The conference opened with a fantastic showreel of games, introduced by SONY President Jack Tretton, who begins by honouring you, the gamers at home. It's you who drives and demands innovation, and SONY never want you to stop!
And so to the first featured game. A follow-up to Heavy Rain had been rumoured for some time, but those whispers could now be silenced. Beyond: Two Souls was that game, a game that would push the growing capabilities of the PlayStation 3, and challenge what we think a game can and should be. Starring Juno's Ellen page, this is the tale of Jodie, a girl who can feel things from 'the other side' and promises to create gaming moments that will stay with you. Forever.
A sudden change of pace for the next game - PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale! A melee brawler that does exactly what it says on the tin, the demo saw some of SONY's most memorable characters duke it out, with the victory going to Fat Princess. We were promised two new characters to play as on the floor (these turned out to be Big Daddy and Nathan Drake!). It was also confirmed this title was coming to PlayStation Vita, with Cross-Play with the PS3 version.
This led to a few more details of Cross-Play being revealed. You can play with up to three of your friends, and even save your game on your PS3 and pick it up later on the PS Vita version. But the bigger surprise was that new Cross-Play Controller DLC can make your PS Vita the controller for your PS3, bringing PS Vita functionality such as swipe, pinch and back-screen tapping into your PS3 game.
Next-up was the announcement of some PS Vita-only titles coming from some major franchises - Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. Not much was revealed about Declassified, but Liberation promised a game built from the ground-up for PS Vita, with unique controls and a series-first female assassin. And it's due to launch with the first crystal white PS Vita!
More Assassin's Creed III news came next, with the announcement that some of the action would take place on the sea as well as on land. This got a big cheer! And while Ubisoft were here, they announced new four-player co-op mode for Far Cry 3, as well as the chance to create your own island!
New technology was next on the bill as they introduced the Wonderbook. Summing up the PlayStation experience with the word 'innovation', SONY bigwig Andrew House said they were bringing this innovation to the humble book. The Wonderbook offers the chance to explore and change the stories in books - kind of introducing choose-your-own-adventure books to gaming!
Masters of the genre, Moonbot Studios, are already onboard and are developing Digs Nightcrawler a brand-new sleuthing experience, but the big title announcement came from a more magical source...
J. K. Rowling's Book of Spells is one of the first titles being created for Wonderbook, linking your PS3 to Pottermore (the Harry Potter website) and turning your Move Controller into your magic wand as you learn spells, witchcraft and wizardry at Hogwarts and get involved with the Harry Potter universe like never before.
The final announcement was the evolution of PlayStation Suite into PlayStation Mobile. Thanks to worldwide developer support and the innovation of smartphone gaming from HTC, PlayStation Certified devices will soon be entering production, giving you PlayStation gaming on the go!
