E3 2008 Recap: Part II

After Microsoft dropped the Final Fantasy XIII megaton, Sony had to follow up with some earth-shaking announcements of their own. But they didn’t! What they did do was announce God of War 3 (like so totally obvious), some PSN games, movie facilities that don’t affect us Indian gamers, and a bunch of other stuff that we’ll discuss in our highlights. Read on to get enlightened… and a bit disappointed!

Jack Tretton, Sony SCEA president, started things off with tons of BLAH! about figures, statistics and stuff that’s guaranteed to give a doorknob a raging headache. Luckily, before the entire auditorium fell asleep we were introduced to the first game of the evening – Resistance 2 – which showcased an impressive vertical level of sorts with protagonist Nathan Hale fighting a huge 300+ foot monster.

Amidst tons of environmental destruction and scripted events, Hale somehow manages to shove a couple of rockets down the behemoth’s throat, annoying it even more. Pretty soon he’s flung through buildings (in slo-mo, no less), only to walk away from the experience relatively unscathed, ready to tackle Godzilla’s long-lost sibling all over again.

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That’s when the demo ended, followed by a special appearance from Insomniac’s Ted Price, who gave the audience a quick lowdown on the game’s plot and a bunch of features including the 8-player online co-op and 60-player online multiplayer. Before he went offstage he confidently proclaimed Resistance 2 will offer more than any other shooter in 2008. We certainly hope so, Ted!
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After that Sony delivered the best PowerPoint Presentation ever! Made using LittleBigPlanet, it dealt with the most mundane things like sales figures, marketing stats and so on, but thanks to the brilliant minds at Media Molecule (who by the way helped them make the presentation) the audience was simply transfixed by the awesomeness and flexibility of the game.

Tretton later went on to announce budget titles for the PS3 for just $30 (Rs 1300 approx.) that included the following:

• Motorstorm
• Resistance
• Warhawk
• Call of Duty 3
• Fight Night Round 3
• Need for Speed: Carbon
• Assassin’s Creed
• Rainbow Six Vegas
• Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Next up was the new Ratchet and Clank game called Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty (sounds like a low-budget porn flick, yes?) that’s to be released exclusively on the PlayStation Network for $15. The game that’s an expansion of sorts will take place after the events of Tools of Destruction and will in fact be about four hours long… think of it as Episodic Content of sorts.

Speaking of Ratchet and Clank, Sony also announced a special Ratchet and Clank Size Matters Entertainment Pack that will ship with “a silver slim PSP, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, a 1GB memory stick, a voucher for Echochrome, and a copy of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” – all for just $199 (Rs 8588).

Wait, there’s more, especially if you happen to be a PSP fan. Not only did Sony announce sequels to LocoRoco, Patapon, and the new Midnight Club game called Midnight Club: Los Angeles Remix, but one of the PS3’s prized franchises (yes, we’re referring to Resistance) is headed for the PSP in an all-new avatar.

The handheld version of Resistance will play out from a third person perspective, and feature a brand-new British protagonist called James Grayson who’s taken it upon himself to eradicate the Chimera after they forced him to kill his own brother. Also included is an 8-player mode that’ll feature modes such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Containment, and Assimilation, among others.
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On the hardware front, Sony announced a sparkling new 80GB PS3 that’ll sell for nearly the same price as the 40GB version. This bundle will be making its way to UK stores next month, and this bodes well for us since we get all our PS3 stuff from the Land of Queen Liz.

As with its predecessor, the new 80GB model will be a complete entertainment system, comprising a Blu-ray player, HDMI output, an integrated Wi-Fi connection, Cell Broadband Engine, and an inbuilt 80GB hard disk drive.

A brand new PlayStation 2 bundle was also announced that’ll ship with a PlayStation 2, a copy of Lego Batman, as well as a DVD of Warner Home Video’s Justice League: The New Frontier, for just $150 (Rs 6300 approx). Pretty sweet deal if you’re still into the PS2, or live in America – or both!

Finally, Sony teased us with God of War 3 in the form of a painfully short trailer where a pre-rendered Kratos, looking as angsty as ever, stands atop a Temple and utters the phrase: “In the end, there will be only chaos!” Stay tuned for more details.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, all those multiplayer whores who spend hours fragging each other online have a massive action game called – um, well – Massive Action Game (MAG) to look forward to. This will apparently support up to 256 (yes, you heard right) players online. The game is being developed by Zipper Interactive (SOCOM series), and we’ll have more dope on it in the near future.

So that about wraps up Sony’s E3 press conference. You may have noticed we didn’t cover Nintendo’s press conference, and that’s because (a) it sucked worse than the Saas-Bahu serials on CrapTV, and (b) Nintendo aren’t interested in launching officially in India anyway so f**k them.