14 DAY TRIAL // At this year's E3, Sony missed out on at least two important topics of discussion. Those are: Killzone 2 and Grand Theft Auto 4. Both titles have huge question marks stamped on them as one is said to feature an open beta soon (no word so far though), while the other's PS3 port is still under discussion. Thus, 1UP.com felt that some answers were in order and sat down with SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton. Some excerpts below.
1UP: "Are you still going forward with a Killzone 2 open beta? Can we expect that in early 08?"
Tretton: "That's a question that'd really have to be answered for you by Phil Harrison or one of the Guerrilla guys. I don't know specifically and I wouldn't want to mislead you."
So we have 2 questions and 0 answers. OK, that's ending the Killzone 2 topic, let's move on.
1UP: "Why didn't you show Grand Theft Auto IV at your press conference? Why was it not there?"
Tretton hands the question over to David Karrker, also present at the interview: "Well, Dave [Karraker, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Sony Computer Entertainment America], do you want to answer that? Dave was in control of the content."
Karraker: "You want the real answer?"
1UP: "Can you give me both answers?"
Tretton: [laughs]
Karraker: "I'll give you the real answer. They didn't send us their video."
Dadaaam! Finally, an answer, and such a frank one at that. Sony didn't get the video from Take-Two. Imagine that. They wouldn't happen to go exclusive with GTA IV for the Xbox 360, now would they? Probably not, but it's awfully strange you have to admit. Karraker goes on answering the interviewer's questions, saying that they "requested it. We sent an e--mail out to every publisher and said send us your videos that you want put in the press conference, and they never sent it. Not much more you can say about that."
When pressed to talk about the kind of relationship the company has with Take-Two and whether they too will, or will not see something exclusive from them, as far as GTA IV is concerned...: "We have some pretty good information in terms of what our plans are with Take-Two relative to GTA4," says Tretton, "but I really want to make sure we get you all the exact facts, so we can get you something from Dave pretty shortly."
What, still looking for the answer in Tretton's statement... ? If you recall, Sony's Phil Harrison avoided answering pretty much the same question from the same gaming site last week, when Harrison said: "...we're actually working closely with them [Rockstar] on a number of initiatives, so I do know some things that are going on, but I'm not able to share those with you now."
Honestly now... why all the mystery? Is Microsoft hiding any facts? Maybe, but not as many as Sony, that's for sure. So what are we to believe, that Sony's getting even more...? Is that why they're so secretive about GTA IV for the PS3?