Lets face, E3 is only a short while away, 2 weeks today actually it kicks off with Microsoft’s press conference. But what can we expect before E3 with the pre-E3 conferences. First off, there are some pretty big changes. While Reggie Fills Aimme is still at Nintendo, Phil Harrison and Peter Moore have now bitten the dust from Sony and Microsoft and are now at EA Sports and Atari which means no fun with them this year (Especially Peter =( )
But what can Sony pull out of the bag for their conference this year? Well, we tell you all here what could possibly happen at that conference on July 15th.
Hardware:
This will most likely be the PlayStation 2′s final appearence at E3 after the short time they had on it last year. There could be one final swansong game for the PS2 unveiled at E3 to send the console off to Videogaming heaven but that is very doubtful sadly.
As for the PSP, it needs a shunt in the back-side. Not since May of last year have I got a PSP game which was Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Since then, nothing has come close to interesting me for the PSP (Bar God of War: Chains of Olympus but I’m too poor to get it right now) and now the PSP is dying because of a lack of games so maybe some new games should be coming out of E3.
Games from Sony’s Worldwide Studios could be as such a PSP verison of Little Big Planet where you could develop levels on the PSP and then play them (Obviously) but also upload them to your PS3 and play them on there. Maybe as well a PSP Motorstorm? Well, it’s possible but with one of the finest developers for the PSP not developing any games for it anymore, that developer in question being Ready at Dawn, the PSP needs a boost as it has been doing very well in Japan as of the past year.
And as for the PlayStation 3, everything is finally coming to place. After a horrible launch period with a few games shining throughout the year such as Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Warhawk and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, everything has finally come into place with David Reeves recently suggesting at PlayStation Day that it has overtaken the Xbox 360 in sales in Europe (A comment as such debunked by Microsoft Europe recently) plus games finally being released such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and of course, the biggest exclusive the PS3 has had, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
But Metal Gear Solid 4 wont be enough to see the PS3 through it’s time period, oh no. Instead, it needs a strong collection of 1st party titles (Already done) as well as 3rd party titles (Something of which Sony is lacking)
So what can Sony do to win the press conference war with MS and Nintendo? Here’s a few things.
PlayStation Network:
It’s main flagship title still to be released is Socom: US Navy Seals Confrontation which is due for September.It will be on show surely with new gameplay videos emerging as well as an announcement concerning an open beta (There will be a beta as you get a token for it if you buy Qore on the US Store but only in America)
As well as that, a few other titles will be there such as Siren: Blood Curse and a spin-off to Ratchet & Clank called Ratchet: Quest for Booty as well as PixelJunk: Eden as such.
And please Sony, confirm a date for Wipeout HD!!! It was only last year Phil Harrison announced it’d becoming out at the end of last year with 1080P 60FPS graphics and full multiplayer. Maybe you’ll do an Apple and announce that its on the store as the conference goes on? (Please do that)
Naturally, there will be some new games announced for the store as such like Wipeout HD and echochrome for Europe as well as Linger in Shadows. Plus, with the new video store, music videos and TV shows would be a great feature for it when it is released.
Overall, Sony is starting to get a grip of things with the PSN and the PS Store but it needs more games. Hopefully, we’ll get that at E3.
PlayStation Home:
Sony, for the love of god, please release Home!!! Yes, we get it, its gonna be like Second Life, thats all well and good but c’mon!!! It’s been delayed too many times now and it needs to have a solid release date with the open beta this year and full release either very late this year or early 2009.
I know you wanna perfect it and everything, thats all good but come fucking on!!! It shouldnt matter what Kaz Hirai says with Home will be out when its ready, fuck with that, there is something called updates, use them!!!
Anyways, like last year, the whole conference should centre around Home as such and with a new verison of Home coming in as Verison 0.93, surely 1.00 is only around the corner. We have to hear about it at E3 so please Sony, no more delays, no more “it’ll be ready when its ready”.
Release the damn thing and get it over with.
Firmware 2.40:
Its more then likely that they are keeping this for E3 and are going to do what Apple do by announcing that everything will be out after the end of the conference or in this case, Firmware 2.40 will be released by the end of the Sony conference.
Hopefully beforehand though, we should see what they have planned with Sony releasing a walkthrough of what will be on FW 2.40 or at least some screens. Sony, this is the firmware every PS3 owner has been looking to get since they got their PS3;’s. Announce this at E3 and release it to download after the conference and you may just win E3 as far as the conferences go.
Dont dissapoint Sony as far as Firmware 2.40 goes or you may just find yourself a laughing stock again. And you all know what happened last time 2 years after .
Games:
And now, it’ll be Sony make or break bit, the games. A nice mix of 1st and 3rd party games coming between the end of this year and the start of next year. Starting off with 3rd party stuff, the big 2 publishers I wanna see on stage this year are Konami and Square Enix.
I want to see (and it could happen now) Kojima Productions new project being Zone of the Enders 3. Hell I’ll settle for an announcement at E3 with footage at the Tokyo Games Show. Please Kojima, please unveil Zone of the Enders 3 at the conference or at least annouce it with footage at TGS.
And as for Square Enix…you know where I’m gonna go with this…
SHOW SOME FUCKING NEW FOOTAGE OF FINAL FANTASY XIII!!!
Also some new info on Versus XIII would be nice but for the love of god Square, Final Fantasy XIII is the biggest 3rd party exclusive of 2009 for the PS3 and it hasnt seen a new trailer for 6 months!!!
So, a new trailer, a rough release date and hopefully a demo announced for it as well. Also, is it possible that in the faintest of hopes announce a remake of Final Fantasy VII? Seriously, it could come after FFXIII and it could very well turn the tide of the console war.
I’d also like to take this chance to sat that Namco has to show off Tekken 6 at E3 for the PS3, it really needs to as well as announce a release date for it already.
Also Sony, another thing.
MORE JRPGS!!!
Final Fantasy XIII is all well and good but it cant hold its own as far as JRPGS go, it needs more of them. The PlayStation 3 is in a dire need of it. Hopefully, Square will also take the time they have on stage to also announce Kingdom Hearts 3 at the same time but even then, there still needs to be more.
So could we hear more at E3? Hopefully.
Oh, and Rockstar, pleaaaase. Shows us LA Noire already as well as the un-mentioned exclusive for the PS3 your making or at least mention it with footage to come after E3.
As for 1st party stuff, Sony is filled to the brim of them but the biggest games which will be at the conference will surely be Resistance 2, Killzone 2 and Little Big Planet with a casting role from inFamous and Motorstorm: Pacfic Rift with Resistance 2 taking the main headliner spot.
Hopefully, we’ll hear a release date, a new trailer showcasing the campaign for Resistance 2 as well as multiplayer footage and a open beta announced for multiplayer before the games release.
Also, Little Big Planet needs a solid release date surely. Plus, we’d like to see a walkthrough of it live on stage as it went down a storm when it was unveiled at GDC 07.
And as for Killzone 2, we’ll hopefully get an announcement of a beta for multiplayer but also a new trailer and maybe even an announcement of a single player demo? Who knows.
Now, what about Team ICO? They made 2 of the finest games ever made for the PlayStation 2 with ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. So surely we’ll hear something about their next project in some way at the conference but either way, it should be great to hear something new about it.
Next, inFamous. Recently delayed until 2009, a new trailer could be all I need and I’d be pumped for this game as it looks amazing. However, some new info on the single player as well as info on multiplayer and it could go down a treat.
But, there is also a game which has been mentioned by gamers over the past two years and yet very little has come out of it. I’m of course referring to Heavy Rain. All there has been is a CGI trailer shown at E3 06 nut nout has been announced of the game since so hopefully David Cage and his team will give us something new on the game at E3 08 with a possible 09 release.
Eat, Sleep, Play are next on the list and well, David Jaffe needs to show off Twisted Metal for the PS3 as it was confirmed for the PS3 at the end of the remake for Twisted Metal PSP for the PS2 so surely it has to be announced at the conference.
There was also another game which Jaffe worked on before making his own studio. It was while working at Sony’s Santa Monica studio, some game called God of War. It has been a year since God of War II was released and now with the Santa Monica studio in the production phase of God of War III, it has to be on show somehow either in full gameplay or CGI, surely? Hopefully, we’ll hear more about Kratos next adventure in the conference.
And finally, Naughty Dog. Its a case of which bastard love child is better? Uncharted or Jak and Daxter? Some people want Uncharted 2 announced at the confernce while others want Jak and Daxter 4? What do I want? I want food I’m hungry writing this. Seriously, I dont care as I loved Jak and Daxter for the PS2 and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was a fine piece of gaming for the PS3, was my favourite game for the PS3 last year.
Maybe they’ll announce both? Who knows.
Anyways, what do you think could happen at the conference? Leave us a comment below.
