Slim is out, Laser Whips are in
I think it's fair to say that Sony can do no worse in Press Conference-craft than their legendary press conference back in 2006. Thankfully, having hit bottom, the only direction is up, and despite plodding a bit out of the starting gate, Sony was going warp 9 by the finish with annoucements of new IPs like Agent, Modnation Racer, and The Last Guardian, big surprises like Final Fantasy XIV Online, to vids, and more importantly, DEMOs (I'm looking at you Nintendo) for exclusives like God of War III, Massive Action Game, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The first hour of the press conference was almost entirely devoted to a landslide of new title's for the PSP and its newly announced, smaller cousin, PSP Go.
Sony was also clearly out to adjust the dimmer switch on Microsoft's incredible motion capture device, Project Natal, with their own variation, a combo of precision wands and the Eye Toy, the result of which will yield "sub-millimeter precision." However, despite some...interesting tech demos, Wii fans have nothing to fear as the motion controls/camera combo are clearly in the "theoretical" phase. I also found it a bit odd that their answer to Microsoft's "no controller" was "an extra controller." Also, no talk of the fabled "PS3 Slim." Take that Chinese internet forum!
Clearly a tight race between Microsoft and Sony for "Best conference of E3," but as an owner of both companies' products, it just means double prizes for me. Hit the jump for the full Sony E3 Press Conference and along with a reprint of my liveblog twitter feed.
LiveBlog Twitter Feed
[Sony Presscon 11:07] Sony running a bit late, still waiting and listening to Sony grooves
[Sony Presscon 11:16] - Sony conf up and running, letting us know they have the games Xbox has too :)
[Sony Presscon 11:18] Chart attack!! Yup, it's Sony.
[Sony Presscon 11:20] - Uncharted 2 looking good as always, need to go back and play the original.
[Sony Presscon 11:24] - Amazing "assassin's creed" like climbing and destructibility showing in Uncharted 2, pretty hot stuff Sony
[Sony Presscon 11:25] MAG, the Massive Action Game debuted last year, getting some Massive demo love (64 v 64, dag)
[Sony Presscon 11:28] MAG reminds me a lot of Battlefield 2, objective based, fairly realistic combat with vehicles, a CoD4 vibe, too
[Sony Presscon 11:30] Demo-er's team just called in huge helicopter attack and air strike. Looks pretty fun.
[Sony Presscon 11:34] PSP now getting some love, damn there's that "tween" word again!! Curse you Disney!!
[Sony Presscon 11:36] It's Kaaaazzzz Hirai! We haven't seen him since the debacle of '06 :)
[Sony Presscon 11:38] Kaz is demoing the remarkably compact PSP Go, Kaz jokes another name was "Worst Kept Secret in History" :)
[Sony Presscon 11:41] SenseSpeak will suggest music based on your mood and tone of voice? Interesting...maybe I got that wrong.
[Sony Presscon 11:43] Pretty sure $249 != 249 Euros, but digital content now available for download directly from PSP, more on PSN
[Sony Presscon 11:45] Gonna agree with @jeffcannata this PSP Gran Turismo monologue could use some visual flare...ah here it goes.
[Sony Presscon 11:45] Looks like a new Gran Turismo game? Polyphony founder talking about PSP Gran Turismo, no Riiiiiiddge Racer?
[Sony Presscon 11:52] Looks like more Metal Gear news, it's Hideo Kojima, again! Now Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker for PSP.
[Sony Presscon 11:55] I have to say, Kojima is just damn cool. Trailer for Peacewalker. Snake in Costa Rica. Just reverse parachuted! 8-0
[Sony Presscon 11:58] Woah, Snake clones!?! Wha? Two snakes in a box? I'm officially confused.
[Sony Presscon 12:02] A new Resident Evil, Socom, LBP, Motorstorm, all for...you guessed it... PS-frikkin-P. What about that PS3 guys?
[Sony Presscon 12:06] Big announcement, FFVII available TODAY from PSN. Maybe I can finally play it now...hey, I was a Nintendo guy then.
[Sony Presscon 12:07] Showing off Home montage, yikes, has Sony ever been on Home, with real people? Sigh...
[Sony Presscon 12:12] Paraphrasing: "It's virutally impossible for us show off any real PS3 games, so here's another montage..."
[Sony Presscon 12:14] Epically long montage showing stuff like GoW III, Shooter, Fat Princess, and Heavy Rain. How bout some damn demos!!
[Sony Presscon 12:14] Finally a new IP, Agent from Rockstar North exclusively for PS3.
[Sony Presscon 12:17] YES!! Gameplay demo of Assassin's creed 2!! Ezio just gut stabbed a dude and traded places with him on a bench!
[Sony Presscon 12:22] Will use DaVinci as personal inventor to make things like flying machines and guns.
[Sony Presscon 12:24] Ezio used his double hidden Assassin's blades to take down two guys at once. Epic!!
[Sony Presscon 12:24] New "Seeker" type will try to find you in hay stacks, but you can kill him and pull him in. Game out Holiday 2009
[Sony Presscon 12:27] Big cinematic trailor for FFXIII. Holy crap, FXIV footage, but, wha!! PS3 Exclusive!! Snap bags.
[Sony Presscon 12:29] FFXIV to be another attempt at a FF MMO (last being FFXI) only for the PS3. Crazy.
[Sony Presscon 12:31] New PS3 motion controller with a "glowing sphere" that the Eye Toy can track. Looks like M$oft + controller.
[Sony Presscon 12:33] Tech demo clearly not as polished as Project Natal demo, but looks nice a smooth. "It's still hard" quoth the demoer.
[Sony Presscon 12:36] Haha, laser whip. Ferengi attack!! "Sub millimeter accuracy." Use two controller to manipulate things.
[Sony Presscon 12:39] Showing character control. A little janky, but conceptually cool. Their archery demo not quite as real as Wii sports.
[Sony Presscon 12:42] LBP update. "Dressing up your sack boy" sounds like a rude euphemism. Haha, disney character costumes for LBP :)
[Sony Presscon 12:43] Another new exclusively IP for PS3. ModNation Racers. Dude's script is a little too practiced.
[Sony Presscon 12:45] Create Avatar-esque characters and customize your race car. How bout those characters for PSHome, Sony?
[Sony Presscon 12:50] Tracks can also be constructed. "Create by playing" track follow's your driver. Terrain mod too, like FarCry2.
[Sony Presscon 12:51] Adding sheep to plow through :) Sort-of a fully customizable Mario Kart racer. Pretty neat.
[Sony Presscon 12:53] Yeah Team Ico!!! Officially Titled "The Last Guardian." Looks like same as leaked trailer.
[Sony Presscon 12:55] Yeah for Rat-Dog-Bird!! Looks maybe a little birdier than the leaked trailer? Though looks like same trailer.
[Sony Presscon 12:57] A bit longer than leaked trailer, but still looks amazing. Team Ico == Video Games as Art
[Sony Presscon 1:00] Gran Turismo 5, not sure what is CG and what is ingame. Looks great. Even had some Nascar in there.
[Sony Presscon 1:01] God of War III demo, Kratos catching a ride with creepy bird-boob-demon-things.
[Sony Presscon 1:04] The epic is definitely there. Huge titan in the back ground, imagine we'll see him upclose soon.
[Sony Presscon 1:06] Brutal, Kratos just gutted a huge centaur warrior. And I mean literally gutted. With guts! and QTEs!
[Sony Presscon 1:07] Awww, no Titan battle at the press conference. Kratos did stab this horned beast with its own horn. Dag.
[Sony Presscon 1:09] Sony Press conference done. Slow start but strong finish. No "slim PS3" annocument. Internet forums == Fail...duh...