Geek News Predictions for 2020

Happy New Year, everyone! Today begins not only a new year, but a new decade. Now some of you may argue that there was officially never a year 0, so technically 2021 would be the start of a new decade. I disagree. The concept of time split into months, years, decades, centuries, etc. is a human invention. So if we decide that every new decade begins with a 0, it begins with a 0. I admit I’m off to a feisty start this year, but it is fitting since 2020 is going to be a spicy year no matter how hard we wish otherwise.

Let’s kick things off with our annual New Year’s geek news predictions. I’ll return at the end of 2020 to see how many predictions I got right or wrong. You might say that come December 31, hindsight will be 2020.

Feel free to see how I did with my 2019 predictions.

 

Nintendo Announces a More Powerful Switch:

We’ve all heard the rumors going around for months now. Nintendo will be releasing a Switch capable of 4K. Some predicted this would happen in late 2019 or early 2020. The Switch Lite launched as the leaks predicted, but Nintendo has been silent on the possibility of a 4K Switch. Given the next generation of gaming set to begin late this year, Nintendo most likely doesn’t want to be the odd one out again with a system incapable of running new third-party games. I predict that a new Switch will be announced this year, but it won’t release until March 2021, following in the footsteps of the original console/handheld hybrid that released in March 2017. This Switch 4K will be backwards capable and won’t be a TV-only model as some leaks are suggesting. After all, the ability to switch between the TV and a handheld is what made Nintendo’s newest system so popular.

 

The Xbox Series X Will Receive an Official Nickname:

The Xbox series of consoles is suffering from some of the weirdest naming conventions I’ve ever seen in my 30 years as a gamer. The Xbox Series X is not only a weird name, but a confusing one. As someone who keeps up with gaming news, I know the difference between the Xbox Series X and the Xbox One X, but what about those who don’t? There will absolutely be confusion if the Xbox Series X is seen as an accessory to the One X, or if they’re mistaken for the same system. (This was a serious problem for the Wii U.) In order to avoid customer confusion, I predict that Microsoft will give the Xbox Series X a nickname of some sort. They probably won’t go back to the codename, “Project Scarlett,” but something that lets the average consumer know this is a brand new console. What the name could be is beyond me. In fact, this may be less of a prediction on my part and more of wishful thinking.

 

Shin Megami Tensei V Gets a Release Date:

It has been well over two years since fans have heard anything about Shin Megami Tensei V. When deciding in early December what to write about for this list I decided that SMTV would be a good candidate. Amazingly, Atlus recently has been assuring fans that they’ll have news in 2020. Not being able to ignore such sweet manna from heaven, I’m boldly going to predict that Atlus will give Shin Megami Tensei V a release date this year along with a new trailer, character information, and a plot synopsis. The game itself won’t be out until sometime in 2021 for Switch in Japan. It makes sense with Persona 5 Royal already released in Japan, and Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers on its way this year. Atlus would need something else to get fans excited about.

 

The Democratic Primary Will be Wild and Damaging:

Hey guys, it’s a presidential election year! With the foul taste of 2016 still in the mouths of many of us, we get to go in 2020’s Democratic primary with 15 candidates to experience a new bitterness. While we’ve had six Democratic party presidential debates, countless public opinion polls, and fundraising updates, not a single ballot has been cast in the primaries. I predict as people start voting in the primaries, it will be ugly and no matter who the ultimate survivor is this process will damage him or her. The damage will be so severe and people will be so angry that their candidate of choice wasn’t nominated that Trump will just barely be reelected. This will happen because once again, lots of people decide to stay home learning nothing from 2016. (Trust me, this is one prediction I’d be more than happy to be wrong about.)

 

Facebook Decides to Push Forward with Libra:

To wash the disgusting taste of my last prediction out of my mouth, I’ll return to one of my favorite punching bags, Facebook. In my contribution to 2019’s Naughty and Nice—The Year in Everything, I touched briefly upon Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency. Libra is CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt to enter the cryptocurrency market. Facebook is actually just a co-founder on the project, but it is the biggest name attached. Facebook had a number of financial companies supporting them such as Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal. As criticism of Facebook grew thanks to numerous scandals and skepticism over the project from governments and privacy advocates, several of those partners dropped out of the project. Additionally, Zuckerberg was called to testify before congress over his plans for Libra. The currency was planned for launch in 2020, but it looks as if those plans are unraveling. I predict that despite Zuckerberg saying he’d only launch the cryptocurrency with approval of governments, he’ll launch Libra anyway. This is despite the criticism and the threat of bans in Europe. People have short memories and will adopt Libra despite Facebook doing a piss poor job in terms of handling user privacy.