E3 2011 :: Sony E3 Press Conference Wrap-Up
After a day of excitement and announcements, everything has drawn to a close. Sony closed out the day with, arguably, the best press conference. Though it’s not like Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft were firing on all cylinders. As per usual, Jack Tretton was Sony’s master of ceremonies – guiding us into each big announcement and the occasional bit of filler. Unlike Jack, I’m not going to be here for an hour telling you everything that came out of Sony’s press briefing. It’s far too late/early for that.
Sony Is Sorry
Sony’s first big announcement of the show was that it’s sorry for the recent PlayStation Network outage. Speaking on behalf of everyone at Sony Computer Entertainment, Jack Tretton made it clear that the company want to move past this and deliver quality content on consoles and handhelds.
Sony Provides Cheap 3D
Sony was pushing 3D technology hard at their conference this year, often requiring the audience to put on 3D glasses. Jack Tretton commented on the price barrier on 3D and how Sony wanted to break that barrier down. To do this they’re releasing a PlayStation-branded television. The 24-inch set comes with: one set of 3D glasses, a HDMI cable and a copy of Resistance 3 for $499. As a gamer living in a tiny room, this deal is rather appealing. They also announced that the 3D glasses would retail at $69.99 a pair and would allow players to see separate images with one TV. Madness!
Uncharted 3
Speaking of “quality content”, Jack threw the show over to Evan Wells and Cristoph Balestra from Naughty Dog. Wells showed off exactly what Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception was all about. Though it didn’t quite match up to the massive helicopter battle shown off for Uncharted 2 at E3 ’09, this sequence – in which Drake stealth kills his way through a sinking cruise liner before being consumed by the current – was really impressive and, I’m sure, pretty indicative of what we can expect from the game.
Announced alongside this was a partnership with Subway, which would grant users access to Uncharted 3′s full multiplayer suite before the release of the game. It’s a pretty unprecedented move, but one that could pay off for Sony and Naughty Dog.
Resistance 3
Sony’s other big ‘threequel’, Resistance 3 was also demoed. Having this follow Uncharted might not have been the best of moves considering the reception of the crowd towards the former. However, I was impressed with how good the game looked and the idea of small resistance camps, spread around America, really got my attention. Sony also announced a Move bundle for the game, which includes: The game, a Move want, a Navigation Controller, a PS Eye camera and a Sharpshooter accessory for $150.
More HD Collections
Jack stressed how much people loved Sony’s back catalog before announcing that God Of War: Chains Of Olympus and God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta would be bundled together, remastered in HD and re-released as God Of War: Origins. Team ICO Collection (ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus) were also mentioned. Both of these collections will be released in September.
Speaking Of Move…
A number of new Move games were demoed. All of these demos were pretty awkward, but they didn’t dwell on motion gaming like Microsoft did earlier in the day. Highlights included an NBA 2K12 demo given by members of 2K Sports and, Los Angeles Lakers star, Kobe Bryant. This was the most shambolic of the Move demos. It was followed by a new fantasy action game developed by the team behind Sports Champions. It looks like a re-skinned version of that game with an added story and the ability to move your character around environments. Didn’t look bad, but not all that intriguing.
BioShock: Infinite
One of motion gaming’s biggest critics, Ken Levine from Irrational Games came out to debut a new trailer for BioShock: Infinite. Guess what? It’s awesome. After the short trailer, Levine announced that the game would be getting Move support. He did stress that this would not compromise the game for the ‘core’, but would bring more people to the world of Colombia. Before leaving, Levine also teased a BioShock-related announcement for Sony’s new handheld.
Dust 514
The only, brand new, exclusive game announced for the PlayStation 3 at this press conference was Dust 514. This new sci-fi shooter is being developed by Studio CCP, the team behind EVE Online. This new game will tie into the PC MMO. Move support was also announced. There was a trailer, but no live demo.
PlayStation Vita
After a little more filler content in the form of an inFamous 2 trailer (why?), the original StarHawk announcement trailer (again, why?) and a short Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time teaser, Kaz Hirai took the stage to talk about Sony’s new handheld. The NGP codename has now been replaced with PlayStation Vita and it appears it’s got a lot of backing from both Sony and the third parties. A short sizzle reel showed off some of the previously announced titles. Uncharted: Golden Abyss was demoed live, this was followed by a new ModNation Racers and the announcement that Street Fighter X Tekken would be released on the system. This too was demoed and showed off that inFamous’ Cole McGrath would be added to the roster. LittleBigPlanet – with added touch functionality – was also announced and shown off in a trailer.
After the demos, Kaz reappeared to announce that the base model (WiFi only) of the new handheld would be released for $250/ €250 by “Holiday 2011″. This is a great move for Sony, as it puts it level on price with Nintendo’s 3DS. The announcement of a 3G enabled model was made. That iteration will be $299/€299, with a data plan exclusive to AT&T in USA. Needless to say, the boos ensued. Kaz just stood there, grinning and bearing it.
And that was that for Sony. There was no big ‘wow moment’ like there’s been at past E3′s, but they definitely had a decent showing. The focus on exclusive software is a big plus, the cheap access to 3D content is a great move and the price point of the PSV is certainly the star of the show. Nintendo are going to have to have something big with ‘Project Cafe’ later on today.
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