E3: NINTENDO PREDICTIONS

After last week's predictions about Sony's e3, we here at DC Reviews boldly said that Starhawk would be announced at e3, well a couple of weeks before e3 and it has been! Score one for team DC! So today we look fondly over in Nintendo's direction, what can we expect? Read on to find out...

Project Cafe is actually called the Nintendo Stream

Yep, that's right folks, start your Wii Stream jokes because we believe here at DC that Nintendo's next console will be called the Stream. Not due to Ninty loving jokes but the fact that the basis of the new console will be on streaming. Streaming old games to be able to play them, streaming to the new controller with a touch screen, so a very apt name we feel.

Finally an online system worth using!

After the disaster attempt at online using the Wii, Nintendo will finally give us all a decent online system. While not directly copying Sony's or Microsoft's online plan, perhaps we will see something in the middle. Something similar to Netflix's pay monthly use everything system could be established, except from being allowed to watch movies it could be the Virtual Console, let's say you pay £4.99 a month and in return get to play any game off the Virtual Console as it's streamed to your system. Maybe a long shot but would certainly tie into the idea of the 'stream' idea.

A lot of Zelda stuff...

The release of Skyward Sword and re-release of Ocarina of Time won't be all we hear of Zelda this year, I expect hints of future Zelda's for Stream/Cafe and 3DS, brand new adventures not re-releases. Also, Skyward Sword will not be moved to the new console ala Twilight Princess but could perhaps be delayed until early 2012.

3DS WILL get Gamezzzz!

With all this talk of of the next home console, let's not forget Ninty's new handheld was only just released mere months ago. While the shortcoming's of the 3DS aren't hard to workout (I don't want Pilotwings!) e3 should give us all 3DS gamer's something to shout about. Mario 3DS will get an in-depth showing, a new fully original 3DS Zelda will probably be hinted at and some major third party showings should boost up the catalogue a bit. Metal Gear, Resident Evil and Sonic Generations are all expected to show up with confirmed release dates to stop the 3DS from collecting dust.

Project Cafe/Stream unveiling

While already confirmed to be announced at e3, just what exactly will Nintendo tell us? While a release of 2012 has been confirmed Nintendo should shorten that timespan to first quarter 2012, a simultaneous worldwide release seems unrealistic at this stage so expect Japan first followed by America and Europe a few months later. March for Japan and May for the rest of us wouldn't be the worst guess in the world. Those hoping for a price announcement will be upset, why would Ninty announce a price nearly a whole year in advance? There's no advantage they could get by doing it this early, expect that announcement early next year.

As with the confirmation of a sketchy release window don't expect a full launch line up either. Games will be announced of course but we have to remember these will be in quite early stages of development, expect a playable form on the show floor anything more than that is unexpected.

Overall a positive show from Nintendo this e3, they're best in quite a while, they will win this show. Only a total balls up from the new console would mean they won't win, everyone loves a new console after all! Mario and Zelda in HD? Welcome to the 21st century Nintendo, we've missed ya!

E3 PREDICTIONS: SONY

After a year of waiting the games industries biggest and loudest event, e3 will finally be with us on June 7th. Until that date we here at DC Reviews will bring you our predictions for the three big companies starting today with Sony.

Whisper it quietly but at the time of writing this the PSN is still down, by the time e3 rolls around next month it will be back up in some capacity I'm sure which leads me onto my first prediciton

AN APOLOGY

Yep, I have a feeling at some part during the conference the PSN outage will come up and Sony will humbly apologise, there won't be any Kevin Butler jokes because the whole debacle is serious, I mean, your personal data has been stolen and now 70 million people are in danger of being hit by fraud. This isn't the most shocking of prediction's but it does lead onto the fact that the rewards programme for consumers will be discussed. Europe is already confirmed to be getting an Identity Theft Protection scheme, 30 days of Playstation Plus and two free PS3 games and two free PSP games if you own that system, but what about everyone else?

GOD OF WAR IV

God of War III came out in March 2010 to some fantastic reviews and is currently a 91 on meteoritic. Kratos' story arc is supposedly over but the franchise is certainly not. Will we see another Kratos prequel for the PS3 like the PSP outings of the history's angriest man or will we be thrown a curve ball and be angry in someone's else's Greek boots? Who knows, but I will be pretty shocked if the series doesn't make some sort of appearance at E3.

NGP Full Reveal

Sony's new baby the NGP will be there of course and after it's early reveal in February expect Sony to really blow the lid open this time. We expect a release date for all territories, a semi-reveal of launch line-up but I don't think price will be announced. Revealing the price this early could harm sales and put consumers off unless the price is super low, even then it would probably have more impact on the lead-up to Christmas. A completed demonstration of the OS will be shown live and perhaps announce a revamp of the PS3 XMB to follow in it's new baby brothers' footsteps. Uncharted NGP will get a full showing and will be confirmed to launch with the system. The actual name of the NGP will be announced and I expect Sony to steer clear of the Playstation Portable name, it seem's that name conjures up a lot of stigma much like the Wii, no games etc etc

Warhawk Sequel Announced

2007 game Warhawk, which has a rather large loyal following will finally get a sequel, probably called Starhawk if you believe all the rumours. The multi-player only game will see a release at the end of 2012 and possibly join God of War IV as PS3's big hitters for next holiday.

And The Rest...

And that'll be about it for major news from Sony. A quiet E3 for the Playstation machine yes, but you could argue they have bigger things to worry about right now. All their major franchises are coming to the system, Uncharted 3, InFamous 2, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance 3 etc so barring a totally unexpected Killzone 4 announcement I can't see anything other than God of War or Warhawk sequel in terms of games as mentioned above. The only other thing that could happen that's not NGP related is a totally re-vamped PSN which has been rumoured for months now, even before the hack. Cross game chat will happen and this may very well be the year where Sony finally gets their house in order with the PSN. Sony may jump into bed with EA again and get some exclusive Battlefield 3 deal in terms of maps or something else like they did with Medal of Honour to try and combat the Call of Duty/360 partnership.

A solid E3 from Sony without being a spectacular one in my opinion. They won't win E3, it'll be either Microsoft or Nintendo. One without any games and the other with Zelda. Look out for Nintendo's E3 chatter next on the site!

You can follow Craig Shields on twitter @craigshields9

PORTAL 2 REVIEW

*due to the PSN being down the following review is solely based on single player*

When I sit down and finish a game I usually take in all of what's happened in the final scene and my whole journey through the game, watch the credits then move onto the next game vying for my attention on my shelf. Not with Portal 2. Don't get me wrong I would love nothing more than to blurt out what happens in the end, it really is something special and in a way the surprise you get really awards the player for playing the game without actually giving you anything other than a lasting impression that set's Portal 2 out from the crowd.

For those not familiar with Portal, it was a mini-game of sorts released in Valve's Orange Box which included Half-Life 2. Seen as an indie game of sorts the 3 hour 'extra' soon become a cult classic. You play as a female character stuck in a factory of science, where the centre is being run by an evil machine called GLaDOS, one of gaming's great villains. The idea is to move from room to room solving puzzle's by using a portal gun, fire one portal on the wall next to you and another across the room and walk through one portal and come out of the other simple!

Portal 2 takes the simplicity and complexity of some of the puzzle's of the first one and ramps the little 3 hour title into a fully fledged and fully realised 6 to 8 hour retail game without making it feel tired and used. It really is a great achievement by Valve to keep Portal 2's puzzle elements feel fresh every chapter. You start off going from chamber to chamber and jumping through GLaDOS' (yes she's back) hoops like in the first game but not too far in the landscape of Aperture Science drastically changes and the chamber to chamber formula shifts to really keep you on your toes. The companion cube also makes a comeback to help you solve puzzles, move box from point A to point B to progress but new additions are light tunnel's and two types of gel. One that makes you bounce and one that makes you run really fast. All the new elements fit right in and don't feel at all out of place. The main concern I had coming into Portal 2 was difficulty, I'm not the best at solving puzzle's and thought I would struggle with a few but the game does a great job of coaching you through some of the puzzle's and giving subtle hints to help you along. I wasn't stuck at a puzzle for any longer than twenty minutes and there's no better feeling than when everything *clicks* into place and you continue on.

Like any sequel some new characters have been introduced with Stephen Merchant taking the voice acting role of new robot Wheatley in a role he performs fantastically in and is easily the best voice acting I've heard in a long long time. His constant quips back and forth with GLaDOS are memorable throughout and gave me more than a few truly laugh out loud moment's. Portal's humour really sets it apart as it doesn't need to resort to your stereotypical jokes that often cloud video games, it doesn't have anything relating to sex, drugs, drink or anything seedy like that, apart from one fat joke but we can accept it.

Portal 2 truly is a wonderfully crafted piece of work rather than just a lot of the mindless games we get nowadays, don't get me wrong I love a bit of Mortal Kombat but Portal 2 is something we haven't had in a long time and just adds to the argument that games truly are pieces of art, we're lucky in the fact that Portal 2 is a masterpiece.

9/10