Personally, this E3 was not that great in my opinion. On the top layer, the ingredients are there that would make this year a spectacular event: new home console being unveiled, new portable gaming system, host of games that are eye popping and FREAKING YOUTUBE ON XBOX 360. However, Nintendo Wii U is not a next generation system by any means, not saying that it’s not gonna be fun but it is a sub-current generation system in terms of graphical abilities. It’s basically a current Wii with a new controller, updated RAM, CPU and GPU. It’s essentially the DSi of the home consoles….not impressed by any means.(Sure, it’ll be fun to play with friends, just like the Wii is, but really this isn’t gonna compete with the Playstation 4 or Xbox 720-whatever they call it). Playstation Vita, which is carrier locked to AT&T, was boo’d very loud by the scores of AT&T haters(Can you blame them if you had a iPhone.) Great processing power, great features, and 3G service but I doubt this can topple the Gameboy/DS/3DS train that Nintendo has been on for 20+ years.Which brings me to the games, which again are great but nothing that was brand new really stuck out to me, more video games series that we know and love but nothing that was amazingly fresh or new. 

Overall, I’d give this year a 7 out of 10. 

Now that 2011’s E3 has come to a close, I finally have time to reflect upon Sony’s PlayStation-centric press conference from Monday. As I noted on Twitter, after analyzing the live blog I wrote during the conference, I concluded that Sony won E3. It’s not to say that the other press conferences and showings weren’t strong in their own right, but it is to say that Sony seems to be interested in appealing most to the hardcore, dedicated gamer. That point is hard to dispute. 

Obviously, the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room at the Sony press conference was the lengthy PlayStation Network outage that has only recently run its course. And smartly, Sony Computer Entertainment of America’s president and CEO Jack Tretton discussed the outage immediately upon arriving on stage to begin the conference. In earnest, Tretton “personally” apologized for “any anxiety” caused to gamers by the outage. It was a nice touch, and the best possible way to kick things off. Indeed, cutting right into the PSN outage immediately exorcised that demon and allowed Tretton and others from Sony to work their way more into the nitty-gritty of PlayStation’s showing at this year’s E3. (And as someone who wrote a great deal about the PlayStation Network outage and how I think it was initially mishandled, I appreciated Tretton’s good-natured jab at the media.) 

As Tretton noted, 2010 was the strongest year yet for PlayStation 3. And even with the PSN outage, PS3’s performance is so far on track to eclipse its 2010 numbers as 2011 races towards its second half. This is no doubt exciting news for Sony, but it also brought to mind something I’ve often thought about, something that I feel Sony has neglected to take full advantage of. And that something is the fact that the strength of PS3’s numbers are often conveyed out of context. I am confused why Sony never delves deeper into this fact when talking about PlayStation 3 sales, and was especially surprised it wasn’t brought up this year as worldwide sales parity develops between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. 

Here’s what I mean. Microsoft last reported Xbox 360 sales earlier this month at 55 million, while Sony last reported sales for PlayStation 3 this past March at 50 million. Since their respective November release dates were a year apart, Xbox 360 has been on the market for 66 months, PlayStation 3 for 54 months. Thus, Sony is averaging nearly 926,000 PS3s sold worldwide each month compared to Xbox 360’s monthly average of 833,000. This isn’t a point Sony has ever nailed home, and it’s a missed opportunity for the company to show that its sales situation isn’t as dire as it’s often perceived to be. 

But that missed opportunity aside, there were two primary, overwhelming strengths to Sony’s conference: exclusive games and the major reveal of its successor to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita. Sure, there were other reveals — including an affordable (albeit small) 3D television and a cheap pair of 3D glasses — but the PlayStation brand’s strength rests in its exclusive content, and between that content and a successful reveal of everything Vita has in store, it’s hard not to give Sony credit for delivering this year’s winning press conference performance on those facts alone

From Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and Resistance 3 toStarhawk and Sly Cooper 4, Sony stressed experiences that can only be had on its platform. It’s true that there were few actual surprises (at least in terms of PlayStation 3 software), but all of these exclusives are what’s truly exciting for those that own a PS3. There were nearly a dozen PlayStation 3 exclusives in total shown at the conference (including the awesome LittleBigPlanet 2 Move-enabled DLC and a couple of much-anticipated HD collections), a staggering amount of games. Other upcoming and much-anticipated exclusives, such as Twisted Metal and The Last Guardian, weren’t even mentioned in passing. Now that’s a deep roster of exclusives. 

Then, there was the reveal of Vita. Sure, the name is pretty bad, but then again, I suspect it will grow on us as we start throwing the terms “Vita” and “PSV” around. To me, it seems that Sony has preemptively learned from the mistakes Nintendo made when the Nintendo 3DS launched in that there was no compelling games for people to play. While uncertain terms like “launch window” are being used to describe the slew of titles we saw at this year’s E3 on Vita, the fact is that Sony isn’t trying to sell Vita on the mere fact that it’s the successor to the PSP. In addition to all of its non-gaming functionality, Trophy-earning possibilities and more, there will be compelling titles ready around the time Vita comes out late this year, and there’s cause to be really excited for many of them, including Super Stardust Delta, Uncharted: Golden Abyss andLittleBigPlanet. Again, all exclusives. 

To be certain, I was skeptical of Vita’s potential. I owned a PSP and I enjoyed it, but while it was wildly successful in terms of units sold, there simply was a lack of interesting software late in its life. But I’ve played Vita. I’ve held it. I’ve experienced a PS3-quality Uncharted on Vita. I played an untouched ModNation Racers track created on PlayStation 3 using a Vita. I saw a Super Stardust experience indistinguishable from what’s on PSN. And I’m now a believer. 

Sony also nailed the price point of the Vita. And I mean nailed. $250 for a wi-fi enabled unit or a mere $50 more for a 3G-enabled PSV makes this handheld extremely competitive. At $250, it’s the same price as a Nintendo 3DS. And after hearing from a slew of readers on My IGN, Twitter and Facebook, I know that it’s making people think twice about which handheld they want. Something tells me that’s exactly what Sony intended. Sure, the AT&T announcement was disappointing and underwhelming (and also revealed the bush-league attitude of several people in attendance as they laughed and booed), but that’s not a relevant concern to me. I’m going for the $250 model myself. 

Clearly, when taken as a whole, Sony won this year’s E3 in terms of providing games to gamers. Sure, there’s anticipation and excitement for what Microsoft is doing with Xbox 360, and rightfully so. That’s a console that’s becoming the go-to entertainment machine, with a smattering of games, exclusive entertainment opportunities, and more. And then there’s Nintendo, with a more nebulous future with the 3DS and Wii U that’s still full of potential. But if you’re a gamer — and I am indeed a gamer — it’s hard to deny the facts. The games were with Sony this year, and games are what I get most excited about. 

(Source: IGN)

Holding the PS Vita could be hard, HANDS ON!!!

Sony Corp unveiled the pricing of its new PlayStation Vita handheld games device at a flashy Los Angeles event and immediately ran into criticism the gadget was too expensive.

The show featured appearances by sports and rock stars and was a bid by the electronics giant to move on from the computer hacking attacks that forced it to shut down its videogames network for almost a month.

The new device is aimed at competing with the likes of Apple’s iPod Touch and the plethora of smartphones and tablets on the market. After the device was first unveiled in January, the show on Monday revealed other details, including the name and basic price.

It will go on sale for $249, or $299 for a 3G mobile version, in time for year-end holidays, the Japanese electronics giant’s No.2 executive Kazuo Hirai told reporters.

“That’s fine for core gamers who want to play games all the time, but it’s too expensive for the mass market,” said Dan Ernst, a Hudson Square research analyst.

The prices in Japan will be 24,980 yen and 29,980 yen, while in the euro zone the gadgets will cost 249 euros or 299 euros, roughly level with Nintendo’s 3DS, a 3D handheld gaming device launched earlier this year.

The Sony event was held on the eve of the E3 games convention, the industry’s annual get-together that draws 45,000 reporters, analysts and industry types to a convention center the size of eight football fields.

Hirai drew some groans from the audience of several thousand when he said Sony would work with U.S. telecoms firm AT&T as the exclusive carrier for the Vita.

Many users of Apple’s iPhone in the United States have complained that AT&T provided poor connectivity.

The Sony show included appearances by Kobe Bryant, who demonstrated a basketball simulation game, followed by DJs, dancers and rock band Jane’s Addiction.

The upbeat tempo of the event marked a stark contrast to Hirai’s appearance on May 1 at a Tokyo news conference, when he bowed deeply and repeatedly to show Sony’s contrition for the security breach of its networks.

HACKERS

In April, hackers accessed personal information on 77 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts, 90 percent of which are registered in North America and Europe.

At the time, Sony said credit card information may have been stolen, sparking lawsuits and casting a shadow over its plans to combine content and hardware products via online services.

A further blow to Sony’s online services could come from Apple, whose boss Steve Jobs unveiled remote computing services earlier the same day, as it sought the lead in the fast-expanding new market.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the April attack on Sony.

The company later revealed hackers had stolen data from 25 million users of a separate system, its Sony Online Entertainment PC games network, in a breach discovered on May 2.

Just last week, hackers claimed they had broken into servers that run Sony Pictures Entertainment websites and had accessed the information of a million customers.

Sony managed to restore the PlayStation Network in full in its main North American and European markets ahead of E3, which runs from June 7-9.

Jack Tretton, the head of the company’s U.S. videogames division, apologized to users of the network and software makers over the incident, but joked that media should thank Sony for providing a story.

He added that activity on the PlayStation network was back up to 90 percent of what it had been before the security breach and that last week’s PlayStation sales were up 27 percent on a year earlier.

“We learned a lot during the recent outage of PlayStation Network,” Hirai said. “One of the most important things we learned was about the trust and loyalty of our customers.”

Restoring services quickly was seen as essential because connectivity is one of the main selling points of the Vita.

For serious gamers, the ability to take up games where they left off, even while they are away from home, could be a key differentiation point from main rival Microsoft, which does not offer a portable device.

The global games market is expected to grow to $65 billion this year, up from $62.7 billion in 2010, although signs of weakness in the U.S. economy have sparked concern about prospects for the sector.

(Source: Yahoo!)