E3 Microsoft Press Conference Coverage

Out of the big 3 of press conferences Microsoft did not choose to step up to the plate. However, Microsoft had a very strong start and quickly gained momentum by revealing Halo 4 gameplay. Master Chief is in search of a ship that crash landed as it flew over his head. When the gameplay starts we were greeted with the trusted Battle Riffle (my favorite gun) and shortly after a familiar enemy, The Covenant. At this point I had yet to be impressed as Halo 4 seemed like it was just a graphically better Halo game, but quickly I was proved wrong as I saw new and interesting things. A strange red beam takes out the last Covenant as he disintegrates directly in front of you. As Chief pushes forward he as ambushed by a group of mechanical AI dogs. Once those are cleared another new enemy appears as well as a new gun. The new gun as equipped reminded me of something out of transformers and looked bad ass, Cortana recognizes that the tech is Forerunner. This new gun looks sick as does all the new Forerunner enemies. I was not sold on Halo 4 given that Bungie was no longer part of the project, but after seeing this at E3 I am sold on buying it. But don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself and see.

E3 Predictions

With E3 beginning in just a few short hours we here at The Gamer’s Abstract would like to throw out some predictions for the major press conferences. Alongside those predictions will be stuff that is most anticipated and the biggest shocker announcement of E3. This will be written in the order of the press conferences themselves.

You will see the big heavy hitter first party titles here. Expect to see some new clips involving Epic Games new Gears of War title, and also more in depth with Halo 4. Microsoft will want to reinforce why gamers choose Xbox 360 above all else with the strength of their first party IP’s and how they have exclusive content first to the market. Microsoft will remind users that Xbox is the only place to get Call of Duty content first on the market and show some gameplay footage from Black Ops 2. Look to Microsoft to have a dedicated time slot to just showing off the Kinect. As always this might include a bunch of kids or adults doing silly things on stage in their 2 minutes of fame. Xbox 360 seems to want to become more and more integrated for being the only media device one might need for a household (cable, dvd, bing, ESPN, etc.) . It will come as no shock to see that Microsoft will announce further integration with the mobile market and moving more into a cloud based system. Microsoft wants to be like Apple in that all their devices will talk and communicate with one another.  I do not anticipate that there will be any announcement or buzz for the new Xbox and will be absent from E3 until next year.

Sony may never outsell Microsoft but they do gain more and more ground with their IP’s each year. Look for videos of the new Assassin’s Creed, Sly Cooper  4, The Last of Us, The Last Guardian, God of War: Ascension, and the newly announced All Star Battle Royal. The Last of Us and All Star Battle Royal will be the highlight of the unreleased games during the press conference. The big push will not only reinforce why gamers choose the wide variety of exclusive games on the PS3 but will also focus on the Vita. Vita sales are less than what Sony would like them to be and gamers need a reason to go out and buy a Vita. I would recommend that Sony get Kevin Butler to do this segment as if anyone could get people pumped about buying anything gamer related it would be him. Expect Kevin to make an appearance at the conference and just like his appearance in 2010 people to be hanging on his every word. Vita will be seeing a price drop due to lackluster sales in the range of $50-$100. PS Move seems to be something that didn’t and still hasn’t caught on. Move will be mentioned but not to very much extent. Sony has been rumored in doing a strictly streaming based form of gaming sort of like onlive, I expect to see more details announced as to what exactly is in the works. With the PS3 still strong and the Vita in need of more sales it would not be smart for Sony to announce a new system at E3. I do not expect that this will be in the arsenal for Sony

All eyes are on the Big N this conference with buzz and hype all centered on Wii U. The name is here to stay as recent pictures of the tablet controller have the Wii U branded logo all over it. People want to know what it is, what the intended way to play this new system is, and what the recently leaked Rayman Legends trailer with Wii U means. (For those of you who do not know there was a trailer that showed putting action figures on the Wii U tablet controller and being recognized on the screen as an item, possibly game, or character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSlccZt5O2o ) Consumers will see a release date of Early 2013 and no price point yet. There will be announced 1^st and 3^rd party games for the system possibly in the realm of Metroid, Mario, and Super Smash and how these games will work with the new tablet controller. Pikmin 3 along with the New Super Mario Bros 2 and the popular upcoming 3DS titles like Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion 2. And last as always we will be graced by the wonderful and charismatic personality of Reggie Fils-Aime. Who always manages to bore and annoy the crap out of me every E3 press conference.

With Predictions also comes the most anticipated already expected stuff that here at The Gamer’s Abstract are itching to know more about or can’t wait to see. Below is a list of what we here at TGA will be looking out for. Those things would be:

Castlevania DS and Lords of Shadows
Wii U (We want to know wtf this thing is)
Kevin Butler as always makes a great addition
Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion 2
Bioshock infinite
Resident Evil 6
Tomb Raider
Assassin’s Creed 3

The biggest shocker prediction to hit E3:

Valve will finally man up and announce Half-Life 3
What do you think will happen at E3? Post your comments in the section below and  remember to follow us on http://www.facebook.com/thegamersabstract

Resident Evil Galore

It has been awhile since the Resident Evil franchise has stirred up any newsworthy buzz, but that has all changed.  Some big news for the franchise has recently surfaced and I couldn’t be more excited.  There are 3 Resident Evil projects in the pipeline as we speak.

Don't fuck up, just saying

Slant Six’s rumored Resident Evil game has finally been confirmed and has been titled Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.  It is a mulitplayer horror game that is set in 1998 when the original outbreak occurred in Raccoon City.  Players will take the helm of 4 new characters; Vector, Beltway, Bertha, and Spectre while encountering other known characters from the franchise.  Players will earn XP for their zombie slaughter and can use those points to upgrade skills and other such things.  The game will no doubt be reminiscent of  the RE: Outbreak games, but hopefully it will deliver its own brand of awesomeness.  Slant Six did not impress me whatsoever with Socom: Confrontation, but I am willing to put aside our differences and remain supportive of this project.  Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has a tentative release date of “winter” so keep your eyes peeled.

HD Head Explosions? Yes Please

Second piece of fantastic news returns home to Capcom and has to do with two RE titles that rhyme with gore and load harmonica.  If you were unable to deduce that simple riddle I speak of Resident Evil Four and Code Veronica.  But wait, these games have been out for awhile and have already started to show their wrinkles right?  Yes, but WHAM!!!!  HD remakes for both are coming to the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this fall complete with upgraded HD visuals and Achievement/Trophy support.  This also marks the first time RE4 and Code Veronica X are on a Microsoft console where last generation they got no love.  I almost forgot, Resident Evil 4 will also include everything from its 75 different releases last gen (Separate Ways and Assignment Ada etc.) and Code Veronica X will not include a Devil May Cry demo.

Claire will look confused in HD this fall

RE fans are going to have an action packed year with these newly announced/confirmed projects and also Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.  As more information breaks I will be sure to report it swiftly.  Until then go play Resident Evil 4 with only the Chicago Typewriter and the Infinite Launcher, it is silly.

Sources: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1157430p1.html ; http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1158020p1.html