TGR-NET

June is usually the start of the summer lull in gaming releases, but it always has a few big ones; a few well-anticipated movie releases, and even a major event. So it’s looking to be a pretty big month.

June 3: X-Men First Class – Pretty huge release, definitely excited for this one, especially after seeing the previews and commercials.

June 7: inFamous 2 – Sequel to the action sandbox game from a few years back, and another huge release – possibly large enough to even distract from E3.

Red Faction: Armageddon – Always an innovative game, fun to see what new tech they showcase in the Red Faction series. The level of environment destruction in the last one was impressive, interested to see what they have to show off for this one.

June 7-9: E3 2011! The largest videogame conference in the world, happening in LA as always. Predictions will be posted soon!

June 10: Super 8 – The trailers looked interesting, although I often dislike movies where the main characters are children… but this is another I’ll be giving a look-see.

June 14: Alice: Madness Returns – Missed the first one back in 2000, but since this release includes a download of the first one regardless of platform you purchase it for, that’s not a problem. The game definitely looks intriguing, and I will quite likely be giving it a try when it hits shelves on June 14.

Child of Eden – Only coming out on this date for the 360, but it is definitely an interesting title. I may delay purchasing it due to the number of other titles still working on, but looks like a fun one to play, with a controller anyways. Looks like it’d be obnoxiously awkward to try to play without one however.

Duke Nukem Forever - Yep, it’s first person, but still – it’s Duke Nukem. Really… how much more does one need to say?

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Yes, I know, the previous transformers movie games have sucked. Bad. And the movies have too… but Dark of the Moon’s tie in game is being designed by the same people who made the last GOOD transformers game: War for Cybertron. So I have high hopes.

June 16: Dawn of Fantasy – MMORTS? Interesting concept, looking forward to seeing this one pan out. Glad to see they cancelled the console version though, console RTS games never work.

June 17: The Green Lantern – Trailers for this look awesome, can’t wait to see it.

June 21: Dungeon Siege 3 – The Dungeon Siege games have usually been quite well done, and I’m looking forward to the console version of #3.

Shadows of the Damned – Third person psychological action shooter? I’m intrigued already… from the minds of Resident Evil and No More Heroes? Definitely interested.

Pretty huge June, if I do say so myself. Opens up strong, and stays all the way through. Happy E3 everyone!

There’re a number of pretty big reveals to discuss

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/30/full-psn-services-including-playstation-store-return-this-week/

The Playstation Blog has revealed that the PSN is expected to be up and fully functional by the end of this week! No surprise given E3 next week and they really have to give closure to this whole mess by E3. But still awesome news to talk about.

Also in Playstation news:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/29/playstation-fans-watch-e3-online-try-to-win-your-way-in/

You can watch E3 and participate in Interviews of various developers on the PS Blog!

Aaaaaand….

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/31/uncharted-3-naughty-dog-talks-multiplayer/

Details of the Uncharted 3 beta! This is a huge one, Uncharted 3 being one of the most anticipated sequels of the year.

PAX Prime 2011 has sold out of all tickets.

Activision unveils Call of Duty Elite – the next phase of CoD multiplayer access.  Without a subscription, you’ll get access to some new social and communication features, while premium access(price unknown as yet) will net you unlimited access to all future map packs, as well as full access to the Elite service.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2852981

And the biggest for last: Starcraft 2′s long delayed and anticipated first expansion has started having trailers and reveal interviews going around the web.

Enjoy these little snippets as we wait for E3!

With E3 2011 just around the corner, now’s the time for us all to look to the next year of gaming.

Predictions:

Microsoft:

1. Microsoft will way overhype Kinect again, but not quite to the same extent that they were ridiculed for last year.
2. Circque du Soleil will not be there.
3. Gears of War 3 will take the spotlight.
4. They will have something Halo to show off to reassure people that Halo isn’t dead.

Sony:

1. Another apology for everything that happened with the PSN hack.
2. Kevin Butler.
3. A lot of PS3 exclusives will be given a nice limelight to show new trailers.
4. Move and 3d will once again be big players in the PS3 section.
5. The ICO collection will be showcased, and American versions of the PSP remasters will be announced.
6. Success among recent PSP titles will likely be mentioned leading in to a discussion of the NGP hopefully with a REAL name for it, and a pricepoint.
7. Someone will try to hack the PSN again during the Sony conference at E3.

Nintendo:

1. Nintendo will once again assume an incredibly elitist attitude and tout their sales numbers for the Wii and DS as proof of superiority.
2. Nintendo will officially unveil the Wii Stream(hahaha) and will announce the first wave of games for it, just like they did for the 3ds last year.
3. OoT 3DS will have significant spotlight time.
4. The 3DS and its upcoming titles will be most of the show.

As far as individual Developers go…

Square Enix: To help combat the drastic losses they’ve taken recently, they’re going to go all out for E3 this year to generate some positive hype. I’m guessing FF13-2, Type-0, Tomb Raider, and HitMan will be their big show highlights this year. Also hoping to get some info out of  WAKFU private event.

EA: Focus will be split between Bioware, with ME3 DA3 and TOR being their biggest highlights and EA Sports presentation trying to hype new developments in their sports franchises. I think the other big points will be Amalur and BF3. I don’t forsee any big surprises from the EA conference.

ACtivision: Most of their attention here will be on their big Superhero titles: Spiderman: Edge of Time, Prototype 2, X-Men: Destiny. Some new titles from some of their smaller, quiet studios will be announced. CoD: MW3 will have some headline space as well. Biggest surprise will probably be from Bungie.

Bethesda: Biggest emphasis will be on Skyrim – being their biggest title. Announcement of FAllout 4 will be made, and Rage will be showcased.
Hopes:

Biggest things I’m hoping to see more of are MGS:Rising, Final Fantasy Type:0, DMC, Final Fantasy vs 13, Mass Effect 3, The Secret World, Thief 4, Dragon’s Dogma, another Nier game, Sorcery, more Prototype 2, and I’d like an announcement that some of the big first person games in development will also have 3rd person game modes, but I don’t really expect that.

Final thoughts:

Sony’s conference’s success is going to depend on whether they can wrap up the PSN affair and then move on to games. If they focus on their lineup, they’re probably going to have the most impressive showing – have you seen the lineup of ps3 exclusives? It’s pretty impressive. Basically Sony has to do 3 things: Provide closure on the PSN fiasco, show off their impressive lineup with some demos and some new footage, and give the NGP a name and a price. If they can hit all 3 checks, we’ll be talking about their conference fondly.

Nintendo’s conference will hinge on whether the Stream is impressive or not. If it seems Nintendo takes the stance they’ve been taking lately of ‘go to hell hardcore gamers we don’t need you we’ve got a mountain of money’ then their conference will likely be the lowpoint of the show since E3 is mostly of interest to the hardcore gamers. If, however, they seem to have learned their lesson and make a split focus with some parts being casual and some part of it geared to really bring the hardcore gamers back, they might steal the show. Another big thing that will make a huge difference in their success is whether they can make the 3DS relevent with some good solid unique software. But it all hinges on their new console, which will hopefully have a better name than Cafe or Stream.

Microsoft’s in a really difficult position here. Their ‘big impressive technology’ from last year is something that, while it is impressive on a technical level, is barely ever even thought about among gamers. It only ever comes up in conversation as a reference to fitness games really. So they can’t really showcase that again, because it hasn’t done much of note. And they really lack a strong software lineup that we know of. So Microsoft’s conference being successful really hinges on what secrets they have. Sony and Nintendo we can make a fairly educated guess about what they’re going to discuss. With Microsoft, on the other hand, we just don’t know. As far as announced points of interest, there really isn’t enough to fill a conference, so Microsoft has to be keeping something a big secret. What that is will determine the success of their conference. Regardless, however, unless Sony and Nintendo both screw up, I don’t forsee Microsoft stealing the show like they did 2 years ago. I just hope it isn’t as bad as last year…

The developers to watch this year are Bioware, Square, Sony, and Konami, I think.

Written by: Sean