So far, Microsoft was mediocre. Nintendo was superb. What is Sony, the Playstation 3 and PSP heavyweight, going to do? Would their press conference be the longest of the bunch? Let’s find out.
Here are the highlights, after the jump!
- Jack Tretton kicks off the Sony E3 presser by saying that there will be no appearance from Kevin Butler. This is a shame because the guy is so hilarious. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the rest of the conference is fail.
- Kaz Hirai strolled out on stage without yelling “RIIIIDGE RACER”, so all is right in the universe. He then went on to claim that what PS3 did for Blu-ray, it is also going to do for bringing 3D into the home. Question: do people want that?
- Killzone 3 was up next with a gorgeous gameplay demo, and man this game has some excellent graphics. Some text at the top of the screen labeled this as pre-alpha code, but I’m not sure if I’m buying it. If that’s the case, though, then this game should look even better at release. The environments were big and wide open, and the snow fall is some of the best I’ve seen, even at this stage. I’m still not sure how I feel about the jetpacks, though, but the whole video was excellent, especially the mounted turret portions. Awe inspiring visuals, to be sure.
- Kaz continued to talk about 3D games, and how it was going to bring a revolution for home entertainment. A fairly impressive list of 3D titles are being built and will be released as well, which include Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White, Ghost Recon, Tron Evolution, NBA 2K11, Motorstorm and Gran Turismo 5. Nice list.
- Next up came Jack Tretton again along with Peter Dille, this time to set the stage for Playstation Move. Flame war quote of E3: “For the first time in motion gaming, core gamers will find something challenging and rewarding.” After that came a Move promo video, with testimonials from several developers. They seem to really like how responsive Move is, and are harping a lot on the 1-to-1 movement they get. The coolest part of all of this is that they can put the Move game and the regular game on the same disc, meaning people can play how they want. THANK YOU SONY.
- The first Move game on display in playable form was Sorcery, an action RPG where you run around with a wand. The game really did seem to show 1-to-1 movement from the game wand to the screen one, and you flourish it and whip it around to cast spells. I won’t lie, it actually looked like lots of fun. In one segment, he’s spinning the wand to create a fire tornado and hurling enemies around the room with it. Note to developers: THIS is the kind of game that we’ve been waiting for with motion control. Coming in Spring 2011.
- Wow! One of the next Move games revealed was a crossover title with Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank titled Heroes on the Move. The brief gameplay trailer showed some clips of each of the heroes running around and swiping at enemies with big weapons. Coming soon!
- Kevin Butler arrives and gives an epic speech! I am glad that Jack Tretton lied to all of our faces about this. He is pretty much out there for flame wars and fanboy fodder (he cracked a joke about Kinect in the first seconds of his appearance), but it’s still pretty entertaining. Some great one liners about gaming: “Gaming is having a ridiculously large TV in a tiny apartment,” and “the girls that know that the best way to a man’s heart is through a melee attack.” The cool thing about it is that it wasn’t just a bit about Sony, but about gaming in general and why it is beautiful. I love that they are embracing this persona.
- It’s official. Launch dates and pricing for Move: Europe Sept 15, North America Sept 19, Japan Oct 21. $399 bundled with PS3. They are also subjecting it to strange price points: supposedly, Move is being touted as being $49.99, but that’s not including the needed Eye Toy and controllers. There is a $99.99 bundle that includes that, but that doesn’t include the nunchuck. Why is this so confusing? Don’t goof up another launch with bad pricing points, Sony.
- Now for the big games (finally): Little Big Planet 2 levels were shown off on stage, and they seriously look really creative. It’s hard to imagine how someone can do this, but I can’t wait to see some of the content that people put together with this game. They claim you can create RPGs, puzzle games, shooters, racing games. Many of these things shown off were created in just one night. Most impressive.
- Sony then announced the PlayStation Plus package for the PSN. Going to include automatic downloads, free media and other content, etc. Very vague stuff. $49.99 for the year. The good news is that the existing free PSN won’t lose any of its current functionality.
- Next, EA dude John Schappert entered the arena to bring some tidbits for EA. The first one at bat was Medal of Honor, the studio’s Modern Warfare competitor, and it actually looked pretty slick. The multiplayer stuff seems like a blast, though admittedly very Call of Duty-esque in its nature. Suppose that’s not a terrible thing. Releases October 2010 on PS3 and 360.
- Dead Space 2 was on the scene with a terrifying boss fight and still gorgeous visuals. While I didn’t play much of the first game out of being a total wuss, I loved the atmosphere it provided. I’m sure that the second game will be just riveting for gamers. The boss fight they showed off had the monster chasing Isaac through tunnels, then knocking him into outer space where the action continued. Wow.
- Annnnnd it looks like Valve was officially screwing with us. Because freaking Gabe Newell himself lumbered out on stage to deliver a kind of apology to Sony, but also to show the first look of Portal 2, which will be released on the PS3 after all along with XBox360 and PC, presumably. The trailer shown was just a teaser, but still, it was chilling and awesome.
- Final Fantasy XIV returned to the Sony E3 press conference for a repeat performance, this time with a more lengthy trailer. I’m not digging on the online entry, but some of the art and the design in this thing is pretty gorgeous.
- Assassins Creed: Brotherhood (nicknamed AC: ODST by Jeff) showed a multiplayer trailer and announced an exclusive PS3 multiplayer beta coming later this year. The game is going to release in November 2010.
- In what has become one of the longest running vaporware jokes in the industry, Gran Turismo 5 made a debut with a stinking gorgeous trailer that reminded me exactly what I’ve been missing. The game is so beautiful, it’s hard to ignore. They even gave it a proper release date: November 2, 2010. Who knows if they’ll hit this one. Let’s hope!
- A trailer for Infamous 2 was revealed, with no gameplay to speak of, but some awesome visuals, including big monsters and ice powers. Coming 2011. How much longer is this press event? Good lord, Sony!
- Holy crap! This is one of the bigger surprises of the show for me. A new Twisted Metal game was announced for the PS3, coming in 2011! The multiplayer footage they showed off looked absolutely insane, with helicopters, motorcycles, and all kinds of mayhem. This looks like it captures exactly what I loved about this series. It was seriously one of my favorite PS1 games of all time. Love this!
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So that was kind of a bear to sit through, but not a bad presser by Sony at all. Easily a second place finisher behind the Nintendo blow-out earlier, but that’s nothing to be ashamed off. Sony had a really strong showing, with lots of exclusives, great games to be shown off and a couple of big shockers. I’m really excited about the lineup to come.
Anybody else find it strange that we got no Resistance 3 or Last Guardian footage? I’m wondering if the latter game has been delayed…
What did you guys think of Sony’s event, and these announcements? Go!
Sony’s won it for me. I thought Nintendo had it but damn, if Valve bringing Portal 2 to PS3 (maybe more later?) isn’t good news then I don’t know what is. Also, the strength of that line-up of 1st and 3rd party titles? They pretty much reversed MS vs Sony from last year.
Also, Kevin Butler is very much win.
This showing wins it for me also. More games i care about, although i wasnt very psyched about the jetpacks… but to me, Move looks like the best of all the options that i wont be using.
So, listen: if Steam Cloud means I can buy it on the PS3 and also play it on my Mac (or vice versa), I am very excited.
I have to stop watching these press conferences; I can only wash my trousers and other assorted underwear at a set rate =P
Steamworks support is kinda awesome.
Loved Twisted Metal.
Yeah, JJ, I’m with you. That would be a really cool thing to do with Steam.
Also, I’m totally geeking about the chance to play more Twisted Metal. It looked like, well… more Twisted Metal, which isn’t a bad thing at all. My brother used to spend hours playing that on the PS1.
Sony’s got a great lineup here, I think it might finally be time to scrounge up the money for a PS3.
Still, I was pretty disappointed to hear that over 800 of the 1000 cars in GT5 are just recycled from the PS2 version – what have they been doing all this time?! But with the top gear test track, they could use NES graphics and I’d be happy.
@wox42, Dude, the 800 out of 1000 cars just won’t have fully modeled interior (engine bay, suspension, trunk, all the stuff under the car) and they won’t feature “full damage”, just some crumbles at the very best, but they will be fully mechanically damageable (they will not look trashed, but they won’t handle/go as fast as they should). The other 200 will feature all of the above, they are either going to be race cars (rally/f1/nascar’s) or some really exotic cars. Not all of the 800 standard cars are going to be copied from GT4, those which will be, will have a fully modeled cockpit view and they will all have a remodeled exterior.
HEY, does the Gabe Newell appearance on sony’s e3 stage mean updates for TF2 ?
List looks good. I don’t like the idea of Twisted Metal with helicopters, or any other type of vehicle besides cars. The simplicity of the Twisted Metal games as well as the non-stop action were the points that drew me to them. I think that air fights, and having to take the time to move a crosshair around and aim at different cars will slow the pace of gameplay considerably. Helicopters and other types of vehicles will bring fresh flavor to the existing gameplay, though.
Post-Video Comment: After watching the gameplay video, the new Twisted Metal looks ok. The sniping is a bit much. The Twisted Metal series has always been about the vehicles/combat and not the people in my opinion.