E3: Sony

Coming into the press conference the PSP Go was already leaked, so you had to wonder how Sony would react to losing potentially one of their trump cards. So kick off video is showing literally about a hundred titles flying by, while Queen's "One Vision" is playing, so you get the feeling Sony is going to stay on point in their presentation. Okay, high production intro videos are nice, but in the end mean little.

First game they're showing off - Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves. This is big for them because everyone is expecting that God of War III won't be an '09 release. What I thought was odd was that the demo started immediately in gameplay, without an intro movie to set it up or anything. At the time I wasn't sure what they were thinking, but shortly into the demo Drake climbs up to a rooftop and pauses for poise overlooking, well the world. It seriously looked realistically picture-esque and stunning. The gameplay looked good too. I never played the first one (it's on my list) but given it's good reviews and how this sequel looked, this game is going to be good.

Next they showed off a demo for M.A.G. the 256 player capable massive multiplayer battle game. Unfortuntely the presentation focused on 1 particular character giving commands to his squad and so didn't really show off anything impressive. A bit of a disappointment.

Then Sony brought out the PSP Go and explained all about it. Most people had already learned the info via the leak and people like me didn't really care. Plus they're selling it at $249, which I personally think is ludicris, and not in the "what's your fantasy" kind of way. Oh and for some sadistic reason, when the Hanah Montanna special edition PSP there was massive "pop". Ah, sarcasm and pedophiles.

However, then they started talking about some games for the PSP and it started to get me considering picking up a PSP 3000. Only considering since I don't get to spend much time with my DS as it is (and I love my DS). But the PSP is obviously a big part of Sony's plans going forward as indicated by special guest - Hideo Kojima. He's back, and he's talking about a true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3, exclusively for the PSP, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Not only is it happening, but Kojima promised that he is actively inolved in the game, and it serves as the missing link explaining from MGS3 to Outer Heaven. Watching Kojima on stage I got a glimpse of what it's like to actually be a rockstar (when you're not in the music industry) as opposed to the "corporate rockstars" I ranted about earlier. Shameless plug.

Then they talked about changes to the Playstation store and tried to show off Playstation Home. Home is still pretty impressive - technically but I still can't see a really practical use for it. They do go on to say that the Playstation Store has had a lot of downloads, blah blah, over 90 pieces of exclusive content, getting warmer and will start releasing more PS One games, interesting, starting today, oh that's nice, with Final Fantasy VII. Oh by the way. Not a game changer, but a cool announcement.

But that's not all. Here we go with a new video from Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIII. More than what Microsoft showed off and it looks great. But probably won't swerve people to the Sony side since you can get the same game on the 360. And then the announcement. Here's a first look at the next game, Final Fantasy XIV, exclusively on PS3. Wow. Movie looks great, got me all excited and then it happens. Title screen comes up, Final Fantasy XIV and right underneath "Online". D'oh! Well that just took me down a peg. A whole peg! But good job Sony in getting exclusivity back.

Then we start talking about the idea of play, create, share - epitomized by Little Big Planet. But it's not just LBP, introducing the team behind a play, create, share kart racing game. The game play looked liked a new version of Mario Kart (minus Mario and friends) with the ability to customize your characters and their karts. Then they showed off the track creator, and made a new, pretty cool looking track, in under 5 minutes. The key to this game - you'll be able to share your characters, cars and tracks with other players. That's actually a pretty cool concept.

Next has to be the reason why Sony shrugged off the PSP Go getitng leaked, and joked that it was the worst kept secret at E3, because it kept everyone off the trail of their best kept secret - the motion controller. Sure, it's been rumored but no one had much of a clue about it. Not only did Sony talk about it, but showed various tech demos to show off what they were able to do with it. And they made a good point - in some situations you need to have buttons, giving it a leg up on Microsofts Project Natal. However, throughout all of the tech demos shown there was nothing to address the idea of moving, or lower body movement. So Microsoft still has the advantage there, but if they can build a full body motion tracking camera, so can Sony. But in terms of the demos, they showed off the ability to write using sub millimeter precision, fight using a swoard and sheild, controll units from above (a possible RTS on console solution) and throw shurikens and fire a bow at zombie skeletons. Wii Motion Plus, you just got served worse than Voltron. Perhaps even more shocking than the demo was that it was announced that Sony Motion Control is scheduled for Spring 2010.

After everyone collectively gathered their thoughts from that Sony kept pounding the ground with a demo of Assasin's Creed 2. Sure it'll be on 360 as well, but it looked insane and the crowd yelled out with delight after witnessing a simultaneous two handed palm blade kill on a pair of guards. Oh and there will be exclusive content for the PS3 version, provided that you buy and play the PSP game Assasin's Creed: Bloodlines. Then there was the trailer for Gran Turismo, which must have racing facings on edge. Next was a trailer for The Last Guardian, from the producers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. It looked beautiful in that sort of "obviously artisitc, hate yourself for being impure in the face of this obvious beauty" way. That had lots of people clapping, although for me I really have minimal interest in those games.

And then it was time to close the show, with the coup de gra, or however you spell it. God of War III demo. Graphics upgrade, check. New weapons, check. Seamless looking deadly combos, check. And then the guy playing the demo thought it would be fun to show you that you can not only kill a centaur, but knock him down, cut his body open and spill out his entrails. At this point the bloodlust of the crowd was probably quenched. But the demo proceeded. Eventually we come across Helios flying through the sky fighting one of the Titans. Kratos heads towards an arrow turret and is preparing to fire when a Chimera (which looks incredible) comes out of the shadows behind him. During the course of the mighty battle Kratos cuts off the beast's snake tail. And then cuts out the lionshead from the chest. Just for good measure, in the end Kratos knocks down what's left of the chimera, pulls off one of the horns and impales it through the creatur's eye for the kill. Bloodlust elevated to a new level.

It looks like Sony is hitting the comeback trail hard, but the price point for the PS3 is still going to be a tough obstacle. Microsoft stole the last big third party exclusive Sony had and their first party exclusives are a bit more known (Halo, Gears of War) and offers downloadable exclusives for many of the multi-platform games. That said, Sony has made strides to close the gap and the new battle it seems, Natal vs. the Motion Controller could swing the whole thing. Oh, and a few hours after Nintendo seemed to get new life, Sony may have just kicked it out of relevance for core gamers.