Maybe it's just not 'fanboy' enough for some, but I'm still of the opinion that no one company 'won' at E3. All three main players came with new and exciting developments that mean us gamers are going to be very happy this year.

Now SCEE's David Reeves is popping up in interviews all over the place, MCV and ThreeSpeech to name just two. And his message.

Get ready for war. The real battle starts now.

"There will be absolute fireworks at peak, that I can promise you. We will be doing things no-one has seen yet for both PS3 and PSP."

At the Leipzig show next month (which we'll be covering, naturally) Reeves expects to announce a whole cavalcade of incredible features for the PSP and PS3.

So, let the rumour-mill commence. I'll start you off with my list of ideas, and explain them - it'll be fun to see what really happens:

1. Europe will get a video on demand service for the PS3 and PSP - we already know there's a new service on the way, so this wouldn't be a big leap of faith.
   
2. The PS3 will gain Freeview in the UK. This is one of the main rumours and there ain't smoke without fire. Freeview, for those that don't know, is the UK's digital terrestrial television service. It would turn the PS3 into a PVR with access to over 30 channels for free.
3. A 120Gb PS3 model for Europe instead of the 80Gb model they launched in the US. This is a popular rumour right now. Personally, I couldn't give a fig - I can already upgrade my PS3 to 160Gb for £65 or so without invalidating the warranty.
4. Sony will announce at least six new exclusives. In an interview with ThreeSpeech David explains that at their regular quarterly worldwide meetings they usually see just a few great titles. But right now he can "hand on heart, say that there are six or seven such games, coming in the next 18 months, which are absolutely spectacular." I'm guessing that two titles from each of the last three quarterly meetings will have made it through to the launch list by now.
5. The PSP will get access to the Playstation Store/PS3 Friends/PS3 Chat. When they added PSP Remote Play via the Internet, where you log in using your PS3 email address and password, it was a clear indication that some of the PSN features could be accessed directly on the PSP without having to connect to your PS3 at home.
6. The PSP and/or PS3 will get a Skype client. We know that the PSP firmware has had a 'notion' of Skype compatibility for a while, so this wouldn't be a great leap.
7. Sony will launch a 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook' style system that allows you to connect to new PS3 Friends by using the 'six degrees of separation' rule. Basically, you'll be able to meet new friends by getting introductions through your existing friends. This will expand your network and ensure that the profitable "you MUST get Super Stardust" messages are pushed across the network as fast as possible.
8. SCEE will announce the SixShock controller. Or RumbleAxis. Or whatever you want to call it. Personally I've not missed rumble at all, so I'm not sure I care as much as everyone else on the 'net seems to about this.
9. Sony will launch a PC client to access and chat with your Friends. Since the PS3 chat client appears to use Jabber as its basis this wouldn't be a big development issue. In fact I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself anyway using Jabber, but haven't been able to yet.
10. My last prediction - Sony will allow you to live videoblog using a PSP with a GoCam! direct to your PS3 hard drive and consequently to your Playstation Home space. No basis for this prediction - I just think it would be cool!
    

So, there you have it. 10 predictions. Let's see how many come true but, more importantly, let's see how many more you can think up (add yours to the comments, and remember to show your 'working out')...

Labels: Leipzig, news, opinion, PS Store, PS3, PSN, PSP