PixlBit

The PixlBit Staff sounds off before this year's big show kicks off.

Angelo's Predictions

Sony vs. Nintendo: The Handheld Wars 

Not so much a prediction as a curiosity, but I'm very interested to see what happens on the handheld front. While it's not loudly proclaimed by their respective creators, it's very obvious that the 3DS and the PSV are at war. Nintendo stole Monster Hunter, has lowered the asking price for their hardware, and has dominated the sales charts, while Sony's device has an edge when it comes to display (discounting 3d of course) and sheer power under the hood. If history has taught us one thing however, it's that success or failure for any platform is determined mostly by it's library.

As far as the big N goes, it will be interesting to see how Nintendo uses their resources. With their newest handheld arguably still fresh out of the oven, and Sony hunting for that edge they need to overtake them, Nintendo can't afford to neglect the 3DS, They also have the Wii U to contend with and market, which will force them to divide their attention. It's a precarious position, and an unpredictable one as well. Nintendo could split their focus 50/50, but will that give the Wii U enough time to shine? Conversely, they could focus the majority of their effort on their new living room console and trust their lead over the PSV to stand strong, but if Sony really brings the heat, that could backfire.

On the opposite side of the fence, Sony really needs to go all out. They have a good platform, and are getting some quality tiles localized from 3rd parties. So far they've done a good job of proving the platform is capable and has support, but they have yet to prove to actually sell it to a significant portion of the available market. I hope Sony has some tricks up it's corporate sleeves on that front. Where's the killer app? Where is the game that tells me that this interesting piece of tech is a gaming necessity. Am I willing to predict they have such a bomb to drop? Obviously, if they do have one, I'll be very excited to see what it is, but my guess is no. I'm just spit-balling when I say this, but I think they thought that Uncharted would be that game for them in the US. It will be interesting to see how they plan on selling this thing without such an attention grabber. Perhaps they plan on bombarding the show floor with a plethora of previously unannounced games demonstrating that they have a monstrous library of exclusive titles that take advantage of their platform's performance abilities waiting in the wings. Honestly though would they have truly sat on such crucial information while Nintendo takes their lunch money? I don't think that's likely, so what's their plan? It's a mystery to me, but I'm itching to find out.