VGX 2013 Expectations & Predictions

As with most awards shows, Spike's Video Game Awards have become known for another factor much more than the awards: game reveals.  With that, and the consistent dip in ratings in mind, Spike has been inspired to attempt to cater to the core gaming audience more, so it's undergone several changes: it will be streamed online first on pretty much every device you can think of, it's now three hours long, and will be centered around trailers for new games along with early gameplay looks for games we already know about.  (Also probably commercial free but I haven't confirmed that yet.)

In any case, with the VGX less than two days away, I thought I'd go over a few expectations I'm excited for, along with some "reasonable" predictions based on some educated guesses I'm making.

Expectations

The Witcher 3

One of the first games created that got gamers excited for the "power of next-gen", The Witcher 3 was announced in early February of this year.  Boasting a world "20% larger than Skyrim", with an open-world that is still story-focused, The Witcher 3 is one of the most anticipated games being released next year.  It's also the very first game confirmed for an appearance at the VGX.  To say I'm "hyped" would be an understatement.  We'll probably get a nice, 2-5 minute gameplay trailer, but ideally we'll ALSO get a release date.  There's no better place to mention it unless it's not coming out until after E3.  

Uncharted 4

Teased at Sony's "PS4 All Access" event, this is a reveal that everyone was expecting but it was nice to finally see it confirmed.  While the PS4 All Access event only gave us a one minute teaser, Naughty Dog has more than enough staff to work on two games at once, so if I had to guess this game has been in the works probably since the last Uncharted came out.  Presuming that's the case, I'd bet on a full-on trailer (though gameplay is doubtful) this Saturday.

???? (Nintendo)

 In a completely unexpected turn of events, NoA President Reggie "Play The Game" Fils-Aime is making an appearance at the VGX.  Now recently I've taken a huge interest in Nintendo and it's plucky next-gen competitor the Wii U, but not nearly as much of an interest as some long-time Nintendo fans.  People have been predicting everything from a new Metroid, to Zelda U to Bayonetta 2, and even X.  

I'm personally of the opinion that getting ones hopes up only to see them dashed is how angry fanboys start out.  Mark this down as a new Smash Bros. character being announced so you won't be disappointed if it is, and if it turns out to be a new game (or more info on an old game), you'll have a legit reason to be excited.

Now: There are a ton of other games confirmed for new information at the VGX: Titanfall, South Park: Stick of Truth, Dying Light, Quantum Break, Thief, and Broken Age. But this isn't an official site, it's pretty much just the games that I care about, so there you go.  So, let's move on to the prediction half of this thing.

Predictions

Arkham Origins isn't from Rocksteady--it's from WB's Montreal.  Kevin Conroy, Batman VA extraordinaire, confirmed he was working on the next Arkham game, then went on to clarify that he meant what comes after Origins.   Rocksteady has been on its laurels since 2011's Batman: Arkham City lit the world on fire with its natural progression of Batman's world.

My hope is that this time they abandon the "Arkham" name altogether and go for Batman: Gotham City, with a fully explorable Gotham that grants usage of the Batmobile along with the ability to switch between multiple Bat-family characters like Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. 

Whatever they do will have to be a huge change in the formula--Origins proved that fans can't take another game that's just more of Arkham City.

So Deadpool was--at best--an average DMC clone.  That's okay, I don't think anybody expected anything impressive from that game in the first place.  But what people DID enjoy was High Moon Studios Transformers: Cybertron series.  We know for a fact that High Moon is currently working on a next-gen AAA title, and we also know they're no stranger to the VGAs, so the question is: Are they ready to reveal whatever they've been working on?  And is it a next-gen Transformers game like most people are hoping?  We'll see this Saturday.

My expectation list is being kept on the short side so that I don't over-hype myself and end up disappointed.   And in general there's a lot of, as Boondocks would put it, "known unknowns".  The VGAs reveal at least 3 games we're completely unaware of every year.  So who knows what else could make an appearance?

Now, before I close out this article, one of the things I wanted to do was at least try to adjust expectations so fans don't end up super disapointed.  So here's a list of things that, for whatever reason, absolutely will not be at VGX this Saturday.

What Not To Expect

The Order: 1886

Ready at Dawn bigwig Andrea Pessino went ahead and clarified that HE personally had no intention of bringing The Order: 1886, one of Sony's most interesting looking new IPs, to VGX.  It's understandable, since he doesn't personally believe they're at a point where they can show off gameplay.  So don't expect this game unless Sony pulls rank and just decides to show it off because they can.  This is doubtful though, if Sony truly has as many games on the way as they claim to.  It would make far more sense to simply reveal something that's new and has a good chance of hitting store shelves before The Order does.

Final Fantasy XV

One of the people behind putting the VGX together, Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV, was asked about this game.   The reply came back that he was not aware of this, nor any other Final Fantasy news at VGX.   The game is also not on Square's list of things to release by the end of Fiscal 2013, and it's nowhere to be found on their list of games they'll be showing off at Jump Festa next week.  (Neither is KH3, for that matter.) If this game comes out before 2015, I'll be quite surprised at this point.

One of the last remaining console J-RPG series that doesn't have "Tales of" or "Final Fantasy" in its name, the follow up to 2008's Persona 4 was announced not too long ago.  Now logic would tell you that at an event that's stereotypically thought of for "dudebros" would not have Persona 5.  But if that's not good enough, Geoff Keighley asked about it and they said no go.  Given that the game supposedly will be out in Winter 2014, I have to believe that they definitely have more to show and are simply choosing not to.  Shame.   Persona 5 at the VGX would've gone a long way towards being good promotion for P5 and also helping the VGX shed its stereotypical image that its for CoD gamers. 

Triad Wars

This one actually hurts me.  Sleeping Dogs is one of the best games on the PS360, an unexpected hit that managed to combine a cool kung-fu fighting system with fun open world gameplay and a compelling narrative inspired by asian martial arts films.  It's sequel, Triad Wars, was announced in early October with nothing more than a title and the promise that "we would hear more next year".  Well, United Front Games is sticking to its word, as their Twitter feed is littered with mentions that they will not be making an appearance at VGX this year.  

- Fallout 4: Twitter leaves us disappointed (nothing new there) yet again, as VP of marketing for Besthesda Pete Hines, confirms we won't be seeing anything from Bethesda at VGX.  Necessarily this would mean no F4 or even Elder Scrolls Online.  Shame.

Welp, that's about it I think.  The VGX will be streamed on the XBox One, the 360, the PS3's Live Events app, Hulu, GameTrailers.TV and a whole host of other places, starting tomorrow at 6PM EST, 5PM Central.