The PlayStation has become synonymous with gaming, Nintendo’s rejection allowed Sony to become such a force in the gaming arena that no-one dared question the iron curtain that the company managed to create in the minds of gamers. If it was not on Sony’s PlayStation, the game found it rather difficult to do brisk business.
However this scenario changed a couple of years ago, when Sony finally announced the true successor to their PlayStation 2. They had a tough time convincing consumers to buy their exorbitantly priced machine with meager titles to boot. Marcus Fenix and Master Chief combined forces with the Wii which became an insane global fad that just refused to douse and sent Sony back to the drawing board and to chalk out a five point program for its resurgence.
Last year’s E3 was just the beginning and Killzone 2 led the charge in defining the machine’s worth. Finally we saw the Blu-ray disc being utilized in another game outside the realm of Kojima Productions. Then came along LittleBigPlanet which had already made audiences salivate a couple of months ago at Sony’s own show. The party continued with further details emerging in the yet to be launched HOME service and a plethora of other games wrapped up Sony’s pompous march along the red carpet.
Cut to 2008 and finally we see Sony remerging from its hibernation to showcase its best to the world and reclaim the position it once vindicated to a DVD player and a family system (these were Kojima’s words on why he thought MGS4 could only be done on the PS3). Sony lurked on to create exclusive franchises that it would deliver to its audiences in the due course of time.
Killzone 2 will still lead the brigade at this year’s show, except it to lock horns with Gears of War 2 and Sony’s very own Resistance Fall of Man 2. Features of LittleBigPlanet and HOME will be showcased further and the top secret motion controller will also be finally unveiled. Drake will return once more in his Mayan exploits in the sequel to Uncharted 2 and Kratos is expected to complete his quest for vengeance against Zeus in God of War III.
Tactical simulation will take a new turn when SOCOM hits the show floor, thus giving Sony all the live ammunition they require to obliterate those pesky terrorists. The whirlwind does not stop here, Sucker Punch’s “Infamous” game is sure to grab quite a few eye balls especially since it crosses Psi-ops with the sandbox element. The Agency and NCsoft’s online MMORPG’s are expected to take Sony’s plans for complete online domination into sheer oblivion.
The list however does not quite end here. There is still quite a lot that Sony might offer this E3, Heavy Rain is yet to make its explosive debut to its global audience and so is this service dubbed PlayStation Connect. BioShock will be in its playable form on the PS3 and more news about its sequel is expected to accelerate the descent to Rapture once again. Kojima Productions is also expected to announce something special for Metal Gear fans that will once again be exclusive for the PlayStation platform.
Linger in the Shadows is all set to make its quirky debut on PlayStation Network, Tears of Blood, the long rumored online brawler is also set to leave its mark at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Exposition. This list would somehow seem incomplete without a Final Fantasy in the jar, although Square’s Enix’s official lineup denounces the probability of FF XIII being present on the show floor, it is most likely going to be the biggest surprises of this year’s exposition.
The PlayStation Portable is also expected to get a new lease of life with a demo of Loco-Roco 2, a new portable Metal Gear and additional peripherals that will allow this machine to stagger on for a few more months before the official announcement of PSP-3000 takes place. Sony’s ace card may also lie in the much anticipated PlayStation Phone that has already sent the audiences into a tizzy.
The battle cries have already begun to echo all across the halls, has Sony’s time finally come to finish this battle once and for all, its only a couple of hours before we find out.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee