06/07/11

E3 2011 Roundup - Sony

Time for Sony.

Let’s just get it out of the way. Jack Tretton starts with apologizing for the whole hacking brouhaha, apologizing to publishers, retailers and consumers, and thanking them for sticking with Sony. Enough of that though. GAMES TIME.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The trailer was fairly standard Uncharted stuff, nothing unexpected. However, standard Uncharted stuff is awesome, so that’s not the worst thing in the world. Multiplayer beta starts June 20, the game releases November 1, but during October Subway will have a special where you can get access to the full multiplayer. For those of you that are interested.

After exclusive #1 was exclusive #2: Resistance 3. Also not surprising, looks good but nothing we haven’t seen. It’s being bundled with a Move setup for $150. After that they briefly featured a collection of God of War handheld games (Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta), remastered for HD on the PS3, as well as the well-known Team Ico collection.

Who comes to E3 for games though? No one. Sony then showed us a fancy cheaper 3D TV. 24” PlayStation branded 3D TV, with a special splitscreen feature that uses the 3D tech to give 2 players completely different images, so you can play splitscreen and still enjoy the full screen. The TV along with 1 pair of glasses, an HDMI cable, and Resistance 3 is $500. Looks like a pretty good deal, but I just bought a TV, so…oh well.

Ok back to games. Next was NBA 2K12, with Move support. Passing, stealing, and blocking are now point-and-click movements, and it looks quite simple. I could see it being a problem trying to point at moving players, but it seemed to work pretty well. I’m not a huge basketball fan so I won’t be picking this up either way, but everyone else will find out how well it works October 4.

Next: Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest. It’s a cartoony action game that uses the Move for things such as sword/shield combat, bow/arrow combat, and puzzles. Unsurprisingly, the motion controls seem to work pretty well. And I know I’ll sound like a Sony fanboy, but this is how motion controls should be done. Buttons are a huge help to motion controls, as impressive as Kinect is from a technological standpoint, the ability to give binary input in the form of buttons (or more complex input in the form of analog sticks) is immensely helpful. Anyway, Medieval Moves looks like a fun cartoonish romp.

I don’t know why they did this, but they showed Infamous 2. The day comes out tomorrow. Actually, looking at my clock right now, it comes out in 28 minutes. Considering they didn’t bother showing Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, it seems like an odd choice to show a game that’s literally about to come out. Anyway, it looks pretty good, not much else to say. After that they mentioned that they’re bringing more robust Move functionality to LittleBigPlanet 2. Yay, I suppose.

Next was a short trailer for Starhawk, a shooter/vehicle combat game that is the spiritual successor to Warhawk. It didn’t show much, but the emphasis is on space, looks interesting. After that was a short teaser for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, coming out in 2012. It looks like the remastering of the old Sly Cooper games was leading up to this.

Next was an interesting title from the makers of Eve Online. Dust 514 is an MMO shooter that interacts with Eve Online. The two games make up 1 persistent universe, and they interact in battles and the like. This wasn’t mentioned during E3, but it’s worth it to note that CCP has said that Dust 514 will not have a subscription fee like most MMOs, but instead will use micro-transactions to make money. Beta will be out before the end of the year, and the full game will be released next Spring. It looks interesting, and Eve has always intrigued me, so this may be my foot in the door.

After Dust 514 they discussed Bioshock Infinite. The trailer looks beautiful, and exclusive for PS3 the game will be bundled with the original Bioshock on the same disc, so if you missed out on the first one you can try it now. Also they hinted at a Bioshock product on Sony’s new portable (which we will discuss shortly), but didn’t give any real information about it.

Saint’s Row: The Third was the next game, simply to mention that it will have an exclusive game mode and game content on the PS3. Good to know. After that was a preview of a Star Trek game that I believe is just called Star Trek, but it could just not have a title yet. It’s a co-op action adventure, with Move support (surprise surprise), and we’ll get it in our hands in 2012.

Following suit from Saint’s Row, Sony took this time to brag about exclusive content in non-exclusive games. SSX will have an exclusive level modeled on Mount Fuji, complete with, I think he said, 10 drop zones. Need for Speed: The Run will have 7 exclusive supercars. Battlefield 3 will include Battlefield 1943 on the same disc, only on the PS3. Sounds like Sony and EA are good friends right about now. After that, Kazuo Hirai came out to mention PlayStation Suite, Sony’s effort to bring PS content to non-PlayStation devices, such as certain Android phones and tablets. Nothing else was announced, we’ll find out more later. Next was the real reason Kaz came out though: Sony’s new portable.

Previously called the NGP (Next Generation Portable), Sony showed off the PS Vita. 2 analog sticks, 5” multitouch-enabled OLED screen, touchpad, sixaxis motion, front and rear cameras. The wifi model is $250, the 3G model (with AT&T, unfortunately) is $300. It has cross-game chat with friends through the Party feature, and you can also find users around you with the Near feature. But enough of that, let’s get to the games.

You liked Uncharted? How about Uncharted: Golden Abyss? It’s made by the same people who did Syphon Filter and the PSP Resistance game, though Naughty Dog is overseeing development. It looks surprisingly good for a handheld game, and it looks a lot like the Uncharted we know and love. Obviously the graphics aren’t quite as good, but since the screen is so small you can get surprisingly close. You can use the sixaxis motion, touch controls, and regular buttons to control Nathan Drake when climbing. Touch controls seem to make climbing somewhat trivial, but I suppose there’s not supposed to be a lot of difficulty in the climbing segments anyway, so it’s not a big deal.

Next up was an action RPG by the name of Ruin, though it said the title is tentative. The overhead view reminds me of old-school RPGs, Diablo and its ilk. If I get a Vita, which I don’t know if I will yet, I would definitely look into Ruin. One nice feature of Ruin (and, it sounds, other Vita games) is cloud saving between the Vita and the PS3. This way you can save your game on the Vita, then move to the PS3 and pick up where you left off. After Ruin they showed a little bit of the Vita version of ModNation Racers, really only showing the track creation mode. I imagine the rest of the game is what you would expect. Track creation relies heavily on the touch features of the Vita, and it seems to work pretty well and seems very easy, so kudos to them.

Lastly they showed a little bit of LittleBigPlanet and Street Fighter x Tekken before wrapping up with a video of a medley of Vita games, including WipEout 2048, Hot Shots Golf and more. Vita should launch in 2011, so we won’t have to wait long.

Sony had a lot to show. Some of it wasn’t terribly new, some of it they didn’t have much to say, but nearly all of it was interesting in some form. The Vita looks good, the games look pretty good (hopefully most of the ones they showed are launch titles), and their PS3 games also look good, though a lot of it was what we expected and not much more. B+.

Tagged: sony uncharted resistance god of war ico nba move infamous medieval moves starhawk sly cooper dust bioshock saint's row star trek ssx need ofr speed battlefield vita ruin modnation racers street fighter x tekken e3

4 notes

06/16/10

E3 Recap: Sony

Oh Sony. Sony Sony Sony. You’ve been doing a great job the past year or 2, you’ve really stepped up your game. So let’s keep this momentum going, right? That’s a good idea.

That plan didn’t hold up as well at this E3. This time last year they wowed us with all sorts of great reveals. This year? They started us off with some montage footage and talk about 3D. By next March, we’ll have 20 titles made for native 3D. Sounds okay, I’m not too interested in 3D because of the high price point to join in, but I’ll play along. So what do you have? Killzone 3. Okay, this is good. The game looks good, there are jetpacks, close-quarters combat, some intense stuff. Compatible with the Move also, so you get Killzone 3, with Move and 3D, next year. Awesome. Good start, I say. Not a surprising reveal of course, but a strong title nonetheless. We’re getting SOCOM 4 also with Move, as we’ve known. Then they rattle off a list of titles coming to 3D: Sly Cooper Collection, Gran Turismo 5, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tron Evolution, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, NBA 2K11, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. That’s great, but we didn’t really see any of those games, they just basically let us know. Thanks I guess, but I’d like to see gameplay or something. Then Jack Tretton rambles about the PlayStation brand. A recurring theme for this presser is the fact that Tretton appears to be presenting to stockholders, when he’s instead presenting to gamers. Whatever, it’s normal for Sony nowadays. Another montage, this time for Move.

We finally see the first interesting new game, Sorcery. They actually tell us about this one instead of glazing over. You are a wizard, your Move controller controls a wand, it’s a pretty interesting use of the technology, and the tech is flawless. It looks pretty much like genericized Harry Potter, but oh well. You can combine spells, combining a whirlwind with a fire spell to make a fire tornado of sorts. You prepare potions and the ball on the Move controller changes colors when they’re ready, tip to drink. Basically showing off what the Move can do, which makes sense considering they’re up against Wii’s established controls and Microsoft’s Kinect. Sorcery doesn’t come out until next year though. Then we see Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Again, 1:1 motion. Swinging that golf club takes serious skill, which could be an issue. I personally don’t want perfect realism in sports games like these, the reason I play the video game is because I suck in real life. Looks good nonetheless though, it just might take a fair amount of practice. Next Move game is up: Heroes on the Move? It’s a Sony mascot game: Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, Clank, and Sly Cooper. Some of those are some old names. We’ll hear more about this in the future.

Aaaaaaand Kevin Butler comes out. Or rather, Jerry Lambert comes out to play Kevin Butler. Some comedy filler to help hide the fact that Sony doesn’t have that many great announcements. At least it’s decent filler. News about Move pricing and availability: comes to the US September 19th, Europe 4 days earlier on the 15th, and Japan on October 21st. The Move controller is $50, “nunchuck” is $30, and for $100 you get the camera, the Move controller, and the game Sports Champions, Sony’s Wii Sports/Kinect Sports. No nunchuck in that little bundle though, so if you want the whole Move setup it’ll cost you $130, but you’ll get a lousy game with it. Not very enticing prices, but apparently you can use a regular PS3 controller as the secondary controller. Sounds comfortable. Nicely enough though, it sounds like a lot of these Move titles will only be $40. Time for a list/montage of Move games: RUSE, SingStar Dance, echochrome II, EyePet, Time Crisis, and some aforementioned titles.

And then came the PSP segment of the show. First some lousy ad campaign with “Marcus,” the young, black PSP version of Kevin Butler. Then some rambling about how good games are, and a casual mention of a PSP game that uses a PSP camera, Invizimals, because every system needs a pet game (Nintendogs, Kinectimals, EyePet, Invizimals). Then a trailer for God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Finally back to games that may interest me. Chains of Olympus was good, so this should be good as well. Coming in the fall. Then…another montage. This time for PSP games. Tron Evolution, UFC2010, ModNation Racers, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Gravity Crash Portable, Dragon Ball Z Tenkachi, Hot Shots Tennis Get a Grip, Madden NFL 11, Patapon, Tetris, EyePet, Piyotma, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, The 3rd Birthday, Persona 3 Portable, Ys: The Oath in Felgana. Sure it’s a nice library to tout, but these montages tell me nothing about the games. I want more than just “Oh, game X is coming.” I want details, a gameplay demo, something.

Moving out of the PSP realm, PSN’s Tester show is starting a second season soon. And the PSN video store is getting NBC and Nickelodeon shows. And the Sony E3 booth is virtualized on PlayStation Home. Joy. After those duds, we get a segment on LittleBigPlanet 2. Most of the information is old, but it’s nice to see again. Players will be able to make their own minigames, of sorts, from top-down racers to RTS games to old-school side-scrolling shooters and more. It looks good, but it’s the same set of old information. Then back to PSN, and they officially announce PlayStation Plus, PSN’s subscription service. $50 a year (or $18 for 3 months) will give you early demo access, beta invites, and even some free PSN games. Since it’s subscription based though, you only keep the games and whatnot while you subscribe. Plus, after the presser, it was announced that Plus subscribers will have cross-game chat, though they can invite non-Plus members, only Plus members can initiate the chat. $50 is on par with XBL’s pricing, but I don’t really see the value in it, unless there’s a lot of free games involved. Now it’s time for Medal of Honor. We already saw it at the EA presser, not much worth noting. Then came another EA presser game, Dead Space 2. PS3 gets an exclusive limited edition version with a Move-enabled Dead Space Extraction. Interesting.

A cute interruption by Portal’s GLaDOS and the appearance of Gabe Newell revealed Portal 2 coming to PS3, and supposedly being the best console version. It’s also bringing Steam to the PS3, which is an interesting move. We get a little teaser for Final Fantasy XIV, and then a little teaser for Mafia II, which will have exclusive day-one content for the PS3. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will also have exclusive missions, and the multiplayer beta is exclusive to PS3. It’s nice to see that Sony isn’t spending too much time on these 3rd-party, multi-platform games. Just reminding you they exist, telling you whatever Sony snagged as exclusive about it, and moving on. Another montage, and then Gran Turismo 5. It looks gorgeous of course. Night racing, day racing, damage, all that good stuff. It also finally has a release date of November 2nd of this year. Nice. Moving on, they introduced inFamous 2. The city and appearance looks quite a bit different from the original, but the original was pretty ugly so I’m not complaining. It appears that Cole’s powers extend beyond just electricity this time around.

And, saving the best/biggest surprise for last, we were shown a new Twisted Metal game. Coming in 2011. Campaign mode, two-player split-screen multiplayer, a new objective-based team mode called Nuke. It looks good, it looks Twisted Metal. It’s a shame it’s not hitting this year though.

All in all, Sony’s presser was up and down. It’s clear that they had a lot of games they wanted to showcase but not nearly enough time, so we got tiny snippets of a lot of interesting games that I would’ve liked to have seen. A lot of it was also old news though. But we did see some decent Move games, and the software to go along with Move looks a lot more promising than the software that goes along with Kinect. The hardware also looks good, and motion looks fluid and accurate, which is always a plus. Not a very surprising conference, but most of the things they showed were at least okay. Twisted Metal was a wonderful surprise at the end, but the lack of The Last Guardian really sucked. In the end? B.

Tagged: sony e3 killzone move 3d sorcery gran turismo infamous twisted metal

1 note