Below, our writers at PCU will give their thoughts about the upcoming E3.  They will cover most of the major companies that will be presenting at E3 in less than a month from now. What are they most looking forward to?  What do they think will show up or be a no show?  Read below to find out and let us know in the comments if you agree.

Nintendo

Another year, and yet another E3 is just around the corner. Last year Nintendo did a digital event that streamed all across the world which turned out to be a big success. Good on you Nintendo for going all digital and making it work. Can we expect the same thing this year? Yes, Nintendo announced that they will do their conference via Direct Chat again this year.

In terms of what games to expect to show up at E3? I personally am expecting to finally see gameplay footage for the new Star Fox game that Shigeru Miyamoto-San has been talking, hinting and more importantly teasing us about. One has no idea how many people have been waiting to see something about this game. There isn’t even a screenshot is on the internet for this game. Hopefully there will be new gameplay footage of the new Legend of Zelda game that will come out next year. But, some of you will read this and think to yourself and say, ‘Hey wasn’t it supposed to come this year before Star Fox?’ Yes this is the case, but series producer Elji Amouna announced that it will be delayed until 2016 due to the fact that Nintendo wants to make sure that it will be the most complete Zelda game to come for the series. Honestly, Amouna-San please take your time with the game. I don’t mind playing WindWaker HD or Skyward Sword again.

That’s just two games we know. What about secret titles? Nintendo said that there are no new secret titles coming to show at E3 this year. For example it would be pretty crazy if they announced a new Ice Climbers. But, we won’t expect that. What we will expect from Nintendo is to do what Nintendo do best. Talk about games that will come this year like a new Fire Emblem, new Shin Megami Tensei Persona game for the Wii U and probably of course a slew of new titles for Nintendo 3DS of course. They will probably talk about the support of the current games available right now such as Super Smash Bros Wii U & 3DS version like new downloadable content and characters like Lucas coming back to the series and new characters to come. We can probably expect Nintendo to talk about new indie titles that will come to the platform maybe as a exclusive or not. Speaking of indies I am hopeful to see the new indie title called Yooka-Laylee which is being developed by some of the big key developers from the Banjoo-Kazooie games from Nintendo 64 back in the mid 90’s. I have my fingers crossed that we can see gameplay and a launch timeframe for this colorful, fun game. Outside of that, my biggest expectation from Nintendo this year is just another way to blow my mind and take my money for the remainder of 2015 going into 2016.

What you will not expect is any kinds of news concerning the console project codenamed ‘NX’. Don’t get your hopes for that, guys…sorry. But, Nintendo will be fine this year over at the good ol’ E3 in Los Angeles. Remember it is a digital event that will be streaming from their Nintendo site, YouTube and Twitch as well. Tune in guys.

by Mike Caraballo

 

Microsoft

I don’t consider myself a fanboy of either Sony or Microsoft, but so far moving into the 2nd year of the new consoles, the XBox One has not really impressed me. To be honest, neither system has really impressed me as there really hasn’t been too many games to separate the two but I have found myself playing more games on the PS 4 in the past year. This year for me as I look ahead to E3, I am looking at some of the titles that Microsoft are bringing forth and it’s with the hope that they do something that makes it worth my while to split time between both systems. I am wondering what they can do to make it worth my while to dig deep into my system.

While I am NOT a Halo fan, I am looking forward Rise of the Tomb Raider. I am hoping that Microsoft promotes this well but show off some actual game footage as right now this exclusive is one of the only reasons why I am holding on to my system. I played the Tomb Raider reboot 2 years ago and was really impressed at how it delivered.

Here is to hoping that some kind of Gears of War announcement is made as well. It’s been rumored that there will be a re-mastered version of the original game but I am hoping more for an announcement of Gears of War 4. By the way, is anyone else getting sick of last gen games being re-mastered? Isn’t the whole point of next gen hardware is to play new versions of games and not re-releases of 10 year old ones? Anyway, I do have a feeling that if Gears 4 does drop at E3, I am betting we won’t see it until after the holidays.

As far as the Kinect is concerned, it’s clear that there is hardly any support for it as it’s grown to be an overpriced TV remote so I won’t hold my breath for any more Kinect supported games to come forth.
To sum it up, I feel like Microsoft will have a decent outing but also because it’s 90 minutes, I am wondering what they can do in 90 minutes that will make or break their fanbase. I really think a lot of it hinges on some of their exclusives as well as what 3rd parties announce as well.

 

Sony

In my opinion, it’s been an up and down year for the PS4. Not all of it is Sony’s fault however, but when hackers hit their system around the holidays and caused major network outages, as well as yet another data breach, PS4 gamers are really starting to wonder if we can feel safe.

Even with Microsoft dropping the price on the Xbox One still hasn’t slowed down the popularity of the PS4. As a consumer however, when it comes to exclusives, I still wonder if there is a need to have both systems. For me as a gamer, getting games where I may potentially play online makes my decision based on where my friends are going to play. So, even though Microsoft is catching up (sales numbers from April shows the Xbox One number one) what will Sony show us at E3 that will wow us for Fall games?

Well, from reports that came from Sony, the 1^st part line ups will be a bit sparse. Uncharted 4 may not be out before April next year and personally, I am ok with that. Please don’t release buggy games just to take our money; release games when they are ready and not before. If nothing else, I do expect some kind of announcement regarding remasters of God of War III and the Uncharted games.

I am curious if we will find out more about Project Morpheus and how it will be in regards to some of the announcements that Oculus Rift PC rigs will run consumers around $1500 and up.

Also what about Vita support? Will Sony reveal a new Vita or anything supporting the Vita? To be honest, I am disappointed with how it’s been supported since the PS4 has been out. I really would have loved to see more DualShock controller support which would make remote gaming a breeze because I don’t want to have to buy an Xperia for that experience. So, I really wish Sony would make up its mind and either push the device or drop it.

I think this is a make it or break it year for Sony. Along with the hacked server, Sony has to contend with the fact that The Order underwhelmed, DriveClub was a failure (BTW where is that demo they promised??) and no Uncharted for the holidays. Hopefully there will be some type of announcement to Bloodborne DLC and maybe just maybe an announcement from Rockstar…yes 3^rd party I know, but it would be nice to see something on Red Dead Redemption 2

by Aitch Cee

 

Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda is finally doing a press conference at E3 this year. Two thumbs up. The conference is scheduled June 14 at 7 PM PST (10 PM EST) with live stream on Twitch. Although Bethesda has been fairly quiet on what’s to come, a trailer for Doom has been leaked but it doesn’t give much away. They probably won’t talk much about Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited since it’s set to release June 9 on Xbox One and PS4. Battlecry, I’m sure will be in the line up along with Dishonored 2. Prey 2…..dead. We won’t hear anything about this title. They killed this title to focus on other projects. They have been pretty hush hush about what’s to come. I’m willing to bet there will be some talk of the 6th installment of a new Elder Scroll game (secretly hoping on this one). If they announce it the game will most likely be released next year which is right on their 5 year mark since Skyrim was release. There there was some talk about a new Fallout game. It has been 7 years since Fallout 3 was released. They have been rather silent on this but a few teaser trailers have been popping up. I can’t wait to see what’s else is in store.

 

Ubisoft

Ubisoft will hold their press conference on June 15 at 3 PM PST (6 PM EST) What they are most likely going to cover: Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and The Division (still no official release date). I hope that this new addition of Assassin’s Creed will wow me and other gamers. So far I haven’t been disappointed…yet. Rainbow Six: Siege will get some news especially regarding a release date on the game but Watch Dog 2 maybe the highlight of their conference. Although the game hasn’t been announced, I’m sure they will make the announcement during their session. (Aitch sez:  it’s doubtful being that they just released their last one to mediocre acclaim but who knows?) They have been keeping a low profile on what’s to come. Not much has been in the news about what they are going to reveal. So I’m guessing they are keeping quiet to give us the best possible show with games that we can expect to see this year.

 

Square

Square hasn’t hosted a briefing since 2012 so it’s going to be interesting to see what they will reveal. Their conference time  is set to begin June 16 at 10am PST (1 PM PST) via Twitch and YouTube. Some of the highlights I’m sure will be about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Final Fantasy XV (looking forward to this), and on the top of my list Rise of the Tomb Raider. Final Fantasy has always been one of my favorite game series. However, I can never get past the cartoonish graphics. Skyrim spoiled it for me. So I’m hoping that Square will at least consider making this a game that is more life like and get away from the cartoon look. Maybe I need to let it go and start looking into Star Ocean 5 which will also be revealed during their press conference. They haven’t released a Star Ocean title in six years so this one is also at the top of my list. They man also reveal something about a new Hitman Project. I want to know what other goodies they might reveal.

by Arnissa Burnett