E3 Predictions 2: Electric Boogaloo (AKA Sony)

Right before I started this post, a friend of mine told me not to bother with E3 predictions, because everyone does them and they’re boring. However, my friend is an idiot who runs a crappy website, so why should I listen to him? But he does have a point, E3 predictions can be quite boring, especially when dealing with a company like Sony.

I’m no Sony hater, but a bad Sony conference is like plain dry toast with a glass of water. Lots of stats, few surprises and some truly embarassing moments. I don’t expect things to be so bad this year, but I also don’t expect to see many big announcements.

Sony is basically in the same position this year that Microsoft was in last year: It has so many big games coming up in the next six to eight months that there’s a danger of overshadowing the next crop of games with titles further out. Just like Microsoft stuck close to titles like Halo 3 last year, expect Sony to show off new footage of announced projects like Resistance 2, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, etc. That being said, I think there will be a few minor announcements from Sony, including:

• A PS3 price cut. This one’s a no-brainer. It’s all but confirmed that the 360 is getting a $50 price drop the week of E3. Sony’s hand is forced.
• A new PSP bundle. Hardware units are moving, but software is still sluggish. This sucker needs to be refreshed constantly to keep it viable.
• God of War 3 will be teased. We all know its coming. It’s an easy big announcement, even with little info.
• Gran Turismo – Something! GT and Sony press conferences go together like, well… Halo and Microsoft press conferences.
• Blu-Ray! Yep, PS3 has Blu-Ray. We get it. But that won’t stop Sony from talking about it.
• More Home. Again, Sony owes us info.

Honestly, that’s about all I really expect for the Sony presser. But hey, who likes playing things safe? Let’s get into wild, unfounded claims here!

• No Uncharted 2 announcement. I’d be happy to be wrong about this one, but the first game didn’t crack a million copies in the US. The series could be dead. Then again, Sony has a better history of giving franchises a second chance than Microsoft.
• Afrika Unveiled. They’ll show it. Gamers will continue to not care.
• No Heavenly Sword 2. The series is dead. Sorry.
• L.A. Noir shown. This one’s a longshot, but would be a coup for Sony, as MS will almost certainly be showing off GTAIV DLC.
• Genji 3! No, not really.