E3 2010: Sony Press Conference Impressions

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Zasalamel

This year, I’ve missed all big events due to having to work and go to class and crap. Thankfully, the good folks at IGN and G4 were streaming and are archiving all the industry media conferences. Nintendo even went the extra mile to stream its showcase as well while providing exclusive content on its own E3 website (similar to the not-so-secret E3 media site from last year).

Next up for my series of E3 Impressions is Sony. You can watch the press conference for yourself right here; it is also available on IGN. The overall verdict is very similar to the impression I got from Microsoft; Sony played it safe. The difference for me is that Sony showed off some games and content that actually mattered to me, or rather, content that I could get excited about. Kinect is great and all, but Move seems to have the games that would hold my attention.

Impressions after the jump…

1-Up

Sorcery

I really like the concept behind this Move title. The spell launching mechanic seemed to work rather well, and the potion effect demoed was nifty. The real draw for me though was seeing how the different spells interact with each and combine.

Little Big Planet 2

I haven’t jumped on the LBP bandwagon yet, but this game might change that. “Play. Create. Share.” just got even more interesting now that LBP2 is more than just a social-creative platformer. It really does appear to be a “platform for games” as the level editor can be used to create games of any genre.

Gran Turismo 5

I’m a fan of the series, but the super long wait between GT4, GT5: Prologue, and GT5 has cased my love for the franchise to dwindle a bit. Now that a release date has been announced, I think I may need to dust off my copy of A-Spec…

Twisted Metal

Surprise, surprise, indeed. Great promo with the teaser and the live visit from the clown himself on stage. The demo footage looked interesting. Really, I’m just glad to see the franchise hasn’t died.

Playstation Portapotties

PSP

It still sucks. Period. There is no amount of games, no particular series or franchise, that can save this poor under served handheld. I wish Sony would stop fooling itself into thinking that the PSP is still cool. No one is excited about it anymore. Why? Because Sony didn’t treat it right when it had the chance. And the line up of games shown this year actually looks promising. Sadly, the marketing campaign is a little too late and many of those games could really do far better on the PS3 (both in terms of sales and reception).

Sony, if the PSP is still important to you, take it more seriously. And not just on paper and at E3…

InFamous 2

I really was excited to see this. InFamous is an excellent title and one of the most fun games I played on the PS3 last year. Unfortunately, the trailer left me disappointed. The hints at gameplay were fine and dandy. The redesign made for the game’s protagonist, Cole, not so much. I know a new voice actor was hired for the character, but now the character model itself is, well… It’s like a whole new actor was cast in place of the original – like Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, except not anywhere near as good. Since Cole isn’t a real person, why the hell is he an entirely different person now? What happened to continuity? I’m all for change and improvement, but, Sucker Punch, I’m not sure about this one…

Playstation Plus

I would actually place this on the 1-Up list – the features of this service warrant that much – but I can’t because the service, too me, is a little pricey. $50 for a year of early access to content I generally already get access to for free is a little much when you factor in the fact that some of that content will no longer be “owned” by me when I end my subscription. Besides, I’m still not getting all the same features I could get on XBL for the same $50. Nevertheless, this miss isn’t so bad and can really be counted as a hit, after all the free stuff is still free and Plus just adds some extra value to the package.