July 11, 2007

Sony trots out a stellar game lineup at E3 media briefing
By Michael Lafferty

From the PSP to PlayStation Network, PS2 and PS3, there will be something for every time of gamer

Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Jack Tretton was the dominant speaker during Sony’s E3 press briefing Tuesday, taking over for Kaz Hirai – who did appear, but who talked about Sony’s PSP platform – and instead of spending time talking about who is financially the industry top dog, he spent most of his time introducing the upcoming lineup of games.

And what a lineup it promises to be. Sony platforms, from the PlayStation 2 to the PSP and PS3, will all get some love in the upcoming fiscal year, just as the gaming community got some love with Monday’s announcement of the price point reduction of the PS3 and introduction of the new 80-gig hard drive PS3 (which will retail for the original retail price of the platform of $599).

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is supposed to be about games, and that is what Sony highlighted, “squeezing almost 50 titles into this press conference,” as Tretton stated.

The press event was handled in a very methodical way, as Tretton, Hirai, and Phil Harrison (the president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios) walked through the platforms, highlighting strong points and focusing on games that will be targeting the platforms.

First up was the PS2, a system that Tretton said “continues to evolve the entertainment experience.” The PS2 has generated sales of $26 billion and plans are to ship another 10 million units to retailers, with more than 160 games slated for the platform in the fiscal year to come.

Like the PS3, the PlayStation Portable has benefitted from a price reduction as well.

“Since lowering the price, there has been a 90% increase in sales,” Tretton said. More than 140 titles are bound for the PSP in the upcoming fiscal year, with such a diverse lineup like SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals: Tactical Strike, WipeOut Pulse, Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, NBA ’08, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Silent Hill: Origins, PataPon (an interesting two-dimensional platformer), Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour ’08, Sonic Rivals 2, The Sims 2: Castaway, SWAT: Target Liberty, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.

Hirai took the stage to talk about the next generation of the PSP, a new unit that is 33% lighter, 19% slimmer with an improved battery and faster load times. The new unit will come in Piano Black and Ice Silver (colors), and can be hooked up to a television for output of images, video and games. A surprise guest was Chewbacca (the iconic wookiee from Star Wars) who showed off a special Star Wars edition of the PSP, sporting a Darth Vader image and bundled with Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron.

Then Tretton segued to the PlayStation Network. Since its launch, the service has “continued to evolve and grow” with 20 million downloads to its credit. Harrison picked up the topic and noted that there are more than 80 first party games in development for the Network download customers. One of the titles was echochrome, a puzzle title that uses minimalistic graphics to challenge the mind and eyes with the concept that if you can see it, it doesn’t exist. Also coming in 1080i will be an old PS1 title that has been updated – WipeOut HD. Pain will explore the notion that watching other people get hurt is entertainment, and Warhawk and SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals: Confrontation will take advantage of the system’s graphics to tantalize gamers with online content.

The Sony community social program, known as Home continues to change since the closed beta was launched in April. Integration (on some level) with a mobile phone, a new starting zone and new features could well make this a social destination for meeting and launching games, or just interacting.

When it came to the PS3 games side, Tretton said the two goals for the coming year were to “broaden the installation base” and “deliver a wide selection of game services.” With that in mind, it was announced that Austin-based MMO developer NCsoft had struck a deal to make exclusive games for the PS3 system. And that was just the tip of the exclusivity iceberg. Ubisoft is bringing a new shooter franchise to the PS3 with Haze, Epic and Midway are developing the Unreal engine to optimize it for the PS3 and will be bringing Unreal Tournament 3 to the system as well. UT3 will also allow players to use PC game mods transferred from the PC to the PS3.

And Hideo Kojima was on hand to talk about Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The MSG4 title will be the last in the franchise, which debuted 20 years ago. In addition to showing new footage, which was in-game footage, Kojima stated that all the game’s mysteries will be revealed in the final chapter.

First-party PS3 exclusives included Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Folklore (from Games Republic), Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword, Media Molecule’s play, create and share title Little Big Planet, and Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Sucker Punch will also deliver an exclusive title that tackles emergent sandbox gaming with Infamous.

Tretton wrapped things up with a brief synopsis, noting that “it is amazing how far this industry has come in such a short time” and reiterating that Sony “is dedicated to bringing” the game playing consumer “the best entertainment possible.”

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