I cannot shake the feeling that Sony and Microsoft, at this years e3, will drop bombshells that will be TERRIBLE ideas. I hold onto hope that the very worst case scenario of what they could introduce will ever come to pass; but it is very rare that rationality prevails in this industry.

I normal have a healthy amount of happy anticipation for e3, but this year I am feeling queasy. Sony especially seems poised to knock over its house of cards with a too hasty move. I've given up on expecting rationality from the Xbox division; we are miles away form the era of Ed Fries, Seamous Blackly, and Robbie Bach. Yet, Sony is salvageable if they don't get scared, yet I just can't shake the idea that they will blow it too.

I will literally be at home on Monday crawling that walls as the all conferences happen.

Sony won't blow it. And so what if they do? They can just climb their stacks of money out of whatever hole they dig themselves.

Have faith!

I can see what you mean with all the talk of ps4k and Xbox one.2. Seems too soon to expect anyone to buy a new console. Especially for Sony, hopefully this won't destroy all the goodwill they've gathered this generation and knock them from the top spot sales wise.

My dread relates more to the part where Nintendo's new Zelda will probably just play like Ocarina of Time with some minor improvements and additions, like pretty much all polygonal Zeldas since Ocarina of Time.

Dread? Man, it's just videogames. And videogames will not be destroyed by one conference. Honestly what's the worst that can possibly happen? New consoles are announced, they don't do very well, and there's a slight downtick in the market?

@bigsocrates: I agree that dread is a strong word for the situation. Still, the people on these forums care about video games, and there is the concern that these three big companies are kinda the caretakers of a certain form of gaming (console gaming), and if they manage to really cock it all up and poison the well (like, Xbox One announcement but if it actually stuck to doing all the TV bullshit and barely focused on games and the whole generation was a disaster), then that's kinda it for console gaming. Then you'd have to fall back on mobile and PC gaming, and more publishers would put money into mobile since it's the safer bet. There's an astronomically small chance of that stuff all happening, but I see why it concerns people.

What the man above said. However, I'm worried about certain titles - BF1, for instance.

If anything I fear this years E3 will be somewhat of a dud, especially with the amount of leakage and pre-E3 announcements we've seen this year. We already know there's gonna be a good amount of hardware, which is never really that exciting, and last year already cashed out on most highly anticipated expected titles. The only thing that could really save the show would be a lot of great new surprises, but I've sorta lost faith that they're able to keep any major stuff behind the curtain at this point.

There are plenty of games coming out that I'm excited to play. They would have to do something ridiculously insane and illogical to instill anything resembling dread in me and I really see no reason to think such a thing will happen. Especially this late in the console cycle.

I'm sure it'll all blow over.

Unless, of course, they announce Gex 4. Then all bets are off. What would video games even be in a post Gex 4 world? I mean, what sorry fool would want to make the first game to release after Gex 4? It would be like going to karaoke night and having to sing after Luciano Pavarotti just dropped the mic.

@bisonhero: Eh. Console gaming is very popular and makes a ton of money (maybe not as much as mobile, but still multiple billions per year). Someone else would come along. I mean look at console gaming in the early 1980s. Atari, Coleco, and Intellivision, with Atari being dominant. They crashed and burned, and Nintendo took over, soon followed by Sega. Then Sony joined, and Sega crashed and burned, replaced by Microsoft. Where there's a demand there will be supply. And Playstation 4 has proven there's still a ton of demand for traditional consoles (and despite Xbox One's issues it hasn't been a true flop either; it has sold about 20 million units in two and a half years.)

Whatever happens at E3 won't kill console gaming. I doubt it will kill Playstation or Xbox even, especially because unlike Sega or Atari Sony and Microsoft are large tech conglomerates who don't need to rely on gaming revenue to survive.

People also forget that while Atari destroyed itself through bad business choices, it wasn't the 32X or the Saturn that killed Sega. It was Sony, who beat the Saturn with the superior 3D of Playstation and then beat the Dreamcast with the hype for Playstation 2. What I'm saying is, if Xbox or Playstation were to lose, it would likely be to a new, even better entrant. Or because an old entrant (Nintendo) got its mojo back.

People are not going to see Playstation Neo, get angry, and set fire to the Playstation 4s they've already bought.

I think there is enough in the pipe, that if they do make some silly decisions, it won't really effect things long term. Of course, unless you are an investor in Sony or MIcrosoft. But I would say the company that could really screw things up most is if Nintendo's NX is some kind of pointless creation that no one cares about. But that won't effect the larger market. But right now, I think things are too stable for anything to really break it. I guess if everyone invests heavily in VR; there could be some short term issues. But nothing insurmountable. But yeah, there will probably be ALOT of stuff at E3 2016 that no one gives a crap about. But there always is...

Totally. Mega City One isn't letting Playstation VR shipments through.

NoOo. New shit makes me excited, especially new consoles. Simply fresh ideas are always welcome to me and I can get behind a faster console cycle.

They usually release new consoles at this point in the generation. We're just lucky that this time they didn't go the stupid cheaper, smaller route.

Nnnnno? I'm as excited for E3 as I've always been. No reason not to be.
These consoles have been out for 3 years, if the rumors are true than the new ones (esp MS's) would be four years. Then add a year because both launched underpowered (hah).
I think 4-5 years is plenty of time for a new console. Christ, how long do people want the life-cycles to be? I want to see as many new consoles as I can before I die, not this 8 year garbage.
Isn't Nintendo on a 5-year cycle? Why does no one complain about that?

If new consoles come out next year it'll be a 4-year life cycle. That seemed to work out pretty well for the 360. And unlike the original Xbox, support of the current machines isn't going to fall off a cliff. They'll still be supported for at least a couple years beyond the launch of the hardware revisions I'd guess. The sky is not falling.

E3 has always been the most exciting time of the year for me. I might not like some of the announcements but boy am I excited to hear them!

oh it's doomed, been saying it for a while now. It has a lot to do with Pax being more accessible to fans and by 2007 E3 tried making it a "Business summit." Now, I won't lie the announcements from the press conferences are amusing but then they get squashed a week later with reading the fine print.

You know its actually kinda odd that there are thoughts that it is too early for a new console gen when last gen was the only one that ever lasted that long. Its used to be about 4-6 years and at simliar price points (given inflation). I guess the biggest difference is the lack of games since development is so much longer.

Honestly I've been downplaying this E3 for a while now, so not expecting much until E3 2017.

Is this just a "things have been going well for so long, something most go wrong now" kinda dread? Because I don't see anything that actually supports your fears. Yeah we'll get to see the new model consoles, but everything we know about those makes it sound like they are making the right moves, will at the some time trying something new for the console marked.

So it seems to me like it'll be pretty good. Microsoft have turned the ship around conference wise and Sony have obviously been doing great the last couple of years. Nintendo is the one that is the most up in the air, if the NX is revealed for real (and it probably will be), it could be awesome, but it could also end up in a Wii U situation and spell doom for the company.

The worst thing that can happen at E3 is that there's always going to be something for everyone.

I'm more excited for e3 than I have been for years. Even if it's possibly going to be a train wreck.

Yes, but only because it's in 3 days. The fuck did the time go?

"I cannot shake the feeling that Sony and Microsoft, at this years e3, will drop bombshells that will be TERRIBLE ideas."
And this is bad for us as an audience for the potential shitshow how?

Persona was already pushed to 2017. I can't be hurt anymore