Sony E3 announcements

 June 10, 2011, Electronic Entertainment Expo, Los Angeles—Sony invited 6,000 of their closest friends to a party and introduced the lineup for the next buying season and next year.

You can find a plethora of videos of their news conference online so this article will just summarize some key highlights and comment upon them. Sony’s official content is at Sony E3.

Sony is readying a 24″ PlayStation-branded 3D display which will allow two players to see two entirely different things on the same screen. It will be available this holiday season bundled with a pair of 3D glasses, a 6′ HDMI cable, and a copy of Resistance 3 for $499.99. The glasses will be available separately for $69.99.

The big release was the Playstation Vita, a handheld console with dual thumbsticks, two cameras, and an OLED screen. It will be available in both 3G and Wi-Fi only models. Sony is partnering exclusively with AT&T in North America and will have a feature called Party that will allow for chat during gameplay, even if users/party members are playing different games.

It will also have its own social-networking feature called Near. The connections through the cloud will enable cross-platform play across PS3 and Vita as well as cloud-based save functions. Some of the game franchises will be available on both platforms in the near future.

Vita will have content creation tools such as a camera and touchscreen so a game’s level editor will take advantage of the touch panel in the front. Vita will be available with 3G compatibility for 29,980 Yen (including tax), $299, and €299. A cheaper Wi-Fi-only edition will cost 24,980 Yen (including tax), $249, and €249.

Thoughts:
The big trends that Sony is espousing include portable games in a platform very similar to the Nintendo 3DS but without 3-D and second screen. Social networking and interactivity are key part of this new offering, which will enable connections to others on any WiFi hotspot. In addition to interactivity, a number of new game releases have provisions for user generated content so game players can create floorplans and other game features and upload them or share them through the network connection.

More of the new games are becoming Move enabled. I’m not sure that’s a good idea for a fast twitch game, because it’s not reasonable to expect someone to stand around waving their arms for five hours. A number of people noted that your response time would probably be slow enough with the Move controller to guarantee that you get killed.

The ability to play a game on any platform is interesting and allows the player to take a game in progress and continue playing while not at the PS3’s location. The chance to play a high-res, fast-paced game on a little screen certainly sounds appealing, especially when you have to bring up your weapons inventory or check the map.

The extensions of new games to some of the current title franchises will keep dedicated fans involved and engrossed.