Sitting on the plane traveling from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, I ponder the upcoming conference still named E3, but which will not be like any E3 that has come before it. My hopes and expectations are high, a far cry from where they were but months ago, when I had first received my invitation. At that time, I felt it might be too exclusive, too small, to have any real purpose. Since then, though, I've made more than two dozen appointments with publishing houses to see all they will show in Santa Monica. Nothing is yet standing out to me as truly exciting, except of course the MMORPGs I'm excited about without needing to see them. But nonetheless, I feel hopeful and expectant for this revamped show to give me something solid.

Beyond seeing all my friends and acquaintances I have gained throughout the years, I am looking forward to some real time with a few games. Since this is an article about hopes and expectations, here is what I hope and expect to see:

Age of Conan – Funcom's soon-to-be-released MMO set in the universe created by Robert Howard so many decades ago is certainly one of my most anticipated games of 2007. They have yet to go into any kind of real beta phase, and with release only a few months away, that is a bit unsettling. However, I have such faith that Funcom will never allow what happened with Anarchy Online to ever happen under their roof again, so I expect beta will shortly begin or the launch date will be changed. I'll be disappointed at the latter, but I'd prefer a great finished game over what has happened time and time again, with games from Anarchy Online to – most recently – Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Pirates of the Burning Sea – Unlike Age of Conan, this game is in beta and I've been quite happily playing. Since I've got the basics down, what I plan to use my time at E3 for with Flying Labs is to delve deeper into gameplay aspects I've only grazed in the playing. I want to hear about upper level content, their plan to truly find balance between the three nations and the pirates, AND – titles bestowed by the royalty themselves upon their loyal vassals. Ok, that last one is something I brought up by GDC and not yet in the game, but wouldn't it be cool to actually meet in game the Queen or King who ruled France, England or Spain during the heyday of the pirates? I think yes, so I'm going to bring it up again.

Xbox 360 games – I'm a huge 360 fan, especially of their Arcade. I've been spending more hours than I shall admit in Catan lately. I love the capabilities of this system, and developers are starting to really reach. It should be interesting to see what games are on the horizon for 2008 and how far they push this system's hardware. I know, PlayStation 3 is probably going to have a good mix too, but so far, aren't you as disappointed as I am with what they've put out there? There isn't a single PS3 game I want to play that I can't play also on the Xbox 360. Their exclusive line-up is pretty lacking right now, with no real end in sight to that, so I can't help but not have as many expectations and hopes as I do for the Xbox 360's line-up at E3.

Puzzle Quest 2 – Ok, this game isn't announced. It might not even be planned. But I adored the first Puzzle Quest so much (for the PSP and DS systems, get your copy today!) that I hope there will be a sequel that pushes the concept even further. It's been done in the past, with Puzzle Pirates, the combining of RPG aspects with puzzle games, but Puzzle Quest did it so well. I'd love to see something dig even further into RPG aspects without losing the puzzling greatness.

So, there you have it, a short list of what I want to get out of this show. There's so much more, as I have appointments with NCSoft, Midway, D3 and many more, so I'm sure I'll find many gems and surprising over the next 4 days. If something is especially astounding, I'll sing it's praises upon every mountaintop. I'm that kind of girl. Just don't expect it to be in tune.

Rosethorn's blog | login or register to post comments