Predictions for E3 2014

[Prophecy2k]

I'm keeping my expectations for this E3 tempered on both sides (Sony and MS).

I don't thing MS will have all that much to show, as we're still early in the gen, and outside of the upcoming games already announced and heavily rumoured, there aren't really that many developers out there big enough to develop AAA games, that aren't already under contract with one of the major AAA console game pubs. MS' in-house devs, aside from maybe 323i and Turn10, don't inspire all that much confidence IMHO.

Sony on the other hand could bring more surprises, as many of their own in-house stable of devs have been working for long enough on un-announced projects. One thing I do expect however, is that many of these will still be unlikely to be ready, and although they might show much, I think we'll still be waiting a good while for the release of the newer announced titles.

So in my mind the 2014 fall release schedule for platform exclusives is very likely to look exactly the same after E3 as it does now.

Fortunately for me, third party games already scheduled for the back end of the year look amazing, and I'm also really looking forward to playing The Order 1886 and Driveclub, even just based on the pedigree of the devs. So I'm personally not too concerned about what they show at E3, as this year is already jammed for me as a PS4 owner.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

H5 might be too early for an early demonstration, after all they still have about 18 months of development left. But the upgraded version(s) can probably compensate for its absence.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

They can also show a previs render - they've been popular in recent E3s for several games to wet people's whistles.

 

[Arwin]

These days I'm not sure that's the best of ideas, PR wise.

 

[Rangers]

They can also show a previs render - they've been popular in recent E3s for several games to wet people's whistles.

Yep I think CG trailer for H5. Considering they probably wont be showing real footage and screens until spring of 2015, that's the normal timeline for Halo games (by which timeline we should have already gotten H2A footage prior to E3, but havent). There will be plenty of Halo HD collection to show gameplay of to their hearts content.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Prophecy2k]

These days I'm not sure that's the best of ideas, PR wise.

Agreed, since they already showed the CGI masterchief render at the announcement last year. Gamers will be foaming at the mouths expecting gameplay this E3.

Even if H5 is at least a year away, I would still expect at least a "target" vertical slice gameplay demonstration.

If they just do another CGI teaser then they will have to have a whole lot of other games ready to pick up the slack.

I'm not sure HD uprezzes of previous Halo games will be all that exciting tbh.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Current news suggests they're be using a lot of H4 assets instead of just a higher rendering resolution; the same way H1A used many Reach assets for some characters. This would allow them to have a more consistent look in the designs.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I think Microsoft will bring put Don Mattrick on stage, then throw rotten fruit at him for an hour. Then show a bunch of games.

You heard it hear first.

 

[AlNom]

I think Microsoft will bring put Don Mattrick on stage, then throw rotten fruit at him for an hour. Then show a bunch of games.

You heard it hear first.

Fruit Ninja Returns

 

[Shortbread]

A little birdie told me that a PS4 version of M.A.G. is in the works. He couldn't say if it will be at E3 though... from his understanding, the development team is fairly new. Maybe just a mention at E3 to get any M.A.G. fans excited...

Shame I never gotten a chance to play M.A.G. on the PS3, before the online services went away.

 

[Rangers]

Current news suggests they're be using a lot of H4 assets instead of just a higher rendering resolution; the same way H1A used many Reach assets for some characters. This would allow them to have a more consistent look in the designs.

Well the obvious guess is H2A is getting a full next gen rework, so that's probably what they'll onstage demo. 1, 3, 4, who knows, but I suspect a good deal lesser amount of work went into those. All are already on 360 in some form (1=H1A), so maybe they just upres them.

Gotta sell "proper" H3A in 3 years too...

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Co-development of at least 3 titles suggest that they'll try to leverage assets across the games, it also allows them to have a much more visually consistent experience. Many Xone gamers may be too young to have played the previous games and have no attachement to previous concepts, and it'd also make sense to skip the re-designs of the various characters and vehicles that happened because of the long time it took to develop the episodes of the series and hardware and workflow advancements.

None of the assets before H4 could be included anyway IMHO, particularly for the human characters, so a rework is necessary. They could probably cast some lesser known actors for the major roles (Keyes, Johnson, Miranda, Hood) and have them look the same throughout the trilogy. 343 may also try to refit everything into their current aesthetics - something long time fans may not appreciate that much - to keep consistency. So even a H1A re-release may make sense.

So, it makes more sense to use the same engine and assets (also affects costs!) and rebuild the missions and such in the new environment, this should take less time and resources IMHO. I'm sure there's a way to keep the gameplay more or less intact even with a new engine.

 

[Rangers]

I still think H2A=the full enchilada, the others=something less.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Makes little sense financially or in terms of production. 3 or 4 completely different teams, engines, toolchains, assets...

 

[shredenvain]

If it is Halo the master chief collection and not just H2A, then there is no way they gave Halo2,3 and 4 a whole overhaul. Laa-yosh's suggestion of them using Halo 4 assets for 2 and 3 makes total sense.
Halo 2 that hits Halo4 quality will look pretty good. The problem is we arent positive we are getting the Master chief collection. It is still possible we get Halo2A only. They could just port HaloCEA,Halo3 and Halo4 and give them an upres. Then include an anniversary edition of Halo 2.
You could farm out the ports of 1, 3 and 4 while Saber Int handles H2.

 

[macabre]

A little birdie told me that a PS4 version of M.A.G. is in the works. He couldn't say if it will be at E3 though... from his understanding, the development team is fairly new. Maybe just a mention at E3 to get any M.A.G. fans excited...

Shame I never gotten a chance to play M.A.G. on the PS3, before the online services went away.

Oh please be true ! MAG never really clicked with the masses but had a very loyal and commited fanbase . For a fps, it was pretty popular in Japan. Early morning CET big 60+ strong japanese Clans battling it out was epic ! I hope the new Team can pull it off.

 

[Prophecy2k]

Oh please be true ! MAG never really clicked with the masses but had a very loyal and commited fanbase . For a fps, it was pretty popular in Japan. Early morning CET big 60+ strong japanese Clans battling it out was epic ! I hope the new Team can pull it off.

If true, I hope they radically change the art direction. Either go full on Sci-Fi, or modern military, but at least have some appealing art and some nice visually arresting locations. I appreciate that a 256 player console FPS will have to make some radical compromises in terms of graphics quality, but a strong art direction I believe can make up for that. MAG1 was horribad, and even though I was always drawn to the concept, I could never get into it partly because the game was so damn gross.

They could even use an existing IP for it too, e.g. Resistance: Massive Action Game edition, or Killzone:MAGnum Opus etc...

Tbh I'd be happy if they took the concept for MAG, and just made a Warhawk sequel with it, i.e. Warhawk 256 players carnage. Would be absolutely epic!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

MAG was broked IMO. Warhawk would make a much better basis for a game. I think it enjoyed far greater and longer lived popularity. 256 player* Warhawk++ instead of the mess of MAG.

* although I don't really understand the appeal of 256 players, because you only experience a tiny part of the game so it's like 16 vs 16 or 32 vs 32 in your little corner of the map.

Google shows Warhawk dev is abandoning consoles for mobile. http://lightboxinteractive.com/studio/

 

[milk]

I think Microsoft will bring put Don Mattrick on stage, then throw rotten fruit at him for an hour.

Do that and they win E3. How's Don doing on his new job by the way?

 

[AlphaWolf]

Do that and they win E3. How's Don doing on his new job by the way?

Zynga shares jumped 15% at his hiring announcement. Apparently investors think a lot more of him than forum warriors. He said Zynga would be volatile for a while but he was going to get them back to basics.

On topic I predict there will be some games shown and people will spend most of their energy debating the hardware powering the demos.