Pre-E3 2009 Sony - Expectations vs. Reality

This is part three of four of my Pre-E3 series highlighting next week's E3.  Nintendo and Microsoft were already discussed leaving the granddaddy of them all, the PC, for this weekend.  I will be covering Sony's plans for the next year, E3 expectations and what we can hope to see at the show.

Last year I felt Sony had the best showing at E3 even though Microsoft stole the show with their Final Fantasy 13 announcement.  Sony brought better games and like Kotaku has shown they pretty much lived up to almost everything they promised.  You could argue Sony played it pretty safe last year so hopefully the 09' conference brings some bigger announcements.

Rumors persist that Sony may debut some sort of motion controls this year to tag along with the Wiimote and possible 360 motion controller.  The Sixaxis does motion already but I generally only use it when necessary.  I don't really buy in to motion controls but I guess the casuals love it.

The obvious news that everyone is waiting for is a price cut.  Sony has dragged their feet on this for some time now trying to eek out profitability on their latest console all while scrapping along in the market share department.  $100 would be perfect, $50 is a must.  The console is just too expensive even if it has fantastic value considering the Blu-ray player.  While the PS3 isn't going the way of the Saturn or Dreamcast, third place is not a spot Sony is happy with.  This could tie in really nice with the rumors of a slim redesign of the console.

On the software front I expect some sort of new God of War 3 news.  Some new video and possibly even a release date would be awesome.  I don't expect this game to hit shelves until early next year but any information in what likely be a Game of the Year contender is more than welcome.  A release date would probably make my E3.

Gran Turismo 5.  I am crossing my fingers on this one.  Prologue sold very well and is still quite popular.  The logistics behind it was to wet the appetites of racing fans until GT5 was ready.  Considering how far along Prologue is there is no reason the full game couldn't be nearing completion and see a release within the year.  The only work outside of the game's engine and features are track and car modeling, though promised "car damage" is expected to make its way into both titles.  Rumors have this making it out by the end of the year if some reliable GT informants are accurate. 

The new Team ICO project will most likely be shown at the show as well.  Creators of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are readying their "Project TRICO" which we saw leak out a bit early in this trailer.  Team ICO has never made a bad game and I don't expect this to be the exception.  Screw the haters, this looks great.

Continuing down the exclusive path we have Uncharted 2 which should make a solid splash at E3 this year.  The multiplayer beta was tied in to InFamous and I expect Sony to show off one of its key franchises which is due out later this year.  Nathan Drake's first outing is a must have and I expect the same from a sequel.

Heavy Rain will most likely be shown off as well as MAG too.  Sony loves to talk about their exclusives and that really is the best thing they have going right now until a price cut comes along.  Check out the trailer for Heavy Rain here.