Surely you’ve already seen our E3 predictions from a real psychic. We’ll let you decide how much weight you’ll want to give Madame Christine of the Ether’s readings on the Big Three for this year’s event, though. Some of her predictions look and sound solid, while others are ones we know won’t come true. Ever.
Our readers were quick to draw comparisons between these mystical readings and a professional analyst’s reports, so we thought it would be fun to put the two forces together for some head-to-head action. Who better for the job of analyzing a psychic’s readings on E3 than games industry analyst Michael Pachter, from Wedbush Morgan.
Pachter humors us and responds to Madame Christine’s tarot card readings for the futures of game giants Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony over the next year. Read on to see how Madame Christine fares.
From Madame Christine’s readings on Nintendo’s future:
King of Swords: There is a very conflict-driven leader at Nintendo. Likeable, but slightly misguided. This could mean their presence at E3 is unfocused.
Seven of Wands: Creative conflict. Nintendo’s current situation holds a lot of creative conflict.
King of Cups (reversed): There is a leadership issue at Nintendo.
Judgment: A lot of big decisions are going to be made. Leadership at Nintendo is going to change a lot by the end of the year. The direction of the company is going to be much more defined.
Madame Christine clearly seems to be pointing us to what she believes is ongoing or upcoming leadership issues at Nintendo HQ. She notes “creative conflict” and goes as far as to say that changes may be made by the end of the year. These are all news to Michael Pachter.
“Wow. Leadership issues at Nintendo; creative conflict; these are concepts I had never considered,” he says.
Despite what the great beyond says, Pachter says that Nintendo is at a good place, and even points to upcoming “hardcore” titles later this year.
“I think that Nintendo is doing extremely well, and think that their games are as good or better than ever. They’ll put out some hardcore titles this fall, and your psychic will calm down.”
From Madame Christine’s readings on Microsoft’s future:
Queen of Wands: E3 will mark a creative change for Microsoft — one that will continue into its future.
King of Pentacles: Microsoft has recently made an effort to do something against its status quo. This could mean a new direction in the future.
Page of Wands: This year Microsoft will release a videogame that no one has ever seen before. It will be very revolutionary for the industry.
Several of the cards in Microsoft’s reading point to change and new directions. Terms like “creative” and “revolutionary” floated up from the mist. Our analyst isn’t seeing what our psychic is, though. Pachter says that he’s not sue why the word “creative” keeps coming up, but does think that Microsoft has some surprises in store for us.
“I think that Microsoft has lots up its sleeve, but can’t say how creative these new things are, since I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” he admits. “I even got a D in handwriting.”
From the way Pachter makes it sound, this “creativity” is something we’ll have to keep our eye out for: “I’m sure we’ll see new content and further enhancements to the XBL dashboard, maybe even some of them will be creative.”
From Madame Christine’s readings on Sony’s future:
The Sun (reversed): Sony is at a time of immense clarity. After a lot of turmoil, they are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Ace of Cups: Just recently, Sony made a dramatic decision to make a change. It was a very emotional choice, but a very positive one. Apparently, this is a very good card to show up here.
The Devil (reversed): At E3, everyone will be dancing to Sony’s tune. All of its announcements and game reveals will have a big influence on the industry. During the conference, Sony will be a force to be reckoned with. All the bad advice they have been taking will finally remedy itself.
The World: The final outcome for Sony is that everything is coming full circle. The company won’t be releasing as much into the market, but because all its software will be such a huge success, it will be making money. People are going to be talking about Sony, and actually want to play the games released on their console more than any other.
The Madame’s reading for Sony is easily the most positive of the three, with her mentions of lots of money and lights at the end of tunnels. Were she an internet user and not a psychic, she’d be labeled a Sony fanboy. Our analyst sees it as more of a critical time for the company.
“Sony is up against a wall, focused on profitability but at an inflection point where it can’t cede too much more market share to Microsoft,” Pachter responds. He doesn’t read gloom in his crystal ball for E3, though, saying that it “should be a good show for them” with the release of Gran Turismo 5 and new enhancements to the PlayStation Network.
As for what Sony is rumored to have up their sleeves in the way of price cuts and new systems, Pachter is glad to weigh in: “I think that they will ultimately cut the price of the PS3 this year, but likely not till TGS, since they can’t afford to give too many away at a loss.”
And as for the new PSP that Destructoid’s own crystal ball predicted earlier this year, Pachter’s “reading” gives us very little in the way of confirmation, though he does give the idea a positive nod: “The rumored redesign of the PSP is smart, and if they price it right, it has the potential to do very well.”
