Playstation Gamer UK

It’s that wonderful time of the year again. When all of the biggest companies in the video game industry meet up to show of their packages. And damn, I’ve seen two and those are some mighty fine packages.Yes, it’s tuesday and I’ve seen two of the three major press conferences (didn’t bother to watch Nintendo’s) and I’ll be honest, I’m impressed by both. There has been a lot of big news, some big exclusives, some big non-exclusives and some big, well, everything. What am I talking about? Well, I’ll tell you after the break.

So, today is officially the first day of E3. But it really started yesterday with Microsoft’s customary, we’re too cool for school, early press conference. Now, this is a Sony blog so I’ll largely be sticking to that however there are a few Microsoft things I’d like to cover first. The first of which is the obvious shocker from the conference, Metal Gear Solid: Rising will be on the Xbox 360. The early assumption was, that since it was announced at Microsoft’s press conference, that it would be an Xbox 360 exclusive however, that has been since proven false and, it turns out, that MGSR will be on all the PS3 as well. So, because of this, I’ll get back to it in a bit. But the big talk coming out of Microsoft’s Xbox conference was the Natal motion system. For those of you familiar with the Minority report it’s kind of like that. I’m not actually that impressed by it, I think it’s just an updated PSEye, but people continue to flip their wig about it. Frankly, not only am I not impressed by it, I don’t think it’ll live up to what they’re promising. E3’s infamous for unkept promises and I’m certain, CERTAIN that this will be another one.

Alright, moving onto what Sony had to show, well, they win. In the battle of the press conferences Sony wins over Microsoft. Sony’s conference was more of the traditional press conference but it kicked ass, it was over 2 hours long and it was amazing. The first big thing was an on stage demo of Uncharted 2: Among Theives and all I have to say is beautiful. I can not wait for this game, and thankfully, I won’t have to wait very long. The Uncharted 2 multiplayer demo will be going live tonight (or tomorrow to be exact) and I just happen to have an in so there’ll be multiplayer impressions on here sometime next week.

As everyone was expecting the PSP Go! was formally announced and, despite it’s critics, I think this is the next evolution in hand held gaming. 16GB of internal memory, sliding screen, blue tooth and built in wifi. There was also something announced called Media Go! Media Go! is like the Sony version of iTunes. The price for the PSP G0! was also announced, $249.99 (or Euros, it’s the same price either way). Following the announcement of the PSP Go! there were a few new games announced for it, including Gran Turismo Portable and a new Metal Gear game. Yes, Kojima was back for the second day in a row. Called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker the game will feature Naked Snake and take place shortly after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3. Sony also went on to say that the PSN Store and the PSN Video Service would be available directly on the PSP (assuming you live in the US of course).

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go over all the games in depth so I’ll try to keep everything brief. Now then, lets get back to the PS3. Assassin’s Creed 2 was live demoed. The game wasn’t as impressive as the trailer I saw last night but it was still something special. It’s clear that Ubisoft is looking to take what they did right in the original and improve upon it and, from what I saw, they did that. Moving on again, we had the unveiling of a new Final Fantasy XIII trailer as well as new PS3 MMO called Final Fantasy XIV. Yes, not only is Final Fantasy XIII Versus a PS3 exclusive the next step in the franchise will also be exclusive, for a limited time at least, to the PS3. But, this wasn’t the only PS3 exclusive either, another new exclusive was announced. There were rumours going around about a PS3 exclusive from Rockstar, and guess what, they’re not rumours. Agent was also announced today. It is a game set in the 1970s and it comes from Rockstar North, yes, the exact same team that made Grand Theft Auto IV.

Sticking with PS3 exclusives, another game was shown off as well. You might remember a very large game called MAG, well, there was the first, live action, 256 player demo shown at the Sony conference and I’ll be honest, I’m impressed. there was almost no lag and the game seemed to go off without a hitch. Everywhere from the APC to the fact that there were helicopters with mini-guns that could be used as spawn points. MAG really looks like the game that will give you what you always wished you could do in other first person shooters.

There were also a few notable trailers shown off. One, of which happens to be called The Last Defender, although, I think you’d know it better as Project Trico. What can I say about it really other than, Team Ico did it again. That trailer almost made me cry. I can’t wait to see this game. The other notable, non-montage trailer would be the infamous and incredible, Gran Turismo 5. Let me be honest, this game looks damn good. I’m not a big racing game fan, but I’d buy it.

Sony also pulled out the motion controller. Yes, you think I’m down on Project Natal, you should hear my thoughts on this one. I hate it, the PS3 motion controller is, perhaps, one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. It uses LD lights on the end of the controller and the PSEye to track your movements. It’s basically half way between the tech of the Wiimote and the tech of the Project Natal.

Moving on to interesting things, there was the second game in the Play, Create and Share model shown. Called ModNation Racers it can best be summed up as racing version of LittleBigPlanet. It allows you to customize your racer, your car and your track. It’s actually surprisingly good looking for what I thought. I look forward to seeing it in the future.

And so we come to the end of Sony’s press conference, and the last live demo. You’ve heard of going out with a bang, well, how about going out with Kratos. Yes, the last demo in Sony’s press conference was God Of War III and let me say, holy shit. The game looked amazing. A release date was also set for early next year.

Alright, so that’s me summing up what Sony had at their press conference. Now for some of my personal impressions/opinions. The first issue at hand has to be Hideo Kojima. He’s got two games in the works but it is my opinion that he only supports one of these. After watching him sneak onto and off of the Microsoft stage I’m thinking that he doesn’t support the move to make MGSR mutli-console. If you put this in context with a review he did last week it was Konami who forced this upon their lead developer. But, Kojima got his Sony game, which he seems avid in saying that he’s putting his full strength behind, in Peace Walker.

Frankly, it was the games that put Sony over the top. Microsoft’s press conference didn’t really wow me but the games at Sony’s were unbelievable. And for Nintendo fans, well, there’s a new Mario game, right?