21 Predictions For E3 07 Revisited

Written by John Scalzo  on July 13, 2007

Special: As Meatloaf said, two out of three ain't bad.

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#12 Sony won't say anything about God of War III
Status: Accurate Prediction! (6 out of 12 so far)

As predicted, Sony has put all there efforts behind God of War: Chains of Olympus and there was just no room on their dance card for a sequel to a game that was just released in March.

#13 Konami will tease us but won't show us anything big that isn't MGS4
Status: Accurate Prediction! (7 out of 13 so far)

Silent Hill 5 was announced (but we don't even have an approximate year on when it's coming) and more Dance Dance Revolution was announced, but this was Solid Snake's show, the rest of us just got to watch. Even in the afterglow of a slight delay (to early 2008), nothing could stop the juggernaut that is Metal Gear Solid 4.

#14 Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4 will stay exclusive to the PS3 (for now)
Status: Accurate Prediction! (8 out of 14 so far)

Sony executives used their press conference to put a fine period on all of the Metal Gear Solid 4 exclusivity talk. The game will be only available on the PlayStation 3. Period. With big talk like that (after all the wishy-washy talk coming from Konami execs), it's very possible that a few dollar bills changed hands in a smoke filled backroom somewhere. But I can't get over the feeling that the "No, never, not ever!" point Sony placed on the game's exclusive status just sealed the deal on an Xbox 360 version sometime in the future. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much and all that jazz.

As for Final Fantasy XIII, see #17.

#15 Ubisoft will continue to operate as if the Lost game doesn't exist
Status: Accurate Prediction! (9 out of 15 so far)

Ah, games based on television shows. As with my Heroes prediction above, they are a rare bird to pin down. What seems like a sure thing can fizzle in the span of a sorry "sweeps" period. In the case of the Lost game, a million things could be giving Ubisoft cold feet. It could be the ratings slide the beginning of season three suffered through. It could be an attempt to balance the "red shirt" playable characters with the main characters we know and love. Or it could be the realization that making a video game out of Lost and fighting the urge not to turn it into Myst is hard.

But with the way season three ended I have no doubt we'll see it eventually.

#16 Gears of War 2, Resistance 2 and the next Zelda will be whispered about but not shown
Status: Accurate Prediction! (10 out of 16 so far)

Now I'm just padding my score. Gears of War was announced for the PC (which was a slight surprise), but there was absolutely zilch revealed about all three of these games and I don't think anyone is surprised about that.

#17 Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be a no show
Status: Accurate Prediction! (11 out of 17 so far)

Like many companies, Square-Enix pushed aside nearly everything that isn't being released in the next few months. This includes Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XIII itself. Both were no shows, but maybe they'll make an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show.



My Crazy Predictions
Original Disclaimer: Now we come to the crazy. Most of these predictions don't have a leg to stand on but I bet at least one of them will come true.

#18 Tecmo Bowl 2008 will be released on XBLA/PSN/VC
Status: Inaccurate Prediction (11 out of 18 so far)

Tecmo didn't even end up going to E3, so they obviously did not have any grand unveiling of the next Tecmo Bowl game. I still think Tecmo Bowl 2008 will be a cleaned up version of Tecmo Super Bowl and a download-only game, we just didn't find that out at E3.

#19 First in-game screens of Sadness will be revealed
Status: Inaccurate Prediction (11 out of 19 so far)

With another E3 no show, Sadness takes one more step towards vaporware. Nibris, the developer, has said all along that a super secret publisher was helping them with Sadness and that, when said super secret publisher was ready, they would tell the world. That hasn't happened yet and the identity of the publisher still remains a super secret. For a game with this kind of cache with the Wii audience, you'd think any publisher (super secret or not) would be thrilled to get in on the good vibes a title like Sadness would provide. The fact that they haven't says one of two things: either Sadness really sucks and it is most definitely not ready for prime time or Sadness is vaporware and the super secret publisher is a figmant of Nibris' imagination.

Either way, this media blackout has cooled my excitement for Sadness and I know I'm not the only one.

#20 Kingdom Hearts X refers to an Xbox 360 version
Status: Inaccurate Prediction (11 out of 20 so far)

Square-Enix has always said that the next Kingdom Hearts (or Kingdom Hearts X if you will) would make it's first appearance at this year's Tokyo Game Show. But for some reason I held out hope that they would shock us and make a surpising and X(box 360)-citing announcement at this year's E3. That didn't happen. I still cling to my Kingdom Hearts on the Xbox 360 theory, but with the company focusing on the near term as opposed to the far off future, it was not to be at this year's E3.

#21 Take-Two will pledge massive support for the Wii including a GTA collection
Status: Hmmm....

OK, so there was no Grand Theft Auto collection, but Take Two did reveal that Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution will be coming to the Wii (in addition to the Xbox 360, PS3 and DS), so that was a surprise. But does it count as an accurate predicition?

To decide that, I went to the judges: Abraham "The Big Penny" Lincoln, Thomas "5 Cent" Jefferson and "Quarter" George Washington. Honest, trustworthy men that are revered for their insight and leadership skills (and something tells me Honest Abe would have been a bitchin' DDR player). After much deliberation the judges could not reach a unanimous decision, but a thumbs up (or rather, a heads up) from Lincoln and Washington overrode Jefferson's objections. You might say he turned tail and ran. So does it count? Yup

Status: Accurate Prediction! (12 out of 21 or 57%)

More Psychic Than Sylvia Browne?
The real question remains, is having a predicition rate of a little better than half anything to brag about? My three judges could have gotten similar numbers if they weren't inanimate objects with pictures of dead presidents on them worth less than a pack of gum. And I took a hit on some of my crazier predictions. If I had played it a little more conservatively, I could looking at as much as 71%. But is that even good?

So I sought out the source, the most respected psychic in the free world (by Montel Williams). That's right, I sought the counsel of Sylvia Browne. I compared my future telling ability with hers and the results were a bit surprising. For her 2006 predictions, Ms. Browne had a hit rate of just 9.4%. This means that my 57% makes me nearly six times the psychic that Sylvia Browne. I expect the television appearance offers to start flowing in any day now.