Just like the rest of ya, I was glued to a monitor during the Sony

　　pre-E3 press conference, though I was simultaneously taking lots of

　　notes. Looking at them after the fact, I realize that my note-taking

　　makes for lots of ridiculous phrasing, and excessive use of the

　　not-a-word "hella". Here's a more groomed version of my initial, and

　　highly superficial impressions of what was shown. Again, this is MY

　　INITIAL GUT REACTIONS. Your mileage, and the mileage of other GameSpot

　　editors, may vary.

　　PSP

　　Gangs of London looks potentially cool, and B-Boy looks like the

　　breakdancing game that I've been waiting for since some crazy

　　Australian developer showed Jeff the prototype of a Game Boy

　　breakdancing game at E3 years and years ago, but I was a touch

　　underwhelmed by the rest of the games shown, as well as the overall

　　quantity of games show. Was hoping to hear something about a second

　　revision to the PSP hardware, too.

　　The promo video that followed, which showed a bunch of people across

　　the globe talking about how much they looooove PlayStation, was the

　　kind of pure marketing that usually makes my eyes glaze over, though

　　the Japanese guy who exclaimed how he becomes a monkey when he plays

　　PlayStation received applause here in the GameSpot booth.

　　Gran Turismo HD

　　Since our streams maxed out well under the 1080p resolution that the

　　game was running at, it was difficult to really assess the game's

　　high-def goodness, and during the first track I felt like I was just

　　watching a slightly buffed up version of Gran Turismo 3. Once the rally

　　track with all the people along the side of the track jumping back was

　　shown, though, the game definitely started looking a whole lot better.

　　Now, if only Polyphony Digital would include good AI and some kind of

　　damage model, I might start having personal interest in this series...

　　That Crazy EyeToy Game

　　Not graphically stunning, but the way the camera was able to detect the

　　different cards and then generate monsters over them on the TV screen

　　was a pretty neat trick. Comparisons to the quasi-chess game in the

　　Millenium Falcon abound. I wonder if you'll be able to play the

　　collectible card game without using the PS3.

　　SingStar

　　Apparenly this series draws a fair amount of water in Europe, but

　　having already played a ton of Karaoke Revolution, it felt like a bit

　　of a knockoff. Highlight for me was talk about people being able to

　　upload their own performances for others to view. I forsee lots of

　　really hilarious video clips from this hitting the Internet the minute

　　this game comes out, like those Chinese kids who do goofy lip-syncing

　　to Backstreet Boys songs.

　　Genji 2

　　Dynasty Warriors, anyone? This demo just felt kinda awkward. When Phil

　　Harrison had to request a more enthusiastic round of applause from the

　　audience after the demo was over, I cringed.

　　Formula 1

　　You can use the PSP as a rear view mirror in this racing game. While

　　maybe not the most practical feature, that is TOTALLY BAZOOKAS.

　　Heavenly Sword

　　Now we're talking. This is the first game they've shown that's really

　　getting me heated up. It's like God of War and Ninja Gaiden, but with a

　　crazy red-haired girl who can apparently throw a shield like she's

　　Captain America. Awesome animation, tangibly frantic pacing. At one

　　point she slams this dude on the ground in the junk, eliciting a

　　nice-sized moan from the GameSpot booth.

　　Lair

　　Dragons! Just a whole, whole bunch of dragons, breathing fire, getting

　　dragon-jacked midair by some really daring dragonriders, and generally

　　being all scaly and dragon-y. Something tells me that dragons will be

　　to E3 this year as zombies were to E3 last year. Gut feeling.

　　The Getaway

　　That guy looks TOTALLY like the Grand Theft Auto III guy. It's uncanny.

　　Afrika

　　Lots of shots of, you guessed it, Africa. Or Afrika, I guess.

　　Hot Shots

　　This is where I had to start writing quick previews on what was being

　　shown, so my notes kinda fall apart. Hot Shots looks, well, like Hot

　　Shots, only better. I wonder how much realism they can add to those

　　goofy character models before it starts looking too weird.

　　Virtua Tennis 3

　　I love Virtua Tennis. Hence, I love Virtua Tennis 3. Again, I was

　　writing a story about this like a maniac, so I wasn't really watching

　　what happened right after that. The rest of this stuff is just what I

　　was able to catch glimpses of...

　　Tekken

　　Jin Kazama and his Italian model hair are kicking ass. The way this

　　unknown female combatant clips the stone pillar and then flies off at a

　　weird angle caught my eye.

　　MGS4

　　Crazy! Some people here got really misty during this. Considering how

　　sadistic Kojima has been to MGS fans thus far, I almost anticipate that

　　the scene of Snake eating a bullet out of his own gun will happen right

　　at the beginning. This theory is not making me the most popular person

　　amongst the MGS fans here in the booth.

　　Tiger Woods

　　This tech demo of Tiger Woods kind of freaked me out. The little crease between his eyebrows when he smiles is uncanny.

　　DualShock3

　　I totally saw this coming. The backlash surrounding last year's

　　"batarang" controller was so uniform, I knew in my bones that Sony

　　would backpedal and return to the familiar DualShock control.

　　Motion-sensing controls aren't really getting me that excited at the

　　moment, and the guy running the Warhawk demo, which used the

　　motion-sensing controls to pilot the ship, looked like he was

　　struggling with them. I'll wait until I spend some quality time with

　　the controller myself before passing judgment, but I feel like it's

　　going to have a tough time competing with the generally excellent Xbox

　　360 controller.

　　The Price, of Course!

　　I wasn't entirely certain Sony was going to announce the price, and the

　　prices they announced is a touch more expensive than what I was

　　anticipating. The European price seems downright scandelous to

　　me, and I'm not a fan of this multiple price point thing, especially

　　since the "cheap" PS3 is missing a gang of rather important features.

　　Start saving your pennies now, kids, coz you're going to need $600 if

　　you want to party right with the PlayStation 3.

　　There were definitely some great things shown during that press

　　conference, but I didn't see a whole lot that made me think Sony has

　　the leadership position in the next-gen on lock. This is going to be a

　　bloodbath, and I cannot wait to see what crazy business Microsoft and

　　Nintendo have in store tomorrow.