After Nintendo's frankly surprising showing—it sent shockwaves through the conference-watchers, who were firmly expecting any number of announced titles from Nintendo's old-school bread-and-butter franchises—we were off to see what Sony wanted to show us.
Sony wanted us in a good mood for our coverage, it seemed; waiters carrying trays of mimosas and Bloody Marys were right there as we filed in. Did this mean they had bombs to drop? Well, we were about to find out...
And we're off and on the shuttle to Sony's show up in Culver City at the Sony studios. Lots of fun stuff coming up today including playtime at the Barker Hangar. Stay tuned for Sony updates as we arrive...
The tasty continues on the Sony backlots with drinks and foods.
Post-mini-quiches and ample mimosas we are second row at Sony's show, filled with mystery fog, spinny purple lights, giant giant screens, and a surprisingly small amount of seating. Plushy white carpet is comfy below our feet. A single glass pedestal sits on-stage, looking sort of short to be a podium and sort of tall to be a seat.
Talking about the strength of PS2, 140 games coming to PSP this year. Quick overview of PSP games... Socom, Wipeout Pulse, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, NBA08, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Silent Hill Origins, Patapon, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Sonic Rivals 2, Sims 2: Castaway, SWAT Target Liberty, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Scattered applause.
New PSP is 33 percent lighter, slimmer, longer battery, can output high quality video. He is outputting video from Spider-Man 2 on the big screen. Looks pretty nice. Can also output your games to the TV as well. Comes in black and in North America comes in new color ice silver. Sparkly. PSP entertainment pack w/ memory card, Jak, and Family Guy in November.
Seriously, what the heck?
Phil Harrison is up to talk about the Playstation Network. Little dig at Microsoft about no limit to PSN game filesizes. More than 80 PSN games in development. First is a new title, echochrome. Very simplistic clean wire frame graphics. Really clever-looking.
Phil's playing Motorstorm through the PS3 Home service. Any game can be launched through Home as a lobby.
Kojima-san on stage to present Metal Gear Solid 4. This is the last Metal Gear game and my last participation in the series, Kojima says. Stealth game but also elements in the battlefield. "I'm putting all my effort, all my skills into this game." Real-time trailer follows now. Looks really smooth. Early 2008 simultaneous worldwide release.
Moving on to the first-party PS3 titles. Ratchet and Clank Future; Tools of Destruction. Short trailer. Folklore, a "dark fairytale RPG." Heavenly Sword. NBA08. LittleBigPlanet. Still looks pretty neat. "play, create, share," Harrison says. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. A game from Suckerpunch, sandbox game called Infamous. All playable today after the conference.
Real-time Killzone being demoed live to wrap up the show. Looks good, but is it on the level of the older alleged "real-time" footage? Not really... but still graphically quite impressive. Some frame rate stuttering and somewhat long "saving" pauses mid-game.
Sony's demo room is insane... more free food and open bar with various demo stations.
Sony wanted us in a good mood for our coverage, it seemed; waiters carrying trays of mimosas and Bloody Marys were right there as we filed in. Did this mean they had bombs to drop? Well, we were about to find out...
Sony Press Conference
Wednesday, July 11
En route
Yeah, we're disappointed... But I'm so excited for Wii Fit. We're on our way to the Sony conference. Maybe there'll be cool swag here at last?
I wonder if Wii Youtube Montage will be released this year. Clearly the hit of the show!
At the backlot
Inside the conference
We've been told to turn off audio and video RF transmitters. No countdown yet.
Ten minutes to go.
Take your seats. Five minutes.
Two minutes and we are go.
The noisy video has begun!
Jack Tretton from Home to stage.
Jack Tretton presenting, seems really relaxed. "A few surprises" today. "Games, games, and more games."
Leading off with PS2. Still going strong, especially with GoW. Also with casual titles like Singstar.
Patapon looks pretty sweet! Sonic Rivals dropping frames like crazy.
Castlevania looks really impressive.
PSP titles shown
Pretty sure that PSP video output demo was staged-looked too hi res.
New PSP colors? I wish Nintendo would do the same with their Wii.
It's... Chewbacca.
PSP 'redesign' unveiled
(He's selling a special Star Wars PSP bundle.)
echochrome
Phil says a puzzle game called echochrome is coming. Looks spiffy, employing perspective shifts to move around effectively. They're learning!
I absolutely NEED this echochrome game. Serious Escher vibe. Too bad it will never be on WiiWare.
They're gabbing about other games now-I can't forget echochrome. I need a PSP now.
Whereas echochrome was a very simple Escher-esque puzzle game, WipeoutHD, Pain, Warhawk and Socom Confrontation look much more involved.
Dean and Amy are in Phil's home on the wall!
Home is certainly feature-rich, but it still weirds me out graphically.
Home deets
Trailers for Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Kane & Lynch, RE5, Burnout Paradise, Madden 08, Harry Potter, Simpsons, Guitar Hero III.
Continuing PS3 trailers... MoH Airborne, Rock Band.
PS3 first party stuffs
Killzone and we're out
I think we're finally done here... Jack's wrapping up.
And we're out.
Sony's demo area
Still can't stop thinking about echochrome. That game will haunt me all day, I think. That and Crush might get me to get a PSP.