If you thought Sony had already shown every card it holds for 2011, think again. The company’s messaging continues to suggest that its list of PS3 exclusives for the year is not the whole story, and that more titles are waiting in the wings for a proper reveal.
Twenty PS3 Exclusives Already Lined Up For 2011
That will come as welcome news to PS3 owners, because the slate Sony has already announced is hardly short on quality. Back in January the PlayStation Blog rolled out a list of twenty exclusive games for 2011, a lineup that left plenty of commentators calling it one of the strongest the platform has seen. The list included Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, MotorStorm Apocalypse, MLB 11 The Show, inFamous 2, Resistance 3, SOCOM 4, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, Twisted Metal, Sorcery, The Last Guardian and the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, along with smaller downloadable titles such as Journey and PixelJunk Shooter 2.
Several of those games have already arrived. Killzone 3 and LittleBigPlanet 2 are on shelves, MLB 11 The Show arrived in North America yesterday, and MotorStorm Apocalypse is due in Europe later this month. The rest are spread across the year, with inFamous 2 dated for June 7 and Uncharted 3 set for November 1.
Sony Has Kept Surprises In Reserve Before
Sony has form when it comes to holding things back. When the company published its January list it was careful to point out that schedules can shift, promising to keep fans posted and even asking readers whether it had missed anything.
At last summer’s gamescom press conference SCEE boss Andrew House teased that there were a few more we’ve yet to share on top of the games already shown. That pattern of saving surprises for a big stage is typical of the major publishers, and Sony is no exception.
E3 And NGP Look Like The Next Big Stage
The obvious place for any new reveals is E3 in June. Sony traditionally uses its Los Angeles press conference for its biggest announcements, and this year it also has its next portable, codenamed NGP, to talk about after unveiling the hardware in Tokyo in January. Fans are already drawing up wish lists for the show, with a new game from Sony Santa Monica, a fresh project from Guerrilla or a long rumored return for a dormant PlayStation franchise among the usual hopes.
It is worth keeping expectations in check until Sony actually names something. Unannounced games can be anything from a full blown blockbuster to a modest PlayStation Network release, and a statement that more is on the way does not tell us when those titles will launch. Some may not even be ready until 2012.
Still, for a console that is facing tough competition from Kinect on the Xbox 360 side, the message from Sony is clear: the PS3 exclusive pipeline is full, and the company is in no hurry to reveal everything at once. We will be watching closely as E3 gets closer.