With GamesCom looming over us and the three press conferences announced by Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Sony, we take a look at what could possibly be announced by the major three and what they'll be focusing on.
Each press conference takes place on Tuesday, August 17. For the conference times check them out here.
What each company may be showing at their conferences remains a mystery, but some things are pretty much expected to be shown, all three will be making a big effort to push their upcoming games, Microsoft and Sony of course pushing their new motion controls. Check below for a breakdown on each but don't take what we've written in stone.
Microsoft
Microsoft's GamesCom press conference is no doubt going to be focused around its upcoming motion control device Kinect. We still haven't had a European release date so expect the company to announce the official launch date and pricing at the event. Microsoft have said they'll be announcing a number of things, these could possibly be new Kinect games we've yet to see, possibly even showing off the new Kinect dashboard which we saw briefly at E3. The event is three hours long, some of which will most likely be letting press onto Kinect and getting a feel, or not, of the device.
It won't just be Microsoft however, during the conference both Bungie and Lionhead will be there. Both companies have games to push, Halo: Reach and Fable III, new games aren't expected however, none have teased the existence of such. You can certainly expect that Peter Molyneux won't be debuting the Milo game, there's been a lot of toing and throwing regarding the title which was shown at E3 as a tech demo, but nothing has been confirmed for the title.
Other companies games such as Gears of War 3 aren't expected, but we may see some new trailers. Tanya Jessen from Epic Games also tweeted that they'll be bringing a "bulletstorm-sized" annoucement to GamesCom, something obviously regarding upcoming shooter, Bulletstorm, however, the title isn't exclusive the to Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live so this may not be shown here.
Electronic Arts
Last year Electronic Arts had a huge presence at the show, this year will most likely be no different. The publisher giant has a lot on offer that could be shown, Dragon Age 2 and Need for Speed: Shift 2 should be there, possibly in two trailers and some announcements, what we are expecting however is a lot of new media which will be sent out, this comes in the form of new images, press releases and videos.
Other games such as Medal of Honor, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Dead Space 2 are also likely to be shown, same deal as before, probably new details and media on the games. EA should be pushing big on its major franchises as well, the new Sims game for example, upcoming sports titles. With the company having a line-up of hot games we're all looking forward to it's unlikely they'll announce any new games we've yet to see, however, they may surprise us.
Sony
Sony are in the same boat as Microsoft, they'll be pushing big with their motion controller Move. Last year Sony announced the Slim and a price cut, don't, however, expect a slimmer slim. As for new hardware, the company usually announces its new hardware at E3/Tokyo Game Show so a new PSP or the recently rumored Android PSP phone isn't expected. No doubt they will be reiterating the pricing, bundle plans and launch line-up for Move when it becomes available in September.
Software wise, something big is coming, Insomniac Games are coming to GamesCom with an untitled game, we're pretty sure it'll be Resistance 3 so expect a trailer and the first details on the title which will be a PlayStation 3 exclusive as always. Other games such as Gran Turismo 5, MotorStorm: Apocalypse, LittleBigPlanet 2 should be pushed, all are leading titles for the platform and Sony will use these to their advantage, possibly even showing the games using Move.
