Sony: Smoking Hot, or Smoke and Mirrors?

Sony definitely had the element of surprise on their side heading into E3, and the consumer electronics giant put it to good use with a jaw-dropping display of technological prowess and potential game applications. Following the tepid response to Microsoft's unveiling of the Xbox 360 the week before, Sony came out with guns blazing and wowed attendees with its vision for the next generation of the PlayStation brand. While some of the company' claims seemed almost too good to be true, it was difficult to remain unimpressed by Sony's plans for furthering their stranglehold on the console games business.

After an initial crawl through decks (or "Powerpoint Slideshows" to you non-office types) outlining the company's dominance of the market, Sony then unveiled what the audience had hoped to see: the PlayStation3. Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi revealed the company's next-generation console, clad in a sleek -- if not exactly cutting edge -- case design that was shown in silver, white and black. Departing from the traditional DualShock design, the PS3 controller sports a curved form factor reminiscent of a cheap third-party replacement pad. Let's hope they improve the appearance of both console and joypad, and ditch the horrendous Spiderman-inspired typefaces in the process.

In addition to being able to play the entire library of PlayStation and PlayStation2 software, Sony hopes to position the new console as the media hub for the living room. The unit will be one of the first consumer devices to boast a Blu-Ray high-definition DVD player, and strong sales could help Sony gain a crucial headstart in the next-generation DVD format wars over the rival HD-DVD format. Sony's high-def behemoth can decode several HD streams simultaneously and can even drive two HD monitors at once to provide an unthinkable 32:9 experience. PlayStation3 will also offer video chat, email, web browsing and other assorted functions intended to strike at the heart of Microsoft's media center plans.

While Sony representatives confirmed that network capabilities would be a core component of the new system, they were curiously tacit concerning details about their plans for online games. It's no secret that Microsoft dominates the landscape of console multiplayer, and Sony will continue to hemorrage their install base to their rival's online service if they fail to offer a robust online platform that integrates voice communication, statistics, overall ease-of-use, and any other features that players already enjoy today on Xbox Live.

Sony wowed the audience with a number of impressive technological demonstrations and real-time game sequences. The most unexpected of these came from SquareEnix, who presented a beautiful recreation of the Final Fantasy VII opening cinematic with stunning real-time graphics that nearly mimic the quality of their all-CG movie, Advent Children. The company denied that a remake of the highly-acclaimed title was in the works, but I can't imagine Square passing up the opportunity to repackage the most beloved chapter in the history of its flagship franchise and sell it to an RPG-hungry crowd eager to bask in its high-definition steampunk world. Years of shoddy software and questionable business practices could be washed away with a PS3 re-imagining of Final Fantasy VII. Make it happen, Square.

Some new intellectual property was revealed to be in development for the new system, including a massive hack-n-slash named Heavenly Sword that lets you fight with martial arts, swords and bazookas; a WWII-meets-Doom shooter named I-8 from Insomniac; an EyeToy-enabled game from Sega called Eyedentify that requires you to chat with cute anime girls; and Motor Storm, an offroad racer that boasts frantic multi-vehicle gameplay and mind-bending, mud-spattered visuals. Through its tech demos and game videos, Sony clearly demonstrated the leap forward that the PlayStation3 represents and what gamers could expect to see only a short time after the launch of Microsoft's suddenly modest hardware.

Sony's ace-in-the-hole was undoubtedly Killzone. The video they showed was of such a staggering visual quality that the course of the next generation immediately and irrevocably shifted into a higher gear of expectations and messageboard flame wars. Though much of the industry feels that the demo is simply a pre-rendered movie, Sony and developer Guerilla maintain that the video represents actual gameplay footage that players can expect to see on PlayStation3. Whether that implies that launch titles will look as good is unclear. That seems unlikely, considering that it took developers several years to meet and then surpass the quality of the original PlayStation2 tech demos.

Killzone is in a visual class all its own, and even if the video turns out to be a fake, the impression it left on the gaming populace -- and, equally importantly, retailers -- will not be quickly forgotten when it comes time to plunk down cold, hard cash for a next-gen box. Of course, it's important to recall that the PS2 incarnation of Killzone is a bland, mediocre shooter at best, so unless the gameplay keeps pace with the visuals, Killzone for PS3 could end up being the world's prettiest coaster.

While clearly fraught with more swinging baloney than the other two press conferences, Sony still made it abundantly clear that they not only intend to win the next console war, but to stamp it out before it even begins. With cutting-edge technology, savvy marketing and demos chock full of wow-factor, Sony brought its A game to E3, and if what they showed winds up being remotely close to what gamers can play next year, then we'll all be reveling in next-generation goodness like damn hell ass kings.

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