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Plan your mornings! E3 is coming next week

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - on 8 Jun 2015, 3:40pm

Plan your mornings! E3 is coming next week

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If you're a gamer, there's no better time in the world than when E3 rolls around. It's like Christmas in June! Sure, there's the Tokyo Game Show in October, but since most of us prefer our games in English, it's the Western releases that have us most excited.

Knowing that, NeoGAF user Cheesemeister has handily compiled this list of global timing for the various conferences for all to peruse. While Singapore isn't on the list, Perth shares the same time as us so just use Perth's timings to stand in for Singapore times. Or just read our summary below:

  • Bethesda - 0930hrs (Monday)
  • Microsoft - 0030hrs (Tuesday)
  • EA - 0400hrs (Tuesday)
  • Ubisoft - 0600hrs (Tuesday)
  • Sony - 0900hrs (Tuesday)
  • Nintendo - 0000hrs (Wednesday)
  • Square Enix - 0100hrs (Wednesday)
  • PC Gaming Show - 0800hrs (Wednesday)

While all of them will undoubtedly be awesome, if we had to pick the most important ones to watch, it'd be the console manufacturers' (Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo) conferences, EA's and the PC Gaming Show. In previous years, there were surprise beta sign ups (EA's Battlefield Hardline limited beta crashed the PSN store) well as other nifty revelations. It's also a good thing to be up, as limited editions for hot titles are usually announced during these conferences, which sell out usually by the time we normally wake. So if you're a fan of limited or collector's editions, you might want to take a few days off work to make sure you don't spend the next few months in disappointment.

So what will we likely see during the conferences? Here are our predictions.

Bethesda's conference will likely be focused on the recently announced Fallout 4 and perhaps an expansion of The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda is an anomaly since the company's a software studio, not a games publisher like EA or Ubisoft. Since Bethesda's owned by ZeniMax Media, there's a strong chance the company's other studios' games will also share Bethesda's event. That'll means we might finally get a peek at the new Doom from id Software or maybe even the rumored Dishonored 2.

Microsoft's press conference will undoubtedly be about Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Gears of War remake, the Windows/ Xbox One integration and Fable Legends. The Hololens might make an appearance, though since the device seems to be far off; it might skip this year and debut next year. The new Crackdown should also be present, since it was revealed at E3 last year. Phantom Dust's status is still up in the air, as the studio previously working on it was taken off the project a few months back. Is the project dead? Microsoft's E3 conference might be the place for the answer to that. We don't really foresee major surprises coming from Microsoft, which means we'll probably see another Call of Duty exclusivity deal again.

EA's conference will likely be centering on all things Star Wars Battlefront, Mirror's Edge 2, Need for Speed and Mass Effect 4. Maybe even the leaked new Plants vs Zombies game. Oh, and their yearly sports franchises. Will we see major surprises? Rumors say no but we might be in for a new Sims 4 expansion. Personally, we're hoping against hope for a Dead Space game. With Silent Hills dead, Dead Space might be the only quality AAA survival horror franchise left, especially since Resident Evil seems to be having an identity crisis the last few games.

Ubisoft will be leading the charge with the new Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, The Division, a new Rabbids game (probably), Rainbow Six: Siege and quite possibly, a Far Cry game, though whether it'll be an expansion (like Far Cry: Blood Dragon) or a sequel is unknown. Signs also point to them maybe showing off the perpetually delayed Beyond Good and Evil 2. It's also likely that Ubisoft will have teasers for next year's batch of games, with Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell titles a good bet.

Sony's event might be a bit of a tough one to call. Uncharted 4 will undoubtedly pop up as will Project Morpheus, but other than that, the waters are murky. A new God of War is a possibility, since Sony's line-up seems to be a bit light on first party titles, so expect more of those. Which first party titles will get the nod though, that's the mystery. If the rumors of Dark Souls 3 being unveiled at E3 this year are true, it'll probably be here that From Software unveils the game. The Last Guardian, Sony's on again, off again PS4 title might finally be shown, but after years of being M.I.A., we're not holding our breath.

Nintendo's conference will be packed with games. The new Legend of Zelda will undoubtedly headline the show, with most of last year's reveals fleshed out this year. That means more of Yoshi's Wooly World, Starfox, Xenoblade Chronicles and Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third. You can bet that they'll be more though. Fire Emblem IF is definitely going to show up, as will Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem. Project X Zone 2 will probably make the list. As for surprises, our money's on a new Metroid and Wario game. One thing we know for sure though, there'll be no mention of NX at all.

Square Enix's gathering will probably be a rehash of what Microsoft and Sony showed. We'll definitely see more of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Just Cause 3. It goes without saying that Square Enix's other Japanese games will also be shown off prominently. Expect a boatload of Final Fantasy XV details, more Bravely Default, a recap of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward and more Dragon Quest Heroes. Ironically, despite being a recap what Sony and Microsoft showed, the Square Enix conference has the biggest chance for a mega surprise announcement. If Square announces a remake of any Final Fantasy game from the PS1 era, expect the Internet to go ballistic.

The PC Gaming Show is the wild card of the bunch. We don't know what's going to be shown, but some big names will be there. Take a look at the list below, taken from the PC Gaming Show's website.

Interestingly, it's listed as Xbox instead of Microsoft. We know of the Windows 10/ Xbox One functionality, but is there more to it than that?

Since this is the first time that a PC conference is being held at E3, we really don't know what to expect. Maybe a new video card or CPU from AMD? They are one of the sponsors for the event, so it's not outside the realm of possibility. Other than that, we guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Now that you're prepared, it's just a matter of waiting till next week and watching the shows live!

Source (for header image) : Cheesemeister3K

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