Sony, for the last few years, has been struggling to come up with a catalogue of games that actually makes the user buy their machine. This strategy has included increasing the number of quality first party titles, dropping its price and coming up with a bunch of SKUs. The combination of all these strategies has resulted in a decent amount of loyal user base. However, it has not been able to capture either sides of the market (hardcore and casual) as its competitors. Sony’s E3 2010 conference continued on this note by showcasing demos of already announced titles followed with the announcement of a few new games and lines of stock quotes to tell the audience not to give up on their console yet.
Their freshly announced games included:
A God of War game for the PSP which looks to play better than God Of War III.
The arrival of Portal 2 along with Steam on its platform.
A new Twisted Metal game felt good to play but looked like trash since they decided to hop onto the world’s biggest platform with a pre-alpha code.
Sorcery a Move rendition of “Harry Potter”.
Heroes on the Move (Smash Brothers on the PS3 using Move).
The rest of the games were demos of already announced games like Killzone 3D, a brief trailer of Infamous 2 and the oft delayed and elusive Gran Turismo 5 which finally got a release date.
The other segment of the show was dedicated to Move titles, its pricing and availability in various regions. The entire show was pretty mundane, it felt and looked bland, simply because Sony is still not quite clear as to what demographic it wants to target through its games. Though the quality of games that they displayed were really good, one could not help but notice a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the company in delivering something jaw dropping to its consumers. Most would go onto argue about the sheer visual prowess of Killzone 3. However, the fact still remains that the prequel which had an insurmountable amount of hype was forgotten by the community at large in less than six months. The only moniker that is often referenced with regard to Killzone 2 is the fact that it looked gorgeous. The absence of Naughty Dog, Insomniac games and even their own highly revered Santa Monica studios did have an impact on the show.
As we had predicted earlier, Sony would bring forth a title that would be their showstopper for 2010 and this turned out to be the immensely popular Gran Turismo franchise. With over 57 million copies sold, one would have expected the title to show up earlier in the console life cycle. Nevertheless, only a brief prologue of the game turned up which did not go quite well with consumers. We are still skeptical about what the title is actually going to achieve when released. Most consumers who pegged the game as the “hardcore” racing simulator have found alternative titles to tinker around with and given the delays the game has faced, we believe that we might just have a Alan Wake on our hands. Infamous 2 looks to revamp the definition of portrayal of a superhero within the world of videogames and this is the arena where Sony can actually look to capitalize. With the failure of Crackdown 2 to pique the consumer’s interest and a sequel to other similar superhero based games far from the radar, if Sucker Punch can implement the changes that plagued the original Infamous we might have a solid hit on our hands next year and this looks to be Sony’s biggest bet.
If Kojima donned the stage at Microsoft’s E3 event then we had someone equally powerful and a staunch Microsoft supporter bringing the stage alive at Sony’s E3 event. Gabe Newell and Valve, often considered Kojima’s counterpart in the world of PC games, took on Sony’s stage and announced the arrival of Portal 2 on the PS3. The bigger news, however, was the subsequent arrival of Steam on the PlayStation 3 platform. This is the biggest move that Sony could bring in its online networking plans. We still hold doubts regarding its success or failures but the potential of this platform to grow is enormous. Just imagine the arrival of ports of PC games onto the PS3 and the ability to create and share content through the Steam network. Sony has always been lagging behind Microsoft as far as the online playing arena is concerned. It has tried in numerous ways to actually build upon the whole concept of online space into its platform but has not been as successful as its near rival. Steam is a rather big name in the world of online gaming, especially on the PC front. Now if Sony can leverage this fact onto its platform, it does stand a huge chance in beating the Xbox Live platform.
There were only one exclusive game that brought forward the PS3s potential, Little Big Planet 2. Given the amount of praise and accolade the original got from the world of gaming we shudder to think the possibilities the sequel will bring forward. The arena of customization has never been so detailed and unique as it is being put forward in the game. This will become an architect’s true dream where they can showcase their almost ludicrous designs to the community at large. A designer’s paradise is what the game is turning out to be, hopefully Sony will be able to market this game in a much better manner than the previous one to achieve its true potential. The other game that caught our eye was the God of War: Ghost of Sparta. With Peace Walker, the handheld platform is looking to conquer the arena of hardcore gaming. The brief show demo that we saw of the game actually looked far better than their big ostentatious counterpart. Not only did it have new moves, weapons but the combat system also looks to be revamped in terms of making it more diverse and varied than the one which we have seen in God Of War 3.
Their Move lineup also included a mix and match of hardcore and casual games. Sorcery, which looks like a Harry potter game, is aimed at both the casual and core demographic. The casual part comes from the format of the game which mimics one of the most successful modern day franchises and looks to entice audiences with it, the other part which utilizes the capabilities of the Move controller to actually performing actions within the game that go beyond targeting and shooting. It is clear from Sony’s showcase that they are looking to build a form of a relationship with their users which relies more on loyalty than quick short wins from third-party publishers, hence the increasing emphasis on quality first party titles. This investment may not give the media giant immediate gains and successes but will surely help them in the long run, especially with the next generation of consoles.
Overall Show score: 5/10.