One Year Later, Did Sony Keep Their E3 2010 Promises?

2010 Will be Remembered as the Year of 3D….

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Kazuo Hirai pledged at the outset of the press conference that 2010 would be remembered ten years from now as the “year that Playstation brought authentic 3D to the industry.”

Verdict: Sorry, but I’m going to disagree with Hirai. The transition to 3D has been incremental and hardly spectacular – because not enough of us are using it. While some of 2010’s most well-received PS3 titles did feature stereoscopic 3D either at launch or as a DLC addition, I think it would be a gross exaggeration to suggest that 3D was the motor-force driving the positive reception of these titles.

…when “every PS3” becomes 3D-enabled after “a system update” in the coming months.

Verdict: Yes. No debate here. In September, stereoscopic 3D became available to all PS3 users via a firmware update to version 3.50.

A 3D Monopoly

Additionally, Hirai emphasized that the PS3 was and would be “the only platform with native 3D gaming.”

Tretton did reveal some specific PSP titles, Invizimals being at the top of the heap. We were told that this “full-featured” game would use a camera peripheral to bring an “augmented reality” experience to the system. On a less unconventional note, we were shown a trailer for God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and were told to expect Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Ace Combat: Joint Assault, The 3rd Birthday, and UFC 2010 Undisputed among others.

And just in time for the holiday sales boon, Tretton pledged that a pair of PSP bundles would become available, one for God of War: Ghost of Sparta and the other for Invizimals

Verdict: You’re okay here, Sony. No broken promises or broken hearts. We’ve seen all of these titles hit the streets, though whether the “augmented reality” offered by Invizimals really caught on is doubtful.

The PSN: A brighter, cheerier time

In the pre-breach days of E3 2010, Sony was mostly concerned with promoting its new subscription service Playstation Plus. We were told the service would be priced at one year for $49.99 (or 3 months for $17.99), and would give subscribers access to early demos, priority invites to select betas, PSN games, themes and minis, automatic downloads, and PSN store discounts. Additionally, Sony would be providing users with 3 months for free, and in its first month, the service would include Wipeout HD, a trial for inFamous, two minis (Field Runners and Age of Zombies), the PSone Classic Rally Cross, among other items.

Verdict:Yes, this has all turned out to be true. There is, of course, that pesky security-breach business nagging at my mind—but of course, Sony doesn’t enjoy clairvoyance, as far as I’m aware.

Most surprising sequel announcement in E3 history (no really, this time)

By far the biggest surprise for attendees of Sony’s keynote was the unannounced appearance of Gabe Newell, and his revelation that Portal 2 would not only be released on the PS3, but that it would be “the best version on any console.” He alluded to the fact that users would have access to the Steam cloud, and would enjoy automatic updates to their copy of the game.

Verdict: Yes. To the delight of PS3-owners the world over, this particularly big promise came to fruition. Now, whether or not the console received the “best” version is a qualitative judgment I’m not prepared to make—but the Steam overlay did arrive, as promised.

“Exclusive” Was Becoming Tretton’s New Favorite Word

The SCEA President introduced us to a number of multi-platform, 3rd-party titles that nevertheless would be receiving significant content exclusive to the PS3. Among them were Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2, both of which were due to be bundled with an additional (earlier) franchise game at no additional charge (Medal of Honor: Frontline and Dead Space Extraction, respectively).

Verdict:Sony scores another point. All of the above promises of exclusivity were honored, with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Mafia II also receiving content unique to the platform.

A Banner Year – Minus Final Fantasy XIV

They didn’t explicitly slap it with a release date, but Sony dazzled with a lengthy trailer for Square Enix’s MMO Final Fantasy XIV, and touted it as one of many games that would contribute to a “banner year” for the Playstation brand.

Verdict:Maybe this wasn’t your fault, Sony – but a broken promise is a broken promise, no matter how you add it up. All bets are off as to when Final Fantasy XIV will see the light of day on the PS3; overwhelmingly negative press and a dissatisfied install base resulted in a reshuffling of the development team, and this promise has been pushed back indefinitely.

Final Verdict:You did okay, Sony. Pat yourself on the back. The case of Sorcery does unfortunately demonstrate that a live demo is not necessarily an inviolable proof that a game will see release—but in the scheme of things, I’m going to let that slide. Portal 2 was an enormous coup for the company, and we did end up seeing a hefty amount of content and titles exclusive to the console. Yes, the 3D business was a whole lot of hot air; but only time will tell whether that particular piece of tech establishes a foothold, or fizzles away as short-lived fad.

Hey Nintendo, you’re next…