I’m hopped up on allergy medication and Ativan and a large coffee, so I’m all sorts of weird right now. This is as good a time as any, then, to get excited about things that I’d like to see at E3, none of which will probably turn out to be true, which will make it that much easier for me to be disappointed like everybody else when it’s all over.
A caveat: since I obviously can’t predict new IP to get excited about, this is mostly a list of stuff based on existing IP. Which is perhaps not as inherently exciting as new IP, but – again – I’m in a brain fog.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2 for PS4/XBO. Surely this is in the works, right? I mean, come on. (Rockstar typically doesn’t attend E3, and Take Two is only holding private meetings.)
2. Steam Box with specs comparable to PS4/XBO for under $500. And which I could hook up to my PC monitor, if need be. Sometimes I forget that I can use Big Picture Mode; man, what a great UI. (Valve will not be exhibiting at E3 this year, either.)
3. Speaking of Valve (and ignoring, again, that Valve won’t be at E3), I’ve given up hoping for Half Life 3 news, but I’d love to see something Portal related. I don’t even know what I’d want it to be, just that it’s continuing to exist.
4. Criterion Games backtracking and saying, nah, just kidding, we’re totally making a new, next-gen Burnout.
5. Grim Fandango HD. And while we’re at it, how about all of those classic LucasArts adventure games getting HD remakes for iOS? Get on it, Disney. I’d even take a LucasArts kart racer at this point.
6. Someone (maybe Bioware’s post-Mass Effect team?) to turn Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels, or even just the universe, into a game. Special Circumstances is basically SCREAMING for some sort of third-person action adaptation. I’d do it myself if I knew anything about anything.
7. I’d like to hear a lot more concrete info about those Oddworld HD remakes.
8. Fallout 4 with iD Tech 5 graphics. (That’s what Rage was sorta going for, but it can be done so much better.)
9. Rock Band: U2. (I know, I know. I’d just like one more reason to use my plastic instruments before the kid makes us run out of storage space.)
10. Finally, I would lose my goddamned mind if Skies of Arcadia came back for a next-gen sequel. The original SoA was my very first JRPG experience, and it set the bar ridiculously high in doing so.
Shouts From The Couch 
Red Dead 2 would highlight the show for me, but like you said they never do E3 stuff. I was hoping for Alan Wake 2, but Remedy shot that down. I really don’t know what to expect for games this year. Usually going in I have an idea of what’s to come, this year I’m clueless. Which is kinda neat.
I suspect a lot of the games that will be announced this E3 are new IPs for the new consoles. Which is exciting – it’s just hard to get excited about unknown quantities. That being said, Jeff’s vague comments on this week’s Bombcast seem to imply that a lot of what’s going to be announced are things that aren’t exactly big secrets.
I suppose I’m mostly just hoping that the new Batman game isn’t a piece of shit.
I’m sure someone has gone to Iain Banks with game ideas in the past, they must have. I guess the problem is that anyone with the resources to make something like that (I’m thinking RPG / Shooter with an emphasis on the story and intrigue) would lack the wherewithall not to turn it into yet another carbon-copy cookie-cutter game.
Sadly, Banks doesn’t have long to live, so he won’t be around to make sure it’s done properly.
Oh crap, that was timely. RIP Iain M. Banks. Brilliant author.
RIP indeed. What a shame.