With E3 just around the corner, it is once again time for the Player 2 crew to get their crystal balls out of the attic and make some wildly inaccurate predictions as to what will appear at the world’s biggest games show. Join them in the first article as they take on Microsoft.
Hope Corrigan
Safe Bet
Mixer. Microsoft has been pushing it’s little streaming service hard on social media and has even said to be dedicating it’s E3 booth to being able to have people interact with games and streams through Mixer. This likely means there are some new features coming to the platform big enough to demand this presence. They’ll also give insight into new Sea of Thieves content and tell us why we still don’t have Crackdown 3.Ori 2 will come out next year, it looks exactly like Ori 1 which is all anyone wanted.
Fairly Likely
We are either going to see teases for a new Halo or Gears or maybe even both. That doesn’t mean they’ll be coming out this or even next year but Microsoft needs to scoop back some first party goodwill. Also, news of the rumoured coming Fable title will be solidified but again, probably isn’t coming this year.
Wishful thinking
Sunset Overdrive 2 will be announced because Spider-man should be all but completed and Insomniac have been freed up. Backwards compatibility will add Jet Set Radio Future to the list of games as well as HD remake with the potential for a sequel depending on sales. If you’re sensing a theme here it’s that I want more crazy grindy punk games, please.
Stephen del Prado
Safe Bet
It’s no secret Microsoft is sorely lacking in the First Party department lately compared to their competitors, so it makes sense that they would try to bring some focus on Crackdown 3, the rumoured Halo 6 and some Sea of Thieves updates on the horizon.
Fairly Likely
Speaking of horizon, Forza Horizon 4 is no doubt ready for some kind of teaser. One of the few series’ that I own an Xbox One for, it would be great to see where they have planned for the next game – hopefully, somewhere more Eastern inspired than what we’ve seen thus far.
Wishful Thinking
Time to flog the dead horse that is Viva Piñata and wheel it’s mummified corpse out for another year of wishful thinking. C’mon Microsoft, throw me a candy-filled bone here!
Jenn Christodoulou
Safe Bet
As much as it annoys me that Tomb Raider branding is now done around the X-Box (NO, I WON’T LET IT GO SHE WAS A SONY GIRL FOR YEARS YOU SHUTUP) I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to be seeing a lot of Lara on the X-Box this year. The more Lara the better I say, it’s just unfortunate they chose to showcase her on the lesser console.
Fairly Likely
Halo…something. Isn’t that what Microsoft does these days? Halo? What are they even up to now? Halo 6? 18? 35? Anyway, I’ll say it louder for the people in the back, I reckon we’re gonna be seeing some Halo.
Wishful Thinking
Two words: virtual reality. I want more of it, and I want a heavier gaming focus and I want it to be awesome. I don’t doubt that Microsoft will say something about virtual reality, given how much they’ve been sinking into the technology recently, but my ‘wishful thinking’ comes from wanting it to be freakin’ awesome.
Paul James
Safe Bet
To what capacity, I’m not sure, but Ori and the Blind Forest is without a doubt in my mind the best exclusive available on the Xbox One platform, and with the splash that the debut of the sequel made last year, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be present this year. My fingers are crossed for a release date, but maybe that’s being a tad ambitious. Ori and the Will of the Wisps will be a centrepiece of the Xbox E3 Press Showcase in 2018, and I cannot wait
Fairly Likely
We’re due, there’s been the leak, and over the last few years, there hasn’t been the same upfront denial toward an incoming sequel, like what we’ve seen in the case of the Halo IP. The time is right, the time is now, and let’s be honest, Microsoft needs a big hitting IP to do something. You could easily make the argument for Halo here, but I feel Gears is a safer bet at this point in time, and Microsoft needs sure things.
Wishful Thinking
I know I’m returning to the well on this one, but I feel I can go only a couple weeks before some hungry fans suggest that rumours abound about a Sunset Overdrive sequel. I would so desperately love to see a follow up to one of the Xbox One’s finest games, but Insomniac simply has too much on their hands at present, what with Spider-Man consuming most of (if not all) of their resources. My gut says, one day, but it is not this day.
Stevie McDonald
Safe Bet
Project Scorpio is here and, while it can’t make you a three-course meal, it can deliver you a gaming experience that is smoother, faster and just plain prettier to look at. Safe to say Microsoft will have something exciting up their sleeves to help launch their new console.
Fairly likely
Microsoft has often had a stronger focus on their hardware than the other platform-holders, and the latest, greatest example of this is the Xbox Adaptive Controller. It will be great to see more of this on the Microsoft stage.
Wishful thinking
I’m tired and can’t think of anything I’m particularly wishful about, so let’s just throw a Master Chief vs Schick Hydrobot battle royale on the E3 stage out into the universe and see what happens.
Shaun Nichols
Safe Bet
After years in development Crackdown 3 is close to finally seeing the light of day. Superpowers, destruction, orbs, TERRY CREWS!!! We know what we are in for, we just don’t know when we will finally get our hands on it. Time to step up Microsoft.
Fairly Likely
Halo 6. Because it is a Halo game, and it has been a few years since Halo 5, and because we know when it comes to first party IP’s Microsoft really only has Halo and Crackdown that anyone can remember.
Wishful Thinking
A brand new IP, you know in the way Scalebound was something completely new would be great. Just you know, actually finish and release it. Something that they can really develop into a new series so that I can feel some justification at having bought an Xbox when I already owned a PS4.
Matt Hewson
Safe Bet
Forza Horizon 4 is a certainty, with Forza having been a yearly franchise for quite some time now. Frankly, I am happy about that because they are some damn fine racing games. Horizon 3 was spectacular and with the rumoured African setting, Horizon 4 is sure to be just as good. Expect an announcement and a September release date.
Fairly Likely
New IP. After reading a few interviews with Phil Spencer over the last couple of weeks, he appears like a man with something up his sleeve. He has been honest about the fact that MS is severely lacking in games they can call their own so I expect to see him go to the MS Warchest and snap up some new goodies for us all. I have a strong feeling we are going to see at least one big new IP on show, if not more.
Wishful Thinking
Phil walks on stage…”Years ago we had an RPG franchise that did something different, something exciting… it did KUNG FU. Now it is back being developed by Obsidian in conjunction with Bioware. Jade Empire 2″ At this point I begin writing my “Why MS won E3 article.”
Royce Wilson
Safe bet
A release date on Crackdown 3. There was a playable demo at E3 last year (along with some Terry Crews-featuring promo videos) and they’ve had a year since then to work on the title (which was supposed to be out by now) so I’d be very surprised if part of their announcements this year didn’t include a firm release date on the game.
Fairly Likely
More content for Sea of Thieves, and a Fable 4 announcement. Given Microsoft have been pushing Sea of Thieves as their major multiplayer title at the moment, and the developers have spoken about their extensive roadmap for the game, I expect there’ll be the announcement of some sort of notable additional content for the game; although whether that’s a scripted adventure or something else would be
Microsoft has also said this will be their “biggest E3 yet”, and given last year’s event was the Xbox One X launch (so they’re highly unlikely to be announcing a new console) that seems to be a bold claim, but it’s not out of the realms of possibility the long-rumoured Fable 4 will finally make an appearance, and Halo 6 is also rumoured to be in development as well.
Wishful thinking
An actual Xbox exclusive title – so far everything on the system has been either Xbox/Windows 10 or available on all platforms. While I understand why Microsoft have gone down that road (a desire not to lock people into a particular platform), the issue remains that there’s arguably not much point buying an Xbox One if you have a half-decent Windows 10 PC – unlike Sony’s PlayStation 4, which has a long list of extremely good exclusive titles.
James Swinbanks
Microsoft needs to have a big E3 this year, because despite winning over fans with ‘the world’s most powerful games console’, the dearth of marquee new IP’s is something very much in the forefront of people’s minds. That said, Phil Spencer could still woo a crowd even if he were covered in blood and holding the head of his latest victim, so expect him to be up on stage committing literal murder to get their message across to gamers: Microsoft means business and will stop at nothing to offer the greatest lineup of games to play anywhere.
