Oh my Gee Wiz, Sony!

[chipvideo]

I don't think the NGP will be a disaster (pending price). Sony has had the fortune of the 3DS having a slow start so there's slight room for opportunity but it's hard to imagine it being a monstrous success.

Also, Starhawk is not a direct sequel.....nothing says the quality of the game can't improve in the 4 years since Warhawk. Personally, my main problem with the game is that they make you ride a bike essentially before you get the training wheels.

This alone reitertes to me that handhelds for gaming are in trouble. Gaming handhelds have peaked and are on the way down. Smartphones are a growing area that hasnt even touched the surface yet.

If it doesnt fit in your front pocket and take phone calls your in trouble.

[Onslaught X]

This alone reitertes to me that handhelds for gaming are in trouble. Gaming handhelds have peaked and are on the way down. Smartphones are a growing area that hasnt even touched the surface yet.

DS had some trouble out of the gate too though. The DS is outselling the 3DS, so I don't see it as smart phones hugely eating away at their market, but rather a really weak software lineup and a much too expensive price point. While handhelds are probably unlikely to reach the highs that they did in the past 5 years (due to smartphones), there's still plenty of marketshare for Sony to eat away from Nintendo, although I don't imagine it happening unless Sony comes out swinging.

[hdinred]

I agree that NGP will probably be underwhelming when it comes to sales performance. I've never personally liked hand-helds, so I might be a bit biased, but I don't see a hand-held item generating a ton of awesome E3 excitement. I actually loathe the 15-20 minutes Sony usually gives to portables at its E3 show, it's like a buzzkiller where you take a nap in between the excitement of the show opening and the ps3 part of the show at the end.

This E3 is probably going to be underwhelming for Sony, aside from the ps3 exclusives. They have a lot of mundane (imo) ground to cover: NGP, PS2, security, Move, and their usual charts nonsense. Oh man, it was painful to type that out and realize that, if they give at least 10 minutes to each of those, and try to keep their show to just over an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes as usual, that leaves them like 10 or maybe 20 minutes total to talk about the PS3. Hopefully they ditch the PS2 presentation, only briefly mention security and move, and get on with a more normal show

It only takes 1 or 2 big announcements to have a “good” E3 and I’m sure Sony will deliver. As with all E3s we’ll have to sit though boring exercise demos and “non-core” focused presentations.

[hdinred]

I don't think the NGP will be a disaster (pending price). Sony has had the fortune of the 3DS having a slow start so there's slight room for opportunity but it's hard to imagine it being a monstrous success.

Also, Starhawk is not a direct sequel.....nothing says the quality of the game can't improve in the 4 years since Warhawk. Personally, my main problem with the game is that they make you ride a bike without ever getting the training wheels.

I hope you’re right regarding NGP, but I just don’t see it.

Starhawk could be good with needed improvements, but it’s hard to get excited for it. Think they’ll ditch sixaxis controls?

[Onslaught X]

I hope you’re right regarding NGP, but I just don’t see it.

Starhawk could be good with needed improvements, but it’s hard to get excited for it. Think they’ll ditch sixaxis controls?

They already did ditch the Sixaxis.

[coldfoot]

Sony had the right idea with the xperia play but utterly failed in its execution. They should have followed the iphone/ipod touch model but with added physical controls for gaming for the NGP. That would have been a winner.

[Bane]

This alone reitertes to me that handhelds for gaming are in trouble. Gaming handhelds have peaked and are on the way down. Smartphones are a growing area that hasnt even touched the surface yet.

If it doesnt fit in your front pocket and take phone calls your in trouble.

Not saying you're wrong about peaking, we'[ll find out in time, but have you seen the available software for the 3DS? That's all one needs to see to understand the slow sales. With everything that's scheduled to be out by year's end, I think it'll be on fire come Christmas.

[Badger3920]

It only takes 1 or 2 big announcements to have a “good” E3 and I’m sure Sony will deliver. As with all E3s we’ll have to sit though boring exercise demos and “non-core” focused presentations.

Some people go gaga over the 1 big announcement e3, where you can have an otherwise D+ show, and then trot someone out to say "Oh yeah, and Final Fantasy <or other game> will also be on platform X!" and close the show. Megatons can be exciting - but imo, they don't make a show. I like to see 5+ games that I think I'm highly likely to buy (or would love to buy if I had a 360); that makes a pretty good show for me. Nancying around with kinect or move, showing xbl/psn puzzle games, talking about handhelds etc, very quickly coving a couple ps3/360 offerings, and then making 1 big announcement is a pretty mediocre show

[Ergo-Proxy]

I agree that NGP will probably be underwhelming when it comes to sales performance. I've never personally liked hand-helds, so I might be a bit biased, but I don't see a hand-held item generating a ton of awesome E3 excitement. I actually loathe the 15-20 minutes Sony usually gives to portables at its E3 show, it's like a buzzkiller where you take a nap in between the excitement of the show opening and the ps3 part of the show at the end.

The PSP presentations bored me as well and I am interested in portables. Thats because the PSP got outdated fast and PSP game announcement was like announcing PS2 games when the PS3 is out. But the 3DS announcement at last year's E3 if you remember is what made some media choose Nintendo's conference as the best of the three

I will be interested to see the NGP at this E3 and its integration with the PS3 and other devices will pick my interest for sure

[Godstar]

Eh, U3, Starhawk, and Twisted Metal will all generate some buzz. As will the NGP too, probably.

I don't think that would trump new console announcements and/or demonstrations of new tech.

[Godstar]

The PSP presentations bored me as well and I am interested in portables. Thats because the PSP got outdated fast and PSP game announcement was like announcing PS2 games when the PS3 is out. But the 3DS announcement at last year's E3 if you remember is what made some media choose Nintendo's conference as the best of the three

I will be interested to see the NGP at this E3 and its integration with the PS3 and other devices will pick my interest for sure

Yeah, Ninty pretty much had the best console exclusive selection + the 3DS last year, so they were the clear winner IMO.

This year? I think they are eating their shorts on the 3Ds. I don't think it's selling nearly as well as they had hoped, and it's most likley that they'll be trying to generate hype for it.

I think if the Sony can muster a good amount of hype for the PSP2/NGP and really demonstrate that it's an interesting and feature rich device it might do well.

[Godstar]

I pretty strongly disagree with this - but I think Bane began to cover it nicely. Obviously, you don't have to release a new playstation at e3 to generate buzz, but I don't really think that's what you meant so I won't hold you to it

Well all things being equal, if all 3 are announcing games, and in addition to that, the other big 2 have new console tech demo's, it's pretty easy to see who is going to make out under those circumstances.

[Badger3920]

Well all things being equal, if all 3 are announcing games, and in addition to that, the other big 2 have new console tech demo's, it's pretty easy to see who is going to make out under those circumstances.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your argument, because both Nintendo and Sony are planning to showcase new "consoles" but MS is not - yet I thought you said Sony's problem is that they are not unveiling the PS4 in response to digit@l

I think that, yes clearly, unveiling a new console will make the most noise. However, it's not a zero sum game. Nintendo could talk about its new console, and Sony could talk about imminent releases of highly anticipated franchise iterations, and a couple new projects - and both companies could get quite a bunch of buzz.

I think that I'm probably misunderstanding your argument.

[Onslaught X]

I think Godstar is assuming that MS has a new console to show given those rumors.

[TheAnalogKid]

Yeah, as close as E3 is, I'm calling bullshit on any sort of Xbox reveal. Not this year.

My reasoning? Nothing, and I mean nothing, remains 'secret' any more. What little bit of rumor-mongering we've had for the nextbox just isn't enough to convince me they have anything solid enough for a reveal.

Maybe next year.