As the busiest week in the gaming calendar draws to a close, the people at the heart of the action for PlayStation share their highlights.
E3 2010 kicked off with the Sony Computer Entertainment America press conference as, over two hours, SCEA president Jack Tretton introduced a succession of key upcoming innovations on PlayStation.
Then it was off to the Los Angeles Convention Centre, where publishers and developers from the world over had set up shop to show off their wares to an eager gaming public.
Speaking at the close of E3, Andrew House, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said: “It’s been a fantastic show for Sony overall. We had a great head start with the SCEA press conference; it was the best showcase of PlayStation Move I’ve seen.
“You could feel the wow moments during the Sorcery demo when everyone in the audience understood the power of, and potential that there is for, PS Move. The emphasis on stereoscopic 3D was just right and helped position Sony as a true innovator and there was every feeling from the software line-up that we have the content to continue the tremendous momentum that we started building last year.
“A key trend is emerging which is that independent software publishers with multiformat titles are starting to showcase them on PlayStation 3 and that is a very telling sign. I think it’s a reflection of the fact that we clearly have greater momentum in the marketplace and that that momentum is pretty global.
“PlayStation Plus has been well received and it’s demonstrated again that we have innovation on the network side and we continue to offer a real variety of different services.”
House’s optimism was echoed in the SCEE booth, where for the first time many people had their first chance to get to grips with PlayStation Move and some of the titles that will support its launch in September 2010.
“I’ve had people really competing against each other in Sports Champions,” said Gavin Russell, producer on a number of PS Move software titles. “Once people get the motion controller in their hand, they find using it really intuitive. With 90 per cent of the people that pick it up, they say it feels exactly how they would expect it to.”
“PlayStation Move has gone down remarkably well,” agreed John McLaughlin, producer on The Fight. “At first, when people start playing they punch in weird ways, then once I teach them to punch for real and they get it, it takes them to a new level of interaction. All kinds of people seem to be picking it up and enjoying themselves, cutting loose and letting all their frustration out – it’s a real stress buster.”
Tom O’Connor, producer on Start the Party, echoed these sentiments: “It’s been great to see people react in a positive way when they see the magic of the motion controller as it morphs on-screens and transforms into different objects in the game. When people see that the game tracks the object in their hand in full 3D space, it blows them away.”
Away from PlayStation Move, LittleBigPlanet 2 drew big crowds, building on the success of the original title that introduced the whole gaming philosophy of Play, Create, Share.
“This game is about making any kind of game and what’s been amazing is that people really get it,” said Alex Evans from developer Media Molecule. “Especially when we go into the create tools and we show them things like the Creatinator and the Controllinator, people just get it and I love that. We’ve even had people saying that with the new tools they can do in one day what it took them a whole week to do in the first game.”
On PSP, Mike Deneen, designer on God of War: Ghost of Sparta, showcased the new title to a steady stream of onlookers: “It’s been fantastic to have people look at this game and see what the PSP system is capable of. We think we’ve really pushed it to its limit and we’ve been getting that kind of reaction so that’s really exciting.”
And out on the show floor, Matt Southern from Evolution Studios lapped up the full range of entertainment on offer: “For me, I’m getting older now, I’ve got kids and I just can’t help but get increasingly excited by some of the family games that are coming out now. The hardcore gamers are going to be really excited by what’s been shown here and social gamers too; you’re seeing that breadth and widening of the audience so that families and kids and everybody can enjoy games.”
So there you go. A week in games can be a long time and here’s Andrew House with the last word on E3 2010: “PlayStation 3 is demonstrating itself as the first format to offer multiple innovations and revolutions during a single and potentially very long and successful life cycle. Stereoscopic 3D, PlayStation Move and continuing innovation with a broader array of network services really are setting the stage for this generation to be unlike any other previous one.”
PlayStation Move games interview
