Sony’s E3 Conference 2008: Just the beginning
by Ishida
Not to sound too fanboy-ish but Sony had a great theme going. Unlike what Nintendo and Microsoft’s conferences, they did not concentrate on saying how good or better they are than the competition. As ZeroTolerance from the N4G Podcast says, "They’ve been talking about the games," and that is a good thing. For once Sony wasn’t boasting about how powerful the Cell is. For once they truly concentrated on what gamers want, just the games.
Right off the bat, they show one of the most anticipated FPSes on the PS3. They showed off gameplay footage featuring a boss battle of gigantic proportions. The picture above shows Nathan Hale wielding a rocket launcher in the hopes of taking down the large Leviathan Chrimera.
Surprisingly, new fresh and fun titles have been introduced to the Playstation Network (PSN). A new Rachet and Clank game, exclusive to the PSN looks very much like its older brother but with not on Bluray disc.
PSN also now offers video downloads of TV, documentaries and movies on either a download-to-own or download-to-rent basis. Its clearly an answer to Microsoft’s Netflix deal on the Xbox 360. The only problem though is people will need a bigger hard drive if they plan to do these digital downloads, which is why Sony has also announced a new 80GB bundle priced the same as the current 40GB bundle.
The PSP is getting much love as well. Resistance: Retribution, will be available this spring. Though I’m wondering why this will be released way after Resistance 2 comes out. They did mention that this game would somewhat bridge some gaps from Resistance 1 to Resistance 2. It only makes sense that this should come out earlier. Anyway, from what I’ve seen. This game looks gorgeous on the PSP.
Jim Lee, creator and comic book artist of various characters in the DC universe came up to the stage to announce a DC MMO. Though the idea seems great, I’m just not sure how they will pull this off on the PS3.
I was expecting Sony to deliver a bang at the end of its conference like what Microsoft did when the Square Enix guy announced FF13’s release on the Xbox 360. So far it turns out that the developers of SOCOM are creating a new online FPS squad-based game affectionately called MAG. If you thought Resistance 2’s 60 player multiplayer was ridiculous, MAG’s 256 players just boggles the mind. Apparently, it is squad-based. Groups of 8-man teams on a faction will go up against another 8-man team on another faction, but all this on a single map containing 256 players. The thing that irked me the most is that Sony once again shows CG footage and not actual gameplay. When this game will come out, only God know when.
Overall, this is one of the best E3 conferences made by Sony and hands down the best among the big 3. I just hope this time, they follow thru with the promises and enough with the delays on Killzone 2, Little Big Planet and their other IPs.