Sony Briefing: Summary
PlayStation Move, Plus, and lots of 3D games to boot
Sony rounded up the traditional Big Three set of press conferences at this year's E3 - going into it the key topics looked set to revolve around motion control (first shown off and playable at GDC), 3D gaming (which has long been an ambition for the company) and possible detail on the previously hinted-at PSN subscription plan.
As it turned out, we got all three - so while none of them were real surprises, there were a couple of software reveals that hadn't been previously expected. Here's a summary, as it happened.
3D Gaming
The company has two Big Priorities this year, and 3D gaming is one of them. Group president Kaz Hirai was on hand to talk up the plus points of the technology, and remind everybody that thanks to a recent firmware update, all 35 million PlayStation 3s that have been bought to-date are 3D-capable. Those that are connected to the internet, anyway.
The principal gaming vehicle for 3D in the show was an in-depth gameplay demo for Killzone 3, while the game itself was announced for February 2011.
Other titles outed as supporting 3D this year included The Sly Collection, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White Skateboarding, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Tron, NBA 2K11 and Gran Turismo 5.
PlayStation Move
Precision and experience were the watchwords as VP of marketing for SCEA took to the stage to re-introduce PlayStation Move. Because GDC already saw a host of titles playable, the company opted to focus on new games.
First up was Sorcery, a third-person action title that mapped the motion of the Move peripheral onto a magic wand. A range of spells were demonstrated, against a relentless series of in-game enemies. In addition, shape-shifting allows the magician to access different areas in the game - for example, as a rat.
Next up was EA's Andrew Wilson to put Tiger Woods 2011 through its paces, with the Move peripheral tracking one-on-one to the motion of the on-screen golf swing - followed by a teaser for a new product including a range of game characters (Jax, Daxter, Ratchet and Clank among them) called Heroes on the Move.
A full line-up of PlayStation Move titles and pricing has been confirmed, and is available now.
Meanwhile, a deal with Coca-Cola will see PlayStation Move marketed on more than 130 million drinks products, Dille revealed, along with the pricing and release strategy for the motion tech.