• Posted August 6th, 2007 at 10:18 EDT by
• 1,815 views
• 9 Comments

Comic Con used to be purely for the comic book fans like myself, but over recent years the convention has changed entirely. With movie adaptations leading to game adaptations the event is now filled with companies from all around the world in every major industry. What was E3’s after party is now potentially the grand finale of summer conventions. I was pleased to have been given a chance to attend this year's Comic Con, so below I detail my experience of the whole event.

This year's Comic Con was bigger than ever when it came down to video games. Sony Computer Entertainment, Konami, Capcom, Epic, almost every other major studio had something to show off. Many companies like SCEA provided several kiosks to try out the new games coming out later this year, while other studios provided fans with surprise events to check out games that have never been available in public.

Well let's start there: almost every hit title that will be available in the upcoming year was playable and we got the inside info.

Sony, as most gamers know, was at Comic Con and had over 20 kiosks set up for PSP, PS2, and PS3. All kiosks had playable versions of upcoming games including anything from Lair on PS3 to Syphon Filter on PSP. Sony created buzz for the booth by handing out bags, PSP UMD cases, memory cards, posters, and holding several promotions, some of which are here for your viewing pleasure:

Lair Bag

Folklore Bag

PSP Memory Stick Giveaway

PSP Game Holder Giveaway

The PSP kiosks were fairly empty throughout the event as everyone had their eyes on the new SingStar for PS2 and stunning visuals from the numerous PS3 games. The Eye of Judgement seemed to be the main attraction at the SCEA booth. The turn based card game is the first game Sony has shown off using the new PlayStation Eye for PS3. Players select cards and place them on the game mat, while the camera simultaneously brings the card to life and displays a full moving character on screen. Many attendees were amazed by how the PS3 was capable of doing this and the two PR people from Sony explained how the game worked. They explained that the game played similar to Pokemon and Magic the Gathering. Sadly the two reps wouldn’t let anyone play so we were stuck watching them the whole time. However, PSU’s full hands on preview can be found here.

The PS Eye seemed very responsive, and the game itself may in fact be in the final stages of production for its scheduled Fall release. After watching the demonstration, I quickly went off to see what else PS3 had to offer.

Lair was the next game up, and it seemed to be another crowd pleaser with a decent amount of interest. The game is the first to use the Sixaxis controls to its full potential. The gameplay seemed to be a major problem for many users, as several people took the controller and got frustrated with the controls fairly quickly. The ground combat seemed dull and very repetitive but the tremendous air combat made up for that. Lair introduces a new way to play, but after 5 minutes, people didn't see so bothered. The crowd slowly degenerated with very few people leaving happy. Check out our preview here.

After Lair, it was Heavenly Sword, but the version on display just replicated the demo released on PSN earlier in the week providing the same controls, graphics, and overall appeal. Then there was Folklore. The game kept freezing at one point so no one really got a full hands on experience. Ironicly this was the only kiosk that was having problems at all, and it was in no way caused by the game, according to the the PR guy.

Finally to finish up the Sony booth, the last game to try was Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Ratchet & Clank games are known for the fun side and not much of anything else, but Insomniac sure surprised fans at Comic Con. First off the game plays extremely well; a kid that seemed ... (continued on next page)