Sony E3 Conference Report News

Image conscious Sony got their pre E3 conference underway with the typical barrage of style that seems to be a prerequisite to everything they do, however as Kaz Hirai, President & CEO of SCEA, took the stage he was keen to label the Playstation3 as much more than anything that's come before.

Claiming the power lies in the hands of the content consumer, the future for the Playstation3 is one of choice, one of seamless integration with the Playstation family. Talking about the huge financial investment required to bring the PS3 to life, time alone will tell whether Sony's vision is enough to maintain the Playstation's control over the videogame market and envision the future of entertainment that Sony predicts; however it seems that Sony has certainly pushed the boundaries when it comes to what a next-generation platform has to offer.

Keen to remind everybody about the Playstation's previous successes, the conference was initially littered with business phrases designed to appeal to the executives more so than the gamers that put the Playstation where it is today. Despite the lack of structure surrounding online gaming with the Playstation2, Hirai was quick to point out the 3 million registered users and continued to talk about the future of the Playstation2, with titles such as Destroy All Humans 2, Final Fantasy XII and God of War 2, amongst 213 others slated for release before the year end to support the ageing conqueror.

Hirai moved on to talk about the PSP, mentioning shipments as opposed to actual sales in typical Sony tradition. With 4.7 million across Asia, 6.4 million throughout North America and an impressive 5.94 million through Europe (despite the lengthy wait), Sony has shifted over 17 million units of the handheld format to date, and expects 12 million further PSP's to be shipped throughout fiscal 2006. With the claim of becoming the fastest selling platform in Sony's history, trailers of forthcoming titles highlighted games such as The Getaway: Gangs of London, a new Wipeout, World Tour Soccer 2 and many others, suggests Sony's has no intention of pulling away from its fight against Nintendo in the handheld stakes. Hirai moved on to make a bold attempt at defending the heavily criticised UMD format, claiming that over 670 non-game UMD titles have been released, but refusing to talk about concerns voiced by the movie industry surrounding the ailing media format. Coming after a recent firmware update, the conference also revealed plans for future updates to implement RSS video feeds, GPS and Voice over IP technology by Winter 2006. Rumours of an upgraded PSP model appear to be wide of the mark however, with no reference hinted at during the conference.

Eventually Hirai's speech moves on to what everybody was there for, the Playstation3. With over 10,000 development kits shipped to 208 developers across the globe, Sony finally showed long overdue playable demonstrations of PS3 games in action, running on finalised dev kits that are currently being shipped and available to play later in the week at E3.

President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison took the stage to demonstrate the games in action - the first of which is Gran Turismo running in 1080p at 60fps! Strangely the demonstration wasn't an indication of what Gran Turismo will eventually look like on the Playstation3, relying on current-gen assets scaled up to HD resolution. As a result the game was probably less impressive then others that followed, but nonetheless the demonstration hinted at future developments for the title. Keen to point out the benefits that a HDD brings, Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauchi claimed that gamers will be able to jump from a menu to the track in a matter of seconds. A sample of the vehicles on offer revealed that motorcycles will join the line-up, along with claims that the finalised game will feature extensive network support. Yamauchi-san ended with the claim that the next Gran Turismo should follow shortly after the PS3 launch, though it seems as though there's a lot of work in store and a typical GT delay extremely likely.

Up next, The Eye of Judgement appears to be an interesting concept that demonstrates the continued importance Sony will place on the EyeToy peripheral. Essentially a card game that utilises the camera to track hand movements and move the cards on-screen, creatures overlaid on top of the cards battle it out to emerge victorious. Beyond offering something different to what you'd typically expect, The Eye of Judgement is evidently Sony's attempt to diversify gaming in a similar method to that taken by Nintendo, essentially doing away with the traditional methods of playing a videogame and exploring new ways to appeal beyond the core market.

The demonstration moved on to highlight the increased focus Sony will play on creating an online community around the Playstation3. Offering a basic service free of charge, Sony will follow Microsoft's model by putting the emphasis on micro-transactions as an additional revenue stream for gamers to access extra content. One key difference between both services is that Sony will introduce pre-paid cards, dubbed The Playstation Card, to facilitate purchases of various denominations, though exact details on how these will arrive on the market has yet to be discussed.

The online service extends to the PSP with a demonstration of Ridge Racer on the handheld showing the PSone emulation in action. Scaling accurately to the 16:9 screen, the ability to go back and play classic titles will evidently become very popular amongst hardcore circles similar to Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360.

Throughout the years, Sony has successfully expanded its market share appealing to people beyond traditional gamers with titles such as EyeToy and SingStar; so it's unsurprising to find a demonstration of everybody's favourite post-pub game in action. Essentially SingStar remains identical to its PS2 incarnation, albeit with HD footage streaming behind the interface. It's the online structure behind the game however that expands the experience dramatically. Accessed via a slick, modern interface, karaoke fans and pissed up gamers alike can access a vast catalogue of songs to download and do their best to impersonate. "My SingStar Online" allows players to create an online persona, check out who else is singing, download new content and upload their efforts for others to admire or laugh at.

The demonstration continued to skip over other first party titles, showing an impressive Genji 2 in action and revealing that Formula One will utilise the PSP as a means to displaying the wing mirror image - whether or not you'll need two PSPs for the full experience however remains unknown. Ninja Thoery's Heavenly Sword was perhaps one of the most striking titles on display, with intense animations, visceral action and a great visual quality.

Further first-party titles that continued to impress, albeit in video form, included SCEE Team London's The Getaway and Factor 5's awesome Lair. Introducing a new title from SCEE Team London, Eight Days is a typically gritty gang title, demonstrating immense visual quality and overstated action with the typical blend of gun combat and driving sequences. A short sequence featuring a luscious wildlife environment that wouldn't look out of place in a David Attenborough documentary introduced AFRIKA, whilst Insomniac Games Resistance: The Fall of Man promises an intense first-person-shooter experience set during WW2, but with the twist that the war never actually occurred, with aliens uniting mankind against a greater threat.

Strong third-party support included Assassins Creed from Ubisoft; NAMCO's Tekken 6 squaring up against SEGA's Virtua Fighter 5; Virtua Tennis 3; Sonic the Hedgehog; Ridge Racer 7; Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway; Virtua Tennis 3; Stranglehold and Fatal Inertia.

As the conference drew to a close EA's Larry Probst took the stand to talk about the strong bond between EA and Sony. Comparing titles from the previous generation to the Playstation3, EA talked about such concepts as "procedural awareness", which essentially brings characters to life with a far greater conviction then before. Confirming initial support with more than 10 titles, it will certainly be interesting to see whether EA intends to push the boundaries when it comes to titles also being developed for the Xbox 360.

Trailers from Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4 continued to establish the Playstation3 when it comes to the heavy hitters, though left you wishing for more then the meticulously crafted footage that was offered.

Finally Sony kept a couple of surprises until the end, realising Nintendo's fears with a redesigned joypad that features motion sensitivity and confirming a variety of price-points dependent on model and territory that puts the Playstation3 firmly on its own when it comes to affordability.

Ultimately Sony impressed. The games demonstrated not only an impressive level of visual quality, but also a diverse arrangement of ideas that bodes well for the format. Having the arrogance to blatantly copy Nintendo's concept throws some doubt on how they themselves will react to the announcement, putting greater emphasis on their other "secret"; though it's apparent that Sony's strategy isn't as focussed as that behind the Wii - certainly it seems that developers have only just become aware of the PS3's extra abilities and it will be interesting to see which games take advantage of the joypad's capabilities.

Suggesting that Microsoft may have been a little early out of the blocks and taking the sheen off Nintendo's strategy, there's little doubt the Playstation brand will have consumers waiting for the PS3. Ultimately their chance of success seems to rely on whether gamers are prepared to fork out for what the Playstation3 has to offer; the format has more then what was previously imagined, but in a time when costs have steadily decreased, will such a hike resonate favourably amongst gamers that question the escalated prices of Xbox 360 titles?

Will Blu-ray emerge victorious in the looming next-gen DVD battle; will consumers take to 1080p which has yet to become a standard; more significantly will mainstream consumers take to such advancements in technology or will the PS3 remain a toy for techno-geeks until Sony works out ways to drive down the price.

Look out for more on the Playstation3 and the games shown at E3 soon...