Sony Displays New PSP, Polished Games At E3

Sony had a lot to prove coming into this event, and kicked off on a high note. The PlayStation 2 is still selling units, and the PSP's numbers are apparently up as well. They followed that with the news of a new version of the PlayStation Portable. It's slimmer, lighter, has a longer battery life, and the ability to connect directly to your television to display video and games. There was a good deal of discussion about upcoming PSP titles, some of which are connected to a PSP bundle. Pushing out the PS3, they show several PlayStation Store titles, included the fascinating-looking Echochrome . Moving onto the Home service they discussed cellphone and website tie-ins to the Home service, as well as the ability to launch games from directly within the Home environment. Referencing the price cut, they reveal sales have already gone up. NCSoft, Epic, and Ubisoft are all referenced as heavy backers of the PlayStation, with a tantalizing statement suggesting that user-created mods for Unreal Tournament will be coming to the console via the Playstation Network. A lengthy Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer and a statement that the game is only for the PS3 (still to be determined), due early in 2008, cap off the third-party section. First-party titles show all of the highlights of Sony's portfolio with the LittleBigPlanet trailer emphasizing creation rather than play, and their Heavenly Sword highlight showcasing the game's story for the first time. A new sandbox title with a morality component was announced, InFamous, as was a new chapter in the Gran Turismo series. The press conference wrapped with a gripping trailer for Killzone 2, completely running in real-time.

Comments

Re:Crush

[CaseM]

And I'm pissed that I can only play Zelda on Nintendo products and Halo on Microsoft products...

Light at the End of the Tunnle

[alvinrod]

I think that this year's E3 was exactly what Sony needed last year. Overall I think they showed off plenty of eye candy and a few exclusives that should help to drive sales in the coming months. The only problem is that many of these key games (MGS4 in particular) won't be coming until after the holiday season. A lot of the media and public opinion is that Sony is failing and a big holiday season for them would help to dispell some of those doubts.

What I liked most about their conference is that they focused on showcasing the games coming out on their system instead of talking about sales figures and statistics (After watching the first fifteen minutes of the Nintendo conference, I was about ready for a nap). I suppose most of that stems from not having a lot of good news on that front. I don't mind a little bit of business, but I'm really more interested in seeing the games.

Depending on how things turn out over the next few months and other games that Sony manages to add to the PS3, I might almost consider buying one now that they've dropped the price a little bit. Hopefully I'll get to learn a little more about some of the games being released before the holidays to see if it's worth purchasing one of them. It also seems as though they've done a lot to revitalize the PSP, which is also a lot more appealing.

Overall I think that they should've given me a more compelling reason to puchase one of these during the holiday season or right now, but I think with the recent price drop and some of the good news from E3 that sales should pick up a little in the following weeks. If nothing else at least Sony has managed to pull its head out of its ass and get back on the right track. They still might end up like Nintendo during the GameCube era where they didn't receive a lot of support. They've still got a lot of leg work to prove to the rest of the world that they're a major contender.

Re:Light at the End of the Tunnle

[alvinrod]

And just yesterday I was called a Sony shill.

Do I think Sony will flop? No, I think that they'll do fine, but there's a pervasive belief in the media and a lot of people that the PS3 is doing horribly and is going to fail. It's almost contagous in that it's causing companies like Konami to debate the exclusivity of the MGS4 and has caused Sony to lose a lot of exclusives. It's a snowball effect, really.

The PS3 might many of the same games that made the PS2 so popular, but guess what, so does Microsoft this time around. Last time around the block GTA hit the PS2 first, now it's going to be on the 360 the exact same time. The only difference is that Microsoft will be seeing some exclusive content that the PS3 won't.

Go ahead and take a look at what happened to Nintendo. The Nintendo 64 had a lot of the games that made the SNES great and the GameCube had an arguably better array of games than the Nintendo 64, but they lost market share to the point that many people were questioning how long until they pulled out of the hardware business like Sega did. I thought this was a load as much as I think most of the current FUD against Sony is, but it's out there.

The industry can be pretty unforgiving. Just look at the gutted corpses that are Sega and Atari and it's not too unreasonable to suggest that if the market perceives them as a failure, they just might actually fail. Sony doesn't have to convince me that they'll do ok, but they do have to convince a lot of other people that they'll be around for the next generation.

Re:And this is interesting, why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because world != you. That is all.

2008

[dunezone]

Did anyone else notice that everything that looked amazing had 2008 attached to it? And everything that looked with par with the 360 had 2007 attached to it?

I mean its great they finally showed off some potential but slapping 2008 on it all doesn't give me much confidence to go out and buy the console today or even this holiday season.

Re:WOW

[alvinrod]

I think it gives them some credibility when they talk about their ten year product cycle for the PS3. If the PS2 is still receiving new games and versions of games that aren't showing up on the previous generation consoles of their competitors they can point to this and how they stand behind their product. The fact that the PS2 is outselling all other consoles short of the Wii and still has content being developed for it is amazing considering that we're over a year into the next generation.

I think you're just muck racking and naysaying, trying to proclaim the death of Sony when you don't have anything of real substance. If you want to suggest that Sony is failing at least offer something more than a shot at the success and continued viability of the PS2 as a platform.

No rootkit, but still no Sony love...

[Baron von Pilsner]

I didn't get the special Sony rootkit software they were offering, but I've had plenty of problems with their products and support (.. if it's still under warranty, why do I have to pay for repairs?)

I also have no plans to give Sony any money either, what's the opposite of a Sony fanboy?

heyho

[apodyopsis]

I can hear the 360 brigade and MS fan boys warming up on this thread. whooosh.

I have a PS3, I got it on day one, I love it, Resistance is a fabulous game.

Yes there are not as many games, yes it costs more - but for fucks sake it's a blu-ray player! not some piddly DVD player. At the time I got the PS3 I could not get a blu-ray player for that money. I like the machine, the geek in me admires the Cell technology. And I feel that strongly that Sony are getting a rough ride from a bunch a script kiddies and annoying teenagers. There I said it.

Sony are trying to run a business, not gain a foothold with massive loss making subsidies and oppressive leverage. I'm not saying that what MS is doing is wrong after all they are trying to run a business - but that does not mean I admire them for their business tactics.

-------

Having said that, in a few months I'll be getting a 360 for Halo 3, which looks to be a fabulous game!

Re:heyho

[ALeavitt]

If Sony had wanted to release a game console, they could have done it. Nintendo clearly did. Instead, Sony wanted to release an entertainment unit for the living room. They didn't focus on games, and blu-ray doesn't have enough of a market yet to justify the R&D and advertising behind the PS3. If Sony had just concentrated on getting good games out early in the lifespan of the console they would never be in this mess. Now they need to scramble to get games out before the console completely sinks. It's great that you like your blu-ray player and that you like Resistance, but a generic first-person shooter and a high-def media player aren't enough to compensate for the lack of FUN.

Re:heyho

[cowscows]

I'm glad that you like your PS3, I'm sure many people who own one have enjoyed it. But even if resistance is a great game, it's only one game, and if Sony wants $500-600 just for the console, then they're going to have to woo me with a large number of great games, or at least a handful of absolutely incredible ones.

It's also awesome that you're happy with Blu-ray, but there's plenty of evidence both in what people saying and what people are buying that shows that most people aren't particularly compelled by it(nor by HD-DVD). I don't know if it's fair to say I'm angry with Sony for pushing it so hard, but as an individual who has no-use for a Blu-ray player right now, I do think it's kind of disappointing that I'd be required to pay for one in order to play PS3 games.

Sony is getting a rough ride from all sorts of people, because they created a product that doesn't fit the market as well as they thought, they priced it well beyond what most of the market considered reasonable for a game console, and in all honesty, their executives were kind of dicks about the whole thing whenever they said anything. They fell into the same complacent trap that Nintendo did back in the day, so sure of their dominance that they could push whatever they wanted onto the consumer.

It took Nintendo a little while to get back on track, but they have, and as a result, we've got some pretty different and interesting gaming systems available. I think that not only has Sony earned some of the ire they've seen, but in the long run it will be good for the gaming industry. Even if the PS3 ends up a failure, I don't think Sony will abandon the industry, they'll hopefully take a fresh look at it, and rebuild their glory days.

Amazing!

[seebs]

Sales are up after a price drop!

So. The real question is this: How much higher will they be a month or so AFTER the price drop?

Sony BMG != Sony Computer Entertainment

[Square Snow Man]

Title says all, unless you don't know what operator != means.

Re:WOW

[the dark hero]

The problem is this too:

Bash Sony = Mod Up

Praise Wii = Mod Up

Baseless comments are getting too much attention. People need to stick to the moderator guidelines or stop modding up groupthink style.

Re:My Thoughts from E3

[Anonymous Coward]

"But because it's Sony, he's modded down and called an astroturfer."

Look at his post history. Nothing but repackaged Sony press releases.

Re:And this is interesting, why?

[Kohath]

Because Slashdot isn't written for you personally. Rather it's for a whole lot of people in addition to you. And they don't all have precisely the same opinions as you. Nor are they obligated to choose as you have.

Some people besides you won't let one incident in the past, an incident that maybe didn't even affect them directly, decide their entire future from that day forward. Perhaps you want every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people who work for Sony (and Sony-BMG and presumably Sony-Ericsson) to lose their jobs for one bad decision of a few record company losers. But not everyone does.

Re:NCsoft?

[Kohath]

I'm guessing they want to sell console games. (choices: PS2, Wii, PS3, 360)
They want to offer games that require a lot of processing power and have HD. (remaining choices: PS3, 360)
And they want to sell in volume to Asia. (remaining choice: PS3)

Re:WOW

[rbanffy]

It's just you.

The PS2 continues to sell extremely well and continues to be a major revenue driver.

You don't really want to have the most GFLOPS/polygons/texels per second videogame. What you want is to have the most profitable one.

Re:Killzone 2

[Gravatron]

Ah, considering alot of those "unreleased" games were featured in hands on demos to the press the last few months, including KZ2 which was played at E3 in real time, i'd say you more likely work for MS or Nintendo than Sony.

Re:Oh My Fucking God Sony

[bickle]

E3 isn't for hardcore gamers or even casual gamers. It's for industry people. Retailers want to know what will be hot so they can know what to order. Wii Fit was unveiled to continue generating interest in the system and games with retailers and industry, not so that gamers will drool over the system.