So E3 2008 is right around the corner in July, and I have to tell you I am extremely excited. I have always been excited in the weeks leading up to E3. The best new software and hardware announcements have always been made there, and I don’t expect this year to be any different. It’s like a week long drooling session as I watch videos of what I’ll be playing during the next year. I absolutely love it.

To commemorate the coming of E3 I have decided to make a list of the top 10 E3 surprise announcements that I hope we will get to see this year. This list mainly includes software announcements, but I have a couple of hardware announcements as well. I realize some of these have already been rumored to be announced at this years’ E3, but rumor is not fact, so I have included them anyways.

I hope you enjoy my list. Let me know what you think.

10) Halo Trilogy: Lego Combat Evolved
What started out as an EGM April Fool’s Day joke has turned into a cult following. There is not doubt that there are many loyal Halo fans out there who would love to see the Master Chief get turned into a Lego Figure. Hell I honestly am not a very big Halo fan, and even I would love to play through the entire trilogy in Lego form. I think it would be a blast driving a Lego Banshee around. The game would of course need to have a co-op feature, and I think it would be great if they could actually figure out how to make multiplayer PVP work. Put all that in a package and it comes in at #10 on my list.



9) You Don’t Know Jack (Wii)
I’m not sure how many of you played this game for the PC when it was out 10 years ago, but it was all the rage at the time. I can remember sitting around a computer with all my friends trying to best them with my intellectual superiority. It was one of the smartest and most witty trivia games to ever be released. I never understood why it died. Well rumor is this could be coming to the Wii and I hope it does. The Wii is the perfect social gaming platform to bring a game like this out on. I have mentioned it to a bunch of friends and they all agree that they would love to come over to my house and play this with me if it was released. An online multiplayer mode would also be a really nice feature.



8) Dino Crisis 4
In my opinion there has not been a proper Dino Crisis sequel released in 8 years, not since Dino Crisis 2 was released on the PS1. That piece of shit attempt at a Dino Crisis sequel that came out on the XBOX, Dino Crisis 3, can rest forever in the depths of hell as far as I’m concerned. It was absolutely horrible and hence forth has stopped any more sequels from appearing. Well with the success of Resident Evil 4, and the huge interest in Resident Evil 5, I think it’s time for a Dino Crisis sequel. It would need to use the exact same engine as RE5, hence making it absolutely gorgeous. Also the series would need to return to its roots, meaning it should be SCARY!!! I want velociraptors jumping through windows in front of me in a horribly lit, dark hallway. I want to have hardly any ammo, and I want to have to take out huge T-Rexs. That’s the game I want to see.



7) Assassin’s Creed 2
Whether you liked the original Assassin’s Creed or not, most people agree that the game engine itself was the best part of the whole experience. Those guys at Ubisoft really worked hard to create something revolutionary in gaming. The game however ran into problems with its repetitive mission structure and its “no one gives a damn” story. They did leave the game very open ended for a sequel. At the end we learn that Abstergo Industries, the company that was holding Desmond, is going to be searching the globe to find the hidden artifacts whose locations were shown by the “Piece of Eden”. If it was Altair who hid those artifacts, then we can assume that they will need to put Desmond back in the Animus to find out where Altair hid the artifacts. Assuming they can come up with a better story this time, and not make the game so repetitive, this game could be incredibly awesome, making it #7 on my list.



6) Forza Motorsport 3
Let me start out by saying I used to be a huge Gran Turismo fanboy. I put about 100 hours into each of the 4 games released on the PS1 and PS2. I never played another racing simulator game that came close to that experience; that is until Forza 2 came out. Forza 2 completely opened my eyes and let me see that Gran Turismo is not the king of all racing games. Everything about Forza 2 was incredible. The track selection, car selection, car damage modeling, car customization, and above all else the online play.

When the rumor leaked that Forza 3 might be coming out I literally jumped up in my chair. The word is the game could have 100+ tracks and 400+ cars. All I have to say is sign me up. All I ask is that the game have better graphics, and that they incorporate weather affects. Give me that and I will swear off Gran Turismo forever.



5) New Version of the Nintendo DS
The last 10 years Nintendo has had a habit of announcing a new Gameboy system about once every 2-3 years. There last announcement was the DS Lite, which was released in June of 2006. It’s been 2 years since then so it’s time for another version of the system. About 6 months ago a gifted 3-D studio artist came up with a new DS concept. It’s similar to the DS now, but it’s thinner with more rounded edges. The biggest change he made was increasing the screen size. After viewing these images I knew I HAD TO HAVE ONE!!! So I’m hoping that Nintendo announces a new version of the DS similar to these pictures. I will be first in line to buy one.




4) Shadow of the Colossus 2
I mean do I really need to say anything about this game? Everyone who has ever played it loved it. It was one of the PS2’s best selling games and in the close to 2 years since the PS3 has been released, not a single whisper of a sequel for this game has been mentioned. That is a crime against the gaming community, and it needs to be remedied.



3) Kid Icarus (Wii)
Ok, let us not mince words. The original game sucked, but it still holds a very special place in my heart. When I heard Pit would be a playable character in Smash Brothers Brawl I marked out. It of course helped that the in-game image of him was awesome. I knew immediately that I wanted a true remake of the original Kid Icarus on the Wii. Luckily for me this game is pretty much already been unofficially announced. It has not been officially announced though, so I can keep it on my list, and thanks to the fact it holds huge sentimental place in my gaming heart it comes in as #3 on my top 10 list.



2) Mass Effect 2
We all know this game is coming. Bioware has already confirmed that Mass Effect will be a trilogy, so it’s just a matter of time before they announce the second game in the trilogy. I want this game bad though. I mean really really bad. The first game was ok by most accounts, but the story was absolutely incredible and is what really held the game together. It was easily one of the best stories in a game that I had experienced in years. What I would like to see in the sequel is less side quests and more story driven missions. I played through every side quest in the original Mass Effect and honestly they all just seemed tacked on. Hell the game could be linear for all I care, just give me more story. Bioware has this huge universe they created, and they could do so much with it. I’m ready to see what the have in store for us. I’m also interested to see if the choices I made in Mass Effect really affect things that occur in Mass Effect 2. Bioware said they would. Let’s see if they were telling us the truth.



1) A game that utilizes VR head tracking
Have you ever seen the video below by Johnny Chung Lee? If not you need to watch it, RIGHT NOW !!! His VR head tracking invention is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I’m really shocked that no one has attempted to incorporate this feature into a game yet. I mean I would easily pay up to $100 to buy the hardware to make this possible on the PS3 or XBO360. The best thing is he did this using a Wiimote and some cheap IR sensors mounted on a $5 pair of glasses, so the hardware could easily sell for around $50. Just imagine playing a FPS with this feature. The possibilities are incredible in my opinion. This could seriously revolutionize the gaming industry, and for that I have made it #1 on my list.