Unlike all of the previous conferences yesterday, five minutes into the Sony Conference we were most definitely wowed with a fantastic video full of upcoming games coming to the 'Playstation eco-system', yes, we've no clue what that means either. Unfortunately however, of all the marvellous trailer snippets, very few of what was sampled our preview of the conference was actually mentioned by CEO of SCEA, Jack Tretton who led the conference.
Sony know how to pull off a brilliant conference; by bookending two fantastically anticipated games either side of a standard show of games it was inevitable to stop the big grin from forming on your face. First off the bat was the official announcement of Beyond: Two Souls; Quantic Dream's next project after Heavy Rain, telling the story of Jodie Holmes, David Cage was on stage to explain his newest 'Interactive Drama' to the excited masses.
In a story that takes place over 15 years, Beyond hopes to explore the notions of death, and the world beyond our own with a character that we will grow up with during the game, Jodie Holmes herself is being motion captured and voice acted by the wonderfully heartwarming Ellen Page.
We were treated to a beautifully long cutscene that proves once again that David Cage should really be in film and not video games, however he promises an epic story that will take your breath away, and thanks to cutthroat decision making, each player will find their own unique story of Jodie in the spectacular looking game. With Quantic Dream's track record we imagine that Beyond will be nothing below amazing, and cannot wait for it's release which has not been officially announced, but we guessing 2013.
Next up, if you are a fan of Playstations menagerie of characters throughout the years, then you are undoubtedly excited for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, which whilst not a newly announced title, is pretty high on Playstation 3 owners lists as the Sony alternative to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. The big announcement for Playstation All-Stars was that the game has been confirmed as coming to Vita complete with cross compatibility and it looks fantastic!
On the subject of cross compatibility with Vita and PS3 came the sudden announcement of a new LBP2 cross controller DLC pack that will allow users to play LBP2 via their Vitas, this came very much out of the blue, and with very little information, so it would be interesting to see what this does for the fantastic creation engine that is Little Big Planet 2.
The Xbox Live Arcade is a massive staple to a 360 gamers' diet, and this rings so true with Playstation 3 owners, with the figures of downloaded PSN titles higher than ever before thanks to Journey, new titles Unfinished Swan and Papa & Yo are finally realising the potential of the digital download space for games that just would not cut it in the retail world.
On the subject of the PSN, Playstation Plus was also hailed as a success for giving away 60 free games to members since its release 2 years ago, in celebration a number of free games were announced for all subscribers to the service as well as some new Playstation One titles including Final Fantasy VII and Wild Arms. Sony also unveiled a new game collection subscriber base that will allow users access to a literal game collection for as little as $5 a month as a valid Playstation Plus subscriber.
Other than in the intro video for the conference, very few Vita games took up stage time for this years Sony conference, apart from the confirmation of Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified and a small video showing off the true capabilities of the Vita with the upcoming Assassin's Creed Liberation. Liberation brings the open world of the popular franchise to the Vita system and the first female assassin that the series has seen. The game was announced alongside a new PS Vita bundle containing the new Crystal White Vita system and is set for a release October 30th 2012.
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New Vita titles, Assassins Creed III, Far Cry 3, Wonderbook, God of War: Ascension and The Last of Us
