Sony’s two-hour E3 press conference covered 3D and Move for the Playstation 3, a new paid online service called Playstation Plus, and a few high-profile announcements. Most announcements focused on being Playstation exclusive, and simple announcements and in-game demo feats were met with a suspiciously high amount of applause (with many game journalists sarcastically joking about planted clappers in the audience on Twitter). Seriously, when was the last time you heard that much cheering for someone waving a motion control device in a circle to make a whirlwind? Seriously.
Read on for the condensed highlights:
[b]Playstation 3 and Playstation Plus[/b]
· The PS3 has an installation base of 35 million, and will have 20 3D titles by March 2011.
· Sony thinks the PS2 is still relevant for this year. Not too sure about that one. The PS2 is continuing to branch out in Latin America, though.
· The Playstation E3 booth is digitally replicated on Home, where players can check out demos and game footage, and receive in-game swag as well.
· The PlayStation Network will always be free, but customers who want to “further enrich their experience” can pay for Playstation Plus, which will debut later this month and offer trials, Playstation Minis, downloadable content, DLC levels, map packs and lifestyle gaming show “Core”. The service will be $49.99 for one year, or $17.99 for three months. Sony will also offer three-month trials for Playstation Plus, and plans to add more features. The content you receive through Playstation Plus will only be available as long as you subscribe to the service.
Playstation Network has 50 million registered users. PSN reality show “The Tester” has been renewed for a second season.
Sony will also be launching a video delivery service in Canada.
[b]Move[/b]
· Move will launch in Europe on September 15, in North America on September and in Japan on October 21.
· The stand-alone Move will be $49.99. The navigation controller attachment (nunchuk-like device) will be $29.99. A bundle with both of these, the Playstation Eye, and Sports Champions game will be $99.99. You can purchase all of those with a Playstation 3 for $399.99. SOCOM 4.
· Upcoming games for the peripheral included Time Crisis, Ruse, NBA 2k 11, Singstar, Echocrome 2, and Eyepet . Pre-existing games such as Toy Story, Heavy Rain and others will support Move with a software update.
· For games with both regular controller and Move support, the original and Move version of the game will come on the same Bluray disc. Sony called it “a value to the consumer,” but I’d watch out to see if they don’t charge more for these discs.
· Sorcery, a new Move game, was demoed. The concept wasn’t entirely original (save the land from evil magic by using your good-magic spells), but the combination of spells is kind of neat. It will debut in spring 2011.
[b]PSP[/b]
· The PSP was quickly glossed over in the conference showing with only pauses to take a look at some new titles and the new PSP publicity campaign. Nearly no mention was made of the unsuccessful PSP Go.
· It seems unusual and unconventional for a company to announce a new ad campaign at E3 rather than announce new hardware or software, but Sony introduced “Marcus,” who seems to be the Kevin Butler for PSP.
· A game called Invizimals was announced, which uses the PSP camera attachment and seems to operate a lot like Eyepet.
· The God of War Chains of Olympus team is making a new GOW installment for the PSP called Ghosts of Sparta, which chronicles Kratos’s rise to power.
· The PSP will get 70 new titles by December including: Tron Evolution, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, The Third Birthday, UFC Unleashed, God of War: Ghost of Sparta and Invizamals.
· The PSP will have more entertainment and hardware packs by fall.
· Sony also showed: Mod Nation Racers for PSP, Gravity Crash Portable, Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, Madden NFL 11, Invizamals, Patapon 3, Fat Princess, Eyepet, Piyotama, The Third Birthday, Persona 3 Portable, and Valkyria 2.
[b]Playstation 3 Games + “Exclusivity”[/b]
· Killzone 3 demos were shown in 3D. The conference attendees were made to look silly after having to don 3D glasses. The scenes shown were from the 4th level of the game in an artic tundra. “Pre-alpha code demo” was displayed at the top of the screen, so it’s not exactly the final build. Killzone 3 will be available worldwide February 2011 and will be an exclusive for PS3. It will be fully compatible with Move at launch.
· Other 3D-enabled, first-party titles include: Motor Storm Apocalypse, Sly Collection, Gran Turismo 5. Third-party 3D titles include: Crisis 2, Mortal Kombat, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, NBA 2k 11.
· 3D- and Move-enabled titles include: The Fight: Lights Out, Eye Pet, Tumble, MLB: The Show.
· The Move will also be used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. In the on-stage demo, the Move seemed receptive to adjusting the player’s in-game stance.
· Move will also be used in Heroes on the Move, a mash-up of Playstation’s most-recognized characters including Rachet, Jak, Daxter, Sly, Clank, and Bentley.
· Little Big Planet 2 was announced. It will feature a new sharing interface that links to the web and allow players to make many genres of games, including shooters and RTS. You can also record movies.
· EA is supporting each Playstation product—PSN and Move– with exclusive game content.
· EA announced two games that will have exclusive content: The first game is Medal of Honor, which is set in Afghanistan and will debut October 12th 2010. On June 28th EA will showcase a series of videos of Tier 1 Operators who helped work on the game. A limited edition version of this game will contain a high-def version of Medal of Honor Frontline. The second game under this deal is Dead Space 2. A limited edition version of it will be released containing Dead Space 2 and Dead Space Extraction with Move support.
· Other EA titles will also be on PS3: Madden, FIFA, NHL, and Need for Speed.
· Gabe Newell from Valve announced Portal 2 for the PS3, which will come out in 2011. The trailer for Portal 2 has GLADOS saying, “I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You, monster.”
· Sony showed a trailer of Final Fantasy XIV, an online MMO.
· Mafia II promises more free, exclusive content for PS3.
· Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood will have an exclusive package of missions for PS3. Multiplayer beta online available on PSN later this year. The Assassin’s Creed multi-player trailer also premiered with the demo. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood will be available on November 16th 2010.
· Another Gran Turismo 5 trailer was shown and still looks realer than reality. GT5 also got a release date for November 2, 2010
· Infamous 2 was shown with lightning, lightning, lightning, explosions, and ice. Expect it out in 2011.
· Twisted Metal had a weird real-life trailer. Demos featured helicopters and new gameplay modes. Twisted Metal’s Nuke mode allows faction-based, capture-the-flag style gameplay. There seems to be a few breakable stage props and vehicles now have two special attacks.
November is going to be a big month for Sony! Check back to MyGamer.com for more E3 news!