E3 2009 Predictions: Microsoft

The cool thing these days seems to be to make a prediction for what we’re going to see at E3.  Well, who am I to disagree?  Finally, we check out Microsoft.

–          Microsoft had possibly the best showing at last year’s E3, but this was pretty much entirely because so many great-looking games were shown off, such as Fallout 3, Mirror’s Edge, Afro Samurai and Resident Evil 5.  TGS was fairly similar, but Microsoft only showed off a few titles.  At face value, it seems like Microsoft has blown their proverbial load, but they always seem to have some tricks up their sleeves.

–          Halo 3: ODST was announced back at the Tokyo Game Show as Halo 3 Recon.   It is presently the only A-List title Microsoft has handy, and because of that, will probably be shown off .

–          Microsoft has always pushed its strong third party support.  We will probably see Final Fantasy XIII, Ghostbusters, Guitar Hero V and Tekken 6 shown off in a major capacity.

–          There really aren’t many high-profile games that could feasibly be ported to the Xbox 360 that aren’t done or in the makings.  The only ones that come to mind are Crysis and Metal Gear Solid 4.  There is an off chance we’ll see these guys announced as “Coming soon to Xbox 360.”

–          2009 is really looking like 2007-2, game-wise.  We’ve got sequels or spinoffs coming for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Halo 3, Bioshock, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Forza Motorsport and Assassin’s Creed.  Expect Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, the trio of Guitar Hero titles in the works, Forza 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2 details to fly all over.

–          All that said, you can’t brush off Microsoft’s ability to put out quality first-party titles.  Lionhead is apparently having its employees develop a new IP when they aren’t leaking Fable 3 details.  Microsoft could easily have an ace of a game in their hand.

–          The rumor mill, however, has been going nuts for Microsoft.  But it’s just that, far as we know.  I certainly hope the rumbles are correct, because that would mean we’ve got a lot more good games coming.

–          Citing a reputable news source, the Wall Street Journal, is rare in the video game media.  But the financial paper started off a whole lot of speculation with its announcement of the motion-sensitive camera for the Xbox 360.  If their claims are true, I can’t see the camera NOT being hyped to within an inch of its life as the “Wii-Killer” that Microsoft has been looking for.  Once again…if it’s true.

–          I’m sure Microsoft will either claim to have penetrated the Japanese market, or will roll out a new plan for doing so.  More likely the latter.  If you’ll remember, there was a roundtable discussion at the 2008 TGS where Japanese developers talked about how they could wrestle control of the game development market back to Japan.

–          All this said, Microsoft is way out there as the trickiest company to judge.  They keep pulling stuff out.  So really…what am I going to do?

Microsoft is tough to grasp.  Which is why you should come back here once the event actually starts.