Sony unveils Vita - E3 2011 Press Conference Summary
In the wake of the PSN outage, there’s not a whole lot Sony can do to save face except swallow their pride. And that’s what Jack Tretton did as he took the stage this year. Almost immediately he addressed the “elephant in the room,” and tossed around just the right words to just the right people to get everyone into good spirits. He even ventured for joke to lighten the mood. He thanked the developers for their support and understanding and the retailers and service providers for their patience, and he apologized to the users for any “anxiety.” He concluded his apology by reassuring viewers that Sony is still doing well and continues to lead in several areas. Good job, Jack Tretton. You got it done.
The “NGP” has officially received its name - Playstation Vita. The handheld device will feature dual analog sticks, a multitouch screen, sixaxis tilt sensors, an OLED screen, and a plethora of other features to make it as shiny as possible. There’s two models planned - one WiFi only at $249 (€249) and the other with 3G/Wifi at $299 (€299). Sony has partnered with AT&T to bring 3G services, though pricing remains elusive on those plans. I would suspect existing AT&T customers will have an easier time with it. The device will go on sale for the holiday season of this year. They showed Uncharted: Golden Abyss on it - and it looked amazing. The multitouch screen in combination could be used in combination with the traditional controls. For example, supposing there’s a large jump to make in Uncharted, one could either manually move Drake and jump with the buttons, or tap the place you want to jump and he’d do so automatically. More than 80 titles are in development for the Vita, a number probably inflated somewhat by app store shovelware. But at least one is set in the Bioshock universe, so there’s more than a few games to anticipate.
Also shown for Vita was a new ModNation Racers game with Vita-specific track editing features such as using the front and back touch screens to carve or push terrain. Wipeout allows for “crossplay” multi-platform multiplayer and content sharing between PS3 and PSP users. LBP will have a similar suite of new level editing and gameplay features plus the ability to share costumes with the PS3 version. Street Fighter X Tekken will be on Vita and Cole from Infamous will appear as a guest character. There was a “social action RPG” AKA cooperative dungeon crawler a la Torchlight/Diablo called Ruin.
More on the rest of their showing on the full page.
---
Uncharted 3 was actually the first game shown at this event - a strong lead-in to be sure. It seems that Uncharted has left every complaint I had towards the first game in the dust, and now it’s this complete third person action adventure experience... that... I really want to play. Though I’ve long maintained Last Guardian would be my system seller for PS3, I might jump on board earlier for the sake of Uncharted. The new trailer showed an increased range of melee and stealth options for Drake, evoking a clear MGS-like feel as he snuck around corridors. There’s a deal with Subway that will allow players to get free early access to the completed multiplayer portion of Uncharted 3. Look forward to its release November 1 of this year (Nov 4 for Europe). It’s in 3D, too. In fact, everything is in 3D. Sony loves 3D.
Speaking of 3D, Sony seems fairly dedicated to the pursuit of 3D entertainment and their 3D line of televisions. In pursuit of this, they unveiled a Playstation branded 3D monitor bundled with Resistance 3 at $499. By this point you probably know that 3D televisions work by displaying two images on top of each other simultaneously, alternating each image by pixel; then the glasses combine those two images into one and create the 3D effect, simulating what it’s like to look at something with 2 eyes. The glasses that come with this monitor are able to focus on just one of the images instead of both, while the TV itself is capable of projecting two entirely different images. This means it will be possible for two players in the same room to play a game together without the need for split screen. That is awesome. Also, patented to Sony. Personally speaking, this is the best possible use of 3D technology to date. I just don’t care for it otherwise.
Possibly my favorite game of the conference was Eve Online spinoff Dust 514. I had not heard of the project until this conference, but hearing about it has excited me a great deal. My dream MMO has always been something that bridges a third person action/adventure game with the ability to explore space in all its vastness. Eve Online has been heading in that direction as it continues to expand on its player options - now allowing players to leave their ships and walk around. And now, Dust 514 adds a new level of planetary ground interaction as a third person shooter that interacts with Eve in a meaningful way. Shared economy and questing seem to be the significant details put forward, and these are a great first step towards a truly “galactic” MMO. Ahh, I really just want to play a game within the world of Cowboy Bebop. Dust 514 is a PS3 exclusive coming Spring 2012. There’s a trailer!
Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD collection is finally arriving this September with full HD and 3D support. The God of War Origins collection - remastered PSP titles - will also be available in September.
Resistance 3 with 3D in 3 minutes. That game is coming out in September, which is early enough that there’s really not much left to know about that game for any potential buyers. It will be a dystopian shooter of reasonable quality, certainly a must-buy for Resistance fans. There’s a bundle coming with release on September 6 for $150 that includes everything you need to play the game with full Move support including a Zapper peripheral.
Saints Row the Third will arrive November 15. There was curiously no mention of Twisted Metal, even though they took the time to show Infamous 2, a game that came out the next day. SSX (exclusive Mt. Fuji map), NFS: The Run (exclusive cars), and Battlefield 3 (bundled with Battlefield 1943) will have exclusive PS3 content. There’s a Star Trek movie tie-in game coming that looks to be borrowing from Mass Effect a bit. Starhawk is the next Warhawk game, seems more science fictiony than I recall that series being. NBA2k12 was shown by Kobe Bryant himself - he’s a charismatic guy. Sly Cooper is a thing. Move support is still being pushed (Ken Levine actually came on stage just to talk about how he had been ‘wrong’ about Move).
