I’ll stick with my PS3, thanks.

So now that Sony’s had it’s retort, I’m happy.

While Sony didn’t have an earth-shattering annoucement like Microsoft did with Final Fantasy XIII, they did showcase some pretty cool stuff.

First and formost is the launch of Sony’s media service, which, in a nice twist, will hit the Playstation Store tonight. I don’t know how often I’ll actually use this feature, but it’s nice to know it’s there and competing with XBox’s Netflix deal.

Some pretty sweet looking games were showcased. Resistance 2 looks great, as wel as MAG which is a great undertaking. I’m not a personal fan of shooters, but I can appreciate the genre enough to know that 256-player battles are damned epic! A new Ratchet game for the PS3 was announced, in the PSN title “Ratchet and Clank Future: Booty Call”. It’s much sooner than I would have expected a new Ratchet game, but I’m not complaining.

Infamous is a game that looks amazing, even though the storyline does look a bit generic. LittleBigPlanet once again looks totally awesome, and Sony used it to give the business part of their presentation, which was a great way to speed that boring segment up. Then of course there’s the God of War 3 trailer, which looked bloody awesome. Lastly, DC Universe Online is a great addition, especially me being a HUGE comic fan (albeit a Marvel one). It was awesome seeing Jim Lee on stage, and the game looks very stylized.

I’m really suprised Sony didn’t spend more time showcasing Home. It’s really their number 1 selling feature right now, and us Sony fans have been waiting eons for it. But all we got was a 2 minute trailer, showing us stuff we mostly already know (though the game-specific Spaces were a nice new addition). Why not spend 10-15 minutes of the conference talking up your biggest feature? It’s Home that sets Sony apart from the competition, I honestly don’t understand that descision.

All in all, what the Sony conference showed, was that although they lost a major exclusive with Final Fantasy, it still has a decent number of quality exclusive content, with games like Metal Gear Solid, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, God of War and so on and so forth.

Plus, we still get Final Fantasy Vs. XIII.

Almost makes me want to get an XBox…

Wow, the next 24 hours are going to be very hard on Sony fans.

For those who don’t know the Microsoft Press Conference at E3 just wrapped up and it had some great announcemets. The problem being of course, that I’m a sony advocate. I want the big, black monster to do well and am among the throngs eagerly awaiting LittleBigPlanet and Home.

As the title said, the press conference almost made me want to actually get a 360. Aside from awesome game demos like RE5 and Gears of War 2, Microsoft debuted some pretty cool services. Ranging from a partnership with Netflix (which means didlly-squat to me, not living in the US) to a new avatar system (a stylized little rip-off of Home, but still).

These are but small things compared to the big hits Sony was taking – first it was the whole Rock Band 2 coming out on the Xbox several months before other consoles. Now we learn the 360 will get additional GTA IV for content, where as the PS3 won’t (apparently, it’s old news, but I didn’t know about it). During the press conference it was revealed that the 360 will get an exclusive Portal expansion (cleverly titled: Portal: Still Alive). I orginally though it was Portal 2 that was exclusive and nearly shat myself, but still, I too want an expansion…

But the biggest hit of all came at the very end. When the representitive retook the stage and showed off a new trailer. It took some time to figure out what it was, but once you did, it was sad. Final Fantasy XIII will be made for the 360. It hurts. It really does. I’m happy for Square to be expanding and spreading the beauty of Final Fantasy to other consoles, but it hurts. Final Fantasy was our thing, it was Sony’s prized RPG series. It’s what made me buy a PS1, PS2 and a PSP.

End of an Era...

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m pissed at Microsoft or Square or anything – hell, if Square sells more copies of FF XIII and makes more money so they can make more games – all the better. It’s a sadness really, cause Final Fantasy goes hand in hand with all my favorite Playstation experiences.

Maybe Sony will unleash a monster tomorrow. Maybe they’ll announce Halo 4 as a PS3 exclusive, who knows. For now though, it feels like we lost a child.

Turning the Tides

I’m a Sony fan, born and bred. I had a PSOne, and I own a PS2, PS3 and a PSP. I don’t own an XBox, Gameboy, DS, etc.

I like Sony’s stuff. It started with me being a Final Fantasy die hard, and the only way to play the games was on the Playstation, and it just stemmed. And now, finally, Sony is starting to win – with the announcement of Firmware 2.40 and the inclusion of Trophies. Now I always thought the Achievements were the only thing Microsoft’s console had going for it, as I’m not into shooters and those are pretty much the only good games on the XBox (that are not on the Playstation as well). It’s cool having these little extra things to do while playing, Gotta Catch ‘Em All and all that.

So Achievements are cool and all, but Trophies… Trophies are better. First up is the division of Trophies into the 3 classes, and letting the developers play around with their distiribution. Then there’s the leveled score, which granted, means about as much as the Gamerscore, but Levels are cooler than a random number, they add a certain element of prestige. Lastly, the future integration with Home. That’s something XBL is never going to have – physical representation of your accomplishments. I can already imagine the creative ways companies will depict their trophies – can you just imagine the “1 Million Headshots” Resistance trophy?

I’m psyched, I just hope companies like Rockstar or Insomniac begin patching their games to include Trophies for great games like Ratchet and Clank and GTA IV, instant replayablity!

Here’s the video explaining the features for 2.4, enjoy: