By the Last Token Gaming Staff
Things have been a bit busy for a lot of us at Last Token Gaming. From Isaac’s music commitments at Sac State to Terry’s CrossFit training to Marshall’s forthcoming vacation in Europe, there simply hasn’t been as much time to write as we’d like. Fortunately, we’ve had nonstop Let’s Plays for your entertainment courtesy of Mike n’ Kaz (as well as Marshall for the RE4 series). But even in the most hectic of times, we’d be remiss not to do our annual E3 forecast where we share our concrete predictions and personal hopes for what will be unveiled in Los Angeles next week. Here’s our official predictions and hype for the biggest expo in gaming!
Marshall
First to note for this year’s convention is what we’ll see from Nintendo. We all felt the collective wind knocked out of our sales when it was announced that the next Zelda game is being pushed to 2017, coupled with the announcement of their new console, the NX. (Granted, considering the ultimately disappointing performance of the Wii U, the latter is not a terribly shocking announcement.) Given Wii U’s clear loss in the recent round of the console wars, I’m not sure I can predict anything spectacular from Nintendo next week. But i really, really do hope they prove me wrong.
Other than that, I’m not too invested in this year’s proceedings from what I’ve read so far. I’m most excited about Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee finally arriving next year, and that’s about all I can really think about as I peruse the list of what’s going to be unveiled. (And as always, going to be that guy and hope this is the year Half-Life 3 is dropped in the coolest way ever and blahblahblah…) After vaguely promising to go next-gen the past couple of years, I do concretely intend to do that with more income this year. However, I’ll be stocking up primarily on games from the last couple of years, so as of this moment there’s nothing I’m really salivating for from E3. Of course, my heart (and after a little resistance, my wallet) can always be persuaded otherwise.
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Sean
To be honest I’m just not too excited for E3 this year. I kinda wanna just see every other convention, but I can’t say we won’t see some nice surprises. While I’m hoping for at least a hint about the next Nintendo console, I’m not going to hold my breath. I do wonder how well the next version of the XboxOne and PS4 will be like, and I’m predicting they won’t be too welcomed. Least for me it gives me more reason to avoid them for PC gaming, though I foresee Sony’s game line up kicking ass and taking names regardless. VR might still be a strong focus this year and we might see some convincing games for them but until those are more affordable I just don’t see it being too effective. It just isn’t looking all that promising this year to me.
Game-wise I think is where all the hype will be. The new Zelda and its details should give us some more NX clues and might be all Nintendo needs this year. Again not expecting much from Microsoft or Sony, but I think Sony will do something to please the fans. I’m looking forward to seeing the third party companies (minus Ubisoft and EA) show off something good at the very least. Capcom would be nice to see them talk about recent events like Street Fighter 5, but I have a feeling they might just do something to please the crowd. They seem to be learning from mistakes, or so I hope.
Other than that there’s some indie stuff, I always keep an eye out from Sega but this E3 should be a bit calm and maybe a tad underwhelming for some unless someone does something crazy. Don’t think it’ll be really bad, but my fingers are crossed for some surprises as I think we’ll need them. As with Marshall here, I agree on the Half-Life 3 thing, we kinda need its reveal to shake things up. Heck I’d be happy with a spin-off that follows the new Doom trend and goes back to the old school, no BS FPS style. Though now I guess I’m just dreaming. Fingers crossed for crazy good surprises, I think we need it this year.
Terry
I can’t believe E3 is right around the corner, and where do I begin on what I’m hoping they show this year? Of course, I’m really hoping for much more of a fleshed out demo for Final Fantasy XV and maybe a playable demo for Kingdom Hearts III on Square Enix’s side. Those games have been on my radar for years, especially when Final Fantasy XV was originally Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I love Tetsuya Nomura for his imagination and convoluted stories, and the battle systems he comes up with. I’m hoping we get to see something that feels familiar to old fans but refreshingly new to draw in new fans.
I’m also hoping that the rumor of Red Dead Redemption 2 being announced is true, especially considering my feelings on the first game. Red Dead Redemption was an amazing game that had a superb spaghetti western story, voice acting, and world to explore. I’d preorder a sequel to that in a heartbeat. I’m also hoping for more information on Horizon: Zero Dawn from Guerilla Studios. I’m a little worried about this game in particular because it’s made by the same studios who developed KillZone, which I wasn’t a fan of the Playstation 4 iteration.
I’m also to see the potentially rumored presentation of Psychonauts 2 and The Last of Us 2. Psychonauts was a cult hit that deserved more attention than it deserved, and The Last of Us is one of the best games I’ve ever played alongside Red Dead Redemption.
In the end, E3 2016 is going to be huge for me if all of these announcements happen.
Jake
Like Terry, Kingdom Hearts III has been on my radar ever since it was first teased 3 years ago. Since they just released a trailer for Kingdom Hearts 2.8, I seriously hope that they reveal more info for the upcoming main entry in the Kingdom Hearts series. I know that Square Enix knows that we are all clamouring for only more Kingdom Hearts III info. I wonder if they would reveal a Marvel world for this game…
Aside from Kingdom Hearts III, I am hoping to know more about Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last Guardian, with hopes that they’ll have a playable demos for each game available for viewing to give the gamers a taste of the gameplay. I am also curious to learn more about South Park’s Fractured But Whole, with a little tease of the gameplay on what the game is going to be about. It might play a bit more like The Stick of Truth, but as the sequel shows the same potential as The Stick of Truth did, then it might get my attention.
Last but not least, given that Nintendo has teased about NX getting released in Q1 2017, there might be a chance that they’ll reveal just a little more about their console. Sure, they are not planning to release a lot of information until later in the year, but they planned on having Zelda as the only playable demo at E3 before they changed their minds. Maybe perhaps they can tease us with a couple of anticipating titles? Like maybe a couple of Wii U games porting for NX? That might be enough to tide us over until they decide to reveal a lot more about the console. Lastly, They haven’t given us any updates in regards to the final wave of Smash Bros. Amiibos (Corrin, Bayonetta, Cloud) in a very long time. E3 might be a great platform for Nintendo to finally release the release date of the Amiibos. Other than that, there’s not really much that they can reveal that’ll surprise us. They had a recent history of having lackluster E3 presentations, so they might not reveal much aside from what we already know (i.e. Pokemon Sun/Moon, Paper Mario Color Splash, etc.)