|
Tuesday was a big day for Sony, being the last of the big three to give their conference. Overall, the conference was well done, with Sony revealing a few well known secrets, but also a few that were quite a surprise. Missed the show? Couldn't catch the live stream? Don't want to sit through two hours of demos and awkward hosts on stage? No worries, TWG has you covered with the Wrap Up of the Sony E3 '09 Conference. The show opened with a sleek intro showing the three current Sony systems, the PSP, PS2 and PS3, showcasing video from each of the different platforms. The conference kicked off with market details about the PS2 and the price drop to $99.00 and how big of a success it's been for Sony. They said that they will continue to support the PS2, which is now in its ninth year, because they fully support their claims to a ten year life span for all systems. But you're not reading this to hear about the PS2, so let's move on to the good stuff. The conference then went into a few details about the PS3, with demos of a few games that have already come to the public light. According to those at the conference, there will be a total of 35 exclusive titles coming to the PS3 this year, so it will be interesting to see how those play out. Now onto the game demos. Some members from Naughty Dog came out to showcase a bit of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which is shaping up to be quite an impressive game. The demo started off with Nathan climbing to the top of a large building with a woman to reveal a breathtaking view of a vibrant city below. The two quickly take a trip down a zipline, landing on a rooftop that's scattered with debris. As Nathan starts to make is way across a beam to get to the other side of the building, a Hind D helicopter rises up just a few hundred feet away and opens fire. The rest of the demo is a chaotic run from the Hind, with Nathan fighting off armed goons inside a crumbling building, with great quips of dialogue to go along with it.  After that, developers from Zipper Interactive came out to give everyone a taste of a live, 256 player battle from MAG, the massive online shooter that's coming to the PS3 later this year. The demo showed some of the squad leader controls, and the overall tactical map that they can bring up to assess situations on the field before giving their orders. In the small bit of gameplay that was shown, the developers were pushing towards an enemy held bunker which, once taken by them, would become a forward spawn point for their team. There were a few interesting bits of information that were presented, like the fact that all the ambient and distant gunfire you hear while playing a match is all real players firing their weapons somewhere off in the distance. Also, once the bunker was secured, helicopters flew in with support troops, and these were controlled by real, live players as well. The demo showcased the fact that MAG really can pull off battles of a massive scale, and we'll have to see how it all shakes out this fall when the game is released.  With the first of the game demos out of the way, Sony moved on to the PSP portion of the conference, beginning with the "official" announcement of the PSP Go, which they also jokingly referred to as "The Worst Kept Secret of E3", drawing many laughs from the crowd. For anyone who missed the news late last week, the new PSP Go is 50% smaller than the current PSP 3000, and 40% lighter. It features a 3.8 inch screen, 16 GB of internal flash memory, and a memory expansion slot if that isn't enough storage space for you. The unit also supports Bluetooth, which can be hooked up to a headset or through your phone. But the coolest thing about the PSP Go is the new design, which acts like many popular cell phones on the market today that utilize sliding screens. The screen of the PSP slides up to reveal the D-Pad, joystick, start and select buttons as well as the face buttons beneath. The unit no longer has a UMD slot, because Sony designed the PSP Go to cater more to the digital crowd, those who prefer to download all their games with no physical media. To accomplish that, the unit has free WiFi which you will be able to use to access the PSN to download games amongst other things. They also stressed the fact that the PSP Go is not a replacement for the PSP 3000, and that the two will co-exist on retail shelves when the PSP Go hits stores this fall. Along with the PSP Go announcement, Sony showcased details of the new Gran Turismo game that will be coming out for the PSP this fall. The game runs at a smooth 60 FPS, and will feature 800 cars, as well as 35 tracks with 60 different variations. They stressed that this isn't a "pocket size" GT game, and that it does in fact have the same amount of content they would put in a console release, just on a smaller scale. Since there are so many cars in the game, there is a feature that allows you to connect with your friends via WiFi to trade and add cars to your garage, so you don't have the burden of getting them all yourself. It's a cool feature, and the game will be a must have for a lot of PSP owners out there. GT for the PSP has a tentative release date of October 1st, 2009.  For the next announcement, Hideo Kojima came out on stage and shared the word about Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which is a full on sequel in the metal gear saga for the PSP. Taking place in the mid 1970's, ten years after MGS 3, the game follows Big Boss on a mission in Costa Rica. A full trailer was shown, which showcased different cinematic aspects of the game as well as some of the gameplay features that we've all come to expect from a MGS game. Hideo Kojima is writing the script for the game, while members of the MGS 4 team are working on the game, and it is meant to be a true sequel to MGS 3, filling in some of the gap between MGS 3 and MGS1 (that's a fun timeline to think about, isn't it?). There wasn't a definite release date for it yet, but the trailer is online, so go take a look! They did a general PSP wrap up after that, with mentions of Resident Evil portable and LittleBigPlanet portable, and ended with a showcase video of many of the different games that will be coming out for the PSP in the future. Then came the short segment on the PSN, detailing the fact that there are over 24 million users now in over 55 countries. There was a montage of footage shown on the different aspects of Home, the PSN virtual networking world. One of the coolest announcements was that there will be a number of classic PS One titles making their way to the PSN, one of which is Final Fantasy VII, now available on the US PSN for $9.99. It's not a remake, but it's a start I suppose. The PS3 section of the conference was quite meaty, with a few surprises thrown into the mix. It was announced that Rockstar is bringing a new exclusive property to the PS3 called Agent, which revolves around dark assassinations in the 1970's. No gameplay was shown, but a new IP from Rockstar is always a good thing. A demo of Assassins Creed 2 was shown, and the game is shaping up quite nicely. The game takes place in Renaissance Italy, and your new character has ties to Leonardo Da Vinci, as is evidenced by the flying machine that you get to use in the demo to gain access to the palace for an assassination. The dual wrist blades were also showcased in a particularly brutal kill, but all in all the game looks very similar to AC 1, which isn't a bad thing. There was also a new trailer shown for Final Fantasy XIII, which has a spring 2010 release date. .jpg "FF XIV") Then came the announcement that no one was expecting. After the FF XIII trailer was shown, the host mentioned something about the next step in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy IX, which will be coming to the PS3 next year as well. Two Final Fantasy games in one year, you say? Well, yes and no. Final Fantasy XIV is going where FF XI went, online. So call it FF XIV, or FF Online 2, or whatever you like, but it's not the tradition FF experience that most think of. Still, it will be interesting to see how it all pans out when it's done. There was one odd thing though. At the conference, the host said that FF XIV is coming out exclusively for the PS3, but on the games website, it also says Windows as a platform, leading many to believe that it will be landing on PC as well. I guess we'll find out with time. With motion control being all the rage these days, Sony has now also thrown their hat into the ring with some new technology. Looking a lot like a Wiimote with a ping pong ball attached to the top, Sony showed a demo of a new controller that interacts with the PS Eye for perfect 1:1 ratio movement tracking. Basically, whatever you do, it does on screen. There were different motion demos shown, the most impressive one being the combat one at the end, which featured a sword and shield layout, along with a bow and arrow. The player was able to deflect arrows that came at them with their shield, and the bow motion was cool, because the further back you pulled the controller, the tighter the bow string became. Again, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in an actual game. Keep your eyes and ears open for more info on that in the future. There were also a few minor announcements about new costume packs that will be coming for LBP, some of which are incorporating certain Disney characters like Jack Sparrow. But in the LBP scheme of things, Sony went on about the slogan for LBP, "Play. Create. Share." and said that it has now become somewhat of a mantra for developers in the industry. To show this, members of United Front Games came out and introduced a new game coming out for the PS3 called Mod Nation Racers. Think of it as the LBP of kart racers. You're able to create your own racers, karts and even tracks with an innovative and relatively simple track designer. One of the developers on stage made a level from scratch in five short minutes, and it looked and played very well. Granted, he was a developer, but the tools he used were very simple and easy to wrap your head around, so keep an eye out for Mod Nation Racers, as it's shaping up to be a fun, creative title.  One title that many have been waiting to hear about, the third title from the makers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus was finally shown. Titled 'The Last Guardian', the trailer shows a myriad of beautiful images and gameplay that lead me to believe that the third entry in the series will be just as revolutionary and breathtaking as the first two. Words cannot describe the subtle beauty that the trailer captures, you just have to see it for yourself. The last two big hitters of the show were Grant Turismo 5 and God of War 3, both of which are looking absolutely amazing. There was only a trailer shown for GT 5, but the graphics were absolutely stunning, showcasing many of the different cars that will be in the game upon release. For God of War 3, there was an actual gameplay demo that was done on stage, and Kratos is back and brutal as ever. Tearing the wings from harpies, smashing skeleton soldiers to pieces, and even breaking a horn off a Chimera to stab in in the brain were some of the showcased moves that Kratos was pulling off with style. The complex kill animations are still present, leading you through a few key button presses to mutilate a large enemy in style. For those of us (being everyone) that were hoping to play with Kratos this Christmas, it turns out we're going to have to wait a bit longer to get our blades covered in blood. God of War 3 is now slated for a March 2010 release date. I'm pretty sure there was a collective groan from the crowd when that was announced as well. 
Whew! Well, that pretty much sums it up folks, Sony E3 '09. After the God of War demo, there was a final statement and a video showcasing a ton of different titles, and then that was that. As more news surfaces, we'll have more detailed updates on some of these announcements as they become available throughout the week. There you have it, the two hour conference all bundled up in one convenient place! Enjoy the rest of E3, and be sure to check back at TWG for all the latest updates! |
