A lack of bombshell announcements meant that aside from the stunning but embarrassingly-titled Playstation Vita, there was little to excite the Sony faithful.
By Leo Stiles
After a lacklustre showing from Microsoft, all eyes were on Sony this year to deliver a knockout punch with exclusive games, the full skinny on the Playstation Vita and to finally come out of the shadow the Playstation Network debacle.
While Kaz Hirai and company did perform admirably, there was the lingering sense that the show lacked the requisite surprises to claim the E3 winners crown.
Quick Recap (sort of)
There were two very smart choices made by Sony this year and the first was the full acknowledgement of the Playstation Network crisis that had plagued Sony since last April.
So when Sony boss Jack Tretton walked onstage with his eclectic blue tie and made a full apology to both its development partners and crucially, Playstation owners, there was the sense that a line had firmly been drawn under the issue and it was refreshing to see the company finally get a grip on itself.
What followed next was Sony doing its best to show the Playstation brand in the best possible light. Virtually all of the games shown at the conference were exclusive to Playstation and there was a good balance between the core and casual and we got a sense that there was something for everyone. Uncharted 3 kicked things off and was easily the highlight of all the games shown.
With no NBA final this year, Kobe was able to demonstrate Move
The rest were a mixed bag, however, with Resistance 3 and a welcome return from Sly Cooper rubbing shoulders with less impressive fair such as Starhawk and the risible Move title Medieval Moves. In fact, things might not have been too bad if the presentation hadn’t relied so heavily on cinematic CGI clips and more on real gameplay.
Just as the audience was about to turn on Jack Tretton and his boys, the NGP or Playstation Vita as it shall now be known was demonstrated to the audience. Thanks to some impressive demos and the only exclusive and unexpected bit of news, the Vita did a lot to restore faith in Sony’s handheld business. The €249 price tag definitely helped sway us; that and the worldwide release date which should come just before Christmas.
With the Vita covered, we were all expecting some big new exclusive game and a no-show for Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto was a big disappointment, with even the known Rockstar exclusive, Agent, left out of the proceedings. During a later interview on GameTrailers.com, Tretton revealed that Agent may not be an exclusive after all.
While you couldn’t argue that Sony lacked for quality, the big announcements were already in the public domain and the result was a conference that even with the introduction of new hardware lacked any real sense of surprise.
Highlights
Playstation Vita
While we’re still not convinced about the name, there is no doubt that Sony appear to have learnt from the lessons of the PSP and the disastrous PSPgo. At €250 for its basic Wi-Fi model, it has to be said that the price is right for the sheer amount of technology that is packed into the Vita and it is incredible that just two years ago the PSPgo was introduced at the same price point.
A 3G enabled model will also be available for €299 and smartly gives Playstation fans the option to choose rather than be forced to shell out extra for features that they might not want.
The games also impressed, with Uncharted: Golden Abyss looking thrillingly close to its PS3-bound cousin and although there were some clunky touch controls built in to show of the new machines features, the twin analogue sticks certainly looked like they delivered the gameplay we all know and love.
LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers also made their debuts on the Vita and we have to say that they looked like they had found their natural home. Roll on Christmas and the worldwide launch.
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
Without doubt, Uncharted 3 was the must-have game of the press conference and the live demonstration revealed the same gameplay that we all know, with visuals that are just incredible, as Drake navigated a cruise ship that is about to sink.
Our jaws were on the floor with the lighting and water effects on show and as far as action games go, Uncharted looks like it remains the one to beat.
Playstation 3D Monitors
This one came out of the blue and once again demonstrated Sony’s commitment to 3D with a Playstation branded 24-inch monitor announced at the conference.
Jack Tretton introduced the display while acknowledging the high cost to entry for 3D gaming and then promptly introduced a bundle that included the monitor, a pair of active lens 3D glasses, a HDMI cable and a copy of Resistance 3 for $499. While that’s by no means a cheap purchase, it is a far cry from €2,000 sets that are common at the moment.
The new monitor has one feature that sealed the deal for us: split screen without the split screen. When playing split screen multiplayer games on the new display, instead of drawing a line down the centre of the screen, the monitor will display a full screen for each of the players which are kept separate through the use of the 3D glasses. Wowza.
There was no European announcement for this bundle but we have to say that this is a winner for Playstation fans who want to get into 3D gaming without dropping a couple of grand on a new TV.
Lowlights
Too many underwhelming games.
There were no titles that looked flat out bad but then it was hard to get a sense of anything with the sheer amount cinematics shown instead of real gameplay.
Any titles that were demoed were dwelt upon a little too long and there was just nothing to get excited about with Resistance 3 and the rather crap-looking Medieval Moves. Just about the only thing that piqued our curiosity was the third party PS3 exclusive Dust 514 from Icelandic developer CCP.
Best known for their MMOG, Eve Online, CCP demonstrated a new shooter that will directly affect the gameplay of the PC space-faring counterpart. While the game looked pretty, there was no more information on offer, which was unfortunate as the cross platform play sounds like something new and innovative.
Even with the amount of exclusive games, you had to be quick to note the 2012 released dates for most of them which when counted up, only really leaves Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3 for Christmas.
Heavy Breathing
Whoever calibrated the audio mix and the headset microphones for Sony most certainly will not be asked back for next year’s conference with a crackling and hissing intruding into demonstrations and the extreme sensitivity of the microphones picking up everything including more heavy breathing that you would hear at a NAMBLA (Google them) convention.
Things got out of hand with the demonstration of PS Vita title Ruin, an unremarkable hack n’ slash dungeon crawler which was frequently interrupted by huge intakes of air by a very large gentleman who managed to get one or two word out between breaths.
No Kevin Butler
It has to be said that the presentations were as dull as dishwater and that the Sony executives need to be sent to charm school because the whole show failed to catch fire in any way.
Last year Kevin Butler was deployed to shake things up and his absence this year was palpable. Maybe Sony didn’t want to thaw any stones at the competition due to the PSN outage but if you ask us, the absence of any sort of edginess to the event made even the good announcements fall flat.
The WTF Moment:
Irrational Games Ken Levine was the bright spot in the sea of personality free executives and came across as passionate and slightly crazy as he demoed the quite astonishing Bioshock Infinite and had the audience laughing with his Sony Move anecdote.
Then he dropped the biggest bombshell of the Sony Press conference as he brandished the PS Vita and announced that the next game in the Bioshock series will be a Vita exclusive. There were no further details but it was easily the most exciting moment of the press conference and put everything else to shame.
Verdict
Sony gets points for making all the right decisions for the PS Vita pricing and also for dealing with the PSN issue in a sincere and economic way but ultimately their show failed to set the world on fire. The biggest problems were an over-reliance on cinematics and games that were not due to come out until next year.
The lack of bombshell announcements were painful too, with nothing in there to match the Halo 4 reveal and in the end all they managed to do was tie with Microsoft for the most boring presentation of the show
C+
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