E3 Press Conference Review: Sony
Sony’s embarrassingly bad press conference last year alienated dozens of would-be fans. Phrases such as “RIIIIIIIIIDDDDGGGGEEEEEE RRRAAACCCEEEEERRRR!”, “So here’s this giant enemy crab”, “real-time weapon changing”, “you attack its weak point for massive damage”, and the dreaded “five-hundred and ninety nine US dollars” became commonplace in gaming lore. It all went downhill for Sony from there.
Unexpected Suprises
- The first and probably biggest new surprise was Sony’s announcement of a redesign for it’s beleaguered Playstation Portable. On the surface, the so-called redesign didn’t appear to be any different at all, but the system is now smaller and lighter and has a vastly improved battery life (not to mention high definition video output).
- Even more unexpected was the announcement of two different packs for $199 each. The first is the entertainment pack, which includes a silver PSP, a copy of Daxter, a 1 GB memory stick, and a Family Guy collection UMD. The Star Wars Battlefront PSP pack includes a special Star Wars PSP and a copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron.
- In addition to the Free Radical-developed Haze (also shown), Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament III was announced to be a PS3 and PC exclusive title this holiday season. Unlike Haze, however, the PS3 version can import mods to the game made by PC users.
Sony announced a new puzzle game for both the PSP and PS3 called Echo Chrome. The player will have to negotiate a series of stairs and mazes that are Escher-esque in design. The title features simplistic graphics, but won over many viewers.
- Sony announces that there are fifteen first-party exclusives currently coming out for the PS3. As well, NCsoft, the developer of such games as Guild Wars and City of
Two new major titles were announced for the PS3. The first is Infamous (left) , a new sandbox game by Sucker Punch which lets you cross the line between being a superhero or antihero. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (right) was also announced and shown at the conference.
The Playstation Network is getting a series of new games including the beautiful Wipeout HD, SOCOM: Confrontation (online-only), Warhawk (shown here), PAIN, Everyday Shooter, a sequel to Blast Factor, High Velocity Bowling, and Go! Sports Ski. Warhawk, SOCOM, PAIN, and Wipeout will all be available via retail.
- Playstation Home was further delved into this E3. New features are introduced, such as compatibility with cell phones and the ability to meet up with friends and launch games directly within Home.
Updates
- Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune made a big splash with it’s incredibly smooth graphics, as did Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Folklore, and Heavenly Sword.
- The much-anticipated Killzone 2 (below) made an appearance at the conference. Though the game had already been announced a day earlier, the game still impressed many showgoers with graphics that looked nearly as good as the infamous 2005 CG footage….and it was all in real-time. Truly an impressive feat.
- LittleBigPlanet, a game that allows the community to create incredible new ways to play, got high praise this year.
Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, was on hand to introduce an excellent new trailer for the much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4. Before showing the trailer, he announced that MGS4 will be the final installment of the Metal Gear series he will be working on, as well as the final installment of the Metal Gear Solid series. The game has also been delayed into 2008 and will still be a Playstation
- In a move similar to Microsoft's Bringing it Home campaign, Sony is adding trailers and correspondence from E3 and the conference to the PlayStation Store. However, no demos are present.
All in all, Sony has certainly improved itself from last year’s disappointing outing.
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