Sony stakes PlayStation’s future on 3-D at E3

Sony is betting heavily on 3-D.

Coming into its media briefing on Tuesday (June 15), we knew to expect more details about PlayStation Move, Sony’s motion-sensing controller that was announced last year. The specifics? The Move, which requires an Eye Toy peripheral, will become available in North America on September 19 at a price point of $49.99. A bundle including the controller, an Eye Toy, and the Sports Champions game, will cost $99.99.

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We also saw some gameplay of Move-enabled titles such as Sorcery, a third-person action adventure in which the Move is the player’s wand, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, which will be updated later this fall with support for the Move.

The terms “one-to-one” and “HD” were mentioned often when spokespeople talked about Move. Sony looks to differentiate the Move from Kinect, which does not have as precise a system, and from Nintendo, which does not have HD capabilities.

But the primary focus of the event at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium was Sony’s commitment to 3-D. Kaz Hirai, group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, took the stage to proclaim that 3-D is the future, insisting that Sony is the only company that provides an “end-to-end ecosystem of that experience”. 2010, he said, will come to be known as “the year PlayStation brought authentic 3-D to consumers”.

To prove that point, the first gameplay of Killzone 3, a cinematic, sci-fi shooter being developed in 3-D, was demonstrated.

Then came the list of games to be available in stereoscopic 3-D on the PlayStation 3: Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Tron: Evolution.

In addition to the focus on 3-D, Jack Tretton, CEO and president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, talked about the importance of content, and was enthused to be able to announce a number of exclusives.

Two important exclusive releases to the PS3 were the announcement of Infamous 2, coming in 2011, and the return of Twisted Metal, the car combat franchise, and the first appearance of it on the PS3. Being developed by David Jaffe’s Eat Sleep Play studio, it’s also planned for release in 2011.

Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2, both from Electronic Arts, are being released in special editions for the PS3. Medal of Honor will include a remastered version of Medal of Honor: Frontline, and Dead Space 2 will include Dead Space: Extraction, ported from the Wii to the PS3 with PlayStation Move support.

Other exclusive content will be coming from third-party games Portal 2 (Valve), Mafia II (2K Games), and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft).

Tretton also announced a new subscription-based service for the PlayStation Network. PlayStation Plus will cost $49.99 a year, and will provide gamers with access to discounts, early access, and exclusive content.

He also announced that the PlayStation movie delivery service will be launching in Canada this fall. No other details on that were provided.