This years E3 expo is July 15th and Microsoft is going to be having a big press briefing right before that and unveil all the cool things that they are working on for this fall. Here are my predictions of what they are going to show:
"Newton” Motion Sensitive Flying Mouse Controller Unveiled
Chance at E3 : 95%
If they are going to start selling it this year they need to show it off and build a buzz soon enough. Likely games to use it: Banjo 3, Gears of War 2 and “Ninja Blade”
“Lips” Microphone Communicator Accessory Unveiled
Chance at E3 : 95%
I would not be surprised to see a handheld wireless microphone that could be used with Rockband, Guitar Hero On Tour and other singing games. I could see them making karaoke games for XBLA.
$30 Price Cut for Xbox 360 hardware
Chance at E3 : 95%
They have a newer cheaper motherboard hitting the market in September and Shane Kim said that Nintendo might not always have a price advantage over the Xbox 360. That means that we might see a price cut in the US that is at least 30 buck off the line to push the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU to the Wii’s price point.
60-Gig Hard Drive Replaces 20-Gig Hard Drive in Standard 360 pack
Chance at E3 : 100%
Also they are probably going to drop the price of the 120-Gig Hard Drive. They have been working on a 60-Gig HD for a while now and it even was accidentally showed off in Tokyo a long time ago.
Merger with Epic Games
Chance at E3 : 50%
Microsoft has stated that if it makes sense and if it will help the business that they are open to all sorts of mergers. Microsoft and Epic have been best buds since Gears of War and since Bungie went independent it might be in their best interest to cut Cliffy B and friends a really big check and invite them to work over to Redmond. I could see Microsoft really selling the heck out of the Unreal Engine.
Brief mention of new motherboards
Chance at E3 : 05%
Usually they are tight lipped about motherboard revisions but there are some big things going on with Jasper, Opus and Valhalla.
Blu-Ray Drive Internal on an Xbox 360
Chance at E3 : 01%
I really don’t see them making the 360 system more expensive by sticking a Blu-Ray drive in it. It is counter initiative as to how the Xbox business plan has been working.
External Blu-Ray movie Player for Xbox 360
Chance at E3 : 50%
This is much more likely since there is word of that order by Microsoft for Blu-ray drives for the end of 2008 in Taiwan. The external Xbox 360 accessory business has been very profitable for Microsoft. An external drive would let existing 360 customers buy the drive and not be tempted to buy a PS3 to get a Blu-Ray player.
New Dashboard Software Features for Fall Update Announced like IPTV
Chance at E3 : 20%
I know they have been working on IPTV for almost forever and they might actually show it off at E3. Either they are going to show it off or it has been killed quietly and they want us all to forget they ever mentioned it.
Halo Wars shown off and release date announced
Chance at E3 : 100%
Peter Jackson and Frankie’s Halo : Chronicles shown off somewhat
Chance at E3 : 75%
Xbox Live Gold Membership Price Cut
Chance at E3 : 75%
They are probably not likely to make it free but I could see them really pushing the heck out of their Xbox Live Gold service by making it cheaper. Especially if Sony ever ships Playstation 3 “Home”.
Allen Wake shown
Chance at E3 : 30%
I sort of doubt that this game will ever hit the shelves
Full Downloaded Retail Games sold over Xbox Live
Chance at E3 : 30%
It could happen, especially if they drop the price of the hard drives.
Rouge Announcements Guesses:
Robbie Bach and Shane Kim get arm tattoos!
Blinx the Time Sweeper 3
I love Blinx and wish that they would make another Blinx game for the 360. Doubt it. Sigh!
Project Gotham Racing 5 to be made by the same team as Forza
Blue Dragon 2 and Lost Odyssey 2
These games sold A LOT of copies in Japan. Well for Xbox 360 games in Japan
Major Nelson promoted to Commander Nelson!
There is 0% chance of Microsoft ever releasing or integrating a Blu-Ray drive in Xbox 360 or Xbox 720.
Why? 1. The royalty is $60 per box. 2. Playback software costs hundreds of millions of dollars to develop. 3. Microsoft bans the implementation of Java on its platforms.
Jasper should be in the stores first week of September.
Microsoft already has Blu-Ray working on Vista and I think they are a member of the Blu-Ray group. They could pull it off in a timely if they wanted to since they have the resources, money and programming talent available. Oh It would be an external Blu-Ray drive ONLY they would never put one in side the Xbox 360 case.
just because the debug kit at TGS had 60GB doesn't mean they're bringing it out. They probly will, as the Zephyr debug units had 120GB.
the reviewer kits have the 60GB hard drives. a few 80GB hard drives that run on Retail consoles have been leaked out. i can get you pictures of it if you want.
I have other sources at Xbox that have confirmed the 60-Gig hard drive.
I'm surprised no one threw in the MGS4 360 deal, even as a joke
Have you played MGS4 ?, after first half an hour it's actually nothing more than an average game with things that have been done on many other games since..
Jake you're killing me. I want Alan Wake to come out, I've been curious about it since they first announced it. Please don't tell me you know for sure it's cancelled.. that would make me sad.. :(
Actually Cooper, I have not heard anything internal from Microsoft about Alan Wake being canceled. However them not showing anything about it for a really long time is not a good thing.
MS has nothing for e3. I haven't seen anything axciting for the console. Last year the only "new" and exciting thing they had was Halo3. This year... poor.