Thanks to Spike TV I've managed to cover Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft through their Livestream, but it was up to G4TV to keep an archived stream of the Sony conference. So much thanks to them, as I can now write this catch up blog.
The kick start to the Sony conference was a montage of everything to come, showing off the latest games, the latest gadgets, and hinting at what is to come for the NGP.
A fairly impressive, if lengthy, intro to the conference, but the games on display peaked my interest. We have the obvious Resistance 3, Killzone, inFamous 2, and God of War, along with Street Fighter, Dragon's Dogma, Operation: Raccoon City, and countless other titles flashing up on screen.
Uncharted 3 gets a fair amount of screen time.
Finally Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Entertainment America, takes to the stage.
He thanks everybody for attending, and welcomes those that are watching on TV or online.
He takes the time to personally apologise for the recent security problems, and apparently this was entirely unscripted and from the heart. He also takes the time to thank retailers, the press, and consumers for their continued support.
"You are the lifeblood of the company. Without you, there is no Playstation."
He then takes the time to address those in the world that aren't yet a part of the Playstation community, speaking of the various applications that they offer, announcing a new partnership with CinemaNow to add to the growing list.
Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra took to the stage to demo a level from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Naughtydog have, at this moment, stolen the show by showing off another excellent setpiece from their upcoming game, showing Nathan Drake stealthing his way through a derelict ocean cruiser, eventually causing it to sink after setting off an explosion in the lower levels.
They also announce the multiplayer, which will have Beta access starting on June 28th. In addition to this, Sony, Naughtydog, and Subway have teamed together to offer (throughout October) fans the chance to get full access to the multiplayer before release of the final game.
They ended their time on stage with the latest trailer for Drake's Deception:
Is that Helen Mirren? Looks like her at least. Uncharted 3 looks set to follow the huge set pieces of Uncharted 2 with even bigger and better environments, and an excellent all-star storyline.
Marcus Smith takes to the stage to show off Resistance 3.
"It's August 1947, 4 years after the events of resistance 2. The chimera have won the war, humans face extinction."
Marcus gives us a 3 minute tour of one level from Resistance 3, showing off the new style of gameplay, new weaponry, and new enemy types. Another great looking title by Insomniac that promises support of both 3D and Playstation Move.
They also announced the Resistance 3 Sharpshooter Edition, which comes bundled with all sorts of add-ons for Playstation Move in September.
Next up, Jack announces the God of War Origins Collection, HD and 3D remakes of the PSP titles, heading over to the PS3 in the future.
In addition to the God of War remakes, there will also be the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus bundle heading to the PS3 as well.
Both collections will be launching this September, in full 3D and HD glory.
Now, to kick start Sony's push for making 3D adoption more easier for the consumer, Tretton announces the Playstation TV.
The TV not only shows 3D, but comes with the ability for 2 players to see 2 different images on screen at any time. This essentially means that multiplayer games can both be played on the same TV, without suffering a decrease in screen size, or the problem of the other player peeking at your position.
This is a 24" HD screen, that comes bundled with Resistance 3, a pair of 3D glasses, and a 6 foot HDMI cable. It will be available this fall.
The glasses are the second step in Sony's move towards consumer friendly 3D, offering up glasses that will work with multiple 3D TVs, and will also be available this fall.
The entire bundle is set to retail for $499, with the glasses going for $70 per pair.
With 8.8 Million units sold worldwide, Playstation Move has been a big success for Sony since launch, so Tretton now takes the time to make some exciting announcements.
Chris Snyder and Erick Boenisch from 2K Sports take to the stage to show off NBA2K12, introducing a new feature called "NBA on the move."
Medieval Moves is another Move exclusive title. I can't quite tell if it's on roails or not, but it looks like a family friendly fantasy game of sorts, in a similar vein to the Zelda series.
Tretton covers the exponential growth of the Move brand, covering core games such as House of the Dead, and more casual games like Dance Central.
inFamous 2 launches tomorrow in the US, with move support already in there. At a later point, Tretton mentions, there'll be user generated content being added to the game.
People will be able to add their own missions to the game, with Move adding an extra dimension to all of this.
LittleBigPlanet 2 will also be getting Move support in the future, further developing it as one of Sony's biggest franchises at the moment.
Starhawk is a new title coming from Sony's Santa Monica studios, though little else is revealed during the conference.
The trailer is purely CGI, so no idea on what the game actually plays like or what it's actually about. It seems to have a mild mixture of comedy and seriousness, which feels odd to me at the moment. The whole thing with boxes dropping from the sky and instantly converting into buildings or vehicles was quite cool though.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time gets a fairly entertaining and heavily stylised trailer, announcing a 2012 release for one of the most heavily anticipated titles on the PS3.
Dust 514 is developed by the creators of Eve Online, featuring Move support and NGP support in the future.
Set within the Eve Online universe, the shooter will have direct contact with the PC game, allowing you to play within the very same universe as the PC players. What you do in the shooter should affect what happens in the MMO.
Dust 514 is exclusive to Playstation, with a multiplayer Beta coming in the fall, and a full release next year.
Ken Levine takes to the stage to show off the latest trailer for Bioshock: Infinite.
He apologises for his remarks about Playstation Move, and tells a story on how Sony spoke to him about getting him more interested in motion controls.
So now we've got official word that Infinite will support Move, which is a bit of a shock.
Levine also notes that Irrational are working on another Bioshock game for Sony's NGP, though little was revealed about what the game will revolve around.
To further bolster support for the Irrational & Sony companionship, it's also been revealed that if you buy the PS3 version of Infinite, you'll get the very first game for free on the same disc.
Saints Row the Third will be gaining an exclusive gameplay mode on the PS3, whilst the upcoming JJ Abrahms Star Trek game will feature Move support.
Paramount will also be releasing a Playstation Move add-on that makes the controller look like one of the phasers from Star Trek. In addition to this, an exclusive prequel to the game will be available on the Playstation Network.
In the first of three exclusives from EA, Tretton announces that SSX will gain an exclusive race down the side of Japan's Mount Fuji.
The second exclusive is for Need for Speed: The Run. PS3 owners will have access to a BluRay disc with extra racing cars such as the Veron.
The fina; exclusive from EA is utilising the space on a BluRay disc by giving players of Battlefield 3 a free copy of Battlefield 1943.
Playstation Suite is a service being release by Sony that allows consumers to play Playstation software on a non-Sony device, such as the Android service.
Kazuo Hirai takes to the stage to reveal the official name and features for the NGP. It is officially called Playstation Vita, or PSV for me.
The above three videos are a showcase of the features, pricing, and a montage of the available and upcoming games.
The PSV is something I am greatly looking forward to, especially with support from Irrational and Naughtydog.
PSV seems to be getting heavy support from various 3rd party developers, which is a damn slight more than what the PSP got in the end. With Uncharted: Golden Abyss being one of several great games heading to the console, it looks like a strong competitor to Nitendo's handheld dominance.
Ruin looks like another fantastic game for the PSV, a sort of cross between Diablo and Fable, with a dash of Demons Souls with social networking and fighting people you've never met in your life.
With PS3 save connectivity, it shows off the full power and potential of the PSV. This is the sort of connectivity that Nintendo needs to include with its next console.
Modnation Racers shows off the power and ease of the PSV's touchscreens, giving players instant access to editing modes in the game. Another great looking game.
LBP Vita utilising all the technology that Kazuo spoke of earlier in the conference, with the editing tools and cross platform conectivity really coming into play with this.
Yoshinori Ono takes to the stage to announce Street Fighter X Tekken for the PSV, revealing that Cole from inFamous will be a playable fighter in the Vita version.
And that was the end of the conference, with a brief little montage and loads of people in spandex playing on drums.
Highlights of the conference?
For me Uncharted is one of the biggest things, with Naughtydog really pulling out the potential for the console and the series as a whole. The reveal of the price and release dates for PSV is great, and the third party support is fantastic.
Golden Abyss, BioShock, Modnation Racers, and LittleBigPlanet are great announcements for a great looking handheld.
Check back later for my Nintendo Press Conference blog.
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