Sony Press Conference Aftermath

E3: Sony Press Conference Aftermath

By: Jassi Patayon

It was a big year for Sony in 2008 and this year it’s no different, with the momentum gained from the previous year, Sony unleashes its full on assault towards the gaming world.

This year’s E3, Sony presented a number of surprises, given the industry’s ability to keep confidential information (Especially on the new psp), that captured imagination, gained hype, and of course, new audiences.

The conference started off as the usual crunching of numbers, sales rate, plans for upcoming sales, where to sale goals etc. Just when the audience started to snooze a bit, they presented the first single player gameplay of Uncharted: Among Thieves, and presented they have. At the beginning of the game, Drake and his companion are on top of a tall building somewhere located in South America (this is just a guess), the graphics was just jaw-dropping with building details and sky color matching reality. Later, they both find themselves under attack by a helicopter and the chase was on. Apparently, Drake learned some new moves right after the first game since he is a tad more agile in this one, climbing buildings, jumping from roof to roof plus the camera focusing on the action and emotion of the character turned it into a playable, cinematic experience. To sum it all up, Drake entered a building, fighting off enemies using the famous “duck, cover and shoot”, trying to get to ground level, but soon the helicopter used missiles to take the whole building down, but as usual, luck was on Drake’s side and both of the characters survived. A live closed multiplayer beta was announced after the game for everyone to see and enjoy until the release of the game this September.

Zipper interactive came center stage to present the first live demo of the 256-player game called MAG. The demo featured 256 players from Seattle to San Diego and 8 players on stage. The game focuses on squad combat so that confusion isn’t a problem while playing. The squad leader has most of the good stuff during gameplay, each squad in the game has one. The leader is granted the ability to set objectives, gain access to off map support and more. In the game, the SL (Squad Leader) set an objective to attack a certain part of the base while the players on the other team hustle to defend their territory. At the start, the SL called in a recon UAV to scout out hidden enemies. Unfortunately, the enemies have access to anti-air weapons so the UAV was cut short. The attack commenced on the base and the battle began with 256 players unleashing massive amounts of ammo. The main team on stage later captured a bridge where their helicopters landed acting as a forward deployment point meaning that they would respawn there when killed in battle. Right after the bridge was secured; all players from the main team assaulted the second bridge, which was heavily defended, so the SL called in a carpet-bombing air strike, which, of course, was totally freaking awesome. The demo ended there with the announcement of release this fall.

Following MAG, Announcements of bundle packs for the psp such as rockband unplugged coming out this week, Dissdia Final Fantasy on August 25, followed by Assassins Creed: Bloodlines on November 10^th. Also a Hannah Montnna bundle with a lilac psp color.

The president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment came on stage to announce what was dubbed “the worst kept secret of E3” or the PSP GO! The news system will feature a 16GB internal memory, UMD has been taken out, and heavily focused for the traveling gamer. The new system will come out in black or white for $249.99 on October 1^st.

The Playstation Store has also been uptated so that Media can be downloaded directly to the psp. Also, PS Store has gained more content specially on video and movies with companies such as STARZ TV, G4, Magnolia Films, and a bunch of anime companies.

Polyphony Digital made an appearance to announce their future game: Gran Turismo, not for the PS3, but for the psp. The game will feature 800 cars, 35 tracks, and 60 layout variations of the track. Adding to that is standard races, time trials, drift trials, and a mission challenge mode that includes the legacy challenge mode so that games can put their driving skills to the test. Although online multiplayer wasn’t announced, Ad-hoc was announced so that players can play up to 4 players and have their own garage to trade and share cars to make the 800 car collection an easier experience. The game will come out the same day the PSP Go! Launches on October 1^st.

Hideo Kojima made an appearance to present MGS Peace Walker for the PSP, which takes place 10 years after MGS 3 Snake Eater. Kojima Emphasized that the main team of MGS4 and Hideo Kojima himself will be deeply involved in the game to prove that the game isn’t just a side story or a spin off. The game will answer the questions that were generated in MGS4, especially answer the questions of “OUTER HEAVEN”. The setting will be in Costa Rica where Snake trains a military group which will create a “paradise”.

Resident Evil Portable was also announced to be released next year, together with the announcements of Little Big Planet, Monster Hunter Unite, Socom: Fire Team Bravo 3, and Harry Potter.

Ubisoft presented Assassins Creed II’s gameplay which is set in the Italian renaissance with Desmond’s new ancestor: Ezio. The game features a bigger city in Italy and some help with new friends such as Leonardo Da Vinci. The game showed new technology and weapons as well such as the flying machine, where the player must fly into the skies of Venice to get to the target. The character also has new moves, instead of giving Ezio weapons, the team of Ubisoft worked on his hand-to-hand combat where Ezio can use the weapons of his enemies against them. The game is expected to be released this fall.

Square Enix presented a trailer of Final Fantasy XIII with all the same stuff the is already seen in the Microsoft press conference, but the surprising part is the announcement of Final Fantasy XIV exclusively for the PS3. Unlike the main Final Fantasy franchises, this Final Fantasy brings us back to Final Fantasy XI, which is, of course, an Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO). Little is said about the game, but it is an epic, create your own adventure game by the looks.

Richard Marx, the person who introduced Eyetoy, brought a prototype of a new PS3 motion controller that interacts with the Playstation Eye. The prototype controller looks very similar to Nintendo’s Wii-mote, but has one-to-one tracking none like other. In other words, the controller is very responsive even with fast motions. The demo showed a variety of ways to use the new prototype. Weapon control, aiming with a gun, writing, and even RTS. No announcement was made as to when the controller will be available.

Little Big Planet defined a whole new genre in creating, playing and sharing, and a new PS3 game will come out from United Front Games called ModNation Racers. MNR will feature the same concept as LBP, but this time in a racing experience. Players can create characters, customize cars from scratch, and even make racetracks, which is made very simple. The gameplay is very similar to those of Mario kart and Crash Team Racing. The game will also contain physics that made LBP big. The game is to be released in 2010.

Jack Tretton announced the game called The Last Guardian, which is from the creators of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The game presented a boy who works hand in hand with a Guardian almost the same size of those in the Shadow of the Colossus game. The story is yet to be announced, but the game will consist of multiple puzzles and visuals only the PS3 is capable of.

The last game to be shown was God of War 3, and the game looks insanely incredible. The game still has the same concepts of the other two games of GOW, but this time, Kratos is pissed and the game shows it. The gore factor of the game has been increased ten-fold, and blood of mythical creatures gushes out like waterfall. It is the only game where games can see over-the-top badass action. The game is expected 2010.