Monday, June 06, 2011

The many faces of Sony's E3 2011 presser

Sony's E3 2011 press conference ended a few hours ago, but I haven't had a chance to chime in about it until now because of dinner and work and all of those other things that pop up in an afternoon and keep a guy from blogging about games.

With that out of the way, what did I think about said presser? Well, I enjoyed it more than Microsoft's presser, that's for sure.

That's not to say Sony's conference was one mind-blowing announcement after another. On the contrary, it started rather boringly--with Sony's Jack Tretton apologizing for the recent PSN debacle before yammering on about how well the "PlayStation family" is doing these days. (I can't fault him for that, as it's part and parcel of these sorts of events.)

Anyway, if I had snapped a photo of myself during Tretton's opening salvo, I probably would have looked something like this:


Except, of course, I'd have looked like a grown man and not a young girl.

Anyway, things thankfully turned around as soon as the folks at Sony started showing games. I've yet to play any of the previously-released Resistance or Uncharted titles, but their latest iterations--Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, respectively--looked pretty awesome to these eyes. (Uncharted 3 was especially enticing thanks to the demo's cruise-ship setting.)

That double dose of awesomeness definitely piqued my interest. In fact, if I had taken a photo of myself at that point in time I likely would have looked a bit like this lovely lady:


Unfortunately, Tretton went back to yammering as soon as he was done talking about Resistance 3. The focus of his yammering this time: Some sort of PlayStation-branded 3D TV that will sold later this year for $500. (That price includes a copy of Resistance 3, an HDMI cable and a pair of 3D glasses, by the way).

If you want to know how I probably looked during this particular section of the presser, just scroll back to the image of the bored little girl.

That's also how I looked when Tretton talked about a bunch of in-the-works, Move-enabled titles. Honestly, I don't have anything against the Move, but I'm also not all that interested in it. If you are interested in it, you may like to know that BioShock Infinite, Dust 514 (from the makers of Eve Online), NBA 2K12, Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest, some sort of Star Wars game and a bunch of other games will make use of Move whenever they finally hit the streets later this year or next.

To say I was about to go into an E3-induced coma during this portion of the proceedings would be an understatement. Seemingly aware of that fact, Tretton left the stage and was replaced by Kazuo Hirai. Hirai wasn't there to talk about the PS3, no sir; he was there to talk about the NGP. Hallelujah!

Actually, the NGP is no more. From now on, Sony's next PSP will be known as PS Vita. OK, no skin off my nose. Hirai rattled off a bunch of boring details about the system--AT&T will be the exclusive 3G data provider for it, it'll come loaded with a couple of social-media apps, yadda yadda yadda--and then, mercifully, got to the games.

Among them: Mod Nation Racers (they're still trying to sell this thing?), an ARPG called Ruin, Street Fighter x Tekken and Uncharted: Golden Abyss, among others.

That was all well and good, but even then I was just barely hanging on. What snapped me out of my funk was Hirai finally revealing the PS Vita's price: $250 for the Wi-Fi version and $300 for its 3G counterpart.

At that point, my face likely molded itself into a look of genuine shock. Something like this, I'm guessing:


I know, it's weird to get excited about a $300 or even a $250 portable game system, but before the words above slipped from Hirai's mouth I was sure the PS Vita would cost $300 at the very least. The fact that the cheapest iteration will be carrying the same price tag as Nintendo's 3DS is pretty shocking to me.

The question is: Will the brass at Nintendo cut off Sony's legs, so to speak, and drop the price of the 3DS--to, say, $199--before their competitor's PS Vita is released? I'm guessing we'll find out shortly.

See also: 'Yeesh' and 'My hopes and fears for the big three at E3'

11 comments:

Mark Ayala said...

Some other interesting stuff is coming out for it like Project Gravity and a new Vanillaware game. Did you manage to see that in the compilation video after the whole presentation?

Anyways, it looks like a nice system, but it's still expensive. I just bought a car for just $150 bucks more than the PSVIVA equipped with 3G capabilities. No taxes to pay either!

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Hm. I still haven't heard anything from E3 this year that A) I didn't already know or B) I cared about.

Of course, after Nintendo makes their announcements today, I'll be way more glued to the conference.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Mark: I only glimpsed the final compilation video. The hubs was talking to me and I thought it was the same one they had showed earlier. Guess not! I read about the Vanillaware game, though -- sounds wonderful to me!

Like you said, though, $250/300 is still a lot to spend on a portable system. I have a feeling I'm going to wait for both this system and the 3DS to drop below $200 at least before picking either of them up.

Bryan Ochalla said...

I'm with you, Justin. Most of the good stuff that was said at the MS and/or Sony pressers was leaked long ago. We'll see soon if NIntendo has anything interesting to announce/show. I sure hope so!

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Holy crap. Hope you're following Nintendo's press conference. I was wrong about this thing being lackluster. Wow!

Anonymous said...

Fuck literally everything except Tomb Raider and Elder Scrolls V.

Like, seriously, seeing that Skyrim gameplay, I don't think I've ever been so close to hyperventilating in my life, pass me the paper bag.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Justin: I watched most of it live. Had to get on the phone for an interview at the end. Ack! Thankfully I was able to re-watch that portion later.

Anyway, it was interesting, that's for sure. What did you think about what was announced?

Bryan Ochalla said...

Glad to hear you liked what you saw at the Sony presser, Trxd! Are you mostly a Sony guy, or do you like other systems, too?

Anonymous said...

I'm a versatile guy Bryan ;)

Anonymous said...

Well, that sounded less sexual when I typed it.

But I really don't keep to one console or company, life is too short :P

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ha ha! I'm also quite versatile, Trxd ;)