E3 2009 is near. Held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 2-4th, the ESA is looking for a return of form for E3 this time round. The show will be bigger then last years muted affairs and will have a wider audience. As with all E3’s, this years one seems to have some pretty big surprises that publishers are still keeping close to their chest. Below are some of things I’m thinking we might here more about at E3:
David Perry’s Gaika
During the Games Developers Conference, Onlive revealed a new game distribution method that used a cloud computing philosophy of playing a game from a client PC whereby processing is done in a central server.
David Perry immediately fired back at Onlive’s plan and claim that the service he is working on will be better. So far nothing is known about this apart from it being called Gaika. This one I’m not very sure about but I’m guessing we could hear a bit about it.
Assasins Creed 2
Ubisoft got the gaming press all on the guessing game when they featured a new teaser site for Assasins Creed 2. Since then, it has been revealed that the protagonist is named Izio and the game will be set in 18th century Italy(with Venice and Florence as confirmed locations in game). Apparently you can swim this time and there are even hints of some flying action.
Crytek’s next game
Cevat Yerli had made a lot of noise about the success of Crysis on the PC. The whole debate about piracy has been played to death and I’m not going to continue that here. What was interesting was that Crytek demoed a modified Cry Engine 2 that worked on a console during Games Developers Conference.
In that demo there were some fantasy like setting images that some on the internet has speculated to be a new game in the works. Part of the speculation was started when Crytek trademarked three terms, Kingdoms, Carvatar and Gface.
Bioshock 2
Since announcing the sequel, 2K has said that Bioshock 2 will for the first time feature a multiplayer component. The core single player game is being developed by 2k Marin and the multiplayer component by Digital Extremes. In the multiplayer component, you play as a Plasmid test subject before the fall of Rapture.
The single player part, you will be playing the first Big Daddy and will face new adversaries. Bioshock 2 takes place 10 years after the events of the first game.
2K Boston’s next game(Ken Levine)
With Bioshock 2 in development at 2k Marin, it is believed that Ken Levine and his team at 2k Boston are working on a new game. Rumours have it as a completely new IP and that it will be very different.
Max Payne 3
Rockstar unveiled back in April that they will be making a Max Payne 3. All we know is that its tentative release date is Winter 2009.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Sam Fishers next game was put on hold indefinitely by Ubisoft for over a year. Recently it was revealed that the game has been completely redesigned with a teaser site set up. The change in direction will be revealed at E3.
Alan Wake
Remedy still wants us to believe that this game still exists. Hints have been put out that we might here more about Alan Wake in this years E3 Microsoft press conference.
Hideo Kojima’s New Metal Gear
There's a new teaser site(very popular method pre E3) about Hideo Kojima’s next game that started with a count down that revealed lo and behold – another timer! The site has now been updated with an image of Big Boss. This at least confirmed it will be a Metal Gear game.
It has been rumoured earlier that Kojima san will reveal that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be ported to the XBOX360 and images from the internet has shown things like XBOX360’s in his office. This cannot be verified and now rumours seem to say that it will be a new Metal Gear Solid game.
Trico, Team ICO’s next game
I was a huge fan of Shadow of The Colossus on the PS2 and when a leaked footage of a new Team Ico game blew up on the net, I was excited. The leaked footage seemed to hint that the new game will at least take place in the same world as their previous game like Shadow of the Collosus and Ico but will have a different gameplay mechanic.
R.U.S.E
Ubisoft announced R.U.S.E, a new real time strategy game that uses what they call Iriszoom. A sort of Supreme Commander like zooming in and out action. You can view the entire battlefield with a simple flick of the mouse wheel. Initial impression from the trailer seems to suggest the game will be light on strategic depth. Hope to learn more about it at E3.
Notable No shows:
On live
Taking GDC by storm, Onlive’s Mike McGarvey confirmed on their blog that they will not be at E3.
So, while retail has been the mainstay for distribution of top video game titles since the industry’s inception, OnLive is now breaking that mold. We will be delivering the same top video games titles exclusively through broadband Internet, in the same release window they are available in retail, but with significant economic, convenience and feature benefits to both publishers and gamers.
And, this is the main reason why OnLive won’t have a booth at E3 this year. More than anything, E3 is a retail-oriented conference, both for retail platforms and retail publishers, and OnLive is neither. You’ll hear and see plenty from us this year in the run up to our external Beta and launch, delivered directly to your home through your broadband connection.
StarCraft 2 and Blizzard
Blizzard has always ignored E3 for the past few years now. Being the industry leader, they really can demand the attention of the industry whenever they want. Blizzard has always used Blizzcon as their platform for press release of their games and this year isn’t much different.
Id Software and Rage
Like Blizzard, Id has always promoted their own QuakeCon to demo their game. It is unlikely that we hear anything about Rage in this years E3. However, Raven Software will be at E3 and more on Wolfenstein is confirmed(release date has been confirmed as 4th August 2009).
Eidos Thief 4 and Deus Ex
Eidos had fans of the Thief series and Deus Ex really excited when development for sequel for both these games were announced. However, in an interview with IGN, Eidos has confirmed that both these games will not be at E3.
Eidos Montreal General Manager, Stephane D’Astous said:
Does that mean Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony is planning to introduce a new console sooner rather than later? D'Astous wouldn't say anything further on the topic. But he did confirm that neither Thief 4 nor Deus Ex 3 would be on display at this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles. That leaves plenty of time for Eidos Montreal to get an earful from fans.
There is bound to be a flood of new information about games next week. Stay tuned.
EDIT: I forgot to mention Modern Warfare 2, potentially the biggest game at E3 and Valve's announcement of their next title.
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