Here we are again with my 3rd piece, and for those of you that continue to come back to read, I thank you once again. It's been a hell of an E3 I must say. It's still amazing to me that I can share the excitement in my own home, though someday I still plan to be there myself, but all in due time. For now, thanks to G4TV, myself and other gamer enthusiast can enjoy the festivities. Thanks for reading to everyone in advance.
Last year Sony's conference was very lackluster in its presentation. I feel that it really wasn't that they didn't have much to offer, but because of the lockdown with last year's E3 which put a filter on the content presented then. At the same time, there was a sense that Sony kind of knew that their direction up to last year's E3 wasn't the strongest with titles being delayed, hardware failures, PSP sales going down, and so farth, Sony knew it was time to change gears from what the needed to rebuild, to something marvelous. Coming into this year's E3, Sony's come off into a turn around year with stronger titles, boosting sales, continuous support of their online community, and more, Sony came to stun and amaze. And that's exactly what they did this year.
President and C.E.O. of Sony, Jack Tretton is no stranger to keynote speaking, and I'm not going to clutter this piece with every little detail that he said, but there was only clear message he wanted to portray, "only possible on Playstation". In an odd sort way, it kind of sounds like a play off the old American say, "only in a America". It was sort of like Sony took the words "only on PlayStation" to the conference room and said let's make that mean something again. Sony came as strong as their introduction song that said the words, "One vision!", and I'll say from the start, Sony definitely brought their game face to E3.
Jack Tretton started off with numbers as he did last year, but it was a little different in the matter that it wasn't the act of a contest as it was at last E3. Last year Sony and Nintendo seemed like they were playing catch up with Microsoft as Microsoft themselves came off a pretty stellar year. Record sales of both Halo 3 and other huge hits like Gears of War 2, as well as outdoing Sony in cross-platform with such titles as Grand Theft Auto 4 and Call of Duty 5: World at War, its been pretty hard to compete. But considering where Sony started from E3 last year, I would say that the percentage of improvement has definitely been elevated. And even more importantly, Sony is a lot bigger than just the PS3. Tretton reflected on the continuing success of the PlayStation 2 and gave due appreciation to the developers that continue to make PlayStation 2 the phenomenon its been for the past 10 years. Though the hype and push for the blockbuster titles on PlayStation 2 is nowhere near as adamant as it was years ago, but Tretton resured the PlayStation 2 audience that as long as people continue buying and demanding the use of their PlayStation 2 systems, Sony will be there to giving people what they want of their system.
Continuing with the numbers speech, he went on into the total commitment Sony has in the PlayStation 3. With 22 million PlayStatin 3's sold last, tripling sales in South America alone and 24 million PSN users worldwide, the PlayStation 3 has come along way from what I consider a disappoint start when the system was first released. I was very hopeful in the PS3 on its release, looking for Sony to deliver intense titles is had given me in the era of the PlayStation 2. With titles being delayed, ridiculous loading and installation times, and the continuing number of developers that appear to be abandoning the idea of the exclusive title marketplace, things in my eyes weren't looking so good for Sony. But Sony has begun to shed the stage of its rebuilding with the release of fantastic new titles and continuing and growing support of its online community, its really revitalized itself. And Jack Tretton waited no time getting the show started with the introduction of Uncharted Chart 2: Among Thieves.
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves by Naughty Dog
Coming off one Sony's greatest success titles Uncharted, the boys at Naughty Dog are ready to release its newest addition to this ongoing series. But instead of going on about the design engine, combat system, and blah blah blah, they got right to it with a live demo of the game. The game looks completely awesome taking full advantage of the PS3's graphics processor. If you're familiar with games such as Gears of War or Ghost Recon, the cover system returns nicely. The action starts right away with a helicopter riddling the already broken bridge Nate is trying to cross. The camera moves extraordinarily well around the action as the bridge breaks in half and collapses down. Nate moves up quickly back up the bridge and scales across balconies followed by the helicopter trying deseperately to cut Nate down. At one point Nate climbs up high showing off the detail of the dramatic landscape, but to continue on, Nate ducks and jumps through cover through building trying to escape the helicopter. It all looks amazing, almost too ridiculous. Truth be told, there are only two problems with this demo, and they are minor in nature as they are cosmetic. First, this helicopter pilot is probably the worst gunner ever. And second, with the destruction this helicopter is causing, I would like to have seen more environmental damage. Concrete breaking apart, desks and couches cut to pieces, something. I mean, those are probably the strongest cushions ever to withstand a gatling gun. Other than that, the game looks tip top. Will I buy this game? Most definitely. Uncharted 2 comes to us October 1st later this year, while the multiplayer beta starts first week of June.
- MAG by Zipperhead Studios
This is one I certainly hoping to see at E3, Zipperhead Studios hopes to bring us the largest scale first-person shooter in console history, MAG, otherwise known as Massive Action Game. 256 players broken up in 8 man squads, each with different objectives with one player assigned to be squad leader which has authority to enact things like air strikes, supply drops, and so on. The HUD looks well organized and detailed at the same time. Honestly, I thought it would of been cluttered but its done very well. I like team based game where everyone is working together, and this game appears to do it well. The fact that this game will redefine the words the weakest link is beyond words. If you are no stranger to online gaming, no one is made to feel more unwelcome than a teammate that just clearly has no idea what they are doing. But let's just hope that the choice of squad commander is put to a vote or perhaps based on experience MAG which like other FPS's have done incorporating an experience system as well.
Once again, I find myself amazed but again as well I here look for more environmental damage. In the live demo, which should not be overlooked as well as the demonstration debuted not only in real time with 8 players on stage, but the game they were playing was connected with a full game of 256 players courtesy of the Zipperhead Studios. But getting back to the environmental damage, showing one player on the huge screen, the player moves about the landscape assisting his team complete objectives when finally the squad commander unleashes a reign of fire calling in an air strike on a structure. The fireworks were beautiful, laying down mortar and fire, but when the smoke cleared, the structure still remained standing. Now I understand that a measure of the environment has to stay intact to a certain extent, but a little bit more damage would of been not only cool, but realistic too. Will I buy this game? Oh yes I will. MAG strikes down late November of this year.
- PSP Go
CEO Jack Tretton nicely labeled this best worst kept secret of E3, laughing about it in jest, Tretton handed off the conference into the hands of Kaz Hirai, President of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony's President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, to unveil the PSP Go. The latest adaptation of the PSP system. One thing I can't stand of Sony's development is how often they change hardware. I lucked out getting the first series of PS3's that allows for full backwards compatibility, 4 USB ports, and such, but soon afterwards, the system changes. Changing the system over nearly 7 times over the past 3 years, it was becoming sickening. But at least it wasn't as simple as just changing the color of the system. Sorry Nintendo, but painting your system a different color doesn't make it new and different as in your GameCube and Nintendo 64 days. Luckily the PSP hasn't undergone too many changes with this only being the 3 major change in the system's' history. Doing away with the UMD, the system is now 50% smaller and 30% lighter with the slide out controller set. Asking some developers through Twitter feeds, I asked the question of how the controller felt as the analog stick almost to the immediate right of the digital pad as I would believe it to be a little awkward feeling with the position of the analog stick since it seems your hand would stretch further trying to reach up to the left trigger. My answer was that it was actually very comfortable. Perhaps being both smaller and lighter, the shift the in the control set is a little less dampering on the hands as I myself have a first generation PSP, both heavy and straight edged, mine lays heavy on the hands and feels like it cuts into my left hand over a small amount of play.
Besides cosmetics, the internal specifications changed too. The regular features return like the built-in Wi-Fi and memory expansion, but built-in memory as well, 16 gigabytes of flash memory to be exact, not to mention bluetooth enabled. Seems as though they packed as much as they could with this little beauty. Many critics have asked, when is going to become a phone as well, but I don't see that coming anytime soon. Software escalates with the system too with a media manger they call Medio Go which will enable a much more user friendly interaction between your PC and PSP. Sense Me, another application that analyzes your music library that is suppose to generate music based upon your mood selection. It's not suppose to detect what your mood is, but somehow it is suppose to catagorize your music into an emotional order. Along with the new media manager, comes a new way of streaming movies right to your PSP. Kaz Hirai didn't go into how that will work, perhaps like remote play, but I'm sure all will become clear by the holiday season, but he did go into the expansion of the library and access of Sony's online movie database that will bring more content and television broadcasts. I guess the success of NetFlix has put a dent into Sony's movie sales which shouldn't be underminded as well as they distribute and produce a great number of films. As an added bonus, Hirai closed out with not only the price tag of the unit being $249.99, but extending to developers slashing the price of the PSP development kits by 80%. Will I by this? Not sure, but I would have to say no at the moment. Without a suitable way of knowing how I'll be able to transfer my current games on UMD's to the PSP Go, I'm not very keen on the idea of repurchasing all my games whether at regular cost or some discounted charge, I don't want to pay for games I alreard own again. PSP Go makes itself available October 1st of this year in the U.S.A. and in Europe, and later in November for Japan. Kind of funny that it should release later in Japan. Oh, and don't forget to look for the new Hannah Montana stylized PSP Slim in stores later into the fall. Race you to the stores on that on. Sarcasm is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Oh well. Moving on....
- Grand Turismo PSP by Polyphony Digital
Mr. Hirai's passion about how great the PSP Go news is strolled right into his introduction of Polyphony Digital Studios new development of Grand Turismo for the PSP. Director of Polyphony Digital Developmental Studios, Kazunouri Yamauchi comes to the stage to give us a full outline of what Grand Turismo for the PSP will contain. Now before I get into the details about Grand Turismo PSP, what the hell was Yamauchi's interpetor doing on that notepad, Sudoku puzzles? He looked like he was just scribbling away and just occasionally doing his job telling us what Mr. Yamauchi was saying. Alright, here are the details. No live demonstations for the game, and yet again, it would be greatly difficult to show an on-screen demo of the game, but Mr. Yamauchi put it all down what we can expect of the game. Operating at a full 60 frames per second, 800 cars, 35 tracks, and 60 layout variations of those tracks, they've really pushed the PSP technology to its limits. It was also very important for Mr. Yamauchi to stress that this was no way a dumbed down version of the soon to be released Grand Turismo 5 but it will have its similiarities. A particular mode in the game, the Mission Challenge Mode, much like the licensing aspect of the games larger predecessors, will give gamers the opportunity to ride in their favorite cars through various tests and trials. The game will also feature an Ad-Hoc connection gameplay mode for 4 player game support and feature a dynamic trading and shaing interface to exchange and compare cars with other players. This Mr. Yamauchi pointed out this features importance comes to help gamers who are just as passionate about cars as they are about collecting them, will make players work together to try to collect every last car they can. Though Ad-Hoc is nice, it would be great to have online play instead to feature all these bonuses. Will I buy this one? Once again, I don't know. I love driving games, but driving sims have fallen off the radar for me recently. But then again, with Polyphony's game trailer of what it will look like, I just may. I just may. Look for Grand Turismo PSP to hit stores October 1st later this year.
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker by Konami
Not to be out done by Microsoft, Hideo Kojima comes onto the stage to unviel its own PSP project, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker which he claims is a true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The problem with the Metal Gear series now is that it may be a little hard for newcomers to enjoy as there is so much history to the game now, its tough to understand the complete story of the series without playing some of the rest of them. Taking place 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3, this adventure takes us in the jungles of Costa Rica going into the Rise of Outer Heaven. If you don't know what Outer Heaven is, look it up because there is way too much to explain to really have someone understand with devoting a whole segment to it. Plus it would give away too much of the surprises. Plus if you haven't realized it by now, I'm a huge Metal Gear fan and I encourage everyone to experience the series. You don't have to go all the way back to the NES days though it does help to get the story, but playing the series beginning with Metal Gear Solid, which was released on the PSOne then going in order of their releases will make each one more and enjoyable then the last. The game looks fantastic on the PSP with so many returning gameplay elements that I have come to love, Hideo promises that the control system though a little different due to the layout of the buttons and controls of the PSP will not in anyway hindered the flow of the game itself. Not to embellish the game, but in my opinion, Metal Gear is the greatest video game story ever told. There aren't many games that have spanned console after console and continued such a story. Square-Enix has only touched the surface with sequels in its Final Fantasy series, but not to the caliber of the Metal Gear story. I will buy this game if you haven't already guessed. Kojima Studios delivers us Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker sometime in 2010.
Coming back to the stage, Jack Tretton debuted a huge trailer of PSP games coming this year alone. This trailer showed a huge cast of games as follows:
- Little Big Planet PSP
- Monster Hunter
- Socom
- Harry Potter
- Daxter 2
- Motorstorm
- Soul Caiber, which will feature Kratos as a playable character
- Hanna Montana
- Tiger Woods Golf 2010
- Madden 2010
- Fat Princess
- Star Wars
- Rock Band Unplugged
- And many more...
In additions to those titles, Tretton was proud to present the newest series to make an expansion in the PSP library with the introduction of Resident Evil PSP which will feature a continuing storyline segment to the smash hit Resident Evil 5. Look for that one to hit in 2010.
But Jack Tretton wasn't finished there. As the increase support of downloadable content has grown stronger, as the PSP Go shows to be a truly downloadable content only media, the PlayStation store brings new download content for the PSP and the PS3 alike with 50 classis PSOne titles before the end of the year, and to start off that series of titles to be launched is Final Fantasy VII available today. PS Home also continues its growth as well with 6.5 million users and counting, PS Home has shown its success, Tretton stated more than 100 pieces of clothing a month makes its way to users for further customization. How many of these will be free to users is unknown, but let's hope they'll give us something at least. Even though its still technically in beta, PlayStation Home shows lots of promise. I myself am still a little displeased with there lack of fulfillment of certain aspects of PS Home they stated would be available before this year's E3. But I can't hate on it too much because they still have given us a lot to go with, and with more Home spaces opening up as developments continue, its made its mark on the online community.
Continue into his speech announcing 35 PS3 exclusives coming in the year, a noticable number for a console these days to have such a number of exclusives. One in particular, Lost Planet 2 will make its debut first on PS3 in 2010. This of couse may be subject to change as with other titles that had made the promise of being exclusive then later striking that statement down, but I feel this is one that will stick. The first one wasn't as grand of blockbuster hit it was made out to be. Though fun, and has a lot of potential, think they'll have to improve on those elements people enjoyed about the first one to raise the hype for sales in this sequel. I'll buying it I know this much, but probably for my Xbox 360. Sorry Sony. Another soft mention was a new title by Rock Star North called Agent. Not a great deal was said about this one, but it appears to rather similiar to the new ABP game developed by the previous developers of the Crackdown series, Real Time Worlds, this title will be a espionage/anti-terrorism game that should contain a good amount of multiplayer. Let's just know the news and conversatives don't fly of the handle on this one and think its some way for kids to emulate terrorist acts and such. No footage or mention of a release on this title as of yet.
- Assassin's Creed 2 by ubisoft
Yet another one I am looking forward to, so let me just get it out of the way, yes, I'm buying this one, but more than likely once again on my Xbox 360 than my PS3. Sorry, Sony once again. For the masses, the first game was one you loved or hated. Loved because it was just so massive in play that it really fulfilled your craving for assassination, stealth, and story. And probably biggest reason people hated it, what a damn cliffhanger ending, huh? As much as I loved it, I didn't want it to end, but I didn't hate it either because it still left me a number of different side projects within the game to enjoy. Plus I love this stealth nonsense. If only Tenchu Z was this fun. Anyhow, moving on...
The graphics are just, if not more amazing than the previous game set in the Renaissance period of Italy surrounding Vatican City. The fluidity of game is marvelous taking the idea of the Prince of Persia games, and just crafting it into an amazing race of jumps, dives, slides, flips, and combat, I would probably go as far as artistic. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but let's leave it at that it looks pretty damn good. The combat system has evolved with more than 30 weapons, matching disarming attacks to boot, and what could labeled as finishers such as one shown where the player is able to flip a two-handed axe in his hands and bury it into his targets head. Quite brutal, but oh so good. And one other thing that our beloved hero couldn't do in the first game, swimming. Ah yes, the question of, why wouldn't an elite assassin know how to swim is answered in this game. You'll be able to dive into ponds and such with a little breathing tube to hide from search parties as well as use as a means of cover to get closer to your target. Not much of the story was revealed at E3, though you can just through other new forums or even check out the May issue of Game Informer for more details, but no direct statement has been said if this will tie into the first game. Once again, I will buying this, and myself and others can look forward to this title in a Holiday season release later this year.
- Final Fantasy XIII & Final Fantasy XIV by Square-Enix
Now we already knew about Final Fantasy XIII coming to PS3, and Square-Enix came aboard to show us its wonderful new demo on the PS3. Not much of change from the last time we saw it running on the PS3 last year, but in comparison to the Xbox 360 demo during the Microsoft Press Conference, the PS3 shows its graphical presense with crisper and cleaner graphics in the gameplay trailer. Look for this one in the Spring of 2010. But another little surprise Sony dropped on us here was Square-Enix's presentation of Final Fantasy XIV on the PS3. With a beautiful cinematic trailer, no gameplay though, the trailer glorifies the world of Final Fantasy in its sheer greatness, ending it with the subtitle, Online. Whether or not this means another extension of the online madness that was created with Final Fantasy XI, no one knows. But if it is, I'll definitely be interested in it. Final Fantasy XIV looks to come to the PS3 late 2010.
- New Controller - Playstation Eye
Okay now, Nintendo began this craze in the new generation of consoles for motion controls. Microsoft debuts its Project Natal. Why can't Sony get into the act? Sony brings to the stage, with no offical name as of yet, the PlayStation Eye. Labeled the Eye to my suspicion because the wand or "i" he was holding in his hands looks like the letter eye, but also works in partnership with a camera connected to the PlayStation 3 it seemed. It could be just a bluetooth connection, but a direct view of its connection to the PlayStation 3 was never confirmed during the press conference. The PlayStation 3, surrounded by keyboards, mouse, computers, and a second screen, it definitely looks in its infantile stages, but shows a lot of promise with the demonstration of functions it already has.
In the live demo, the wand-like remote (not official finished look, mind you), responsed with little to no delay whatsoever as the demonstrator moved the wand about in a virtual room where the user can pick up various object. Turning and speed matched virtually spot on as the precision of the device looks very well. They then turned the view onto the user himself with the camera where the wand could emulate and display images of various objects in the users hand such as a sword, a gun, and a whip. The whip didn't flail about well, but once again, this is alpha stage. Interestingly enough, a second wand can be incorporated by the user when a demonstration of a bow and arrow was used. Much like the Wii remote, the tension of the arrow is declared by how far apart the two wands were and once again, responded quite well. A first person mode can be enabled for obviously FPS games where the demo reacted to movement not only in 2D, but 3 dimenisonal space as the user moves back and forth about the stage. Other little demonstrations followed like the example of a crane type game, ninja stars, driving a tank, and using the two wands like a sword and shield to do thrusts and shield bashes.
Like the Natal, Sony demonstrated its own drawing and painting like application. The drawing tool itself tracked very accurately coming down to sub-millimeter accuracy to give the user very precise controls over design elements. The drawing tool also recognized letters and characters nearly perfect, not like you would signing on those stupid pads at check out counters where you're signature looks nothing like what you signed. Paint and brush strokes also tracked well and nice changed from a paint brush stroking side to side like you would a real paint brush, to a spray can where the user actually shoke the Eye to refill its color and strength. The Eye was even demonstrated as a pathsetter in which he layed out a string of dominos and was able to knock them down in different order registering not just which domino was touched, but from what angle and the quickness of the tap to make them fall down. Probably the most interesting point of the application was its lasso tool. Just like in a Adobe Photoshop settings, the lasso is used to grab a number of different objects at once, but they took this one step further showing this in an RST environment where the user circled groups of tanks and instructed them to another location on the map to attack. I can see the guys at UbiSoft already working on something for this element to work with the next installment of End War, if they are so inclined that is, but UbiSoft has some its own devices up its sleeve as well.
Altogether, it was quite an impressive and humorous demonstration, but was also had the presence of a rushed or last minute addition to the conference as the guys didn't see to have a lot of fun showing this at this stage. No release date is slated for this device, but look for Sony to try to match Microsoft's release of the Natal to eat away or try to take the spotlight in the motion control war.
- Little Big Planet Add-ons by Sony and ModNation Racers by United Front Games
Customization is something very big these days. Avatars, level editors, character costumes and so on are very important to people, just take a look at the Sims. And for this, Jack Tretton returned to the stage to give everyone a new look at some of the costumes that would be making its way to Little Big Planet later in the year with its add-ons of a Disney costume series such as Jack Sparrow and The Incredibles. And this was Jack's lead into present the guys from United Front Games with their latested creation, ModNation Racers. The game, much like Mario Kart with little bonuses and weapons looks like just another racer, but where ModNation Racers shines is in its custom tracks. Kind of like the PlayStation Eye did, the game allows gamers a tracker creator mode they can create their own tracks in nearly minutes. This wasn't a simple matter of grabbing a mountain and dropping it somewhere, no. This was about raising the earth to push up a vast mountain range, or pressing down to make a depression for a lake, or just dragging your finger along (or in this case, cursor) to create a rising forest right before your eyes. Probably the most fun is the way you create your track just by driving. The game will even recognize when you drive over your own tracks to assist in creating bridges and tunnels. The features of it were quite impressive where virtually anything can be manipulated to the gamer's liking and will also enable gamers to share their creations online. I can see myself having a lot a fun with this, and think many others will too. No official release of this announced, but once again, looks like a lot of fun.
- The Last Guardian
If you haven't played Ico or Shadow of the Colossus, go buy one of them. You can find them pretty cheap now, and they are well worth it. The Last Guardian made its appear on the Sony screens to reveal its wonder upon everyone. Though Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, show no sharing of story paths in any definitive way, there are hints to each other in both games, and whether this game shares that same feeling is unknown, but I would probably bet it will. Fabulous graphics but I must say I was a little surprised by the choice of this giantic bird dog creature your character is enthralled with. Opening with a trailer of a child being run down by a group of thugs only to be beaten down by the bird dog, the game circulates around these two in kind of a boy and his dog lovable movie. No battle scenarios were shown during the trailer, but the trailer did look as though it was actual gameplay with near flawless transitions and camera changes. No official release for this title presented during this demo, but this is another Sony exclusive that has my interest, and only time will tell if it keeps me there.
- Grand Turismo 5 by Polyphony Digital Studios
Polyphony gave us a taste of Grand Turismo on the PSP earlier in the show. Now they give us the real deal with their trailer for Grand Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3. Something everyone was fighting for from day 1 of the series birth is car damage. Well the franchise has come a long way, and car damage is definitely here. Probably not to the extent of how EA's Need for Speed: Shift or Forza Motorsport 3 shows, but a stronger showing of it very noticable. I still don't think you'll see cars fully flipping through the air like some out of control comet in this one, but its going to be a nasty ride. With their already established use of Rally and Street racing, NASCAR joins the game as well, and a nice little cruise mode just to enjoy the ride. The trailer was emaculate, but I wasn't sure if its a sign of actual gameplay. The rally and NASCAR look gorgeous as the stock cars were in full detail, and the rally events looked as they spanned large landscapes like Baha and Sahara like environments. Like Forza, driving sims have lost its passion from me, but this one I give consideration to perhaps invest in as it looks as though it will have a huge online following. No release date was announced for this title either, but I wouldn't be surprised if it reared its head during the holidays.
- God of War 3 by Sony Santa Monica Studios
Finally we come to the big finish, the one every was waiting for, God of War 3. I still have to finish God of War 2, but luckily I still have some time as Kaz Hirai announced after the conference that the game would be release in March of 2010. This was a live demo, and why shouldn't of been? I'll tell you why. Because if all we got was another little teaser of the game like we did last year, there probably would of been a sea of boo's all around. But no, Kratos and his chains of chaos live magically with all of its carnage in this demo. Right from the start, the power of the PS3 is seen right from the title screen. Zipping right into CG and then in gameplay seamlessly, there's no waiting for the first blood drop to fall here. Switching from numerous targets with the chains of chaos, to the lightning bow and arror, and swinging from harpy to harpy all the while laying intense massacre on the land still isn't enough for your average God of War fan. One of the more interesting things going on while the bloodfest ensued was the background itself. A giant lava beast reeking havoc on the landscape was just awesome, it was almost distracting as you find outself trying to look for other stuff going on in the background so you don't miss anything.
The expanded combo system shows its face in the demo as well, displaying stunning finishers as in its predecessors, and incorporating the new weapons and movement features such as the wings Kratos sprouts at one point in the demo, and those hulking tiger looking cestus we've all seen in screenshots of the game. Another cool background element that came to be while Kratos speared a chimera in the head with its own horn was the god Apollo riding over you dropping sunfire down on your enemies. Unfortunately, they didn't go much further than this as the time limit of the conference was approaching to its end, but game look complete in its mechanics to me, and why they are waiting for a March 2010 release is beyond me as I personally know some people that have pre-ordered the game from the first day of the game's announcements, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait, and gives me time to finish other games in the mean time. Yes, I will be enjoying Kratos rage in March of next year.
Final Thoughts
This press conference was one for the record books. With so many surprises, I think after last year's quite and dismal E3, Sony came back with the flare and flash that E3 is all about. Though I would of liked to have seen a lot more like demonstrations kind of like the Microsoft Conference, as it just gives me a more secure sense of a finished product, Sony did not disappoint. With continuing support of the PS2, PSP, and the PS3, Sony has a lot on its plate and is looking to eat up the competition as well. One thing I would hope is that a lot of these games will make themselves present in 1080p HD, as I feel that would of been one of the PS3's strong graphical points coming into the next gen console war, but still so many only display games in the max of 720p. Not that the graphics of the PS3 are lame or lacking in any way, but would definitely put a mark in the overall look of their games. But Sony has a lot coming to us this year, or at least one would hope. And I am hopeful. Most importantly, Sony has nothing to fear of its competition I think. The innovation, the drive, and the spirit of the gamer is in the PlayStation 3 with these blockbuster titles and various ways they look to enthrall a nation of players together with their online community. It's pretty clear that the words, "only on PlayStation", truly do mean something again.
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