E3 2010: Sony

The last of the big 3, and the last conference I'll be covering, Sony had a lot to contend with. While most titles showcased for Kinect were crap, there were a couple that showed the possibilities of what you can do when your game reads your entire body. Throw in a couple really great games like Gears of War 3 and you get a solid, though looking a little weak, contender in Microsoft. Then Nintendo threw the gauntlet. It was like the really popular kid at school got on stage, put on an amazing show, and then as it was passing you before you took your turn bumped into you and made fun of your glasses. And then made you walk out to realize that several people had already left because they wanted to hang out with the popular one instead of listening to you. So a little deflated and humiliated before it even began, Sony stepped onto the stage.

I have been in love with my PS3 for quite a while now, enjoying every spectacular moment of HD gaming, browsing through PSN for new titles and demos, and just recently streaming downloaded movies and TV shows to it from my computer. I even have fun visiting Home from time to time. So even with the beating they had already taken, I was looking forward to what Sony would show off as its latest and greatest.

Unfortunately I'm still waiting.

For me, Sony's showcase was nothing less than a complete borefest. It really should've been called "Sony presents our latest commercials...and a couple demos, most of which you've already seen". Once again for E3 Sony just tooted their own horn about how great they were while providing very little evidence about why, especially in light of having gone after Microsoft and Nintendo's big showcases. It was like they were just saying "What black eye? Everyone likes me!"

Of course, one of the biggest things they emphasized was 3D. And why not? After all, they're the ones who are making the TVs and glasses that will set you back somewhere between 4-5 thousand dollars if you want more than one pair of glasses. So they gave everyone in the audience a pair of glasses, and brought out a demo for Killzone 3. Of course, not being there, it was impossible to tell exactly how good it looked as everything was tuned for stereoscopic 3D and as such looked slightly off. That being said, it still looked easily like the most graphically intense game to come out yet. Also...jetpack. Awesome. Can't wait to play it. It will also be fully 3D and Move compatible by launch next February.

More titles in 3D: Motorstorm Apocalypse, the Sly Collection, Gran Turismo 5, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White Skateboarding, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Tron: Evolution, and NBA 2K11. Basically, if you're going to shell out the thousands of dollars for 3D, you're going to have some hardcore games to go with it, which is nice.

Move+3D compatible games: The Fight, Eyepet, Tumble, and MLB The Show. They didn't mention that Killzone 3 will also feature this, which I can understand because they already shouted about it so much that they might start to seem desperate if that's all they had to offer. They say the "experience is unlike anything you've ever seen before," and it's the "closest thing you'll ever experience to being in the game itself. " It's just too bad that I have literally no desire to be in a Fight Night ripoff, with a scary monkey creature, or in a Jenga looking game. The Show is the only one I can see being a really fun experience in 3D with the Move. The others...let's just say I was getting very dubious about the Move before they even started talking about it.

Then they throw in a little blurb about how the Playstation 2 just reached it's 10th year. Now, Sony has a big hard-on for talking about the 10 year life cycle of their consoles. So one might think upon reaching end of said cycle they might want to retire it, or try to add some PS2 functionality back into the PS3 now that they're finally making some money off it. Nope. Turns out the PS2 was the second most played console last year, and they're just going to keep selling it and expanding into Latin America. Boooooo.

Ah, the Move. Sony's HD Wii. For a while they just talk about how great it is, and then it becomes readily apparent...they forgot who their real opponent was. They start talking about how it has buttons, which give you more control over a game. Or how it's so much more of a realistic experience when you actually have something in your hands. In short, they went after Kinect, but in the process they ignored the Wii. And, unfortunately for them, it's really hard to try and pit the Move and Kinect against each other, because they're each offering completely different experiences. They kept talking about how the Move is great for the hardcore gamer, but it's pretty damn obvious Kinect isn't even trying to go after the hardcore gamer. Yes, buttons give more precise control, but being able to read the movement of your entire body gives a level of functionality that Move will never be able to provide on its own. So while getting smacked down by Nintendo, they choose instead to pick on Microsoft who isn't even really competing in the same category (except casual games like Kinectimals vs. Eyepet).

That being said, they reveal that with the size of a blu-ray disc, they can include both the non-Move and Move versions of a game on the same disc, allowing developers to more freely experiment with the technology without reducing its buyer pool.

So then they bring out their first interesting Move game: Sorcery. Think Harry Potter with spells that can be combined. You flick the move to cast a bolt, you spin it around to make a tornado, you tip it back to your mouth to drink a potion. It showed off some really cool things, and the fidelity to his movements was perfectly 1:1. That being said, it was still a fairly generic looking fantasy game.

Tiger Woods golf. Yawn. The 1:1 movement supposedly means you can work on your actual golf swing, which is interesting. Still, nothing that hasn't been seen before. They also call it a "key franchise" for the PS3. This is one of those astounding things I can't understand about gamers. Every year, a company will crank out the exact same sports game you saw last year, but with one or two new features. They've been releasing Tiger Woods every year since 1999, and since then they've made a combined $500 million. And if it's been doing so well with such mediocre changes, the big change to Move will no doubt land it quite a bit of money as well.

Next up is a trailer for the upcoming Heroes on the Move, which brings together all of Sony's most famous platformers into one title: Sly Cooper and Bentley, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank. Supposedly designed for the Move from the ground up, nothing more was said about it, and the gameplay looked exactly like the platformers they came from with no innovation.

They made a deal with Coke...to feature the Move on Coke products.........and then, Mr. Kevin Butler shows up right in the nick of time to give the conference a much needed injection of energy. If you don't know him, he's the guy on the Playstation commercials. If you haven't seen them, look them up, because they're often quite funny. Anyways, he comes out to much fanfare and delivers a hilarious speech about gamers that just needs to be seen and enjoyed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZbJlpsohc

Then they bring out how much Move is going to hit your wallet. They only revealed 2 bundles, neither of which included a main controller with a sub, but they did announce that an individual Move main controller will be $49.99 and the sub controller $29.99. The bundles will be a PS Eye+controller+Sports Champions for $99.99, or a PS3 with the latter at $399.99. It was quite entertaining watching the conference because they announced the $50 price point for a controller first, and the people cheered. Then, you could tell everyone had forgotten there was a second controller, because with the $30 price point, people fell silent, and laughed. After that, you could tell people weren't happy. Why? Because if you wanted just two players with two controllers each and you didn't have the Eye already, this is going to run you $210. Meaning it will easily cost more than the Kinect in the long run if you want to play with other people, and you could just as easily get a brand new Wii for that much (and for $250 you could have 2 sets of controllers).

To try to soften the blow they then bring up a list of launch games for the Move: Socom 4, Time Crisis (yes that old arcade shooter is back), NBA 2K11, Ruse (nothing mentioned about this anywhere), Killzone 3, Singstar+Dance, Echochrome 2, and Eyepet. These will be along with current titles that will get an update to be Move compatible: Toy Story 3, Tiger Woods, Heavy Rain, and Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition. Also, a trailer recapping everything again and adding some more titles you care nothing about.

Anything in there strike your fancy? Cause it certainly doesn't mine. Easily the only one there I would even slightly be interested in is Heavy Rain, and I'm perfectly content with just the button presses as they are now. So with a ridiculous price point and lackluster lineup of games, I'm just going to have to pass it up when it comes out in September.

So that was a disappointment. But it couldn't get any worse...right?

Enter the PSP. With Nintendo presenting their masterpiece, the 3DS, it seemed like the only way Sony had any chance was to at least announce a new PSP, with the long awaited second analog stick. It wouldn't even matter if it had 3D since they're obviously already going to be behind on that, but even a little something, a graphics boost, greater connectivity to other PSPs, anything would've been welcome. Instead....we get their new marketing campaign with a loud mouthed black kid named Marcus Rivers. Do I even need to go on?

Meanwhile they keep declaring the PSP the best handheld for "true" gamers and such like that which certainly used to be somewhat true with franchises like Metal Gear Solid really shining with the superior graphics of the PSP...but is completely undercut by the 3DS. They at least make a quick show of a trailer for a new God of War game, as well as announcing titles like Tron, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Toy Story 3, Ace Combat, The 3rd Birthday (some kind of weird horror game?), a UFC game, and Invisimals which uses the camera to provide some kind of augmented reality game. Several more were shown in another trailer along with some actual gameplay for the latter titles: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Modnation Racers, Gravity Crash, a Dragonball Z fighter, Tennis, Madden 11, Patapon 3, Fat Princess, Tetris, Eyepet portable, Piyotama (a puzzle game like Tetris), Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3, Ys The Oath in Felghana, and Valkyria Chronicles 2.

It's certainly an impressive list of games, many of which easily have PS2 quality graphics, but there's nothing there to make anyone who doesn't own a PSP, like myself, get one.

Naturally, talking about linking the PSP to the PS3 they start talking about PSN, which is unsurprisingly the most connected network of the consoles (considering it's free). They also bring up the sometimes fun Home, to which they added a virtual simulation of their E3 booth, so that anyone who couldn't make it to the conference could see what it was like. They talked about all the cool stuff you could see and free items you could get, so naturally I took a look. Turns out it was exactly like this conference. A lot of self-hype, but in the end all you got was trailers.

Then a bit of a surprise, a demo! I never got Little Big Planet, because while I enjoy platformers, playing through levels or building my own just never looked that fun. Well, Little Big Planet 2 is rectifying that by adding the ability to make just about any game you please, including things like racers, RPGs, and even RTSs. Considering the amazing amount of things I never realized people were doing with the first game (like building a working calculator out of nothing but gears), I can't wait to get my hands on this game. Especially interesting was the trailer showcasing what some people had come up with in just 24 hours. They looked like full fledged games on their own.

So then...back to PSN. They unveil their new paid service, Playstation Plus, which will knock you back $50 a year and grab you exclusive demos, betas, select free PSN games, discounts in the PS Store, and various other bonuses. HOWEVER, the interesting point came when he said "You will own all of this content for the duration of your subscription." He didn't go into detail, but I can only assume that if you eventually decide you don't want to keep paying $50 a year, sorry, but all that other content you bought/received will no longer be yours. Whoopee.

Then they bring out EA for things specifically related to Sony not covered in their solo conference. First up, Medal of Honor. Already spoke a little about this game, how it was laughable they kept talking about authenticity, respect for soldiers, and it being the most realistic modern war shooter yet...while in multiplayer you keep getting points for firing your gun and can spend them to bring a tomahawk missile down on someone. Well, here they unveiled a new character you get to play as! Hooray! Right? Nope. Sorry. They show another fucking trailer showing badges of these different units, and then about 5 seconds of obviously cinematic (not gameplay) footage for each one. The new "character" hops on like a 4 wheel dirtbike kind of thing and gets, wait for it....10 seconds of actual gameplay footage plus the 5 seconds of cinematic. Also, ANOTHER FUCKING TRAILER for a multiplayer map based on an area in Afghanistan but which frankly looks like any other multiplayer map from Modern Warfare. The limited edition will contain a remastered HD copy of Medal of Honor: Frontlines, which is a nice little bonus.

Then, finally, they bring out something I care about with Dead Space 2. They immediately bring out the demo and start from where they left off at the EA conference, with Isaac coming face to face with a gigantic boss. In something that disturbs me, they bring back the same mechanic where Isaac is grabbed by something and has to shoot its weak point until the limb falls off, which happened all of 2 or 3 times when a gigantic arm shoots out of the wall in the first Dead Space, but has now already occurred twice in the demo. Here's really hoping they don't overuse it. Basically you end up escaping, only to meet the ship once again which once again blows open a window and depressurizes the area, only to have the monster fly past you...and take you with it into open space where you have to shoot exploding canisters at it. Epic. Unfortunately it only lasted all of about 2 minutes. However, the limited edition, only for PS3, packs in the Wii port Dead Space: Extraction for Move.

And then...hoo boy. And then, they bring out the greatest surprise of the entire conference. He starts talking about being excited to work with another well known developer who is known for making great games, blah blah blah all stuff we've heard...and then the lights go dark...and none other than GlaDos' voice comes over the speakers saying "Standby for an important announcement from the Aperture Science Emergency Surprise System. Deploying surprise in 3...2...1..." and then none other than Gabe Newell, head of Valve, comes on stage. Gabe Newell has been rather outspoken in his hate of the PS3. It was a miracle that the Orange Box was released on it, and it has since received none of the major updates. So for him to walk out already was a surprise in itself. So he comes out and starts talking about how he's grateful to Sony for not smacking him around, and how he's nervous because he was introduced to Kevin Butler as the VP of sharpening things, and it's all very funny. Then he says something amazing. First, Portal 2 will be on the PS3. Second, it will include Steam and Steamcloud software, meaning automatic updates, patches, and free DLC from Valve. So with that, he goes on to claim that the PS3 version of Portal 2 will be the best version on any console. ROCK. ON. And then, the first reveal of Portal 2 gameplay. It's only a trailer, but I don't even care because it looks amazingly pretty and really really really fun.

New teaser trailer for Final Fantasy XIV. Reveals absolutely nothing new, including literally 0 seconds of gameplay. Booo.

Mafia 2 is going to have loads of extras only for PS3. Nobody cares.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood will have several missions exclusive to PS3, and the multiplayer beta will only be available on PSN. Sweet. They also show off another fucking trailer for the multiplayer, which shows no gameplay but looks awesome.

Then ANOTHER fucking trailer showcasing their big titles they didn't have time to show but still want to include. Despite saying that, they still included games they did actually show like Killzone 3 and Medal of Honor. Here are the ones that they didn't talk about: Metal Gear Rising, DC Universe online, True Crime, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Pixeljunk Shooter 2, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and Dead Nation. There were also small flashes of Lego Harry Potter and Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions.

Gameplay footage of Gran Turismo 5. I'm not a racing games fan, but I can still appreciate just how damn pretty that game looks. It's quite incredible. And they finally announce that it's coming this November.

Then a trailer for Infamous 2, featuring the new look of our protagonist...and it's completely different. Different look, different voice, I honestly don't understand why they didn't just make him a new character. That being said, the gameplay looks spectacular, with the addition of a new cattle prod-like melee weapon to make fights all the more interesting. Not only that, but they teased that you'll be able to control ice this time around as well. Fun fun.

With very little pretext they then literally rolled out the next title. After a short little film, the easily recognizable ice cream truck of Sweet Tooth rolls out on stage with an actor inside dressed like Sweet Tooth and wielding a giant sword. For those who don't know, Twisted Metal was a very fun arcade style vehicular battle game featuring the clown Sweet Tooth. As they say, Twisted Metal is the longest running franchise for the Playstation. Now, I understand that some people love Twisted Metal, I enjoyed it myself way back in the day, but when the next installment of a 15 year old franchise that won't be released for another year or so is your featured end-of-showcase...you might want to take a good hard look at what you're putting out. Personally, I would've ended on Gabe Newell coming out and saying "Yeah...sorry about all that Sony bashing stuff. As apology we're going to make the PS3 version of Portal 2 the best on any console." That was by far the biggest news of the Sony conference if not of E3, and they treated Twisted Metal like it was WAY more important than anything anyone had put out.

Sorry, Sony. It's not.

They show off some gameplay modes and vehicular mayhem, and it's obvious the game is still in the early stages of development, and it certainly does look fun, but it's nothing game changing. It's the same old Twisted Metal we've always known, but with more destruction. That will be enough to satisfy many, but in a conference low on original ideas or announcements, it just wasn't a good place to end.

Overall, Sony's conference was one long, boring disappointment with a couple standouts, but nothing to make anyone who owns or is looking to own a PS3 (or Move) excited about. Best of luck Sony, you're going to need it.