E3 08: Sony Press Conference

By Tyler Barber


On the same stage that Jack Palance did his famous one-armed push-ups at the 1992 Oscars, we saw the comic-book artist Jim Lee do the same. Touché Jim, and touché Sony. Last year's E3 was really a bad year for everyone. Each of the big three press conferences had at least one major embarrassing moment, but this year Sony and Microsoft managed to save face 100 percent (read my write-up on Nintendo's press conference to get the dish on their embarrassing moment. Here's a hint: it was the entire show). And while I would say that Microsoft stole the show, Sony wasn't far behind. Their main shortcoming: not showing enough new games, gameplay, and the lack of surprising announcements (also don't forget that little blight called Home).

Sony's Jack Trentton did an excellent job hosting the event, and set the tone at the start by basically saying: "every PlayStation console takes a few years to hit its stride, so forgive us for not blowing you away this year." Which is true, historically. If you look at the PS1 and PS2, it wasn't until year four or five that we saw games like Final Fantasy XII, Grand Theft Auto III, and Metal Gear Solid. So with that out of the way, they continued to show a line-up of expected, but exciting titles.

First was what most people are calling game of the show: Little Big Planet. Last year I gushed about this game, and now my enthusiasm has intensified. This year, they used Little Big Planet as a Power Point presentation. That's right, they presented their sales numbers and projections in-game, in a custom-created Little Big Planet level. I've never heard such a long applause for sales numbers in my life. Youtube it.

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