Depicting Sony's E3 2010 Press Conference One Bullet Point At A Time, My Way.

Someone asked me, "if you had a job at SCEA, and you were in the planning room for Sony's E3 2010 press conference, how would you glue the event together?" In response, I wrote a pretty detailed opinionator breaking down the way in which I'd construct Sony's press conference, based on predictions already made. This year, I haven't had an email asking me to do the same, but I thought it would be fun to speculate once again. So, valued readers, I present to you Sony's E3 2010 press conference, the Twiggy way.

Just a quick note; announcements listed in italics are based purely on speculation, while bolded announcements are things I think would be heavy hitters. It's also worth noting, this is my opinion on Sony's press conference, and not in any way confirmation of anything at all.

  • Introductions and brief sales chat; I anticipate Sony will gloss over the sales figures this year in response to what Microsoft did in 2009. Sales figures can be issued in post-show press releases. Expect Sony to kick-off with base PlayStation unit sales, and then move on.
  • Gran Turismo 5 trailer; with Gran Turismo 5 appearing at so many of Sony's E3 press conferences, I expect they'll jump right into the racer. Sony'll probably have a new trailer to show, revealing new cars, locations and possibly the damage system. Most importantly, the trailer will conclude with a release date and an announcement that there's a new demo playable at Sony's E3 booth. At this point, most people know what to expect from Gran Turismo 5, and also know whether they are excited about the game or not. I wouldn't spend too long demoing the game.
  • Resistance 3 reveal; debut trailer and information for Insomniac's first-person shooter franchise. Expect a big-deal to be made of Sony's partnership with Insomniac and the games exclusivity.
  • PlayStation Portable sizzle reel; footage of all the PSP's upcoming titles, including Square Enix's The 3rd Birthday, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Sony's Hot Shots Tennis plus further reveals.
  • God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta trailer; a stand-alone trailer for upcoming PSP title God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta.
  • PSP range price-cut; PSPgo reduced to $149.99 and PSP-3000 dropped to $119.99.
  • Syphon Filter announcement; first trailer of Sony Bend's Syphon Filter game, which has (presumably) been in development at Sony Bend for some time now.
  • PlayStation Network sizzle trailer; footage of new titles heading to the PlayStation Network, including new details of ThatGameCompany's upcoming PS3 project.
  • PlayStation Network updates reveal; altered XMB demo, including new features such as Cross Game Chat, PlayStation Move support, video service Mubi and other updates to the PlayStation Network made accessible from a PlayStation firmware update launching at the end of the conference. Also details on 3D.
  • PlayStation Network Plus reveal; features, release dates and pricing structures for upcoming PlayStation Network Plus service set to launch some time this Summer.
  • MMO sizzle trailer; new trailers for upcoming MMO titles on the PlayStation 3 including: DC Universe Online and Free Realms.
  • MotorStorm: Apocalypse gameplay demo; first gameplay footage from Evolution Studios' apocalyptic racer.
  • PlayStation Move sizzle trailer; updated footage from announced PlayStation Move titles including The Shoot, Sports Champions, The Fight: Lights Out, Eye Pet and Move Party.
  • Ape Escape PlayStation Move demo; live gameplay footage demo of upcoming PlayStation Move compatible Ape Escape game.
  • Survival Horror PlayStation Move demo; gameplay footage of the PlayStation Move survival horror title that's appeared in numerous PlayStation Move sizzle reels over the past 12 months.
  • Third-party PlayStation Move showcase; announcements and gameplay sizzle footage from PlayStation Move titles coming from various third-party studios.
  • PlayStation Move release and pricing details; $79.99 bundle package for PlayStation Move Starter Kit, including PlayStation Eye camera, PlayStation Move wand and bundled game. $39.99 additional Move controller price-tag, $29.99 wireless sub-controller.
  • inFamous 2 gameplay reveal; first trailer and gameplay footage for Sucker Punch's inFamous 2.
  • LittleBigPlanet 2 gameplay showcase; new trailer and live gameplay demo of LittleBigPlanet 2 creations impossible in the original LittleBigPlanet.
  • Rockstar's Agent; the first trailer for Rockstar's PlayStation 3 exclusive, Agent.
  • The Last Guardian gameplay demo; the first gameplay demo from Team ICO's hotly anticipated The Last Guardian.
  • Uncharted 3 tease; an Uncharted 3 teaser, revealing a 2011 date and an ambiguous tone-setting.

Just to conclude, I wanted to explain how I compiled this list. Firstly, I wanted to keep the spread of big game demos and reveals consistent throughout the show. While I lumped together PlayStation Move, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Network stuff, I think it's important Sony keep a steady flow of big PlayStation 3 game demos per every three or so announcements. You'll note game demos are consistent throughout the whole presentation, with a fair few clumped nearer the end to really hammer home the depth of Sony's content.

I've purposely left out the inclusion of a PSP2 here because I actually don't think that's going to happen. It seems more important to me that Sony give the original PSP one last hurrah with a solid games lineup and price-drops before they galvanise their sales. Needless to say, you can imagine a PSP2 would take up a huge chunk of time of the press conference if it was announced.

The game demos I've tried to choose represent games that would show best. MotorStorm: Apocalypse, Gran Turismo 5, inFamous 2 and LittleBigPlanet 2 would all show better than something like, say, SOCOM 4 which is a slower paced tactical shooter. I don't think Killzone 3 will be there because the press has already seen it, and last night's gameplay reveal was pretty in depth.

When it comes to the Uncharted 3 conclusion, I truly believe that on the back of the critical success of Uncharted 2, Sony will show something just to say "hey, Uncharted 3's in development". Whether it's just a line of dialogue from Nathan Drake and a logo, I definitely think it'll happen. In all honesty, what better closer?

Finally, while people believe PlayStation Move will feature pretty heavily, I think Sony will stick to specific demos of certain PlayStation Move games. I believe they may just get behind Ape Escape as the killer-app, in which case I expect a pretty detailed gameplay demo of that. I don't, however, believe they'll go through all the games they showed at CES again — while I do think these will be on the show floor.

“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.