Rumores del Briefing Anual de Sony

In attendance at the Sony Computer Entertainment Staff Annual Briefing held yesterday in London, an anonymous source going by the alias of ‘Legends’ has just tipped us off on all manner of huge PlayStation news. We must make it clear that D+PAD weren’t in attendance, but we have no reason to doubt the validity of Legends’ claims.

* Price cuts coming in March, PS3 performing better in Europe than 360

Our source tells us that SCEE President David Reeves took to the stage to discuss the current economic climate and how it shouldn’t affect PlayStation business, though was quick to mention that SCEE will be getting more competitive on price from March 2009 onwards. Our guess is that we’ll be seeing price cuts to PS3 around Easter to tie in with the release of Killzone 2…

Reeves then went on to say that the PS3 has a bigger install base than the 360 in PAL territories, and that the install base gap will significantly increase in 2009. Apparently SCEE is the success story of the SCE divisions, generating more profit than SCEA and SCEJ. 2008 sees it ‘in the black’ in profit our inside man revealed. Apparently there are more technological innovations to come for both PS3 and PSP, but details weren’t disclosed.

* Growth of PSN

PSN will be getting much more investment in the future, and having generated £150m in 2008, it’s considered a huge success for Sony. Sony Studio titles will also begin their life with a Blu-ray release and the franchises will be expanded with online content.

* LittleBigPlanet & MotorStorm coming to PSP

Our source also confirmed that LittleBigPlanet PSP is definitely in development and that Media Molecule have been working on it for four months. Footage was shown to attendees, though Alex Evans allegedly wasn’t prepared to show it himself because it was such an early build. “It looked good, obviously not PS3 good, but missing the level of detail that you get in a final release” says Legends.

MotorStorm PSP is on the way and ‘target footage’ was shown. No more details on that one.

* Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 & God of War 3 info

A 30 second clip of in-game footage of Uncharted 2 was shown displaying Drake being shot at, followed by an explosion. No full title or location was revealed though our source tells us that he did spot a wall with a line of 4 or 5 Aztec masks. Don’t expect a huge graphical leap though - “Looks the same as Uncharted 1, no bad thing”, says our source.

The intro to Killzone 2 was also shown off which “showed the character from the original trailer and a Helghan leader”. “Paints a picture of the world a bit more,” says Legends.

Finally our source revealed that God of War 3 was “masterfully shown at the end”, and that it looked so good our source wasn’t clear whether it was CGI or not!

The trailer showed Kratos wielding his swords and fighting hoards of skeletons and Cyclops’s, before catching a ride on an eagle, and killing it when he got dropped off. The final scene showed Kratos looking up to a long dark, deep cavern, presumed to be Mount Olympus.

“Some of it looked like it could be in-game action because of the camera angles, but it all looked so good that it couldn’t be. CGI or not, everyone was pumped up by this. The anticipation is growing. God of War 3 could be amazing.”

So there you have it. Technological innovations inbound, PS3 price cut early next year, LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm coming to PSP, Uncharted 2 and an “amazing” looking God of War 3. What more could you want?