Sony E3 2011 Recap

As we wait for the Sony event to start we are immediately reminded to put on our 3D glasses.  Clearly Sony has some 3D effects planned for us this evening.

It’s dark and rumbling – it’s time to start the show! Given the size of this theater, it is pretty fantastic the level of 3D they’ve managed to pull off.  Clearly Sony truly does know 3D.  Showing off the gear and software that has made the House that Sony built as big as it is, we open with a trailer and a visit from Jack Tretton.

His first order of business was to talk about the Playstation Network outage. He gave thanks to the partners and retailers who have supported them through the outage.  He also apologizes on behalf of the company and himself for the loss of service.  Levels have returned to 90% in the network and they hope to see that rise to 100% in the near future.

CinemaNow will be added to the PlayStation network support list, with PlayStation being #3 for Netflix viewing.

Uncharted: Drake’s Deception
Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra from Naughty Dog to give us our first extended look at the title.  Our demo opens with Drake on a reeling boat.  The decks are awash with water due to the heavy rain and water swells.   Drake rocks back and forth as does the debris on the deck.   Seeking shelter, Drake enters a ballroom only to find that it is occupied by enemies.  Taking out two enemies using stealth attacks, Drake makes his way to the front of the theater and back outside to the side decks.  The lighting and water effects are incredible on this engine, as are the physics in the world.  Working deeper into the ships hold, Drake finds himself having to shimmy across the superstructure to make his way down to the cargo area.   Unfortunately it’s a dead end – literally.  The terrorists try to take him, but Drake has a plan of his own.   With a headbut, a well tossed grenade, and a few gunshots, Drake suddenly finds his situation changed – the ship is taking on water, and fast.  As the boat lists, Drake is thrown underwater.  His environment has just spun sideways and he needs to escape quickly.  Danger lurks at every corner as the ship begins to disintegrate, dropping debris on him, and trapping his egress.  Using an air vent, Drake crawls to safety – for about 3 seconds.   As water rushes to crush him, the demo ends.  Multiplayer beta will begin on June 28th, and if you head to Subway you can get the entire multiplayer game for FREE before it hits in November.

The presentation concludes with a great presentation of the game in 3D, talking about how Drake has sailed to Arabia – the Atlantis of the Sands.  This title has great depth of field, making it look like 3D might have real weight this time around.   Old friends and new enemies will join Drake on 11/1/11 and only one PlayStation 3.

Resistance 3
Insomniac Games’s Marcus Smith will give us a look at Resistance 3.  It is August 1957 – humans face extinction and the Chimera have won the war.  Rebels calling themselves “The Remnants” are heading to St. Louis, MO to ambush a Chimera dropship  in attempts to take it over.   The Chimera are smarter, more deadly, and are using shields, flanking, reinforcements, and extra power cores to stop your team.   Fast forwarding a bit, our ambush has gone poorly and we are tasked with taking the power core and running for our lives.  The enemies are huge, ruthless, and will be ready to play on the show floor this week.  Look for Resistance 3 on September 6th.   There will be a “Doomsday Edition” that comes with a gun body, the game, and the Move device.

3D Remakes!
Kratos will see “God of war: Origins Collection” will be in 3D and HD, as will Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.  These will both launch in September of this year.

Lowering the Entry cost of 3D
Playstation 3 Branded Display – 24″ 3D TV.   It will also have a unique technology that allows two players to see TWO DIFFERENT images instead of split screen.  PlayStation 3D glasses, an HDMI cable, and Resistance 3 will come bundled, and at $499.  The glasses will be $69.99 individually.

PlayStation Move
8.8 millions unit sold, with over 200 games by the end of 2011.

NBA 2K12
Chris Snyder and Erick Boenisch from 2K Sports will be showing NBA 2K12. NBA on the Move is a new point and shoot method of controlling the game.  Point and pass system will allow people who are more casual to play NBA 2k12.  Kobe Bryant takes the stage to prove that literally anyone can pick up and play the game.  Kobe, as Kobe, runs out of bounds, but redeems himself with a longer range shot.  It looks like there is a little more polish to go, but it does look more accessable thanks to Move.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest
From the team behind Sports Champion comes an adventure game that integrates all of the moves from SC.  Drawing the bow toshoot Skeletons, swinging his sword and shield, and even using motion mechanics to do alighment-based puzzles.  Cutting a rope to close a hatch to prevent enemies from catching us is one example of environmental moves to stop enemies.   Since there is no inventory system, you can use throwing stars, arrows, annd your sword to your heart’s content.  Holding your arms outstretched to balance closes out the demo of the game.

Little Big Planet 2 Move Expansion
This Fall you’ll be able to create your own levels for and using Move.

inFamous 2 Move Update
This Fall you’ll be able to create your own missions and share them via the network.

Starhawk
LightBox Interactive gets a demo trailer to show off their newest shooter, entitled Starhawk.   Futuristic, Western, over the top with transforming Mecha and more, Starhawk looks like it’ll reach from the dust bowl to the stars.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Sony is bringing back Sly Cooper!  Running the Paris rooftops, the Racooon thief akes his way through the characature city and back to his base with his loot.  We’ll see how it develops as we head towards its release in 2012.

Dust 514
CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson takes the stage to talk about a PS3 exclusive title called Dust 514.  It will be truly cross-platform with the PC to create a unified world.  It will support the Move, a dedicated home space, and will ship next Spring.  Trailer time!   Featuring drop pods, flying transports, and large energy-based tanks, there are clearly ties to a great many Eve battles.   Since the ISK (currency in Eve) is unified to this title as well, you can easily look at this title as the shooter extension of Eve Online.  Look for the beta later this year.

Bioshock: Infinite
Irrational Games is set to change everything we think about cyberpunk with their upcoming titlee Bioshock: Infinite.  Taking place in a world of Airships, cities in the sky, and more, Infinite looks absolutely gorgeous as ever.  Ken Levine takes the stage to give us a chance to see the game in action when coupled with the PlayStation Move. Talking about how Move can grant accessability to people who aren’t adept at the controller.  There were few details on how it’d work, but the game will have support for Move.

Bioshock on the NVP
No details on what, but clearly there will be some sort of title on the mobile platform.   Buying Bioshock Infinite will grant you a copy of the original Bioshck.

Saint’s Row: The Third
There will be an exclusive weapon that you will only get on the PS3.

Star Trek
2012 co-op action adventure will be timed with the next movie, and it’ll be Move compatabable.   There will be a Digital Only PSN title prequel to the movie that will work in 3D.  There will be a phaser-esque Move peripherial also available when the game ships.   Early footage of the game looks pretty solid, and it’s a year away.

EA Exclusive Offers
SSX – PS3 will get a Mount Fuji unique level, exlusively.
Need for Speed: The Run – PS3 will get 7 additional supercars.
Battlefield 3 – PS3 will get Battlefield 1943 for free with the game.

Kaz Hirai takes the stage to talk about the PlayStation’s new portable entry.

PlayStation Suite
PlayStation Suite – this will make PS content available on the Android devices and other PS certified devices as they are capable of running them.

PlayStation Vita.
Dual-touch pad, dual cameras, OLED screen.  Dual analog sticks.  Multitouch.  Front and rear touchpads. SixAxis Enabled. Wifi and 3G models.  Partnering with AT&T to provide customers.  The retail price for the Fall-slated device is $249 for the WiFi only model, and $299 for the 3G-powered AT&T model.  We won’t get details on other carriers until later.

“Party” – allows players to voice chat with headphones or via the mic no matter what game they are playing.

“Near” allows you to connect and play with others around you, compare trophies, and make suggestions to others around you.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Scott Rohde takes the stage to showcase how the Vita works using a new portable Uncharted title.  The quality of the game looks PlayStation 3 level!  Water and lighting looks great.  Fighting an enemy allows you to use the touch screen to fight, or you can tap the enemy as well.   You can control via the cnotroller, or you can use the sixaxis and touching to move around.  You can use either method or switch between them at will. “Painting Edges” allows you to highlight the route you’d like Drake to climb.  The path shimmers a little bit to ensure you can see your path.  The Dual Analog sticks make quite a difference in terms of gameplay.  Tapping his gun on the HUD reloads it, and the inventory can be accessed with a quick tap to the side of the screen.

We also got to see a hack and slash RPG named Ruin, a new ground-up ModNation Racers title, LittleBigPlanet, and a very short bit of Street Fighter X Tekken.

While the line for the Vita may have been too long to get through, I have over 5 GB of video to share with you, in addition to the trailers that will come shortly for all of these titles.  Stay tuned, it’s about to get exciting!

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