What confirmed E3 rumours and surprise E3 announcements can we expect from Sony and its PlayStation at E3 2011 in Los Angeles next month?
Sony hosts the second of this year's three major press conferences at 5pm PST on Monday 6 June (that's 1am BST on Tues 7 June, for those British PlayStation fans who are willing to wait up to watch the news streamed live online). This follows Microsoft's E3 press conference at 9am PST earlier that same day, with Nintendo set to reveal its own show-and-tell the following day on Tuesday 7 June at 9am PST.
The actual E3 show itself doesn't kick off until Wednesday June 8 through to Friday June 10 at the immense LA convention centre downtown. But tradition has it that the big news announcements from the major three console manufacturers dominate the first two days of E3 week, setting the tone for the days ahead, when all of the major games publishers will reveal their games line-ups for the rest of the year and beyond.
SONY NGP: The big news from SCE at E3 2011
The E3 2011 Sony press conference will be held in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) will reveal its plans for the future of the PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation Portable (PSP) and finally reveal the name, tech specs and games lined-up for the new Next Generation Portable (NGP).
In addition to impressive tech demos, gamers want to see the latest demonstrations of major PlayStation exclusives, with titles such as Uncharted 3 sure to dominate proceedings.
E3 2011: the PSN problem
Sony also enters this year's show shortly after the major PR disaster that has been the security hack of the PlayStation Network, so developers, industry vets and games journalists in attendance at the show will also want to hear more about how this major security breach actually happened, the steps the company took to fix it and how Sony can assure gamers that it will never happen again.
It's been a hugely difficult time for the PlayStation company, with some UK high street retailers most recently reporting that British gamers are ditching their PS3s in favour of Microsoft Xbox 360s, purely due to a loss of faith in the security and stability of PSN, with one retailer recently informing Edge:
"In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades. However, from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead."
NGP VS PSN: Has the security hack spoiled Sony's show?
There is no question that Sony needs to tackle this problem head on at E3 2011. To ignore it, or to play down the significance of the hack to gamers, would be commercial suicide.
When asked for his personal take on what he's excited about from Sony at E3, Nvidia's European PR manager, Ben Berraondo told TechRadar: "E3 offers Sony a perfect platform to put the recent PSN issues behind them and remind everyone what they are best at: playing host to some great first-party games. Uncharted 3 is sure to be one of the games of the show and will show many how cinematic gaming should be done. And of course, don't forget the new Sony NGP could steal the show."
Once that difficult job has been tackled, Sony can get on with the more important task of hyping us all about what's in store for PS3, PSP and NGP in the future.
"Sony's E3 conference will be focused on NGP/PSP2, so expect some big game announcements," says Dan Dawkins, editor of specialist PlayStation magazine PSM3.
We expect to see a new title from Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid 5, perhaps?), lots on the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 from Activision, the latest on Capcom's Resident Evil - all of which have been teased as demos previously, but are now "prime for confirmation" as Dawkins puts it.
SONY AT E3: It's games we want, exclusive ones, lots of them
With the final reveal of what is in store for the successor to the PlayStation Portable, Sony will also show lots of technology and functionality demos of the soon-to-be-named Next Generation Portable. "Expect a lot of NGP units to be made available for hands-on time at the show," says Dawkins.
"On PS3, we wouldn't be surprised to hear a God of War 4 (or similar spin off) announcement, which we heard was pencilled in for Sep 2012. The main PS3 demo will be Uncharted 3, obviously, which is likely to have the same impact at the Uncharted 2 rooftops demo a few years back as the pinnacle of current-generation visuals."
In addition to being wowed by a new Hideo Kojima title, PlayStation fans will also hope to hear what Heavy Rain creator David Cage is planning next, "and Rockstar is long overdue to demo PS3-exclusive Agent, from GTA-creator Rockstar North," adds Dawkins.
"All we know is that the project was still being worked on, but latest inquiries at Rockstar have only received the inevitable 'no news on that' response. Most importantly, Sony has a lot of goodwill to claw back in light of the PSN hack and subsequent closure, so don't be surprised if Sony announces a new XMB design, or features (cross game chat and so on) live at its conference, ready to roll out that day or within a short time window."
UNCHARTED 2: The sequel to this is bound to be one of Sony's big hitters at E3 2011
NGP and Google Android
The NGP's link up with Android and Google is sure to be outlined in much more detail at E3 2011, with many hoping that Sony might add Google support, for maps and suchlike on PS3.
While most official NGP developers are still under non-disclosure agreements so can't say much about the tech specs of Sony's new handheld, Dr. Richard Wilson, CEO of games developers' trade body TIGA, told TechRadar: "The Sony Next Generation Portal will offer UK developers exciting new opportunities to create innovative content. The UK has some of the most talented developers in the world who will relish this opportunity."
Giving us further insight into the more general context of new tech expected at this year's show, Wilson added: "E3 is likely to see much discussion focussed around tablets and tablet gaming, the future of the AAA game, the shift from console to other platforms and the monetisation of freemium titles."
Brett Seyler, VP of strategy at Unity, one of the leading games middleware specialists agrees that many of the big gaming brands and intellectual properties (IPs) "will be coming to mobile and the web in a big way."
In Seyler's opinion, new IP launches hitting 3-4 screens (TV, PC / Web, tablet, smartphone) with distinct experiences and meta-platform engagement will mean that "cross screen" or "three screen" gaming will be one of the major talking points of E3 2011.
However it pans out, this year's E3 show is already looking to be a major news event. And TechRadar will, of course, be bringing you all the news announcements live and direct from Los Angeles on 5-9 June.
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