‘We’ve only scratched the surface of the Vita’: Sony

Handhelds, online content and a little bit of magic are the main offerings from Sony at this year’s E3.

In a summary of the company’s E3 press conference on the PlayStation blog, Sony CEO Jack Tretton says that users can expect plenty more out of the PS Vita.

"We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of PS Vita’s capabilities and gameplay…the next few months will be extremely exciting for PS Vita and our fans.”

There will be more than 60 titles available for the Vita by the end of the year, including upcoming titles Assassin’s Creed: Liberation, Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Sony have also attempted to push their PlayStation Plus feature, essentially a premium online service, by offering an increased number of free-to-download full-length games.

This number has currently been set at 12, including inFAMOUS 2, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Saints Row 2, with more titles being swapped in and out over time.

In another interesting addition, a new feature called Wonderbook was announced, where by using a physical book paired with a PS Eye Camera, the PS3 ‘brings to life stories and adventures that allow you to interact with them like never before’.

Author J.K. Rowling is working with Sony on the first title, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, which will feature original writings from Rowling and utilise the PS Move as a magic wand so gamers can cast spells.

Two new characters have been added to the roster for PlayStation All Stars: Battle Royale, Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and Big Daddy from the Bioshock franchise. Sony also offered new trailers for The Last of Us and new title, Beyond: Two Souls.

Although this year’s E3 has hardly been mind-blowing, both Sony and Microsoft have still unveiled some pretty cool new gadgets and games. Information on next-generation consoles is still sketchy, but Tretton did say that in that department Sony have never beaten Microsoft to the punch.

"If you look back at history we’ve never been first, we’ve never been cheapest, it’s about being best…the number one goal is to have the best machine, and that’s what we’re always focused on.”

So, for those who are strictly Sony gamers: expect a pretty horrible period when all your Xbox friends are playing next-gen without you.