E3 2008

You can consider this little piece a response to John's earlier post on the state of electronic entertainment in 2008. I think there are some unique things that I have to say, though, too, so it won't be a point-for-point reply, just a, perhaps, ongoing dialogue on something that John and I tend to take far too seriously.

As a self-proclaimed Sony Fanboy, I have to say that E3 2008 was the most exciting for me in the past couple years. As that fanboy, I'll speak mainly on Sony's accomplishments and shortcomings, because that's really all I care about in the long run. Microsoft will do what they do, and Nintendo will have their victories over the more casual crowd. But it's what Sony does or doesn't do over the next year or two that will see the PS3 as an over-powered Dreamcast or a worthy successor to the PS2, which is still the number 2 selling console. Or maybe number 3. Whatever.

Let's start with the loss of FFXIII, or really, what it indicates. I think it's the final and most severe wake up call that Sony will get when it comes to the need for generating good exclusives (first AND third party) and holding onto them. They can either take that wake up call, or they can gloss over it. If they decide to do the latter, the PS3 will be solely a blu-ray player in a year or two. Let's look at what titles were traditional Sony powerhouses that have since been courted by Micro since the launch of the 360. Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear (though not the most current iteration . . . yet), and now Final Fantasy. Third party companies would be crazy to shy away from the 360's installed playbase. It just wouldn't make financial sense. But Sony desperately needs to start throwing out the kind of money that Micro has in locking down exclusive content for these traditional PS titles because exclusives equal system sales. Microsoft threw so much money at Rockstar in order to not only get access to the GTA franchise, but also to get Rockstar to generate exclusive post-launch content for the 360. I believe they did something similar with Bethesda and the upcoming release of Fallout 3, as well, though I can't remember for sure.

Now, one exclusive will not sell systems. MGS4 might have produced a slight hump in the sales trend for Sony, but it wasn't the explosion they were undoubtedly hoping for. But if GTA and MGS had both been Sony exclusive, you would have been certifiably insane, if you had the coin, not to pony up for the PS3 in order to get your hands on these titles, arguably two of the best from the past two or three years and perhaps beyond. And they were released within a month or two of each other. Consumers need to know that not only will they get one exclusive, there will be more coming.

So what can Sony do to stem the tide of Microsoft's dominance over the more dedicated gamers? You have to be willing to throw MORE money into the ring, but you have so many options when deciding WHERE to throw it. You can generate new, compelling IP, or you can return to the old. In returning to the old, you can rip your exclusives back from Microsoft (which may be nearly impossible, given their clout in the industry), or you can dig into your already impressive library and pull out some old tricks. But with that outlay of cash has to come quality. You can't put forward a Nintendo-like effort here and expect results. John and I often speak of how we could change the face of gaming if we had the know-how and the resources. The ideas are certainly there. He touched on Road Rash in his post, a game that, if I were in any sort of position of power, would be the first that I got my hands on.

Fully customizable bikes, visually on a level with NFS: Underground or Forza and with Gran Turismo-esque mechanical customization, with fully customizable characters. Alter appearances and select your riding style. Pick a bike gang to sign up with that might affect which bikes you ride (classic Harleys or crotch-rockets). Semi-RPG elements in a completely open world, a la GTA. Ride around the city searching for races, bike shops, or just cruise. Win races and gain money to build your bike. And then you get to select your weaponry, from crowbars, chains, pipes, brass knuckles, maybe a pistol or two. Full storyline mode, but with seamless integration of multiplayer races.

Sorry. I get carried away.

Another title that desperately needs a remake is Shadow of the Colossus. What could be done with this title? So much. Aside from the obvious graphical overhaul, work on the control scheme that seemed to plague people (especially while mounted). What would absolutely blow my mind is a complete single player experience, as in the first, but also, give me the ability to take on LARGER beasts with the help of my friends online. Generate several unique instances where I can attack the same beast with 3 of my friends. climbing up some fucking huge thing while my buddy is stabbing its head. Shit, if you want to get crazy, give me the ability to CREATE a monster out of a few thousand unique bits, upload it onto the network, and allow other people to download it and play by themselves or take it on with friends. Give me the ability to customize the appearance of my character. Give me the ability to upgrade my weaponry and my skills (I might be able to hold on for longer, run faster, ride faster, hit harder, do special moves).

Sony needs exclusives like these to remind people of the glory days of PlayStation. They need everyone who owns a 360 to sit up from their Dorito coma, give an "Oh Shit.", and go out and buy a PS3. Buzz isn't going to do that, nor is MotorStorm 2, though the latter is an extremely fun and polished game.

Now Sony did make a couple great moves at this E3. The release of their Video Store through the PSN was a great move. I tried it out last night, and it worked like a charm. It was $4.50 to rent Hellboy in HD. You get two weeks to have it sit on your hard drive, but the minute you start to watch it, a 24 hour counter kicks in. You have unlimited viewings in that 24-hour window. It took about 2 hours to download the movie, but you have the option of watching it as it downloads. I gave it around 10 or 15 minutes to get a head start on downloading before I watched, and it worked perfectly. The download speed was good, not impressive, but to be fair, I was online playing EVE at the same time. The quality was on par with Blu-ray, and you control it exactly like you would a DVD. It was a great overall experience.

I think people are making a mistake in comparing it to Micro's Netflix announcement, though. Live has had a movie download service active for a while now, so compare it to that. Netflix is just an additional functionality, but it is only available to Live GOLD members (who are paying $50 a year for that access). Plus, you need an active subscription to Netflix ($60 a year for the cheapest plan), and even then, you are limited to the standard definition choices that are in your Watch Instantly queue. You don't have access to anywhere NEAR the full Netflix library, and on the cheapest plan, you only have 5 hours per month of access to the Watch Instantly queue. You can't compare this to Sony's video download service.

What truly sets Sony apart from Microsoft in the video download area is the ability to transfer your rentals and downloads to your PSP for playback on the road. This single move has brought my PSP out of the drawer a LOT more often and has saved me the hassle of lugging my laptop onto the plane while traveling. Just awesome.

I think Sony has taken the right path when it comes to trying to court more casual gamers and the younger crowds. Keep those games on the PSN, and if you ARE going to release a major first party title aimed at these crowds, make sure it has some appeal to the more dedicated sect. Perfect example is LittleBigPlanet. Six year olds can jump on with their dad, create a level, and run through it with their character dressed like their favorite pokemon. But dad can come back on later and enjoy the game by himself. That's the true magic of a more casual game, the ability to get everyone in the family playing together. It's not some gimmick balance board, and it's certainly not holding the controller like a violin and "pretending" to play the violin while having the music played for you by the game. I can imagine that I'm a fucking violin player all damn day. I don't need a $200 piece of electronic equipment to do that. I need a game system to make me FEEL like I am ACTUALLY playing that violin (or that guitar, or those drums as we see in Rock Band).

The Wii has its place in gaming history because it brought people to gaming that have NEVER even thought of it before, since it was the hobby of degenerates and murderers and social outcasts. Now it's maintream. Now it pulls in more money annually than the music industry or the movie industry. That, my friends, is truly amazing.

I absolutely think Sony is on the right track. And I think Sony is looking at this generation the right way, and has been all along. Microsoft never planned to have the 360 be its system for longer than 5 years. Just look at how they did not include a high-def DVD player, any sort of hard drive, or even Wi-Fi at the outset. It took Sony implementing these things to get Microsoft to try them (even though they selected HD-DVD and lost that format war). Sony is in this for the long haul, with its often maligned 10 year plan. Everyone views this as an excuse for its poor performance early. I think it's just sound strategy.

We know Sony is planning for the future because the system has more processing power, more graphical power, an expandable and easily replaceable hard drive, a Blu-ray player, free-to-play network, four different card reader slots, four USB slots, Bluetooth connectivity with peripherals, and so on. Yes, it is more expensive, but with the announcement of the new 80GB version at $399, it's only $50 more than the 60GB X360. If you add in an Xbox Live GOLD account at $50 per year, it's even (though if you own the 360 for longer than a year, there will be added costs there too!). Plus, with the PS3, you're getting Blu-ray, an extra 20GB of space with the option to replace that hard drive with ANY PC hard drive, Bluetooth, and free-to-play network. Plus, and this may simply be a personal observance, the PS3 just seems more sturdy and well-constructed than the 360. The evidence of this has waned recently, as the more recent 360s do not have nearly as many problems as the early ones did, but the PS3 is quieter, has an internal power brick while keeping the system the same size as the 360, and doesn't have that flimsy, rickety pop out CD drive. The PS3 is just a better piece of hardware, in my opinion, and now all they need is the software to make the system desirable to people who don't necessarily do all of their research on the hardware.

Notably absent, except for brief mention in a few montages, was Killzone 2. Hopefully that game is still progressing as nicely as it was, and hopefully, its release is not too far off. And the debacle that is Home, now approaching the One Year Overdue mark in September, was a big disappointment. But if they can get that pushed out the door (at the very least as some sort of expanded open beta) by this holiday season, everything will be fine. In the meantime, we have our In-Game XMB, our trophies, and our updated Gamercards to keep us warm at night. One thing I am relatively sure of. If Sony is delaying Home, it is for a good reason, and when the environment launches, it will be a solid product (and another FREE service that those who own the PS3 will get to enjoy).

Keep up the good work, Sony. I was worried you were going to flop yesterday, but you pulled it out.