Sony Briefing: Summary

PlayStation Portable

While the focus for most people has been elsewhere, Sony's keen to reaffirm its continuing commitment to the PSP, outlining 70 new titles for the handheld by the end of 2010.

That line-up will include games from the following franchises: God of War, Ace Combat, Metal Gear Solid, among others.

PlayStation Plus

As per Hirai's CES comments at the beginning of the year, the new premium options for PlayStation Network were announced - called PlayStation Plus.

Pricing and options are available to read in full, but for the West 90-day and 1-year subscriptions will be available, with bonuses on offer to include early access to demos and beta trials, as well as a mix of permanently available full games, and a cycling roster of monthly rentables.

PlayStation Plus will also allow users to set up scheduled downloads, for demos, game add-ons or firmeware updates.

PlayStation 3 Software

Some serious time was set aside for the announcement and explanation by Media Molecule's Alex Evans of LittleBigPlanet 2 - the game's 'play, create, share' tools have been massively expanded, and look set to allow whole swathes of new games and levels to be created.

Next up, EA's John Schappert was on-stage to go through the company's forthcoming Medal of Honor title as it looks to ratchet up the pressure on Activision and Call of Duty. Dead Space 2 was also shown as part of the Sony press conference, along with some deals on special editions that will be exclusive to the PS3.

The biggest surprise of the night came with the appearance of Valve's Gabe Newell, who revealed that Portal 2 would be available on the PlayStation 3 - and even went so far as to say that it would be a better experience on Sony's platform thanks to the inclusion of Steamworks.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood will feature exclusives on the PS3, including a missions pack and the multi-player beta, while Gran Turismo 5 was finally given a sold release date of November 2 this year.

Last on-stage was David Jaffe and his Eat, Sleep, Play co-founder to reveal that a new Twisted Metal game will make it's way to the console in 2011.