Sometimes I wish the Sony press conference was first instead of last on the docket.  I say this because inevitably the racket from the Internet begins to fill your ears with “Playstation 3 is dead,” “Sony = fail,” “this is their last chance” and “they’re desperate” even before the press conference has started.  Tuning out all the negativity was difficult as I bring you an honest and unbiased analysis of a genuinely solid Sony event.

Before the press conference even began there was an audio montage highlighting the current games on the Playstation 3 (PS3).  It was subtle but a wonderful appetizer to whet our appetites.  Once the lights came up, we were greeted by a video montage and Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.  Jack started talking and I was completely entranced.  He spoke positively, with honesty, and sincere gratitude.  He understood that 2007 was rough, but his message for 2008 was optimism and excitement.  Throughout the entire event, his big points were: thank you for sticking with us through the rough start, developers are coming on board for some great new stuff and we plan on riding the Playstation 2 cash cow until it dies and even then we’ll squeeze it dry.

Resistance 2 looks amazing.  Yes, the graphics are swell and gritty as all hell, but what completely blew me out of my chair was the scale.  The size of the player’s point of view to the stuff that is close to the size of the monster in the distance – it was unbelievable.  To watch the player firing rockets at the monster and those rockets being dwarfed distinctly by both the distance of the player to the monster as well as the size of the monster itself, really shows the strength of Insomniac Games and how they have built upon the lessons learned from their previous endeavor, Resistance: Fall of Man.

Next was everyone’s favorite part, the numbers game.  This time, there was a great twist.  To help the presentation, Jack, with the help of Alex Evans, cofounder of Media Molecule, utilized the level design of Little Big Planet to illustrate Sony’s importance in the industry and to announce distribution in Latin America as well as the re-release of popular games on the Greatest Hits line of software titles at $29.99.  The announcement of Greatest Hits titles, along with an 80 GB PS3 at the old 40 Gig price of $399, really begins to bring the Playstation 3 into the range of the average consumer.  Don’t misunderstand that I think this is some kind of great deal for the common man, but it certainly brings them closer to Earth.  Oh, and by the way, Little Big Planet is simply awesome.  There is no doubt that this game will be a system seller.

You may have thought the Playstation 2 might be dead or dying, but really, Sony finally realized that the only way to make money until PS3 goes into the black is to give people more time with their PS2s or introduce them to video games through the PS2, hook them and retain them in hopes of them becoming PS3 buyers.  They stopped shunning the dog that wouldn’t die and embraced him in a great big hug of thanks for allowing them to continue losing money on Playstation 3 sales.   Yay for capitalism!

The Playstation Network, previously one of Sony’s weaker features, is getting upgraded and expanded.  The previously released and rescinded cross-media bar will be a welcomed change, no doubt, but now they are moving into better game downloads including a $15 Ratchet and Clank game that looks like a great, inexpensive expansion to their successful previous release.  Ah ha, it is sizzle reel time for the Playstation Network!  Outside of Ratchet and Clank, the only game of note is Fat Princess….wait, fat what?  Without seeing more than what was in the trailer or playing it, it looks like a melee game of cute, colorful cartoon characters who fight to either kill or defend the rather large, slow-moving princess.  If this game has multiplayer, this game will be a huge download for the PSN.  The game’s stylized nature matched with its bloodiness, seems like this a game you will want to check out.  The reason I do not mention more is the best of the rest is a Super Smash Bros. clone. 

Having seen Microsoft’s announcement yesterday of their partnership with Netflix, the newly announced movie service had better be good.   This service provides both rentals and purchase-to-own, an option to move it to your PSP and the ability to begin watching while you’re downloading; it looks very clean and professional.  That may not swing you away from the Microsoft/Netflix camp, but having the service available today with Microsoft hinting at a fall release date puts a score tally up for Sony.

PSP is not dead.  Who knew this based on their recent release list?  The sizzle reel returns with a bunch of games with the highlight being a Resistance game specific to the PSP and Patapon 2.  I will say that Valkyria Chronicle’s tactical elements and visual styling made me drool just a little.  So, last year PSP got a hardware redesign, this year, they get software.  Sony really ought to hurry their process up.

This is the point in the show where Sony stopped pulling punches.  Showing DC Universe Online, Sony breaks into the world of Massively Multiplayer Online games.  Be your own superhero or supervillain and interact with the likes of Batman, Superman and Joker.  If Sony can make it a reality on the PS3, it would be a great feather in their cap against the Xbox 360.  Jack came back out to talk exclusives on PS3, which I will skip to get to the last game shown – the one that really blew my mind.  Massive Action Game or MAG is a multiplayer game on epic proportions.  256 players playing simultaneously, broken down into 8-player squads, will be fighting continuously ongoing campaigns between these 2 factions.  Sure it probably won’t be out until 2010 or 11, but probably neither will Final Fantasy 13.

Overall, Sony had the press conference they exactly needed.  Apologize for not being the Sony of old, tell everyone you’ve gone back to your roots, thank your supporters and reward the people with games.  They catered the press conference to the hardcore while still announcing their expansion into the casual market without making it obvious.  In the end, people clamor for a winner of E3.  I won’t take a copout with “the fans won E3,” but I will say that with the current generation maturing as we’ve seen these past 2 days, video game players across the world are in for one hell of a ride!