E3 2011: Sony Presser, Condensed

AFTER A LATE START, Sony covered a lot of ground in its E3 2011 press conference Monday night. Here’s the quick recap of everything they touched on:

  • SCEA Pres and CEO Jack Tretton wastes no time in addressing the recent PSN outages, showing appreciation for support from both gamers and partners.
  • A ship-based, waterlogged Uncharted 3 demo with live gameplay. Of course it’s PS3 exclusive, with a bizarre multiplayer tie-in with Subway. Releases 11.1.11.
  • A Resistance 3 demo, also PS3-exclusive.
  • HD collections for God of War and ICO/Shadow of the Colossus coming in September.
  • To help lower the barrier for entry to 3D gaming, Sony has created a 24” monitor specifically to support both 3D and co-op gaming – two players looking at the screen at different angles will see two different things. A special bundle including the monitor, 3D glasses and Resistance 3 will retail for $500.
  • More demos: Kobe Bryant comes out to help show off NBA 2K12; a Move demo featuring Medieval Moves; a demo for Infamous 2, another PS3 exclusive that releases Tuesday; a trailer for Starhawk, a new game from the makers of Warhawk; a teaser trailer for the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, coming 2012.
  • Eve Online creators CCP have a game called Dust 514 that looks pretty sharp, and will be PlayStation-exclusive.
  • Irrational’s Ken Levine talks about BioShock Infinite and how Sony got him to consider adding Move to the PS3 version.
  • A Star Trek game with Move and co-op support, timed to release with the next movie in summer 2012.
  • Three EA announcements: the PS3 version of SSX will include a special Mount Fuji level; Need for Speed: The Run will include a disk with 7 PS3-exclusive supercars; Battlefield 3 will include a copy of Battlefield 1943 on the PS3.
  • Sony’s new handheld will be called PlayStation Vita. It will feature dual analog sticks, a 5” touch sensitive OLED screen and dual cameras.
  • Demos for several Vita games: Uncharted, an RPG called Ruin, a new Mod Nation Racers, LittleBigPlanet.
  • A bit of a surprise: Capcom shows Street Fighter x Tekken, for both PS3 and PS Vita.
  • Finally: pricing for the Vita: a version with wi-fi support for $250; and a second version for $300 with 3G support exclusively via AT&T as well as wi-fi support.

Not a spectacular showing, but we’ve seen far, far worse from Sony. If anything, Monday’s briefings leave the door wide open for Nintendo to steal the show on Tuesday.