Sony's E3 Conference

The former leader of the console wars is with their backs against the wall this year. As sales continue to plummet, the PSP nearly at its deathbed and the PS3 underperforming, Sony decided to bring out their best this E3. Without hesitation they claimed over 35 exclusives titles will hit the Playstation platforms this year. Kicking things off was the announcement of the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2, which happens to go live tonight. After showing some impressive clips of the sequel, Sony began to unload rounds into the crowd, surprising us with some and boring us with others.

Flaunting its 256 online players (reference still above), MAG (Massive Action Game) is sure to build a strong following. Though the gameplay wasn’t impressive at all, MAG is still a guaranteed hit among Sony fanboys and casual gamers. Retailers will be flooded with press kits this fall.

After leaking over the weekend, Sony comes right out and introduces the PSP Go–the newest iteration of the PSP. Its about 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the PSP-3000 model, comes with 16 GB of internal memory, built in Wifi and Bluetooth capability. Marked at $249.99, the new games announced for the handheld might make you pucker up and fall into this deadly purchase.

Another addition to the Sony family is their new media application, Media Go, which grants access to over 1900 movies and 9400 television shows. Also, the new SenseMe app allows gamers to download music onto their PSP. Do we dare test iTunes? What do they have to lose right? LOL!

Here’s a title that I’m sure we all forgot about. Was Gran Turismo PSP a myth all this time? Honestly, it still is. No official gameplay was shown, only snapshots. A description of over 800 cars and 35 tracks was divulged to the public, along with the ability to share and trade cars and a Adhoc mode where four players can compete against each other. Single player races, time and drift challenges, and a licensing mode will be present as well.

All that talk of MGS 4 being the final game in the series was just a ploy to fool Snake fans. The main team behind Snakes prior adventure are tackling this PSP adventure, titled Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The game will take place in Costa Rica and will introduce a ton of new goodies that will leave fans combusting all over their PSP’s. One shot showed a scene where four Snakes appeared on screen. What’s that about? Whatever, Snake returns…again…2010!

That exactly what we got–a screenshot of Resident Evil Portable–2010. Worst plug ever!

Shots of games like Soul Caliber, Fat Princess, Madden 2010 and Guitar Hero plagued the big screen, in order to get the crowd excited about the lackluster catalog the PSP has garnered since its launch a few years back.

With Grand Theft Auto no longer an exclusive for Sony, Rockstar North grants them another title in return: Agent. All that was said about this game was that it takes players through the world of espionage and assassins during the 1970’s. Its basically being pushed as the next GTA. I highly doubt it will live up to that title, seriously.

Some new footage of FF XIII was shown to the crowd, but that wasn’t the surprise. What was you ask? How about Final Fantasy XIV, exclusively for PS3 in 2010. Sony jumped into the future on this one and outsmarted Microsoft in a swift manner.

So all the hoopla of Sony introducing a new motion control scheme turns out to be a camera peripheral. Hello, does anyone recognize this is literally the Eye Toy revamped? Anyways, the device works like a wand, where objects are rendered in the players hands, turning into objects like a bat, gun or fan. The controller has an analog trigger (can we say Wii clone) too. Stunning no one in the crowd, we think we’ll try Microsoft’s Natal instead.

The team that brought us the PS2 classics ICO and Shadow of the Colossus introduce us to their latest title: The Last Guardian. As the trailer for this game was leaked last week, this is easily one of the PS3’s biggest apps going into the holiday season. Visaully; its one of the best looking games ever made and its almost guaranteed that the gameplay will be just as pleasing.

Saving the best for last, God of War III closed out Sony’s showcase. The crowd saw Kratos fight onscreen against skeletons, plus a chimera, showcasing the system’s highest potential on a graphical level. The gameplay is pretty much the same and the boss battles look to be just as epic as the previous titles. Set as the final in the series (yea right), G.O.W. III should be in stores March 2010. Only if the PS3 survives the holiday season.

Titles like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, White Knight Chronicles, Tekken 6, Ratchet and Clank Future: Crack in Time, Lost Planet 2 and DC Universe Online were mentioned, but not even shown. A brief announcement that LittleBigPlanet will be getting Disney themes and the PSN network allowing gamers to download inFAMOUS, Buzz and Socom turned into vapor as well. The announcement that Final Fantasy VII was downloadable today was announced as well. Sony had a better show than expected, but really dropped the ball on promoting the third-party titles that are the system’s only salvation for survival in this console war. Their main focus was promoting first-party material, which went 50/50. Overall Sony accomplished what they needed to, but still lacked in their presentation.