How Sony Can ‘Win’ E3

TSA Staff 41 Comments

Microsoft ‘went first’ yesterday, the initial conference of the big three is presumably the hardest one to judge because there’s no frame of reference, we simply don’t know what the other two, Nintendo and Sony, are planning.  However, unless the latter two royally screw this year’s presentations up, Microsoft have to come a distant third based on what they decided to focus on last night.

You know, it’s not really going to be that hard to top an hour’s worth of Kinect stuff, and with Nintendo reportedly ready to blow everyone away with a new Zelda for Wii and Sony’s sure-fire hits of Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Motorstorm: Apocalypse ready and waiting, it’s already in the bag, right?  Focus on the games, and the crowd might at the very least eek out a little cheer now and again.

The relative silence last night during Microsoft’s motion control section (and indeed, throughout the rather rushed, mistimed presentation) speaks volumes: the gaming press wanted to see games – proper games – and why Microsoft didn’t push the likes of Halo: Reach (which looked wonderful) and Gears 3 (again, a must-own) is beyond me.  Yes, Kinect has potential, but was E3 really the venue to show it off?

Perhaps not, and especially not when it means not showing the stuff we wanted to see more of.  The Crytek exclusive was completely lost in the haze, but could have been something really exciting if it wasn’t just a stepping stone to Microsoft getting to the Kinect portion – a little more hype and, you know, some discussion afterwards would have helped to cement the new game in people’s minds.

Sony know how to do this – they’ve been doing it for the last month with the aforementioned trio of PS3 exclusives.  LittleBigPlanet 2 was up first, and will certainly feature at the show for everyone to see, as will Killzone 3 with hopefully a real-time demo.  We’ve played the level of Motorstorm that’ll be at E3, and when you see it in motion you’ll know why I was so excited about playing more of that one.

What Sony need to do is remember the target audience, their target audience.  Sure, show us some Move stuff but keep it to the proper games – don’t waste 10 minutes on whatever’s happening to EyePet when most of the press seated won’t ever have touched the game.  And certainly keep it all real-time, we don’t want anything pre-recorded and faked, thank you very much.

And if you do decide to show PSP2, ensure it’s backed up with one hell of a show, because after the Go, with confidence in the brand battered by high pricing and the knowledge that it was all just a test; a precursor, your buying public will need solid reasons to want to buy into the PSP again.  Ensure there are games that only run on the second gen machine, and ensure it’s got a clear purpose.

But really, it’s all about the games.  We want to know what thatgamecompany have been up to, we want to see inFamous 2 and all your other first and third party exclusives.  We want to see Ico in HD, we want to see the new God Of War running on PSP, and we want a clear, locked down and 100% guaranteed release date for Gran Turismo 5.  We want games, proper games.

You’re not going to have Zelda, but you’ve still got a bloody good chance of coming out on top, Sony.

Tags:

Related stories from TSA

E3 is officially dead – ESA confirms the trade show is no more
Ubisoft Forward showcase announced for 12th July – will this be when we see AC Valhalla gameplay?
Sony Won’t Be Attending E3 2019
Justin Roiland Created Trover Saves the Universe Announced, Gets Trailered

41 Comments

  1. All they need to do is bring Kevin Butler on stage and let him do the talkin :) In all seriousness, they need less focus on motion gaming and more on the exclusives and new releases which look great.

    By the way, does anyone reckon sony have something monstrous to reveal as it seems they have already given away most of their plans?

    • na i cant see it. maybe a new game we dont know of, but i think the whole Sony E3 will be about 3D and Move. bit pants as i would like some new, console testing, hardware pushing exclusives! New IP’s!

    • The Last Guardian has had fuck all since last E3. I hope they drop a bomb with that one.

    • I know everyone wants Kevin Butler to be on stage and thinks it will be amazing, but I think it might ruin the whole appeal of him if that happens. What makes him funny is the funny writing and the actor’s portrayal of Butler.

      I’m hoping that if they do bring him out, he’s just as good in an uncontrolled and unedited environment on stage (i.e. he doesn’t bomb) and there’s no ‘awkwardness’ like there usually is on the E3 stages with the terrible jokes and nervousness from the presenters.

      • I agree Benny Boy and maybe its just me but I have a feeling Kevin Butler would be good at impromptu.

  2. Don’t forget the Last Guardian! Sony got the Last Guardian!

  3. Don’t forget Last Guardian as well and possibly Quantum Dream’s new game (Horizon?)

    Microsoft would have been better not turning up yesterday as I think it did more harm than good. No E3 is better than a bad E3.

    I can see why MS have spent so much time showing Kinect to celebrities and not to the gaming press.

    • they need to focus it on celebrities as its cack. it was on the 6’oclock news last night (BBC), MS are just riding the publicity into sales. the initial sales will be huge, then after a few months, the green mist will be lifted from peoples eyes, and they will relies what a waste of money Kinect was, and they could of gotten an old EyeToy for a lot less. People surly cant still be defending this crap, and saying it has potential. two E3’s down the line, and still watching people sync movements with pre-recorded videos. and the real stuff has shocking lag, and the avatars barely replicate the humans movements… Unless MS add some amazing firmware upgrade, or devs find some section of the interface yet known to us to create ANYTHING decent, then this is dead in the water IMO

      • Same can be said of the Wii, how many people actually still play that thing?

      • yep, lots of people own wii’s, but how many people play actually them??

      • How many have already learnt their lesson from buying a wii. I’m not so sure the casual gamer will be so quick to jump in a second time and I can’t see why you’d buy Kinect if you already own a Wii and use it.

        A wii is cheaper and most of their casual gamer friends will already have one so they can swap games with them.

    • Quantic Dream’s Horizon? the supposed sci-fi story has peaked my interest.
      Toriko’s gonna rip E3 to shreds.

  4. I know we dont do much on nintendo, but I hope its a proper zelda game and that it hasn’t got any of the silly gameplay elements included in all the crappy DS versions

    • Agreed on that, a solid Zelda game would certainly encourage me to blow the dust off my Wii. 3D Dot game heroes has piqued my interest recently.

  5. I’m hoping for some kind of anouncement for the premium service, GT5 date, possible new game anouncements that will surprise and blow us all away, and HOPEFULLY (even though Rockstar said they won’t be there) some details and footage of Agent. Please :D

    • Oh, and of course Kevin Butler!

      • Maybe they’ve got Sackboy wearing a Kevin Butler costume presenting tonight.

  6. they need to start with move and have a few demos of proper games using it in realtime not this sporty kiddy stuff ,then onto PSN+, finish with the big boys games, hopefully a few more surprises in store too!

    • ooh yeah, i would like to see that boxing game for the Move, looks pretty impressive :) but they will show the sporty stuff as that’s what sells units becuase the public seem to love it

      • They show more SOCOM 4. Maybe Killzone 3 and LBP2 using Move in 3D, Quantum Dream’s new game might use Move as well. If they do that they can hit the hardcore audience while also showing off Move which is where MS failed big time last night.

        The new Ape Escape which uses Move will be shown. The eu PS blog says there will be Singstar announcements.

  7. While i’m looking forward to seeing more of LBP2, KZ3 and MSA, they’ve already been pre-shown so i’m still expecting at least one surprise from Sony, not including the cliffhanger on DS2.
    And whatever they show of Move, I’m certainly not expecting to see a child actress or faultlessly rehearsed dance routine.. I’m expecting we’ll see examples that actually show correlation between your movements and what’s happening on screen.

  8. Please keep motion control to a minimum (like 15 minutes) and it should be fine, assuming LBP 2, inFamous 2, Dead Space 2, Killzone 3, God of War PSP all show up, with live demo. Some surprises like something Uncharted related, news from Agent, cross game chat available now would do fine as well.
    And if Kevin Butler pokes fun at Microsoft, all the better.

    • Move will get a lot more than 15 minutes but it’ll be very different to MS. They show the GT5 head tracking and other “hardcore” games using it. Tonight won’t be dominated by casual games.

  9. There is over acting then there was that Kinect girl with the tiger. WTF she was over acting like the tiger on TV screen was tickling her. How dumb do Microsoft think public are?

    Epic Fail

  10. Just had quick read over at XBox fanboys site aka Eurogamer and err, they are slaging of Microsoft even that legal requirement. Next to no one disagree with view Microsoft did bobo this year.

Comments are now closed for this post.