Welcome to the hundred-seventeenth edition of RPGamer's Currents Column!

The level of hype and rumors swirling around in the air can only mean one thing. E3 is almost here. E3 2010 is set to start in about two weeks and now seems like the perfect time for the staff here at RPGamer to weigh in on what we think will happen during this year's show. This Current's is a special issue comprised solely of what many of us at RPGamer want, wish, and predict to happen at E3 2010.

• Emanuel "Risingsuntzu" Merino:
  
  • I wish to see a repeat performance of E3 2004 where both the DS and PSP were unveiled to the world and were the center stage for the show. I loved all the talk of seeing everyone compare what both handhelds would mean to the future of gaming. While we're in the crazy wish land, I'd love to see what Microsoft could do with a handheld gaming platform.
  • I want a slim Xbox 360, and I want Natal to completely blow my mind and to move it from the "I don't care" category to "buy first day" category.
  • I predict there to be some pretty solid third party support and games announced for the 3DS. There will be at least one game for every type of gamer to get excited about, especially if the rumors are true that the 3DS is as easy to program for as a Gamecube is.


• Sarah "Noodle" McGarr:
  
  • I wish to see any type of new Kirby game and a release date for FFXIV and new infos.


• Chris "Sabin1001" Privitere:
  
  • There's going to be a large focus on Natal, as everyone expects, though I fear we're going to see a lot of wanna-be Wii Sports games.
  • Sony Move will be on display but will come off as a joke, having a bunch of demos that are dwarfed by the massive amounts of Natal content at the conference.
  • Sony PSP2 will be no where to be found, but the 3DS will be the talk of the show with the digital literati getting to see it behind scenes and talking about how awesome it is.
  • We'll be seeing a lot of games trying to be the next Mass Effect 2, but failing miserably. All the hot games are going to have pretenders, and they're going to be awful.
  • As usual, there'll be one or two RPGs stuck in corners of booths that will be spectacularly glorious. They'll get press, but not on the mainstream, and then when they come out, everyone will be surprised. Just like normal.


• Mikel "Firemyst" Tidwell:
  
  • I just want something unexpected. I have been looking over the expectations from E3, and I don't see anything that stands out from the crowd. I want to find the next blockbuster this holiday.


• Phil "JCServant" Willis:
  
  • I would like to see Dragon Age Origins 2, Mass Effect 3 and maybe more on Infamous (wasn't that supposed to be a triology?). It would be neat if there was going to be another Neverwinter Nights game using the D&D 4.0 ruleset. I don't really care about console news (I'm looking at you, Nintendo). With a PS3, PC, DS, and PSP, I'm set for a very long time. I'm more interested in them doing better things with those that are already out than spending time with more gimmicks.
  • PS... when I saw the last E3 Natal Demo, I wished I could have more minutes with Milo. I'd ask him, "Hey Milo, why don't you hold your breath under water for an hour?" Or, "Hey Milo, stand in that puddle of water and play with this fork and electrical outlet." Seriously. I have much better things to do than to play around with a virtual kid... unless, of course, I can torture him. Guess what I like to do when I play SimCity or The Sims!


• Tom "Green Nu" Goldman:
  
  • I want Sony and Microsoft to show Move and Natal experiences with more depth than waggling around like a moron... like an RPG experience.
  • I hope that Nintendo will blow my mind by bringing back a classic franchise or inventing a new one that doesn't involve exercising.
  • My prediction is that Sony will show a new PSP with a hard drive and a touch screen that will also read some form of physical media.


• Jonathon "Neist" Self:
  
  • I want Aliens: Colonial Marines to be playable because Borderlands proved that Gearbox is a developer worth keeping an eye.
  • I hope Dungeon Explorer to be announced for XBLA. :D because they keep teasing me with hints for too long now.
  • I predict that there will be an Xbox 360 hardware revision because its current hardware is only slightly more reliable than a Yugo.


• Sam "Nyx" Marcello:
  
  • My prediction is that Nintendo will hopefully shed more light on is acquisitions of Xenoblade and Golden Sun DS.
  • I wish that Square Enix will give me Valkyrie Profile 3. There's a rumor going around. So I can only hope that rumor is real.


• Micheal "Macstorm" Cunningham:
  
  • The past few E3s have made me very bitter and cynical, especially toward the major press conferences. I don't expect to learn much at all from them, specifically in the realm of RPGs. Here are my realistic wants, my unrealistic wishes, and my likely predictions:
  • Wants:
    • Nintendo: I want the 3DS not to be a gimmick added to the DS. It needs to have something more to it than just 3D or an accelerometer. I also want to see Xenoblade's release confirmed with more than just a listing on a press release.
    • Sony: I would like to see some footage of Final Fantasy Versus and Agito XIII but neither are super likely. If anything is shown, it will likely be old Japanese footage. I want to have a release date for Final Fantasy XIV, and I want Kevin Butler playing it live. I'd love to see Sony highlighting their strong, but ignored list of upcoming PSP RPGs.
    • Microsoft: I want to see another batch of exclusive RPGs for the Xbox 360, but I doubt that will be happening. Oh well, I guess there's always Fable III. Should I be caring about that? I'm just not.
  • Wishes:
    • Nintendo: I wish for a release date announcement for both Xenoblade and The Last Story for Wii. Some talk of Dragon Quest X would be great too, but even that's too much for my off-the-wall wish list. I'd also love Nintendo and Level-5 team to release Ninokuni: The Another World in North America. It would be great if Nintendo showed off Dragon Quest IX and surprise everyone with worldwide Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support for it.
    • Sony: I would love to see Sony announce a PSP follow up with no UMD drive but with an adapter kit to transfer UMDs to it from your old PSP or something. Wouldn't it be amazingly awesome to see PS2 games be playable digitally on the system, too? That would help offset the expected giant price tag. An original RPG on the PS3 would be great, but this is just wishing, right?
    • Microsoft: I would love to see a Zelda-style game with full Natal support. I just don't know if they will have any RPG related games to show. Maybe this is why we were left off the Microsoft press conference invite list.
  • Predictions
    • Nintendo: Nintendo will show off the 3DS, and it will feature 3D remakes of current DS games such as New Super Mario Bros. and Nintendogs. I expect them to keep Monado: Beginning of the World as a bullet point on a press release instead of mentioning it or renaming it. Golden Sun DS will be mentioned in passing and that's it. A video trailer will be released later to little fanfare.
    • Sony: In reality, I expect to see a new PS3 user interface with more media and online features that no one cares about. We'll hear all about Move and I'll fall asleep because it won't be anything impressive. I expect to hear nothing about a new PSP and very little about the PSPGo except some random numbers that make it sound like it actually did well. We will likely hear more about Final Fantasy XIV, but mostly vagaries and maybe a trailer. We'll be left hanging on Versus.
    • Microsoft: I expect lots of Natal. Lots of big name games, lots of which are multiplatform, but will be shown at the MS event to just to highlight the 360 version. I doubt we'll see anything in terms of RPGs outside of Fable III.


• Becky "Ocelot" Cunningham:
  
  • I predict that Nintendo will either pretend the heart rate monitor accessory doesn't exist or somehow come up with a really cool game using the thing and blow everyone away. It's Nintendo; it'll be one or the other. There *will* be something related to Zelda Wii, but it will be frustratingly vague or brief. Sony's Move Popsicle will continue to be a big joke and have no interesting games associated with it.
  • I want more information on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, especially combat system footage. I don't even have a PS3, but something about the game's aesthetic is compelling. Some kind of presence for The Witcher 2. I think CDProjekt deserves the attention as a young company that really listens to its customers. An awesome third party character-driven RPG to come out of nowhere and make us all cheer.
  • I hope for an actual interesting gameplay footage showing how Natal will be used, because I'd like it to be more than just a toy. A 2D Yoshi game on the Wii. I think the crayon-drawing graphics would look fabulous on the big screen, and Yoshi platforming is great. An announcement of a new Dragon Age game that will *not* be published by EA, because EA's customer support stinks, as does its nickel-and-dime DLC crap.

That does it for the predictions from the staff here at RPGamer. The thing I hate most about these kind of features is that if we're wrong, there is a record to prove it. Either way, we'll know within two weeks if we get what we want, what we wished for, and see if what we predicted comes true. Of course, RPGamer will be at this year's show to bring you all the latest news, impressions, and media from the show floor.