Even though it doesn’t occur until the summer, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is truly when the gamer’s year begins. With every major publisher and developer trying to outdo one another with impressive announcements, the convention not only establishes the tone of gaming for the rest of the year, but it also gives us a glimpse of just where our favorite pastime is heading in the future. Keeping that in mind, over the course of the next three days we here at Gamervision will be polishing our crystal balls, shaking the hell out of our Magic 8-Balls, and contacting the spirits of the damned in order to predict just how we think E3 will go down for the Big Three.

Last year’s Microsoft E3 press conference was chock full impressive reveals. Whether you got super excited over the official release dates for Gears of War 2 and Resident Evil 5, loved seeing the New Xbox Experience in action, or flipped your shit when they dropped the mega-bomb of Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox 360, you couldn’t deny that Microsoft had set the bar pretty high for its competition. But what about this year? Will the Xbox 360 be able to assert its dominance at E3 once again, or will they still be riding on the coattails of 2008?

Zune HD Gets a Date and Price
While it may have just been recently announced, there’s still some thunder left in giving a live look to the members of the press in attendance. Of course, not every detail about the updated version of Microsoft’s iPod challenger has made its way into public domain. There’s a vague “Fall 09” date, but I’d wager that Microsoft narrows the release window to some time in October. The last thing they need is for their last bastion of hope in the portable media player market to get swallowed under the litany of huge game releases November usually holds.

The only other question remaining, other than just how the NXE will work with the handheld, is a matter of price. To stay competitive with Apple, I’m placing my bets on the Zune HD clocking in at $250. It may seem a bit low, but they need something to draw iPod users to the “dark side,” and a lower price point just might do the trick.

Forza Motorsport 3 Unveiled
This game is probably the worst guarded secret about Microsoft’s impending announcements. Rumblings about this game coming to the 360 in order to better compete in the racing market with Sony’s monster franchise, Gran Turismo 5, have been making the rounds more and more in recent weeks. While there’s next to no hard evidence, there are a few factors that lend credence to the rumors.

It has been more than two years since the last version, and we all know how much Microsoft hates letting too much time pass between sequels. Remember, just because they announce Forza Motorsport 3 next week doesn’t mean it’s coming out this year, it just means that it’s coming eventually. Perhaps sometime in 2010, and around the same time PlayStation owners are rumored to be getting their hands on GT5.

Halo 3: ODST Playable and Dated
This is pretty much a no-brainer. We haven’t heard diddly-squat about this title since that one issue of GameInformer last year, and according to my watch, it’s Halo o’clock. I’m expecting members of the press to get their grubby little hands on at least a level or two of the upcoming Bungie shooter, and Microsoft will be feeling so generous with information at this point that they’ll let slip the release date. I’m pegging this one down for a late August-early September drop at the retail level. As to whether or not this game will also be accessible via download… some rumors are better off dead.

Alan Wake News of Some Sort
Where the hell has this game been? Don’t get your hopes too high on finding out next week. If anything, Microsoft may just say that the game is still on track to come out this generation. Or the world will be shocked when MS unloads a March 2010 to hold us over until they find out when Quantic Dream is planning on releasing Heavy Rain. Then expect another update mentioning the need for Alan Wake to have a bit more development time, and that it will be arriving on shelves a mere week before Heavy Rain. But don’t hold your breath.

Perfect Dark Arrives on XBLA
Well they have to have a Rare announcement of some sort, don’t they? Look, we’ve seen the little thumbnail images of this game on some people’s Live accounts, and we know Rare has to be working on something (they’re certainly not working on anything new), so I’m saying all the speculation ends next week, and Perfect Dark appears on Live by the end of June. Yeah, that’s right, June. Also, expect a Perfect Dark theme for the dashboard. Just a hunch.

The Motion Controller/Camera/Whatchamacallt
I’ve seen the pictures. You’ve seen the pictures. Your mother has seen the pictures. It’s just been a waiting game for the guys behind what Microsoft is hoping will be the next big thing. Odds are that this next step in full body motion sensing gaming will be limited to games developed solely for the hardware, and with less panache than many other 360 games. At least, that’s how it’ll be at first. Should this thing take off… well, that’s a discussion for another day. At E3, you better believe that there will be a working demo station on the floor after Microsoft unleashes this thing on the not so unsuspecting attendees of their press conference. I think they’re a bit too far away from announcing anything other than a vague 2010 date for release, but anything can happen right?

Final Fantasy XIII Versus to be Multiplatform
This isn’t such a stretch of the imagination, and I can see this getting announced as almost like a bookend reveal to their FFXIII slap in Sony’s face from last year. There’s not really a whole lot more to say about FFXIII Versus other than that. We still know bupkiss about it, and I can’t see Square Enix giving away too much as they won’t want to take away from the giant apartment complex sized billboards for plain ol’ Final Fantasy XIII they just put up.

Red Dead Redemption DLC Will Be Exclusive to 360
While we don’t even know whether or not Red Dead Redemption will have DLC, you can bet that the moment it’s announced, someone’s going to be getting it exclusively. My money’s on both the announcement of DLC, and its exclusivity, coming from Microsoft’s mouth next Monday. They’ve got a pretty decent thing going with Rockstar right now, and I don’t see that arrangement going sour anytime soon. Especially as long as Microsoft is willing to negotiate with Brinks trucks.

Peter Molyneux’s Next Game Revealed
Is it possible that Lionshead Studios is ready to speak about their next IP? I’m wagering that not only do they drop some hints about their next title; but that the game will be the multiplayer experience we’ve all been waiting for. Or some other insane hype-filled gibberish that Molyneux in no way will be able to back up when the game is finally done. I expect a radical departure from the Fable-verse that may include a hint of futurism.

A Brand New As Yet Unspoken About AAA Exclusive Title
What do you want more: another crazy shooter, or a console MMO from the brilliant minds at Blizzard? Okay, now crap in one hand, and wish for that game in the other. Microsoft doesn’t really need a new AAA title, but if they have one waiting in the wings, this is the time to show it to the world. I’d love to see them produce an action game on par with the God of War series. That way, after I finish God of War III, I have something to play. There’s a lot of ways the teams making games for the Xbox could go, and I’d be interested in any one of them.

Wow, that took a lot out of me. I’m not usually one for hype… oh who am I kidding? I love hype. I’m excited for this year’s E3 convention, probably for the first time in my life, and I’m eager to see just how many of my wild guesses are even remotely close to true (until proven wrong, consider everything I just wrote the absolute truth). We’re still just about five days away from answers, so be sure to tune back in to Gamervision.com for our coverage of E3 starting Monday.

In the meantime, stop back tomorrow for Coop’s Nintendo predictions, and Friday for Sarah’s Sony predictions.