We've dusted off our Crystal ball
We've dusted off our crystal ball to make some predictions for the coming year in the videogames industry.What do the big three have in store?
Agree, disagree? Let us know your thoughts and predictions in the HEXUS.community forums.
Microsoft
• Sales will dip despite further price cuts. Price of Arcade, Premium and Elite consoles will drop by 20%.
• Xbox 360 will still continue to outsell Playstation 3, but will still be far behind Wii.
• Halo 3 expansion (ODST ) will be the biggest selling game of the year, but fans will be disappointed.
• A big announcement from Bungie before the end of the year, probably Halo related.
• Microsoft will try and make micro-transactions and DLC sound appealing and will then announce significant plans relating to both areas.
• Expect new game announcements that will feature episodic content.
• Microsoft reveal a number of deals with clothing manufacturers. A pricing scheme for the avatar store is announced. Expect to pay 99p for a pair of virtual Diesel jeans.
• A web browser announced for Xbox 360.
• A good year for XBL community games. One in particular will receive a lot of attention. An upgraded version of the game will eventually become a AAA title.
• Announcement of full Xbox 360 games available to download from the Xbox live marketplace.
• The next big dashboard update will be community focused aimed to enhance the appeal of avatars.
Sony
• Small PS3 price cut after March 31st followed by larger price cut in the lead up to Christmas. Sales targets still won’t be reached.
• An increase in Micro-transactions in Playstation Home bleeds gamers dry. Users may have nice looking apartments and clothing, but it cost them a small fortune. Expect Home to get a lot stick throughout the year.
• Lots of patches released for trophy support for most popular PSN games and PSP titles.
• Little Big Planet 2 announced for PS3, late 2010 release date. A PSP version of Little Big Planet confirmed.
• Expect lots of DLC for Little Big Planet.
• Heavy Rain and Insomnia will be the big PS3 hits this year. Resident Evil 5 on the other hand will be a disappointment.
• Motion-sensing controller announced alongside a number of casual games.
• Gran Turismo 5 gets pushed back to 2010.
• Singstar Beatles announced.
• Sony tells us how ground-breaking The Agency (MMO) will be and announce further MMO plans with Sony Online Entertainment. The Agency will go into beta in 2009, but will slip to 2010.
• Rockstar will confirm that L.A. Noire won’t actually be a PS3 exclusive
• Lack of quality games for the PSP results in a very bad year for hardware sales. Software sales are only spurred on by Star Ocean: Second Evolution and Phantasy Star Portable
More predictions overleaf...