This is my gaming wish list for what was either shown or premired during the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or famously "E3". Of course there will be no way in hell I would be able to afford all of these but a man can dream, right?
***NOTE: Release dates are all subject to change***
- Playstation 4 - Holiday 2013 - Sony literally just blasted a big-ass bazooka right to Microsoft's dumbass faces when they annouced what's going to be in store for their new console: No once-per-day online authorization and forced connections, no limited US state launch restrictions (although mine's will be available at launch, the rest by 2015!), no creepy Kinect watching my every game I play, moves and even facial expressions, fully shareable and sellable games and a $400 starting price tag, $100 less than Xbox One's. There is a rumor that PS4 online play requires a paid Playstation Plus account however if it is it'll be a minor setback dispite PS3's current multiplayer within games are free to play. I will admit the controller doesn't look as good as the next-gen Xbox's however I think it'll be more innovative with the new front touch pad and also really hope the new thumbstick designs help playing certain games like first-person shooters have a lot better and smoother controls than with the current Dual Shock 3. I have no plans to purchase the console at launch and really like to give it at least one full year or more to "ripen" so Sony can kick out all of the system kinks and bugs as well as make improvements to the system's software (if any). Or maybe I'll just wait for the slimmer redesign just like when I got the PS3.
- The Witness - Holiday 2013 - The newest game from Jonathan Blow, the creator of "Braid" and it's a total throwback to the older first-person puzzle games of the 90's and early 2000's such as the Myst series and other countless wannabes. This is one of the first "open-world puzzle games" where if you are absolutely stuck trying to figure out one area you can go out and explore and try to solve the other ones elsewhere, also the solution of the puzzles maybe found and opened in a new area that was never explored before. Also this game is amazingly artistic and all of the enviroments look like living paintings. Unforuntely nothing new was shown and there were no open demos of it outside what was seen from the Pre-E3 Sony presentation that was held a couple months back. This will be a PS4 downloadable launch title (also planned for PC and possible other systems later) and if I did get the system right at launch this will actually be the 1st game I would play on it and that's how greatly I want this game.
- Destiny - 2014 - This is studio Bungie's next non-Halo game and it's a cross between a futuristic Borderlands and Journey. Even though they say the game can be fully played solo and offline, if you are connected you will get random other players to help you out on missions automatically and eventually allows you join "public events" (AKA: raids in the MMO scene) and have probably about 12-16 other players fight out a large-scale battle. The graphics shown during the Playstation 4 demo were utterly amazing and everything had beautifull enviroment and lighting effects and of course coming from the Halo guys it plays and sounds just like their game child. This game is my most highly anticipated out of all the new games that were shown this year and can't freaking wait.
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - 2014/15 - Kojima-san showed brand new footage of the next game of the series with one big new shocking annoucement: David Hayter is not going to be voicing Snake in this one and instead is getting Jack Bauer himself Keither Sutherland, however this somewhat makes sense becuase you are not playing Solid Snake from MGS 1, 2 & 4 but "Big Boss" Naked Snake becuase it takes place shortly after the 3rd title and I guess they needed to get someone more grislier and older (if David didn't already portray that in the 4th title enough). The graphics of Konami's new "Fox Engine" really shows what next-gen capabilties can accomplish and now the game is more taking an open-world action approach to the series like with Far Cry or Red Red Revolver. Also it seems this game will be the grittiest and gruesomest title of the series yet based on what footage we have seen from the new and older teaser trailers. I definately more prefer the sneaking action of the series rather than the straight-up action that was shown in MG Rising and can't wait to get back into the shoes of Snake.
- Infamous: Second Son - 2014 - Cole is unfortunately no more and we start the next generation of superpower action with fire and brimstone as a PS4 exclusive. I personally haven't played the 2nd game yet and honestly wasn't really too interested in it but the 1st game was an huge blast to play and I'm sure Sucker Punch has some awesome treats in store for their new title. It looks like the new game takes place in a fictional version of Seatle where the last ones were in offshoots of New York and New Orleans and based on the footage seen it looks like the most of the enviroments are fully destructible and really shows what mayhem our new guy can cause.
- Warframe - Holiday 2013 - Futuristic online co-op cyber ninja action that is totally free to play! (if you have a paid Playstation Plus or Xbox Gold account). The new game footage looks like crazy fun and right now you can play it on their PC beta although this really looks like it's meant to be played on home consoles. Now typically free-to-play online games usually means "pay-to-win" and the creators at Digital Extremes does say it support microtransactions although believes it is not mandatory and is still very enjoyable without paying a cent and also says you can eventually earn all of the new weapons and upgrades through freeplaying and without much grinding either. Will just have to wait and see and really love to check it out.
- Watch Dogs - 11/19/13 for current-gen, next gen later - This was the biggest surprizes of last year's E3 and now that Ubisoft has had a lot more time to polish up this could turn out to be one of the best city sandbox games to come out next to the newest Grand Theft Auto. The new demo showed more phone hacking powers like causing a temporary power outage to escape and more showed remote control hacking via city vid cams to help out a potential fugitive to escape harm's way. Although the one thing I'm a bit concerned about is how graphically downgraded the PS3 version of the game's going to be compared to the PS4's and they are set to release this for all current-gen home consoles and next-gen (even WiiU). Dispite the lesser looks on current-gen I'm still positive this game will be an total blast to play, that is if I can get my hands off playing GTAV instead.
- Thief (reboot) - 2014 - I've been a big fan of the game series and while the recent Dishonored emulated the stealthliness of the series it just didn't feel like a Thief game (more like Bioshock IMO) and glad to see this finally coming back. I just hope the Eidos team doesn't oversimplfy it for the new consoles but so far the new footage I've seen of it looks very decent and definately seems to get more back into the game's original roots, it is a total reboot after all.
- Beyond: Two Souls - 10/08/13 - David Cage's newest title is finishing up very nicely and I'm really more interested in playing this than his last title "Heavy Rain" (and I really should play it one of these days). Although from the new footage shown I kind of found it surprizing to see Ellen Page's charactor to join the military and seems to even have some action shooting and strategy elements when the older footage seems to more be based on the supernatural and ghosts. I'm still going to buy this on day one, I'm positive this game will be a real stunner to play through.
- Batman: Arkham Origins - 10/25/13 - Becuase he's the goddamn Batman! However I'm a tad bit sceptical now that WB Games Montreal is doing this and not Rocksteady however from the new footage the game continues the same uber fun wire grappling and gliding of Arkham City along with the patented brutal Batman beatdowns (say that 10 times fast) from the last two games. Also they plan to have multiplayer in this one for the 1st time but not sure how fun that will be compared to the main game.
- Gran Turismo 6 - Holiday 2013 - I will admit the last game of the series wasn't one of the best ones however so far the even numbered titles of the driving series are definately better and more jam packed with goodies than their odd-numbered counter parts. I am still shocked this is only coming to the PS3 (so far) and they are still making heavy improvements to the graphics and car controls in order to be the most realistic driving game of the series yet. But please, for the love of God, NO MORE NASCAR!!
- Diablo III PS3 Console Edition - 09/03/13 - Honestly I should be playing this game on my home PC right now and I know my current rig should be able to support the graphics of it fairly well, but due to some graphic driver difficulties and shotty company manufactoring (so sue me, it's a store-bought unit) I still haven't played it yet. However there is one huge difference of the console version vs. it's PC big brother: no forced online connections. Yes, you can play this game offline which was a huge controversy when the game first released even for a mainly single-player game (and it still is for others). Ok, so they will be ditching the online item auctions and the some of the multiplayer won't be as robust but at least through this I can finally get back into slashing through massive hordes of baddies and earning epic amounts of glorious loot. This game will be on the PS4 as well but not sure how more improved that version will be compared to current-gen.
- Dark Souls II - March 2014 - Prepare to die harder with a vengeance! I personally had hardly scratched the surface with the last title and I still greatly want to start up again getting my pathetic ass kicked with the new one. Also pretty happy this is still coming out on current-gen consoles even after the releases of the PS4 and XBOne and From Soft is still making improvements to their graphic power and everything in this looks super sweet. Praise the sun my brothers!
- Final Fantasy XV - 2014 est. - Final Fantasy Versus XIII has evolved for next-gen and Square-Enix is upping the graphic power on this to the max. Finally this will be the first real-time action RPG of the series (although FFXII was somewhat close) and all of the battles are within the world enviroment instead of separate battle areas. The footage shown was crazy awesome with lots of magical teleporting powers but I'm not sure if this will turn down some of the hardcore FF players, I will admit most of the cast is pretty-boy Japanese gay porn bait (then again, look at FF VII). Funny that I have still yet to finish FF XIII and haven't even touched the sequel but I'm sure by the time this comes out maybe I'll be finally done with those and can get straight to playing this.
- Kingdom Hearts III - 2014/15 est. - Now I'm sure every and I mean EVERY Kingdom Hearts fan knew this was coming but the question was when and now all Squenix can say "it's in development" and I'm sure after that "it's done when it's done". I highly enjoyed the last game (even though the 1st was pretty 'meh) and I'm actually more hyped to play this than the new FF. It will be out for both PS4 and XBOne. A HD collection of the 1st KH game along with an enhanced Chain of Memories is coming out here later this Fall but also really hope they do the same with KH2 and possibly Birth by Sleep for PS3 later next year.
- Puppeteer - 09/10/13 - When I saw the first trailer for this at the early Sony conferance I was totally in love. The puppet-show-like visuals are a true and imaginative game changer and while the Little Big Planet games did somewhat emulate that style this one perfected it. I'm just a little sceptical on how the game will play even with it's amazing fun visuals and Sony even says this game will be tough with no kiddie gloves and hand-holding but I will have my eyes really close on this when it gets released on the PS3.
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty - Holiday 2013 - I've only remember playing a demo of the original Abe game via a Sony PS1 freebie disc and thought it was pretty fun however I guess I could never get myself to play the full game. Now the same creators of that original are building everything back from scratch and by using the PS4 graphic power they are able to create all of the same 2D rendered CG visuals of the 1st and show them all in real-time and looks phenominal. This is supposed to be available as a download at PS4's release this holiday although I do remember still seeing it as a PS3 downloadable title as well but not sure if that version has been nixed.
- DuckTales Remastered - Fall 2013 - One of the greatest NES games of all time fully redone in HD visuals and all fully voiced by the original Disney cartoon cast! (seriously Scrooge's voice must be 90 by now). This is going to be a pure nostalgia-gasim. Way Forward, take my goddamn money nowz!!
- Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse HD - Fall 2013 - I never owned a Sega Genesis (my fam & friends were all Nintendo players) however one of my cousins had one and at the time only had three games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast and this game and I actually out of those three this was the one I more enjoyed playing. Sega is now recreating the whole game from scratch and bringing the game in full 3D HD visuals even though it will still keep the older 2D gameplay.
Other titles shown but unsure if I'll get them or not (planned dates only):
- Tom Clancy's: The Division - 2014/15
- Killzone: Shadow Fall - Holiday 2013
- The Order: 1886 - 2014/15
- Mad Max - 2014/15
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 - Holiday 2013
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - 02/11/14
- Mirror's Edge 2 - 2014/15
- New Star Wars Battlefront - 2014/15
- Need for Speed: Rivals - Holiday 2013
- Murdered: Soul Suspect - 2014
- The Evil Within - 2014
- The Walking Dead: 400 Days - 2014/15
- Rain - Holiday 2013
- Rayman Legends - 09/03/2013
- LEGO Marvel Superheroes - Holiday 2013 or 2014
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - Fall 2013
- South Park: The Stick of Truth - 11/19/13
- BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma - Holiday 2013/2014
In addition, I am not going to include games that were either shown or demoed on the floor that are going to be released within the summer months such as The Last of Us (out right now!), Killer is Dead (Aug.), Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Aug.), Lost Planet 3 (Aug.), Dragon's Crown (Aug.) and Tales of Xillia (Aug.)
There's also a high chance I may finally get myself a Nintendo 3DS XL later in the year and will also consider these new 3DS titles:
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 11/2013
- New Super Smash Bros. - 2014
- Yoshi's New Island - 2014
- Sonic: Lost World - Holiday 2013
- Bravely Default - 2014
Missing in Action:
- The Last Guardian - Again a no-show this year from Team ICO and Sony is still saying "it's done when it's done" but of course there's always this year's Tokyo Game Show.
- Star Wars 1313 - The biggest game shocker to come out of Lucusarts last year was a complete no-show and I'm sure the biggest factor of that is unforunately Lucasarts gaming shut their doors earlier in 2013. So the game's publishing and development is completely up in the air at this point and while EA Games is set on releasing more Star Wars games in the future they didn't even mention a speck about this one.
- Deep Down - A teaser trailer was shown during the Pre-E3 Sony conferance which was Capcom's answer to "Dark Souls" and the graphics on it looked damn amazing but nothing else was revealed about it.
- Grand Theft Auto V - While the game is still set to be released on 09/17/13 Rockstar games were completely absent from this year's E3 however there were some new screenshots shown from it but nothing else.
- Dragon Quest VII for 3DS - It's out in Japan right now but really like to know if this will really come out overseas from Nintendo (who published the last DS one). I never played the PS1 original and it's updated 3D graphics looks super fun to play and I'm sure we will eventually get it.
So overall this was all pretty cool and lots of great stuff was shown with some decent surprizes. Obviously Sony was the big huge winner of the whole shabang and Microsoft can seriously stick their "X-bone" up their asses. I'm still not convinced to buy a WiiU although again may possibly get a 3DS in the near future. I read my last year's E3 do want list (http://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=706375) and along with the potential buys I had 32 already released games on it and out of them I actually bought 12 out of those. This year I have whoping 42 and I hope I'll buy and play through about half of them, of course again it's all about the money which I don't have a whole lot of but again one gaming dude can dream.
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