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E3 Is All About First Party For Sony.

As I’ve stated countless times before; I’m not here to write about Microsoft. But as the Playstation’s current closest competitor, I’m going to mention them briefly. More specifically 2008’s E3 conference. Microsoft had a fairly ok showing: they had Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3 and Final Fantasy XIII. Yes, three multiplatform games. Where was the showmanship in that?

Alas, the blogosphere was already heralding Microsoft the elite champions of the E3 2008, raised high above the pedestal of their competitors who’d yet to even have their showing yet. Save for an embarassing 90-minutes with Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime and Cammie Dunaway, I thought there was someone else who stole the E3 war: Jack Tretton.

Entirely understated, Jack Tretton quietly and calmly got through Sony’s press conference without the fanfare. And without the multi-platform games. Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Ratchet & Clank, LittleBigPlanet, God Of War III, MAG – all Playstation games shown and talked about at Sony’s E3 conference. There was no need for the appearance of Capcom and Bethesda at Sony’s conference; there wasn’t the time. Sony’s conference is about Sony, baby.

Which is exactly what shocked me about Microsoft’s press conference – to me, they were selling me the third-party Playstation games I was going to buy for my PS3, a day before Sony sold me the first-party games I’d be playing on my PS3.

To be honest, I expect much of the same this year. No doubt Kojima and Konami will have a multiplatform game to announce: Microsoft will do a Square-Enix all over again. The rest of us will know – hey, that’s a Playstation 3 game too. I’m gonna buy that on my PS3. Microsoft are good at making multi-platform games “appear” exclusive – perhaps it’s because they barely have any internal teams; they have to.

Sony on the other hand. Well let’s talk about them. What do I expect from E3? A new PSP for starters. It has to happen. With so many new games announced for, essentially, a system that is debunked in the West – Sony had to show something to developers to get them on board. That would be new hardware, which I expect will have an iPhone like philosophy. I expect similar hardware to the current PSP, possibly a touch screen, but the main thing is promotion of the Playstation Store and getting all those little apps and what-not released for the system. I think we’re going to see a pretty big emphasis on the PSP this year and I hope that doesn’t disappoint people. Expect a lot of PSP game announcements, a lot of PSP hardware news and a lot of sentences including the word “download”.

But what of PS3? I expect Team Ico to make an appearance at the end. I think that will be Sony’s God Of War III this year. A teaser for the fanboys. Something to discuss. What else? Well, I think we’ll see all of Sony’s currently announced Playstation 3 exclusives: God Of War III, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and MAG. In fact I expect some footage for all of them – bam! bam! bam! It’s the sheer content of Sony’s studio’s that may make for less of an emphasis, but will overwhelm the detractors. How can you argue with AAA exclusive one after another.

The most important thing for me though will be Gran Turismo 5. If Sony can get that game out worldwide in time for holidays, there’s no telling the success that game could have for the Playstation brand as a whole. I mean, you could be talking infinite numbers. Especially if Sony do their marketing right, get the game out just in time for Christmas and bundled with a cheaper PS3 system. Europe will be on their knees.

First-party will win E3 for Sony yet again. While Microsoft sell me all the third-party Playstation 3 games, I’ll let Sony sell me the real exclusives. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

Previous entries in the “Twiggy” range:

• Playstation 3 Is Platformed Out With Bionic Commando & inFamous This Week, And It Reminds Me How Much I Love Super Mario 64
• In A Year Dominated By Blockbuster Sequels, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain Vision Could Be The Diamond In The Rough
• Here’s What I’d Request In The PSP Go! If I Had A Job At Sony & A Say In Such Things
• Does The Playstation 3 Need Motion-Control & How Will Sony Apply It?
• Why Did Guerilla’s Killzone 2 Force Me To Kill The More Interesting Good Guys? I Hate The ISA!
• Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference Could Be The Biggest In History & A Turning Point In Software Perception
• A Playstation 3 Pricecut Could Cripple Sony So Stop Asking For It