'm not sure whether they can afford one quite yet (though the 45nm Cell should be hitting over the Summer, so I could be wrong on that), nor am I sure that they wouldn't rather wait for the holidays, given how late in the year it'll be already. The sooner they drop the price, the more time Microsoft has to gauge the effects of the price cut, and decide if they should do another drop of their own in time for the holidays.
Personally, I think there are a number of possibilities surounding new ps3 SKUs and a price cut:
1. They announce a Silver ps3 to replace the current Uncharted 160gb bundles, and drop the price of both the new SKU and the 80gb SKUs by $100, to $399 and $299. The new 45nm Cells are set to hit around then, so it would be a great time to do it.
2. They announce a Silver ps3 to replace the current Uncharted bundles, but wait until November to drop the price, possibly replacing the 40gb SKU at around that time as well.
3. They unbundle the Uncharted bundles, and drop the 160gb unit to $399 to clear out stock. They then announce the Silver bundle to come in at $499. Once the Uncharted bundles are for the most part gone, they announce a new SKU using the new motherboards with the 45nm Cell to come in at $299 for November, and drop the Silver ps3s to $399. This would directly parallel what happened in 2007, and while it could happen, I think it's the least likely of the scenarios I have outlined.
Ultimately, I expect the ps3 to be $299 before the year is out."
