E3 is, finally, right around the corner and us games journalist types are getting antsy. Because the show is slated to bring back the glitz and glam of the E3s of yore, we might finally be spared another Giant Enemy Crab or Ravi Drums incident. Of course, bringing back booth babes doesn’t necessarily mean that the games that will be unveiled this year will be anything to get excited over. Because my soul is torn between hopeful optimism and jaded pessimism, I will offer here my predictions on what the best and worst possibilities of this year’s E3 might have in store for us.
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Just a quick little post here to make sure everyone knows that there is a very good chance that Sony will be debuting the next installment in the hit action-adventure series, God of War, at E3 this year, according to Eurogamer. And why wouldn’t they? Microsoft has already announced its AAA title, Gears of War 2, for the upcoming holiday season. Sony needs to give its fans something to put on their Christmas lists this year as well. As for me? I need to get my ass in gear and play God of War II…

[Via Kotaku]

Yes, yet another announcement from our dear friends, Sony. Following the previous three announcements, Sony also announced today that along with the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, they will be releasing a PS3 bundle including an 80GB PS3, a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4, and a DualShock 3 controller all for the price of $499. All of this will be coming in the latter half of the second quarter this year. If you haven’t had the chance to purchase a Playstation 3 yet, this would be a good opportunity to do so.

Alright, I’m officially done posting new Sony news for the day. I don’t even want to hear the word Sony for the next few days. I’m now very grouchy. So, leave me alone ya wankers!

I think we should all mark February 26th down as the official Sony day. In addition to the two previous announcements made today, Sony has announced that they will be releasing a limited edition God of War PSP entertainment bundle in June of this year. The bundle will include a limited edition “Deep Red” PSP (ooh, shiny!) with the hero of God of War, Kratos, etched into the back, along with a copy of the game God of War: Chains of Olympus, the smash-hit comedy Superbad on UMD, and a voucher to download a copy of the Playstation One game, Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, from the Playstation Store.

All of this for a mere $199.99. Get your checkbooks out, ladies and gentlemen. This is a deal not worth skipping.

[Edit: Another pic courtesy of our friends at Kotaku after the jump.]

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In addition to Sony’s recent vague announcement of a release date for Metal Gear Solid 4, the company has also dated and priced their upcoming DualShock 3 controller for the Playstation 3. The controller, which features rumble (a feature left out in the creation of the Sixaxis), is set to drop for $54.99 in April of 2008. That’s right PS3 owners! Only another two or so months to wait until we can finally kill terrorists with added rumble!

Following the announcement that Phil Harrison is resigning from Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony has finally named a vague release date for their upcoming killer app, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The game is set to drop in late Q2 2008, with a special bonus to those who pre-order it, a guaranteed entrance into the multiplayer beta for Metal Gear Online, scheduled for April.

Wow, I am so ready for this!

Sony’s CES 2008 page has revealed that Skype will be headed towards the company’s handheld PSP. Skype is listed under the PSP’s system features on the website, and will most likely be added with a new PSP firmware update. Skype on the PSP would be a very big thing, as it will permit gamers to talk to one another for free, and also supports telephone calls for a fee.

The Consumer Electronics Show will be from January 7 to January 10, in Las Vegas. It is expected for Sony to announce and confirm the Skype feature.

[Via ShackNews]

Sony is having a banner year…for dumb business moves. Seems that Forbes named the company two times on their 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2007. Neither are that low on the list, but both are pretty boneheaded.The first, coming in at number 61, is the launch party for God of War II which featured a dead goat and some rumors of entrails eating that turned out to be, obviously, false. I’m not sure the words “dead” and “goat” could ever scream “good marketing idea” so I’ll have to agree with this one. The second award comes in at number 63 and pertains to Sony’s fallout with the Catholic Church over the depiction of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man. I’m fully on Sony’s side on this one, seeing as they should be able to depict whatever they want in their games. However, going up against the Catholic Church is never good for sales.

It’s not all bad news, thankfully. In a recent interview with IGN SCEA boss Jack Tretton said the days of developers porting over scaled down games from the 360 onto the PS3 are coming to an end some time soon.

Developers are telling us that they are starting to create their games on PS3 first and take advantage of the hardware capabilities and then port down to other platforms so we are seeing tremendous progress from the third party community in terms of what they are able to do with our development kits.

He doesn’t really make mention of what developers or when they’re going to be taking advantage of said development progression but, if its true, then we should be seeing some truly gorgeous games on the PS3 that outstrip any other platform out there graphically. Maybe then Sony can stop picking on goats and the Catholic Church to get their press.

[Via 1up and Kotaku]

As if Sony weren’t already trying to take over every aspect of your home multimedia experience, it looks like they might be trying to take things a step further in the near future.

Hit the jump for more info.

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