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PSP2, Switch 2 and an Xbox handheld... a brighter portable future?

Sony's GamesCom Press Event Report

Check out the video feed live from Sony's Blog, it starts at 6:00PM UK and had better be more impressive than EA's cookie cutter E3 show.

All the news as it happens....

Currently applying lots of lubricant! If Sony's news sucks then at least I can slide off into alcoblivion!

First the bad (but by now old) news, Sony is sending out emails confirming a Feb/March release in Europe for the Vita.

Sony's Video Stream has gone live, its all rather dark...



Another early leak is a new price cut for the PS3, 25% OFF. Get those discounts now at Amazon.

6:00 And we are due to launch....

Having announced nothing Vita-ish at its own show, EA's boss is front and centre for this one... surely some proper Vita news from John Riccitelo

A 10 minute delay is announced from what sounded like a very posh lady indeed.


6:20 And we're good to go, again!

And we have video, there be Aliens, Batman, soldiers dancing, shooting, a PSP playing with a butt ugly camera mounted on the top, the Vita showing off lots of games we won't get to play for months.

6:22 Andrew House is talking about "delivering entertainment experiences" - whatever happened to games?

6:25 There's more fun to be had watching Twitter take the piss out of Andrew House's bland tones rather than listening to the garbage he's spouting. Bring on the new guy... Its Jim Ryan, he looks a bit more rugged and sounds a little less refined.


6:27 Its VITA time:

We have the hardware spiel, dual sticks, touchpads, high-quality screen, six axis, multiple cameras. How much memory is there in it? He declines to say.

Now he's talking about the social features. Near, and so on. Facebook, Twitter and Skype are all there via Social Essentials. Trophy support works across both PS3 and Vita. There is also group messaging for quick interaction with your clans/gangs.


6:30 Cue a horrible social lifestyle video - after the PSP riot bashing incident in London, would you take your Vita out on the streets?

6:33 Bring on the GAMES. Michael Denny takes the stage to show off the real stars of the show.


This week consumers get their hands on. Resistance Burning Skies from Nihilistic is first up. A world first showing of the game. It starts on Ellis Island in 1951. It looks gorgeous on the screen and using the front touch screen you can lock onto targets, or use left shoulder for iron sighting. Also, just tap the screen to lob a grenade.



Chimera Chain Gun is one of the new weapons. With intense looking battles, there is loads going on and the games looks smooth as silk (note these screen caps aren't really doing it justice)


Next up is LittleBigPlanet... a great hit on the PSP and one of the best games to get anyone involved in user-created content. The video shows a few snippets of some lovely touchscreen creation, and the ability to take a photo and import what you shoot into the game.




6:45 Time for Reality Fighters form Novarama who brought Invizimals to the PSP. This game lets you play as anyone, anywhere. Presenter getting a little Saturday lunchtime wrestling over-excited announcing the fighters.


There were some good combos and power moves but its a little hard to get excited about two nerds beating each other up. Fighting games need big OTT characters... hopefully they will add some for the full release.

6:50 Now we have Escape Plan, a new game with a distinctly odd look to it, slightly LittleBigPlanet done monochrome. Otherwise looking rather like an indie platformer.




Partner news now:

Ubisoft are bringing SIX titles to the Vita including Assassin's Creed, Lumines, Rayman and iOS titles Asphalt and Dungeon Hunter. EA are bringing FIFA 12 and there are a huge range of other third-party games. On a quick list of games I did see Dust 514 mentioned, the MMO shooter looks to be going portable. All a bit brief that segment!

On to PSP, now sold 71 million units and powered by the PSP Essentials budget range. Bing! A new model of PSP is on the way, without WiFi and a rather cheaper non-glossy styling, it will be priced at 99euros.

6:55 Right, that's it for the PSP and Vita, not really bothered about the PS3, although if a price cut is announced I might be able to shoehorn one into the console rack. A pretty good look at a couple of games there and the cheap PSP will certainly keep that market going. Not bad but I suspect Tokyo Games Show will be the real kicker.

Done


Currently playing on my Vita/PS4/PS5