Not to be outdone by its competitors Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony PlayStation hosted its E3 press briefing and unveiled some exciting new releases including the PSP Go, a new motion controller and countless exclusive titles.
Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, kicked off the briefing by claiming that 2009 will be the best year ever for the company, and it will beat the record setting 2008.
He outlined that in 2008, 10 million PS3 consoles were sold, creating an install base of 22 million globally, as well as 15 million PSP units, totalling 50 million units across the world.
But the big news was yet to come and Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, broke the news that a new addition to the PSP will be released later in the year, the PSP Go.
Although this was actually leaked earlier in the week by the media, the official confirmation of the device and its specifications still was a massive announcement.
The PSP Go is 50 per cent smaller and 40 per cent lighter than the PSP-3000 and now features integrated Wi-Fi, 16GB of flash memory, integrated Bluetooth and memory stick compatibility.
But the major development with this new model is the fact that the UMD drive has been scrapped and all games will be downloaded by Wi-Fi or using the new ‘Media GO’ service which allows you to download games on your PC and transfer them over to the console.
Hirai confirmed that games will still be released on UMD for existing PSP owners and from now on all games will be released in both formats.
The unit is expected to be released in October for US $249 and is slated to be released alongside its flagship release, Gran Turismo PSP, which was also unveiled at the trade show.
Other highly anticipated releases include Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Motorstorm.
As well as this, Sony announced its weapon in the fight against Xbox 360’s new ‘Project Natal’ motion sensor and Nintendo’s Wii remote.
The motion sensing controller was only a prototype at this stage and therefore the release date and price was yet to be confirmed.
The controller resembled a microphone and had a glowing globe at the top, which is picked up by the Playstation Eye camera which then translates the players movement while playing games,
To demonstrate the new peripheral, the controller was used as a tennis racket, gun, spray can and bow and arrow.
Although these new pieces of hardware gained a lot of attention, Playstation also highlighted numerous game releases and exclusive titles which are coming in the next year.
Some of the games on show included: Uncharted 2, Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain, Assassins Creed 2, and Final Fantasy XIV.