14 DAY TRIAL // The E3 annual trade show is just a short two weeks away and already companies have said much about what they plan to show on the floor and behind closed doors, but analysts still believe that there are a few surprises that gamers can look forward to.
Eiji Maeda, who is a senior analyst at SMBC, has made predictions about how E3 will go this year, telling Japanese magazine Famitsu that, “Nintendo is definitely the company attracting the most attention at E3 this year, their Wii successor in particular. The Wii was a success because of the make-people-smile aspect of it that is such a key part of Nintendo's goals, so it's likely the new system will follow similar lines."
He then goes on saying, “Networking and online communication has become a vital part of any home system, and I think they will offer some kind of new service related to that.”
The analyst also widely expects Nintendo to announce a host of new video games during the show, most of them for the new Nintendo 3DS handheld, all of them designed to get players interested in the platform, which has seen a slowdown since its early year launch.
Maeda also believes that Sony will make the PlayStation Network, which has recently suffered from a very serious security breach, one of the centerpieces of its E3 presentation, trying to show gamers that they can still trust the service.
The analyst believes that a new service that will combine virtual world elements and real world interactions will be unveiled at E3.
When it comes to Microsoft, Eiji Maeda sees a show dominated by the Kinect motion tracking system, saying “There hasn't been any really revolutionary software released for it since launch, however, so one of the important themes of this show is how much they can appeal to users with the Kinect's uniqueness.”