Sony and Microsoft seem locked in a battle to the death for market share this year and while Xbox finally started showing some great games this year PlayStation 2 is looking to hardware add-ons and new control systems to help extend its brand.

PSP or PlayStation Portable:

This handheld enters the market with an unbelievable feature set and tremendous potential. Unfortunately, Sony was unable to provide a price point for it and so it is difficult to compare it to competitors. What can be said however is that it promises to deliver nearly PlayStation 2 quality games, dvd-quality movies and sport a plethora of add-ons including a GPS unit.



For a handheld as large as it is though, the PSP is surprisingly comfortable to hold and the screen is brilliant. Even when looking at it from an extreme side angle the screen is better than most notebooks.



Games also should not be a problem as it has the full weight of Sony behind it. Games already announced include titles based on popular PlayStation properties like 989 sports games, Syphon Filter, Tony Hawk and even Grand Turismo and Metal Gear.



PSP is scheduled to be released this fall in Japan and in the first half of 2005 in the United States.

Eye Toy:

Eye Toy premiered last year with a handful of quirky games, but it is finally starting to come into its own as more than just a gimmick. At their booth, Sony was showing off a new title that takes the device a step further. Instead of the camera displaying the gamer’s image on the screen and having him or her grab or tap icons on the screen, AntiGrav tracks the player’s hand and head movements to control the hoverboard racer in the game.



Athens 2004:

This game isn’t the greatest looking game in the world, but it deserves a special mention as it utilizes the DDR controller to support a range of actions in the game including running and gymnastics. It is exciting to see games extend past the limitations of a gamepad, even if the game appears to be a classic licensed property. The running aspect of the game is pretty self explanatory, but it was very interesting seeing DDR like gameplay applied to the gymnastics. I only wish more games would support these physical activity control systems.

Grand Turismo 4:

This is one of the most anticipated games for 2004 and Sony knows this. That is why at the show they even provided the ability to print out a souvenir photo of your car using an HP photo printer!



This game is truly mind blowing graphically and when you see it on a glossy photo in your hands that aspect of the game is driven home even stronger. The person manning the booth was unable to tell me if this was something that will be supported by the game, or just a demo for the show though.



Some of the new features of this version include the fact that it has over 500 cars that can be unlocked and also crowds along the sides of the track react to the race. For instance in one section the driver careened out of control towards the edge and the fans ran away from that spot to protect themselves. This gave the game a much better sense of realism than previously, but it would be nice to have the cars actually display damage as well.

The Getaway: Black Monday

This GTA genre sequel finally as a new name, gone is the simple to remember “Getaway 2,” now it is The Getaway: Black Monday and features much of the familiar gameplay from the first iteration. Set two years after the first one, and the London gangland leaders have begun to recover.



This time, the main character is boxer Eddie O’Connor, who is joined by Sam, a street-tough girl who will be useful when needing to get into cramped quarters. The game also features multiple endings, so fans of the game can experience the gritty, brutal atmosphere over and over again with added replayability.



Graphically the game shows improvement over the original with buildings, characters and cars all more detailed than previously. One thing that was noticeable though was that some of the more speedy vehicles, such as the policeman’s motorbike were almost too fast for the game. This caused distant to distractingly pop into view because the PlayStation 2 couldn’t keep up with the player’s movement.

General Thoughts:

Sony’s philosophy of “Do it First or Do it Best” defiantly is coming into play this year. The company generally had a very strong showing as both an innovator … eye toy and ddr mat games … and as a leader … PSP and Grand Turismo 4. With other aspects of console gaming though it seemed like they wanted to keep their feet in, but pick their battles carefully.



One example of this is PlayStation 2 online. While Microsoft aggressively promotes their figures and capabilities I didn’t see that energy devoted to the area from Sony. Certainly they have solid online capabilities but I didn’t see them getting into downloadable content like Live! Arcade promises. This is opposite of last year when there was tons of talk at E3 about leveraging Sony’s music and movie IP and delivering it to the PlayStation 2 as a sort of “media gateway.” Even the PSX seems to have been absent from this year.



Only time will tell what is really happening though. It is very possible that this is just the calm before the storm of next generation console announcements. All of which will most likely be more than pure game boxes.