Sony introduced its new-generation PlayStation Vita gaming handset and blockbuster 3D console titles as it sought to shake off the stigma of cyberattacks on its system.
The Japanese entertainment giant turned the Los Angeles sports arena into a music and videogame mega-hub starring exciting new game play and hardware on the eve of yesterday opening of a premier Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
“This is not the first time I’ve come onto the stage at E3 with an elephant in the room,” Sony Computer Entertainment of America chief executive Jack Tretton told the 6,000 people packed into the arena.
Photo: Bloomberg
He apologized to people who use the PlayStation Network (PSN) to connect to games, films and music online through PlayStation 3 (PS3) videogame consoles.
PSN was shut down after hackers broke in and looted user data. Sony brought the system back online gradually the week before E3 after hardening its defenses.
Tretton thanked PS3 fans for their loyalty, saying the level of online traffic at PSN was already more than 90 percent of what it was before the disruption and that console sales jumped last week.
Sony executives got apologies out of the way quickly and focused on a lineup of videogames packed with vivid 3D titles such as the next installment of the beloved Drake’s Fortune: Uncharted franchise to be released in November.
“Our commitment to 3D is unwavering,” Tretton said, noting that Sony would soon boast more than 100 titles in the format, including a collector edition of God of War titles.
On the other hand, Microsoft on Monday added YouTube, voice commands, television shows and more to its Xbox 360 with Kinect as the hot-selling videogame console matures into an entertainment center for all.
Studios joined Microsoft on the eve of a premier E3 in Los Angeles to unveil blockbusters such as Mass Effect 3 that let players use body motion or voice to execute tactics once the exclusive duty of toggles or buttons in controllers.
“Kinect is a natural way to converse with characters,” said BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka, whose studio is behind hit videogame franchise Mass Effect.
“In a game that already reacts to every decision you make, you will feel even more connected,” Muzyka said.
Microsoft ramped up voice capabilities in Kinect to allow Xbox users not only to give commands to in-game characters, but to speak Bing searches for games, movies, television shows, music and other entertainment content.
“This is an incredible time of growth and innovation for our business leveraging technologies that see us, hear us and connect us all together,” Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business president Don Mattrick said.
“This year by bringing together the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing, we are transforming how people enjoy entertainment,” he said.
Microsoft has sold more than 10 million of the gesture-sensing Kinect accessories for the Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since they hit the market in November of last year.
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