Yep, that's right, Microsoft are continuing their increasingly poor showings at E3 conferences this year. Although I am a fan of the console, E3 conferences have never been such a great thing for Microsoft. Who knows though, this one could be one of the better ones.
So what can we expect from Microsoft this year, I hear you ask? Well, many people are looking forward to the game-play of Gears Of War 3. I am the biggest Gears of War fan this side Cliffy B and this announcement is enough to get me hot under the collar. Considering that I should already be playing the full version, the least Microsoft and Epic could do is give me a little game-play to hang my hat on. Having pushed the release back from April to November 2011, you have to think that they will use the E3 Conference to showcase the game that the console is being built around this year. I know we have had the Beta test but we need something more concrete at E3 to get every involved. Maybe a look at some of the story would get me excited. I think there is a 80% chance of seeing this happen.
The other thing that is sure to be announced is Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Yes, it has been two years since the last game was released and although Infinity Ward are nothing to do with this game title, I think we can still expect a good game to come our way. It is being developed by Raven Software (Multi-player) and Sledgehammer Games (Single player). Given that we are only 6 months away from it's impending release, I think that E3 is the perfect time to see what they are cooking up for us in the eighth instalment of the Call Of Duty franchise. There is heavy rumours that Modern Warfare 3 will be a prequel to Modern Warfare 2 and you will take control of the mysterious Ghost character. Either way, I think that Microsoft need to do something with Activision and what better way to get one of your core games out there than this? I am at least looking for a trailer but a little bit of game-play wouldn't go amiss.
You can also expect some announcement for Forza Motorsport 4, as Microsoft tries to beef up it's exclusive range that has been very slow this year. In fact, I cannot think of a single game that the PS3 will wish it had some rights too. If you ask me, it is a good question why the 360 is selling better than ever, given that it has had no big exclusive this year. Who knows, Forza could be the game to turn it around for the green half of the console war. Their exclusive driving series ought to draw a lot of fans in and this could be one of the big announcements that Microsoft are looking at. I've never been a fan of Forza but you can fully expect Microsoft to give a lot of time to one of it's core games. You will see Forza in some way, I am sure of it.
Of course, we are looking for a few surprises from Microsoft this year to turn around their fortunes at E3 and some are speculating that we could see the announcement of a new Microsoft console. There are so many reports about this, it is not even funny. Some reports say that it could be as early as the first half of 2012 and some say that it could be as late as 2015. What I am sure about, is that Microsoft are definitely developing a new console to be released. Who knows how far along they are with that development but it is definitely a work in progress. If they are quite far along, it may not be beyond the realms of possibility that we could see a teaser trailer for the new console offering from Microsoft. That ought to impress a few people. My odds of it being shown are very low but never say never.
Another thing that should intrigue us is Codename Kingdoms. So far, there has been nothing in the way of details for this game but it clear that it is going to be a big deal upon release. There is one trailer for the game and it looks damn intriguing. However, nothing else has been release for this game. People are speculating that Crytek will announce more details for this highly illusive game at E3. The odds of that happening are pretty good considering that they don't have to give a lot away and the 360 is really struggling for exclusives at the moment. This one ought to bring a lot of fans to the fold as Crytek really switches it's aims. I would say it is 50/50 as to whether we see some sort of Codename Kingdoms announcement. Hell, I would even take a proper title at this point.
A lot of people are also speculating that you could see Alan Wake 2 announced at E3 but I seriously doubt that will happen. The last I heard, Remedy were working on another title whilst Microsoft concentrated on giving gamers more downloadable content for the original game. I sincerely doubt that you will hear anything about Alan Wake 2 but you can never tell.
What you can expect is a lot of Kinect heavy material. Kinect Star Wars ought to be a nice little announcement, if they choose to go ahead and announce it at E3. I suppose they likely will. But you can expect a lot of back-patting on the behalf of Microsoft to themselves as Kinect sensors fly off of the shelves. You can bet your house on the fact that they are going to give themselves a lot of credit for the development and if they don't, then you can slap my ass and call me Winston.
A few games ought to have some time at the conference but perhaps not in the Microsoft session. My initial impression is that we will see something along the lines of Assassin's Creed 3. With some of the details being released a few days ago, it just makes sense for them to keep building on what we already have. Microsoft might shoulder some of this to get people interested and give the game some time but we will need to see what happens. What you can expect is some details on what is next in the Halo series. Halo 4 may be talked about at the Microsoft conference and I would say that there is 30% chance that we see something to that effect. A lot of people are speculating that we will need to see something from Halo to get this conference rolling on the good lines and I suspect that we might see something.
So, as you can see, a heavy potential line up from Microsoft. It pans out the way that I think it should, then it might be able to put the last few E3 conferences to bed.
So what can we expect from Microsoft this year, I hear you ask? Well, many people are looking forward to the game-play of Gears Of War 3. I am the biggest Gears of War fan this side Cliffy B and this announcement is enough to get me hot under the collar. Considering that I should already be playing the full version, the least Microsoft and Epic could do is give me a little game-play to hang my hat on. Having pushed the release back from April to November 2011, you have to think that they will use the E3 Conference to showcase the game that the console is being built around this year. I know we have had the Beta test but we need something more concrete at E3 to get every involved. Maybe a look at some of the story would get me excited. I think there is a 80% chance of seeing this happen.
The other thing that is sure to be announced is Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Yes, it has been two years since the last game was released and although Infinity Ward are nothing to do with this game title, I think we can still expect a good game to come our way. It is being developed by Raven Software (Multi-player) and Sledgehammer Games (Single player). Given that we are only 6 months away from it's impending release, I think that E3 is the perfect time to see what they are cooking up for us in the eighth instalment of the Call Of Duty franchise. There is heavy rumours that Modern Warfare 3 will be a prequel to Modern Warfare 2 and you will take control of the mysterious Ghost character. Either way, I think that Microsoft need to do something with Activision and what better way to get one of your core games out there than this? I am at least looking for a trailer but a little bit of game-play wouldn't go amiss.
You can also expect some announcement for Forza Motorsport 4, as Microsoft tries to beef up it's exclusive range that has been very slow this year. In fact, I cannot think of a single game that the PS3 will wish it had some rights too. If you ask me, it is a good question why the 360 is selling better than ever, given that it has had no big exclusive this year. Who knows, Forza could be the game to turn it around for the green half of the console war. Their exclusive driving series ought to draw a lot of fans in and this could be one of the big announcements that Microsoft are looking at. I've never been a fan of Forza but you can fully expect Microsoft to give a lot of time to one of it's core games. You will see Forza in some way, I am sure of it.
Of course, we are looking for a few surprises from Microsoft this year to turn around their fortunes at E3 and some are speculating that we could see the announcement of a new Microsoft console. There are so many reports about this, it is not even funny. Some reports say that it could be as early as the first half of 2012 and some say that it could be as late as 2015. What I am sure about, is that Microsoft are definitely developing a new console to be released. Who knows how far along they are with that development but it is definitely a work in progress. If they are quite far along, it may not be beyond the realms of possibility that we could see a teaser trailer for the new console offering from Microsoft. That ought to impress a few people. My odds of it being shown are very low but never say never.
Another thing that should intrigue us is Codename Kingdoms. So far, there has been nothing in the way of details for this game but it clear that it is going to be a big deal upon release. There is one trailer for the game and it looks damn intriguing. However, nothing else has been release for this game. People are speculating that Crytek will announce more details for this highly illusive game at E3. The odds of that happening are pretty good considering that they don't have to give a lot away and the 360 is really struggling for exclusives at the moment. This one ought to bring a lot of fans to the fold as Crytek really switches it's aims. I would say it is 50/50 as to whether we see some sort of Codename Kingdoms announcement. Hell, I would even take a proper title at this point.
A lot of people are also speculating that you could see Alan Wake 2 announced at E3 but I seriously doubt that will happen. The last I heard, Remedy were working on another title whilst Microsoft concentrated on giving gamers more downloadable content for the original game. I sincerely doubt that you will hear anything about Alan Wake 2 but you can never tell.
What you can expect is a lot of Kinect heavy material. Kinect Star Wars ought to be a nice little announcement, if they choose to go ahead and announce it at E3. I suppose they likely will. But you can expect a lot of back-patting on the behalf of Microsoft to themselves as Kinect sensors fly off of the shelves. You can bet your house on the fact that they are going to give themselves a lot of credit for the development and if they don't, then you can slap my ass and call me Winston.
A few games ought to have some time at the conference but perhaps not in the Microsoft session. My initial impression is that we will see something along the lines of Assassin's Creed 3. With some of the details being released a few days ago, it just makes sense for them to keep building on what we already have. Microsoft might shoulder some of this to get people interested and give the game some time but we will need to see what happens. What you can expect is some details on what is next in the Halo series. Halo 4 may be talked about at the Microsoft conference and I would say that there is 30% chance that we see something to that effect. A lot of people are speculating that we will need to see something from Halo to get this conference rolling on the good lines and I suspect that we might see something.
So, as you can see, a heavy potential line up from Microsoft. It pans out the way that I think it should, then it might be able to put the last few E3 conferences to bed.
