There’s been much speculation about what Sony would be showing off this year at E3. I must say, they did not disappoint! They covered quite a bit, and spent a good amount of time on each showcase. Here’s the summarized highlights of the PlayStation press conference—
- Quantic Dream’s David Cage unveiled their follow-up to Heavy Rain, titled Beyond starring Ellen Page.
- A live tech demo for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was presented, with many details including true cross-play capabilities between PS3 and PS Vita. Nathan Drake from Uncharted and Bioshock’s Big Daddy were teased as playable characters.
- DLC for LittleBigPlanet 2 will soon be released called “Cross-Controller” that adds PS Vita utilization for the PS3 version of the game and tons of new content.
- PlayStation Plus subscribers will be treated to many more free downloadable game titles very soon. This promise starts today(6/5/2012) with InFAMOUS 2, Saints Row 2, and LittleBigPlanet 2!
- This Summer, PSOne Classiics will be playable on the PS Vita.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, a PS Vita exclusive title, was announced.
- Another PS Vita exclusive, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, was showcased. It features cross-platform functionality and content with the PS3 version of Assassin’s Creed III and the first playable female assassin protagonist.
- A Crystal White PS Vita was unveiled, to be exclusively bundled with Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation.
- Assassin’s Creed III gameplay was shown, showcasing ship battles.
- A tech demo for FarCry 3 detailing 4-player co-op was presented, and a level editor was announced.
- Wonderbook, an interactive augmented reality peripheral that works with the PS Move was unveiled.
- A partnership between Sony and Pottermore was announced, and a tech demo for a Harry Potter-centric game for Wonderbook called Book of Spells—which was designed with the help of J.K. Rowling herself—was presented.
- PlayStation Suite changes it’s name to PlayStation Mobile and finds it’s first Android partner with HTC.
- A lengthy tech demo for God of War: Ascension was showcased.
- The conference ended with a tech demo for Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us.
Overall, Sony’s conference was very strong in my opinion. It’s good to see some fresh support for the PS Move with Wonderbook and J.K. Rowling(which is just a perfect fit, honestly), and some new features for the waning PS Vita. Unlike Microsoft’s press conference, Sony showed all exclusive content, except Assassin’s Creed III—but they did showcase that in conjunction with the Vita exclusive spin-off. The conference went over very well—it had some of the most anticipated exclusive games and got the loudest cheers I heard all day. All attendees were also treated to a free year of PlayStation Plus; how generous of Sony! Between this thoroughly satisfying conference and Microsoft’s very few but genuinely impressive announcements, the final press conference, presented by Nintendo, has some stiff competition.
