E3 2010 Predictions, PART 1

UPDATE 6.1.2010: Don't you know it.  I make a risky prediction and it's disproven almost the next day.  This morning, Rockstar announced that they will be skipping E3 this year.  They explained that they do not have enough prepared to show off at E3, and will be showing their latest builds of Max Payne 3 and L.A. Noire at a later time.  Reports suggest that they also had an announcement to be made at E3 this year, but whether this is true or not is irrelevant as it will not come to light at this E3.  That's too bad.  Oh well.  You gotta get some wrong to get some right!

Ah.  Only 2 or so weeks till the greatest convention known to manking arrives: the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3.  For many, this four day expo is Heaven on Earth.  It is the culmination of all that is video games.  Unfortunately, it remains very much the unnatainable gold.  E3 is a press-only event, and therefore no gamer outside of the industry can witness first-person the magic.  Thank God there is an internet.

Gamers can enjoy much of what E3 has to offer right from the comfort of their own homes.  The television channel, G4, will be running over 5 hours a day from the event, with inside exclusives, and of course, all the press conferences imaginable.  Tons of websites also have 24-hour coverage, including IGN, GameTrailers, and Kotaku.  Finally, many other channels will be running E3 related events, such as Spike TV and MTV.  And it would come as no surprise if a couple national news outlets covered the event, too. 

As I am also a gamer, I too am anxious for the wonders of E3.  Which is why here on Just Another Gaming Blog, a tradition will come to the surface.  This may be my favorite post so far, as I have spent the most time constructing it.  Friends, Romans, and Countrymen, may I present my E3 predictions for E3 2010. 

MICROSOFT
I have many predictions for the great MS this year.  No one can deny that MS will put the majority of its focus on pushing its new product, Project Natal.  Much of what they announce will surround this device, and it will be the first time they will update the progress of the tech since last year's E3.  I predict that everything will be announced for Natal so that it may be released in fashion at the end of this year.  This will include pricing, which I predict will be under $100.  Sony has announced that the Move will be under $100, so MS wants to stay competitive.  Release date for the device will be around October or November, definitely after the announced release date for Halo: Reach in September.  They want the device to sell well and not be overcome by Halo, making hardcore gamers choose.  The name of Natal will also change.  Natal is the project name, and it will have an official release name.  My guess is something with "LIVE" in it. 

Natal will see a crapload of games.  This is not so much a prediction as a fairly safe fact, as over thirty companies have stated that they are developing for Natal, and at least half of those have confirmed that they are showing off that game at E3.  Natal will include a casual game package, ala Wii Sports, which will include the tech demo from last year, Ricochet, and some other casual games.  I wouldn't doubt plenty of other casual games, also.  MS will also make sure to show Natal's capabilities with more hardcore games.  Peter Molyneux is sure to show off how Natal works in Fable III, and I predict a few more games to show off Natal's potential with the hardcore crowd.  However, Natal will be focused more as a dashboard and functionality add-on.  I predict things such as using Natal to turn on and off the Xbox, use the dashboard, watch Netflix movies, and everything else.  Don't forget that Natal also has voice recognition, and I predict that will come in play too.

Possibly the largest prediction and the most risky I can make about MS is that of a Slim Xbox 360.  Yes, I do think they will introduce a new SKU to be packaged in with Natal.  Over the last year, MS has reduced their SKU's to the Core and the Elite.  The new SKU will serve as a little of both, pairing a redesigned Xbox with a faster, cooler, and quiter processor with the best casual peripheral, Natal.  It will fall in between the two current SKU's in price, most likely at a $300-350 price point.  This would make sense as the actual box would be $200-250 and Natal under $100.  This package will have a 250 GB hard drive, once again appealing to the hardcore.  This new SKU will launch simultaneously with Natal.  However, calling the SKU "Slim" may be a stretch.  Although I'm sure the SKU will be smaller, it may just be a redesign to accompany Natal.

As far as other announcements go, MS is sure to continue adding online functions and other partnerships.  TV in North America for Xbox 360 is very likely in my opinion, especially since in the UK, SkyTV is already being offered.  Now, this could be a small thing at first.  I predict a possible partnership with a TV channel to offer programming simultaneously on the console with the television.  More app-like things are sure to come, as MS has made is quite clear they want to implement the internet into the Xbox. It's quite possible avatars might see something new, but I'm sure more awards and clothing are on the way.  It is also very likely that Microsoft will announce more partnerships.  This comes at a perfect time, as Bungie has left MS and gone to work on their new IP with Activision.    

As far as games go at the MS conference, Natal is sure to take up a lot of the announcements, but not as much as people suspect.  Remember, MS is having an entirely seperate conference for Natal.  Most of the developed games will also be from third-parties, who have their own conferences.  The hardcore shouldn't worry, as I am sure MS still has some major announcements in store.  Before I get into that though, I do want to run down what known games I predict will be there, and what I predict they will show. 

• Rock Band 3, with the Harmonix band playing a demo at the beginning of the conference, like they have done the last 2 years.
• Fallout: New Vegas, with a demo and release date.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum 2, with a demo and release date (this one is iffy.  It might go to Sony's).
• Mafia II, with a release date.
• Dead Rising 2, with a release date.
• Halo: Reach, with a singleplayer demo.
• Crysis 2.
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, with a release date.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops, with a demo and release date.
• Rage, with a demo.
• Gears of War 3, with a demo.
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, with a demo and a release date.
• Fable III, with a demo and release date.
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
• Bulletstorm, with a demo and a release date.
• XCOM.

And now, onto what games I think may be announced and/or shown at the conference.  First, I believe the previously announced Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be announced for the Xbox 360.  It is currently known as a PS3 exclusive, but with the moderate success of FFXIII on the 360, I don't doubt this will happen.  Possibly a very risky prediction for me is that I fell something for the Grand Theft Auto franchise will be announced at E3.  Yes, possibly Grand Theft Auto V.  It also could be a spin-off, like Vice City or San Andreas.  But something will be said.  I am also stepping out on a limb and predicting that after all the developer closings, a developer will come forward and announce that they are making Star Wars: Battlefront III.  LEGO will also announce another game, possibly a sequel to LEGO: Batman.  Finally, I am predictiong that another entry in the Rainbow Six series will be announced.

That is it for my Microsoft predictions for E3.  Please, PLEASE, PLEASE leave comments telling me your two cents.  If you comment enough I will write a response post to your predictions and comments.  PLEASE leave some (or a lot, if you want) predictions for JUST MICROSOFT on this post.  Also, I'd love to hear what you think I predicted correctly, and what you think is total crap. 

Stay tuned this next week for parts 2 and 3 which will cover predictions for Sony and Nintendo.
 

To Infinity and Beyond, part 2

On the last post I wrote about my thoughts on the Infinity Ward scandal.  Remember that this is a very complex situation, and it's hard to find concrete solutions or even concrete evidence in anything.  That's just how our perspective as run-of-the-mill gamers ends up being.  But that doesn't mean that the common gamer, like myself, can't offer some helpful ideas as to how Activision might clean up this mess, or even if they can clean up this mess.

The first thing they must do is assure their audience in some way that they are dedicated to bringing quality games.  Activision is the largest and the richest gaming company on the planet.  Their gaming audience includes almost everyone.  For a company like them to head into a scandal like this can be devastating to their gamers.  They need to take action is reassuring people that they are still on track with bringing great games from great developers.  There are many ways they could do this, but the primary way would be to issue a statement or calm fears in some way.  Now, Activision has done some of this already, but they need to officially let people know what is going on.  And there is no better place to do this than at this year's E3. 

I'm not an idiot.  I'm sure Activision wants to not attract any unneccesary attention.  I'm not saying they should have a representative go up and talk about Infinity Ward.  But their conference at E3 would serve a much better purpose if it focused on something the gamers would like and would not expect from Activision as of late.  It could be something as small as focusing on quality games.  It could be a focus on restating that Activision is committed to the gamer.  Anything would be good.  Activision, above all, needs to connect with the gamer again.  Activision was already on shaky ground with gamers with Kotick's remarks and Activision's lack of support for PC gamers; by not addressing this in some way, gamers will become even more detached.

Activision needs to adress Infinity Ward also.  No one knows what is going on with the studio.  The majority of the talent and the muscle are gone, and are now working at Respawn.  But Activision is adamant on ensuring gamers that IW is still around and still working on something.  Most people assume this is Modern Warfare 3, but the fact that there are so few developers left leads me to believe development has come to a stand-still.  I can speculate what Activision might be doing with IW, but the one thing everyone needs is concrete evidence that IW is working on something, and that the studio isn't destroyed.  This could come through a partnership with another studio.  It could come through Activision closing IW.  Whatever way it comes, it needs to come.  Gamers need to know what is going on with IW for Activision not to be assumed as the destroyer of development companies.

Another thing I suggest is let Treyarch show their stuff.  Treyarch is actually in a really good position because of the IW scandal.  Treyarch, when partnered with IW, has always been underrated.  Treyarch makes great games, but when compared to gold like the Modern Warfare series, Treyarch is second-best.  Treyarch has been given the oppurtunity to show that they can make a game as great as Modern Warfare.  If Activision lets them, they could become the next IW.  E3 will show just what they have with Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will most certainly take the focus somewhat off of IW.  If the game looks great at E3 and starts garnering some hype, then Activision can start focusing on something else other than the gigantic pink elephant that is IW.  Activision still has great ties with Treyarch, and they should take advantage of this in every way.  Make Treyarch the new IW and the success they had could come back in some way.  Treyarch deserves this chance to show that they can hold out with the big developers, and Activision should give them this oppurtunity.

Activision needs to also show gamers a new IP that can stand on its own.  This prediction is a bit of a slim one, but I really feel that by introducing a strong new IP, Activision can get rid of this ridiculous "tripod" business plan they have.  When a company becomes solely based upon three franchises and does not dedicate itself to a new IP, they raise the risk of failing exponentially.  Guitar Hero has already begun to show signs of weakness.  World of Warcraft is beginning to slow in growth.  Call of Duty, well, we all know what's going on there.  Activision actually has shown that they are trying to fix this problem already with a great company named Bungie.

The partnership between Activision and Bungie may have been one of the smartest decisions Activision has ever made.  There are so many great things that could come out of this.  First, Activision has guaranteed the public that Bungie maintains complete creative control over their new IP, and Bungie has seconded this fact.  This is great because not only does it ensure that the issue of Infinity Ward hopefully does not happen again, but it shows that Activision is moving towards a healthy partnership, ala EA.  Secondly, this partnership gives Activision an almost definite way of having a successful new IP.  It is unlikely that Bungie will create something bad.  Bungie has shown that they can successfully create a franchise, and create it well.  Activision has just hired what could be the best creators of a franchise in history.

Lastly, Bungie brings with them not only great experience in making games, but a great community with them.  Activision has gained many new gamers because of this Bungie deal.  Bungie has always been committed to community involvement, and their experience in this area gives Activision some much needed improvement in the area.  Activision has never been great with the community.  This is evident no more than in Modern Warfare 2, where glitches and a lack of a pre-release beta caused the game and the gaming community to suffer.  Bungie can be the spring-board (no pun intended) for Activision's improvement in this area. 

Finally, I make one more prediction, and it's an unlikely one, but one I feel is completely necessary if Activision wants to make it back into gamers' hearts.  FIRE BOBBY KOTICK.  Mr. Kotick has destroyed any sense of credibility that Activision once had with gamers.  When the CEO of the biggest gaming company on the planet says he's in the business to make money and not necessarily make good games pisses me off.  I want a publisher to make great games.  I want that to be a priority.  All gamers do.  I'm not ignorant.  Of course they want to make money. But that should go along with some type of passion to make games.  Mr. Kotick continues to show gamers that he doesn't care for community, he doesn't care for quality, and by the example of Infinity Ward, he doesn't care for his employees.  I could write an entire post on why Mr. Kotick is ruining Activision, but I don't need to.  Because I can tell you that all of these suggestions I made in this post become exponentially unlikely with Bobby Kotick as CEO. 

Do you agree with my suggestions?  Do you have anything else that you think could help Activision in the future?  What's your opinion on the issue?  Comment and enjoy the rest of your day.

To Infinity and Beyond

I really haven't said anything about my thoughts on the recent Infinity Ward scandal.  If you'd like to get a great summary of the recent events between Infinity Ward and their publisher and owner Activision, AppleJuiceJones has one here and here. To sum it up in the shortest way possible though, it goes something like this: Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are fired from Activision after security officers storm the Infinity Ward offices over development and monetary issues.  West and Zampella sue Activision over Activision's neglect to pay "substantial royalties" to them for Modern Warfare 2.  Activision files a countersuit over West's and Zampella's apparent breach of contract over stopping the development of Modern Warfare 3 due to this supposed neglect of payment.  38 employees of IW join this lawsuit against Activision, and West and Zampella form a new studio called Respawn Entertainment, which joins EA Partners for a publisher. Over 30 former employees of IW have now resigned and joined Respawn Entertainment.  

There is so much I could say about this situation, but I'd like to start with who I feel is responsible for what.  I have no idea if West and Zampella have any ground for their suit, and the same goes for Activision.  What I do know is the reputation of Activision, and the likelihood that West/Zampella probably have great reasons for this.  The fact that security stormed the office indicates that Activision was not happy with something IW was doing, or in this case, not doing.  It certainly appears that IW ceased early development on Modern Warfare 3 in protest over the fact that Activision was making them work at full force again without full compensation for the last game.  It's also quite possible IW wanted to make a different game other than MW, which would be a breach of contract for IW.  Regardless, IW did something that they weren't technically supposed to be doing, and West and Zampella were let go because of this.  

The fact that they decided to sue Activision almost immediately after their termination indicates to me that Activision was most likely holding extra compensation from them due to the widely successful sales of MW2.  I say this because the immediate actions of these two men indicate that their legal counsil suggested immediate action, meaning that their must be good grounds for a suit.  This fact is even more likely because of the 30 some other people that have joined the suit against Activision.  Activision, in my opinion, is at fault here.  The CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, stated once that Activision is not there to make games but to make money.  His influence over game studios is evident.  The Guitar Hero franchise has suffered from it, because of the various peripherals the publisher demands be developed for each game.  His very authoritative and unprofessional relationship with developers has finally blown up in this incident.  This is no clearer to me than with the issue of money.

Activision, according to West and Zampella, neglected to pay developers for a game they made.  Let me put this in perspective.  MW2 was finished around August of last year.  IW employees have not been fully compensated yet, and it is already March of next year?  That makes no sense.  Activision, after the remarks Kotick has made about their goal of money, is in trouble.  Their past reputation definitely goes to show that this lack of compensation is not only possible, but likely.  Especially if over 30 employees of IW have quit and moved to Respawn Entertainment, escaping Activision swiftly and willingly.  

Of course, none of my opinion matters, and doesn't count as fact.  But it's bad when a normal member of the gaming community gets these types of vibes from a big publisher like Activision.  And I am aware that I am NOT the only one who feels bad about this situation, and who feels mad at Activision.  This makes a gamer like myself question Activision in the future.  Which is bad for business.  Activision will pay for this event, even if the suit against them goes in their favor.  Activision will have to deal with many things because of this.  

They'll have to deal with the Call of Duty franchise taking a gigantic hit in the future.  IW has lost almost all of its significant talent to Respawn.  The crew that made Modern Warfare and the studio is gone, and won't ever be coming back. The talent gamers once knew and loved is gone from Call of Duty.  Now, I can speculate to my eyeballs what I think will happen with the Modern Warfare franchise, and the Call of Duty franchise.  But what I know for a fact is that gamers will NEVER get another Modern Warfare game like the ones Infinity Ward made.  The ones that were, for the most part, amazing games.  

Saying that, Activision needs to realize this if they want to maintain their hold over the FPS genre, and the modern shooter genre.  Medal of Honor and Battlefield are positioned to take away a lot of the MW crowd, and the fact that this is an "off-year" (a phrase I despise) means that Activision doesn't plan on Treyarch making a COD as successful as Modern Warfare.  Activision risks a lot of their success due to this event.  Their money comes primarily from three things: World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty.  The Guitar Hero franchise is already showing signs of weakness.  World of Warcraft, while providing a steady income of money, has peaked at users, meaning growth has significantly slowed.  And if Call of Duty can't be saved, then the tripod that Activision is balanced on will break.  

Activision will also have to deal with their main competitor, EA.  This year could very well shift the tables quite a bit.  As I previously stated, Medal of Honor could take away any thunder left from Modern Warfare.  EA is also making strides with its EA Partners program.  Unlike Activision, who directly owns its developers, EA has made a program for developers to be fully independent of EA, and still publish under their name.  Devs like BioWare and Visceral Games have made million-dollar franchises under this program.  A program like this will hit Activision hard, and it already has started to label them as a publisher no developer wants to be with. 

And let's not forget Respawn Entertainment.  The "new IW" does have all the talent.  This studio is going to be a great studio, just for the fact that they can do whatever they want without the influence of the publisher.  Something I'm sure they are dying for.  Respawn with EA could put the final nail in the coffin for Activision.  If they create a new game, and that game is successful, then it just goes to show the failures Activision has as a publisher.  Activision will have to deal with this loss of what is surely their most creative talents.  Especially to EA.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I give my two cents on what Activision needs to do to clean up this mess.  Enjoy and comment!

Back in the New York Groove

I lied.

I said the blog wouldn't be coming back for another week.  But I decided that my vacation was too long, and I wanted to write once again.  So I lied.  If you feel betrayed, good.  You were.  If you feel that you were sold old, good.  You were.  If you feel so bad that you want to kill yourself, not good.  Don't do that. 

Anyway, I'm sorry for lying.  But I bring gifts a plenty. The first of which is a change in my blogging philosophy.  I will not be blogging weekly anymore.  This is because I recently lost the fun in blogging.  This blog started out as a solution to boredom and another way to flex my creative skills and enjoy my favorite past-time of gaming.  But blogging weekly gives me what's called a deadline.  And I realized that because I forced myself to give a blog a week, I've taken the fun out of blogging and made it a job.  This took out a lot of my passion, a lot of my personality, and a lot of myself from the blog.  I promise you, it won't happen again.  I'm now fully dedicated to writing when I WANT to, not when I NEED to.  When I have something to say about gaming, I'll say it. 

Don't worry.  I'm not ditching my faithful readers.  I have a lot of things I still want to write about, and blogs will still be around quite a bit.  It just won't be on a schedule.  But think of it positively, like me.  This way, I add spontaneity into your life.  It's the spice of life.  The monthly vid and screen will still be going strong, and I am still dedicated to the features you see on the blog now, such as my "Addressing the Masses" posts I do ever so often. 

Okay, now on to the fun stuff.  Since I've been gone, I've had the opportunity to think of a lot of posts I wanna write about.  The gaming world didn't stop while I was gone, and lots of awesome stuff is on it's way for this blog.  I have, of course, been playing the Halo: Reach beta.  I definitely want to write a post on that.  I've also been writing my E3 predictions for almost a month now, and I'm almost ready to share them with you.  Not quite yet, though.  I've pulling out all of my gaming knowledge for this year's predictions.  I've also got some games that I plan to buy and review for you all, and a big surprise in terms of reviews.  And I haven't forgotten Activision.  Oh, good ole' Activision.  I'll be revisiting this lovely company, giving my two cents on Infinity Ward and Bungie.  I also plan to revisit some of my old posts that left many questions for readers, or the comments on that blog were just too good for me to pass up.

So there's some big stuff I want to do.  None of it is planned, set in stone, or guaranteed.  But it's highly likely I'll get around to most of it.  And of course, I didn't forget E3.  I'll be doing posts up and down, left and right, and all around for E3.  It's what I love to write about, so expect to have your blog notifications go crazy that week.

That's all I have for you today.  I just wanted to let you know that the blog is back up to full speed, and I've got a new outlook for the future.  Of course, one thing that won't ever change is that I am fully devoted to serving you, the reader.  Let me know what I can do for you, how I can do it, and even should I do it at all.  Enjoy your week, comment, and keep on playing! 

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This blog is currently under construction. It will return to full operation May 15-17, 2010. Reading and comments are still welcome for previous posts, of course!