E3 2012: Sony Conference Liveblog

June 5, 2012

Sony’s conference starts at 11am, watch this space to see a full breakdown of the conference as it happens. Make sure to refresh often for the latest updates as the show goes on.

11: It’ll be starting any second now, with Christina Vee keeping us distracted while we wait.

11:02: Looks like the place is pretty packed. Assorted gameplay is being shown on an on-stage screen.

11:05: A quick trailer reel, Darksiders, Resident Evil 6, God of War Sly Cooper, The Last of Us, Lollipop Chainsaw, Epic Mickey, Portal 2, Ni No Kuni, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

11:08: Jack Tretton takes the stage. He wants to pay tribute to gamers. We have a voracious appetite for great games, apparently.

11:10: Jack mentions Heavy Rain, we’re going to see the next game from Quantic Dream. Here comes David Cage. He says that they’ve shown how games can portray emotion in new ways. The game deals with the themes of life and death, discovering what’s beyond. The game is called Beyond: Two Souls. The main character, Jodie Holmes will be played by Ellen Page.

11:15: We’re being shown one of the first scenes in the game, which he says is running in realtime. The lighting effects are great, and the facial animation is a step up from Heavy Rain.

11:19: A SWAT team bursts in, searching for Jodie. They crowd around the entrance to the room, and we cut to a trailer for the game, showing various pieces of the story. Jodie talks to an invisible entity as the trailer ends.

11:22: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is up. We’re getting a live demonstration of the game. Also confirmation that the game will be available for both PS3 and Vita, with crossplay. The crossplay is being shown now, with two people playing on PS3, and two playing on Vita. There’s a Ratchet and Clank stage. Sweet Tooth, Fat Princess, Kratos and Sly Cooper are fighting.

11:27: Fat Princess can use Fat Chicken as a special move, Sweet Tooth can summon Mecha Tooth. Fat Princess wins. There’s two new characters being revealed, Nathan Drake and the Big Daddy from Bioshock. Big Daddy will be able to use plasmids. Nathan Drake will use a combination of melee and gun attacks. Big Dady is just the start of the third party characters that will be announced.

11:30: Jack is back, says that Sony are focusing on cross-play capabilites. LittleBigPlanet will support it. There’s DLC coming which will offer new story and characters.

11:32: Journey is now PlayStation Network’s highest selling game, and Jack says that PlayStation is the best place to find creative games. There’s a big month planned for PlayStation Plus, with inFamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Saint’s Row 2 to be available for members. Sony are giving away a year of free PlayStation Plus to everyone who came along to the conference. There’s a crystal white coloured Vita coming.

11:34: PS1 classics are coming to Vita, including Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy. Youtube is coming to Vita, as are Crackle and Hulu Plus.

11:37: Call of Duty for Vita! Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified is coming soon.

11:38: Here comes Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation for Vita! There’s a short trailer, it looks great, with similar gameplay to AC3. You can ride horses. When you link the game to the PS3 version of AC3, you get some bonus content, such as Connor’s tomahawk, and an exclusive character skin.

11:40: Ubisoft are coming on stage to show off Assassin’s Creed 3. They say that the revolution was not just fought on land, but at sea. We see ship gameplay, with Connor as a captain, steering. He and his crew have a battle with another ship, firing cannons. The sea itself looks great, heaving and churning. They take a few hits, and the deck is covered by fragements of wood. You can see holes where the ship was hit.

11:46: Connor’s ship pulls up alongside another one, and they start to board them. That’s all they’re showing for now. Dan Hay appears to talk about Far Cry 3. He says they’ve actually developed two games, instead of just one. There’s going to be four-player co-op, and we get a live demonstration. The players work together to place a bomb on a bridge, making their way across as they shoot enemies. The pace is fast, and an enemy catches on fire after being shot while throwing a molotov. The map editor will be available, and the co-op is a dedicated mode. The PS3 version will receive some exclusive DLC.

11:51: Jack’s back to talk about the Move. He mentions Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Sports Champions 2. Andrew House, president and CEO if Sony America, takes the stage. He’s showing a trailer for new Move game. Kids can play with an interactive book? It’s called Wonder Book, and uses a physical book and AR functionality. Traditional reading takes on a new meaning. One story is called Diggs Nightcrawler. J.K Rowling is involved! Book of Spells is going to be the first game for Wonder Book, and is linked to the new Pottermore service.

11:57: We’re seeing a demo of Book of Spells. The Move controller can be used to cast spells. There’s a paper theatre, showing the discover of Wingardium Leviosa. There will be various stories, some of which show the history of spells we know from the Potter series. The demo of learning the fire spell doesn’t go perfectly, but we get there in the end. The game can insert you and the book into 3D environments, where you can blast enemies with fire. It’s the first of many books to come. Book of Spells is set for release a little later this year.

12:05: Andrew is back, says that PlayStation Suite is coming to Android and iOS in a major way. HTC have made a deal with Sony, and will be releasing PlayStation Certified phones. PlayStation Suite will now be known as PlayStation Mobile. Andrew leaves the stage, Jack is back. He’s talking about big first party developers. God of War: Ascension is being featured. We’ve got a live demo, with Kratos slaughtering mythical beats in brutal fashion. His chains are on fire.

12:14: A sea monster throws part of a ship at Kratos, he dodges, and it destroys part of the environmet. Kratos shows off the ability to rewind time in order to use falling rubble as a platform. He attempts to fight the sea monster, but is thrown off, and ends up in a battle with a large demon. There’s a large elephantine boss monster charging around, Kratos takes it on, unleashing a special attack where he sets the ground on fire. He staggers it, then stabs it in the head until he cuts it open and reveals its brain. The game will be released on the 12th of March next year.

12:20: It’s The Last of Us! Joel and Ellie are exploring the ruined, flooded city. They enter a ruined building, and make their way upstairs. They see scavengers, and manage to pull off a realistic stealth kill. They walk through some ruined hotel rooms, and take a hostage. The Ellie is able to distract an enemy, allowing Joel to slam it into a wall. The graphics are excellent, and no two enemies react the same way. Combat is nice and visceral. Ellie is able to assist Joel in various situations, including knifing an enemy in the back. Health doesn’t regenerate. Joel puts together molotov cocktail, pulling a bottle out of his backpack, and throws it at an enemy with great effect. It looks like its going to be amazing, and quite different to Uncharted. Troy Baker voices the male main character, Joel.

12:28: Jack is back. “The journey has been fun, but the best is yet to come.” That’s the end.

Thanks for reading this liveblog, and look forward to Nintendo’s press conferences tomorrow!