The last of the big three to show what it’s made of at the E3 tradeshow was Sony, occupying the suitably capacious Shrine Auditorium. It needed to be a biggie too, with what looked like the entire audience from Nintendo’s own shindig earlier on hot-footing it across town and everyone in attendance hoping for suitably large announcements. The big show began, as is customary, with a tantalising showreel comprising old games and new, before SCEA prez, Jack Tretton, took the stage, cracked a few whimsical gags and promised a line-up comprising the biggest exclusives in the industry. Big talk indeed, but the PS3 is a big, multifunctional console that, as Tretton was keen to point out, is still in the infancy of the ten year lifespan Sony has planned for it. But corporate excuses aside, here’s the beef of what was announced: Resistance: Fall of Man 2 Business is booming Playstation 2 Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty PSN Home PSN Video PSP software PS3 software The final PS3 game on display was MAG, which stands for Massive Action Game. It’s an appropriate acronym too, with 256 player battles, truly large-scale invasions and squad-based gameplay touted. Looks like it could be a good one, if not utterly chaotic. And that, we’re afraid to say, is pretty much the sum total of Sony’s presentation. No big shocks of any description, no truly earth-shattering new games stop the presses, no overt attempts to steal any of Nintendo’s motion-sensitive clothes but plenty of reassuring confidence ‘going forward’, as corporate execs are fond of saying. All things considered, though, we’d have to nominate Microsoft as the Best in Show so far. What do you think...?
A live demo was shown, featuring hero Nathan Hale fighting a worryingly gargantuan alien wotsit through the streets and skyscrapers of a partially submerged and plague-ridden city. Eight-player co-op and 60 player online games are mentioned and “scale” is the keyword, referring to the massive gamescapes, hee-yooge boss creatures and epic challenges in prospect. A great start!
Sony got around the tedium of the inevitable sales performance bit by presenting its toplines via the magic of LittleBigPlanet (more on that in a mo’). The highlights, as far as we’re concerned, include the announcement that Resistance #1, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, Need for Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six Vegas, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would all be heading to the $29.99 ‘Greatest Hits’ label in the US. Hopefully this will apply to all markets in the fullness of time. Oh, and LittleBigPlanet itself was dated for October ‘08. Hooray!
Sony is not abandoning the format, which may either comfort or confound you. In fact there are some 130 releases planned for the format this year, including big hits from the Singstar, Buzz, EA Sports and Star Wars franchises. Er, moving on...
This good looking sequel effectively begins where Tools of Destruction left off, but is described by developers Insomniac as a new concept that’s much shorter in overall extent but chocka with action, suspense and more cerebral puzzles. Best of all this PS3 exclusive is out this summer at the budget price of $14.99, or rip-off Britain equivalent.
The Playstation Network, we’re snippily informed, is not going to be filled with games that no one wants to play. Instead we can look forward to a smaller but higher quality roster of games such as Ragdoll Kung-Fu: Fists of Plastic, PixelJunk Eden, PAIN Amusement Park, fLOwer, Siren Blood Curse and others less interesting. The PSN will also host Gran Turismo’s ‘GT TV’ service, which launches Stateside (and perhaps over here) on August 1st with a mix of free and pay-per-view content.
Sony, frustratingly, still won’t reveal when this is arriving. Likewise there’s no information about the forthcoming public Beta test. They have, however, already enlisted the support of major players such as EA, Ubisoft, Activision and Nike. Very nice, we’re sure, but just hurry up with the damn thing will ya?
Now this sounds a bit better than Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, with Sony Pictures, Fox, MGM, Warner, Lion’s Gate, Disney, Turner, Paramount and Funimation already onboard and offering a range of TV and movie content from day one (whenever that is). The PSN offering boasts rental and sell-through options too – US prices start at $1.99 for a TV episode, through to $2.99 for a standard-def movie rental, $5.99 for the HD option or $14.99 for the outright HD purchase. New content will be added weekly and it can be put on PSP too. Nice!
Sony’s not-so-diminutive handheld gets its own version of Resistance: FOM, called Resistance: Retribution. Very nice it looks too, but you’ll have to wait until next Spring to play it. Other smasheroos in the offing include Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LocoRoco 2, Madden 09, NBA 09, Lego Batman, Patapon 2, Buzz! Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles and Super Stardust Portable. Yeah, there’s some good ‘uns in there...
23 PS3 exclusives are promised, as is a lineup to make the competition weep. Highlights include: DC Universe, LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm 2, Quantum of Solace, SOCOM Confrontation, Ghostbusters (seen our vid yet?), Soul Calibur IV, Resistance: Fall of Man 2, Mirror’s Edge, Resi Evil 5, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, The Agency, NBA 09, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Buzz! Quiz TV, Killzone 2, inFamous and God of War 3, the latter pair arriving next year.