Well guys, we know that this year has been freaking awesome with the amount of games that have come out so far. And also there is a big amount of games still to come out this year and we’ve also know of a few that won’t come this year but know of their existence. But we only just started to get excited about these games from a magical event that graces us every year. This magical event gives the press and every great video game publication the all access pass to the world of video games that it going to hit over the next fiscal year of gaming. This event is so large in spectacle and so large in anticipation, that I am just quivering like pudding of excitement and anticipation about the announcements, the moments, the games, and the future. This event is the Electronic Entertainment Expo…

E3

This event is so big in scope in the video game industry that it has been a long time dream of mine to just attend to the entire thing for one time. But since I won’t be this year, I might as well give you guys a very well detailed and written report of my predictions for the different companies and what they plan on revealing this year as the mayor announcements and also which games I’m most looking forward for them to actually talk about this year on E3. I was thinking about doing a video, but I’ve promised for too long about videos and I’m just recovering from an abscess on my tailbone and I have a few videos that I’m still trying to cut and put together about other things. So what I will do in this post is to basically break down all the companies and then give my predictions and then at the end, I’ll mention the games that I’m most looking forward to hearing more about during the magnificent week of E3 2012 (and hopefully not the last one…)

Nintendo

My all time favorite company of all the 3, Nintendo has been a stable of my childhood and my upbringing from a very early age and I can never be sad about what they have to offer. They have given me more heart stopping moment in E3 that I can’t even recall a time they didn’t. They have had bad E3 conferences before, and I hate those as well. I didn’t like the one where the lady took over Reggie Fils-Amie’s position and she was such a fake about what she was talking about. She looked like someone that just read everything she was suppose to say a day or two ago, and she basically didn’t sound like someone that knew anything about video games. But then again, I’ve never seen her, so maybe that was just the first time that she was on the big stage and she got nervous and wanted to prepare better. But it wasn’t just that, because it was just not Reggie. When Reggie talked, it seemed like everyone was just frozen, and that year, even when he eventually showed up, there was nothing to show. No exciting games, Wii Fit, and that’s pretty much it; I was just taken on awe as to how much suck that conference was. But they have more than made it up for it since I haven’t seen that woman again, Reggie is going at full blast as usual, and Satoru Iwata still puts atoms to sleep. I know, he’s Japanese, and English is not his first language and maybe he has a hard time expressing himself. But after so many years, you’d think that he would be able to say what he felt without it sounding like he’s doing brain surgery in Words With Friends. But with that said, the conference this year outta be another spectacular show, since the last time that a console was presented, our minds were blown with the 3DS. And since then, we’ve heard of the news of the newest console coming and of course, the extended 3DS titles and whatever is left for the Wii as well. Here is what I’m hoping they give us next week with the conference.

1) WiiU’s real name and some gameplay

They said some time ago that the WiiU is not going to be the official name and that it was going to be presented on E3 this year. And it would seem that it could be entirely possible that we will get everything from the WiiU this year, like, any information at all. All we know about the WiiU at this point is that it’s controller is like a tablet, it will finally show games in HD, it’s online playability will grow significantly with the online stores and make it more like Xbox Live, and that it’s not compatible with GameCube games. But as for technical specs and the details of the console, we know almost nothing about it. As for the name, it’s been suggested that the name is going to be different at the presentation and it seems that they are going to be amongst the first ones to present at E3, which is great and puts a ton of pressure on Sony. I can’t say that I have a prediction as to what the name is going to be, because the names that I’ve seen lately have been pulled straight out of thin air and I just can’t analyze thin air. As for the hardware, I do hope that it makes it compatible with Blu-Ray so that it can also become a BR player and also I want the HD to be really good. It’s a few years late to the party, but at least the HD era is still in effect and Nintendo can play their games on higher end TVs and not worry about a mash of pixel junk that barely resembles a game.

2) Zelda, SSB game, Mario, Pikmin 1st Galore!

We saw that there was a HD Zelda on the demos from last year, and they announced a new Super Mario Brothers game for the WiiU already along with a new Pikmin game. But we have no information about them at all and none of been presented with any gameplay of them on the WiiU at all. The Pikmin game is under complete wraps and I have no idea about this at all, but I’m willing to be that the controller is going to function as your main Pikmin hub center where you can command the little lovable Pikmin to help Olimar through another quest. The Zelda game is what I’m most excited about, because this is a franchise that is close to my heart and I’ve seen it evolve over and over I just can’t wait to see it in action in beautiful HD. Along with Link looking freaking awesome, I just can’t wait to see more enemies, the worlds, the bosses and the most kickass Legend of Zelda trailer I have ever seen.

Of course, Super Smash Bros can also be another title that they can talk about, since they basically haven’t even started with it. It was announced last year, and it seems like the team didn’t even know they were doing that game. Or at least they weren’t working on it yet, and from what it sounds, this one is going to take a while, but any news on one of my favorite Nintendo IPs the better, especially when some other company is completely ripping off SSB with it’s own version with characters that lack interest or any epic definition like all the Nintendo characters. More on Sony’s next fail later.

3) Third Party and Online Promises that hopefully they will keep

Nintendo isn’t usually a follower; unlike the previously mentioned company that takes ideas from better games and turns them into “original” ones. But focusing more on 3rd party support and network connectivity features is something that Nintendo has missed out. Even with the services on both Wii and 3DS where we can buy games and oldies, we still feel that Nintendo might not be doing it at it’s best potential. There aren’t any games made by Nintendo that have benefited truly from having a connection to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Network. You can’t even share anything with other people and when you play them, the interaction is still the same as with a CPU. Animal Crossing: City Folk seems to be the only one that embraced connectivity a bit better, but you still had to work with those SPOOPID Friend Codes. But the Big N wants to change, into a better model. With the announcement of the new console, the new service will be available as well. Already promising that you can, for the first time ever in Nintendo history, purchase games online on the same day it gets released in retail stores and also offering DLC for games. These 2 common things are completely alien to Big N, but if they can provide a strong support for a service that can not only rival with XBLA and PSN, but to make it better, easy and not a pain to work with.

But as for 3rd party support, it seems to be pretty solid because now Nintendo has a console that can deal with the bulk of the graphics like the rest do. Bioshock Infinite might get a release for it, Assassin’s Creed 3, Darksiders 2, and a ton of other games might start showing up here. And since they are offering DLC as well, there is a good chance that companies will eat this up as well since it offers yet another portal to sell the additional content. And Nintendo content might even start popping into these games as well like mini cameos or such…who knows! As long as the Big N’s hardware specs can impress the other companies and the companies are willing to listen to Nintendo, I’m sure that they will be more than happy to develop games for them as well. But their online must be strong. E3 is their only chance to make good of this chance.

What I want from Nintendo in E3 2012:

1. Super Smash Bros game for WiiU- this is a given but like I said, there really isn’t any proof that the game is even being worked on yet. But if they can show us something on SSB at all like a video or an estimated status of this project, I would be eternally grateful.
2. Backwards Compatibility with all Wii Shop Channel products- because the purchases you made on one console can’t be transferred, I only hope that when you log in your Club Nintendo or your login into this new console it detects purchases that can be transferred and be played for your new system. At the very least, for the new controller. Already not compatible with the GameCube games, I wish that the same fate can be spared for all my other games. 
3. Friends and no Friend Codes- Seems like it’s already been dealt with, but I’m not sure about how Nintendo is going to create this online community yet. I hope that is something very similar to XBLA, in which we can add many friends, join games, chat, and basically feel as thought we are playing against other people. This worries me since Nintendo really hasn’t been much of a pioneer in the online department when it comes to the multiplayer aspects. They can provide good content, but to me, they need to come out guns blazing with multiplayer in not just games like the new ones, but if there could be a way to bring the backwards compatibility and somehow add multiplayer to games from that era, that would be the most awesomemess thing in the world. 
4. HardCore- The era of the Wii is over now, and it united a lot of people that would have never become gamers in their lives. But after putting the hardcore gamers in the back and making them wait for a bit, it’s now time to bring them back to the front and give them some love. The hardcore fans want gamers for them and need gamers that make them do more than just create an Mii and make it do simple things. They need 3rd party hard core games and mostly, 1st party games that blow our minds. The pureness of Nintendo won’t bother me. I love everything that they do; but the hardcore want more from Nintendo. It’s their chance to give it to them now.
5. Strong focus in community- Nintendo has always pleased the crowds, but they don’t engaged as strong as they should. With the online capabilities expanded, they should be able to engage with more fans, gamers, and people all over. It was nice of them to offer those channels like the Nintendo Channel and the 3DS Nintendo Channel, but they can do so much better. They need a Major Nelson, and if they get something like that going, they will reach more gamers and keep them hooked on Nintendo for a long time. 

With all of this in mind, I really do hope that Nintendo bring their new HD guns swinging. I would be incredibly impressed, but I wouldn’t be surprised. My only worry is that they become to much like the other two companies they are competing against. Despite everything I said, I would rather play fun video games than pretty ones. If Nintendo can do both, they are geniuses. We shall all be waiting next week patiently. Tune in later as I discuss the next company I always root for, Microsoft.