E3: The Wish List

1. KEVIN BUTLER TO TALK PSN INCIDENT

It's been a painful month all round. And while lingering questions still remain as to the exact nature of the PSN hack and the strides Sony is to take securing the service's future, both Sony and us need to move on. The incident that has to be addressed in some form at Sony's conference, and the company is walking the hard line between looking forward, acknowledging the breach, and above all reassuring consumers.

Best person for the job? Kevin Butler. The company's mock-exec has proven to be it's best semi-viral marketing campaign since the PSOne days. It may have been someone else's script, but it was Butler who sold the idea of motion control - something Microsoft, Nintendo, even Shigeru Miyamoto haven't done - to the gaming mainstream. He'd be pitch-perfect for tackling the thorny issue but not making it something that lingers or overshadows the rest of the conference that should be about moving forward.

2. HARDWARE PRICE DROPS

Microsoft, you're okay. Although if you want to toss in a sub-£100 price-tag for a Xbox 360 Slim sans HD, it wouldn't go amiss. Though with the new Kinect titles rumoured, perhaps a cheaper hardware + Kinect bundle with game might be in the offing. Nintendo's recent Wii price drop was a pretty decent move already, but a standalone unit for £99.99 would be good addition (but highly unlikely).

So that leaves Sony, and the one console manufacturer that is rumoured to be announcing a price reduction at the show. It's the right time for a sub-two hundred quid, entry level version of the PS3 at this point of console's life.

3. AMAZING THIRD-PARTY NINTENDO TITLES

When was the last time anyone but the big N made great use of their consoles? Metroid: Other M had a mixed response, but we're talking third-party originating software built to showcase both the 3DS and Project Cafe. If Nintendo makes good on its promise to have hands-on presentations of its new console and wants to really impress, it needs to secure the one thing its failed to capitalise on since the N64: third-party support.

We've seen the developers and publishers attached to the 3DS already, but with the hardware under-performing at retail and a barren release schedule (remake of Ocarina of Time withstanding), E3 is the time to prove early adopters made the right choice.

4. PROMISE OF HARDWARE CONTINUATIONS

New replaces old. We're used to attention and time shifting from console to console as new hardware is announced and released.

However, we're at a point in which three consoles are lost in the lengthening shadows of their successors. PSP's faulty heart mightn't even survive to the NGP's launch, while Nintendo's dual attack with 3DS and Project Cafe raises longevity questions around their predecessors.

While there's an argument that both the DS and Wii have seen their best days already and developers are already mid-transit to newer transports, it'd be unfortunate and foolhardy to drop machines with the harshness that Microsoft did with the original Xbox, especially since both have increased the gaming audience so massively these past few years. Perhaps a readjustment and rebrand would be in order, similar to what Sony did with PSOne and PS2, to see these consoles into retirement and use them as entry-level/younger gamer machines rather abandoning them completely.

5.NONE OF THE FOLLOWING.

As an aside to the point above, publishers have already given due consideration to catering to wider audiences over the past few years to push gaming into mainstream markets. Job's done - so now it's time to give back to those that have supported this wonderful medium of ours for so long. While they've produced cracking gifs, please, nothing this year that makes us hold head in hands such as these well-meaning, but ultimately failed, moments.

No.
No.
No.

6. BUILDING FORWARD MOTION

Kinect's done some steady numbers in sales. Move? Not too bad either. While there was the thought that Microsoft and Sony were playing catch-up with Nintendo some two years late, we've been surprised (enlarged room space aside) by the sustainability of the newest hardware additions. Now we want to what the next wave is going to be - rumour is that the big M is showing Kinect titles in numbering in the double figures - and we hope they prove that people taking a chance on the tech did the right thing.

It doesn't have to be a replacement (nor should it) to traditional gaming, but there's no reason it shouldn't be able work alongside of it.

7. GTA REVEAL TO BE MORE THAN A LOGO REVEAL

Rockstar has proven to be the master at marketing; simply put no other company has managed to make such an art-form out of that hype surrounding the smallest of teases. Neither has any other company's titles had vast column inches combing every trailer for clues (whether Rockstar consciously adds any clues id debatable).

It'd be grand if the company kept surprising us (until today would you expect a western or slow-burn detective story to be some of the biggest and quickest selling games of all time?) by instead of going for the easiest and most expected trailer - slow pan out onto logo - giving audiences something of substance.

8.THE BIG THREE TO AMAZE

A very simple wish. The last few years worth of conferences have made for staggeringly good viewing (the Microsoft tap-out, Kevin Butler, Nintendo's 3DS hands-on) and aside from the easy digs, have been pretty decent in generating excitement for the coming year.

This year is no different. Nintendo's revealing its new hardware. Microsoft is pushing Kinect and likely has some big Halo news planned, and Sony has an uphill struggle to move past the PSN shadow, but has some great NGP stuff to show.

We always hope for the best, and this year should pull of a strong trio of conferences.

9. NINTENDO TO SORT OUT THE TECH PROBLEMS

Any time Miyamoto graces Nintendo's E3 conference with his presence it's something special. He's one of the industry's craftsmen truly respected by everybody. So when something goes wrong for him, such as last year's disastrous Zelda showing, we feel embarrassed for him. The company blamed technical issues for the controller crapping out throughout the demonstration. Here's hoping they work out the kinks and we get a reaction to match this one.