SONY
Sony finds itself in a tough position. The company’s finances grow worse, the PS3 refuses to get out of third place in spite of Sony throwing all of its weight behind it, and the Playstation Vita completely flopped. This E3, Sony will be faced with the task of making sure that the Playstation 3 appears relevant to the core gamer against not just Microsoft’s Xbox 360, but also Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U. They also have to ensure that the Playstation Vita’s existence is actually justified; Sony recently specified a 10 million annual target for the PS Vita. Surely they have something planned for the system?
Expect to see major PS3 exclusives at the conference. The Last of Us, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale will probably be demoed and shown off at the keynote extensively. Last year, Sony talked about having a lesser number of exclusive games and focusing on them more; they will probably reflect this mentality with a lesser number of exclusive PS3 games demoed this E3. However, The Last of Us, and All Stars Battle Royale are all expected to be marquee titles for the system in the coming year, so Sony will probably give them the spotlight.
Expect Vita announcements. What kind of announcements? Well, Sony will probably push for PS3/PS Vita connectivity and cross play; Playstation All Stars Battle Royale, Sly 4, and LittleBigPlanet Karting will all probably be announced as coming to the Vita as well, with cross platform play to boot. Third parties will probably announce ports and companion games for the Vita. Expect a Vita version of Black Ops 2, as well, along with a PS Vita Assassin’s Creed game. However, can you expect some Vita specific games from Sony? I highly doubt it: they are trying to push the Vita as a ‘console in your pocket’ experience, and that is probably the angle they will push at E3 as well.
Expect a price drop. This is probably going to happen. Sony will probably drop the price of the PS Vita across the board. The Wifi model will probably retail for $200, and the 3G version for $249. Each version will probably be bundled with a 4GB Memory Card as well (since lack of any memory is one of the chief criticisms leveled against the PS Vita).
Expect MORE PS Vita stuff. The PS Vita’s browser is in a pre Beta stage. Seriously, that’s how much it sucks. It lacks PSOne Classics support. It lacks compatibility with most PSP titles. It has quite a few firmware and interface niggles that need to be sorted out immediately. In other words, Sony rushed the system out before its software was complete. Expect to see all of this addressed this E3: PSOne support will probably be announced, alongside a major firmware update. Sony will also probably finally fix the PSP compatibility debacle.
Don’t Expect PS Move Stuff. The Playstation Move is all but dead. Sony seems to have dropped it entirely. The last big PS Move game, Sorcery, demoed two years ago, released earlier this year without any fanfare. They simply don’t seem to care. Don’t expect any first party game to have any sort of PS Move integration whatsoever, although a few third party games might announce support for the peripheral, simply to add another bulletpoint to their features list.
Don’t Expect PS4. No, seriously. This isn’t something I should have to say, but stop being retarded. Sony is in no position to release a new console right now. The PS3 was the biggest financial blunder in gaming history, PSN is still in the red, the company projected a $6.4 billion loss for the FY 2011-12, and they just launched a brand new handheld which sunk faster than the Titanic. Expect Sony to try and salvage the situation for the PS Vita, and to consolidate the PS3, which seems to have stabilized, this E3. There is no room for a PS4 whatsoever.
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