GamesCom 2009 Conference Wrap Up Part 1

Welcome to the IncGamers coverage of this year’s GamesCom event in Cologne.  Because we’re good to you (even though we’re not sure you deserve it) we’re here to collate all the big conference news in this two part article, the second part of which you can look forward to tomorrow. For now, you get the news from the big two so far (sorry EA, you’ll make it into part 2): the Sony and Microsoft/Lionhead presentations.

Sony

Now, you’ve got to feel a little bit sorry for Sony. You get the impression that in the weeks running up to E3, it thought it had a pretty successful press conference planned. Motion control, Uncharted 2, MAG and more should have made for a decent presentation and it did. And then Microsoft dropped The Beatles, Spielberg and Natal and Sony’s cries of “but...WE’VE GOT A WAND” fell on deaf ears.

However, regrouped and ready to please the fans, Sony put on a good show yesterday in Cologne. The biggest news was obviously the worst-kept secret in gaming, the slim PS3. Not only does the new console look the part, it’s more efficient, sports a big-ass 120GB hard drive and will clock in at a sweet £249.99 GBP upon release in the first week in September. Not only that, Sony’s Kaz Hirai revealed that existing PS3s will drop to the same price point from today. “Booyah,” said everyone apart from those too cool to admit “Booyah” is a kick-ass word.

But there was more good news in the Sony presentation. We European vagabonds, currently prevented from accessing the US PSN video store due to our extensive cultural history and substandard dentistry, were finally given a date.  Well, kind of. Sony’s Andrew House revealed the service will go live in Europe before the end of the year and, from sometime in November, we’ll have access to “hundreds of movies.” While it’s worth noting that there are already technically “hundreds of movies” available on the Xbox 360 European Video Marketplace, Andrew House appeared to suggest that the PS3 service will support progressive downloading, allowing the user to start viewing the film shortly after it starts downloading. Which, frankly, is boom ting. Let’s just hope we get the same fantastic array of TV content that the US does.

Speaking of TV content, also announced during the Sony presentation was the integration of the Big British Castle’s (thanks Adam and Joe) superb iplayer video on demand service. Which is a nice response to Microsoft’s deal with Sky TV to bring hard-hitting content like Animals Say The Most Racist things 7 to the Xbox 360 (I jest, I really want Premiership football).   And, as the iplayer is free on the web, we can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be free via PSN. PSP owners were told they can look forward to a digital reader for their handheld and, through a deal with Marvel Comics, will be able to download and view some great digital comic books. More good news for PSP fans was that those who register their PSPGo (what? Someone might buy it, you don’t know) between 1 and 10 October will receive a completely free version of Gran Turismo PSP.

Microsoft/Lionhead

Taking over the early shift at GamesCom this morning was the Microsoft/Lionhead presentation and, true to form, Molyneux had some surprises in store. And, thankfully, he left that creepy Milo kid at home.

Molyneux, a man with undeniable vision and a strange fascination for turtle necks, revealed what all those weird teasers on the Lionhead site had been about. Robespierre? Aristotle? Joan of Arc? No, Lionhead was not compiling its fantasy revolution team, but rather it was revealing the inspiration behind...FABLE III! See, the new game in the series is all about leadership. “You are going to become the ruler of the whole of Albion,” said Molyneux, “now watch me hit this drive!” In Fable III, the player character is the offspring of the Hero of Fable II and must help the people of Albion to overthrow a tyrannical ruler. Of course, you’ll need popular support to seize power and then, in the true spirit of American politics, you’ll spend the rest of your life repaying favours. That is if you choose to be loyal to those who helped you. Molyneux explained that, in keeping with the series, choice and consequence play a huge role in Fable III. He also revealed that he’ll be throwing away a “foundation stone” of RPGs that has been around since the eighties, although declined to tell us what it was. He’s such a tease.

And it wasn’t just Fable III that got the GamesCom treatment. It appears Lionhead is not quite finished with Fable II just yet as it announced a five part series of episodic content due to begin on 29 September. Like a filthy, disease-ridden smack dealer Lionhead is even offering the first hit for free in the hope that you’ll get hooked straight away. The first episode will see players coming to terms with life as a young adult in Albion (there are student nights, yeah?) and at the end of the episode you’ll have the choice to purchase the next episode or, indeed the full game.

Well, that’s all for today – stay tuned for the second part of the Conference Wrap Up tomorrow when we’ll be covering the Konami, Namco Bandai and Bethesda conferences.