Sony Announcement 1: New Game = Sim War

The thing you quickly learn about these press briefings is the biggest and boldest news is always framed as, “Thanks for coming. Oh yes, and one more thing.”

Sony “One more thinged” us with the announcement of a brand new game for the Playstation 3. Jack Trenton preluded it as a game “not remotely possible” on any other platform.

The game, MAG (which stands for Massive Action Game) will support battles of 256 players. Each side will consist of squads of eight players, and all players will be live people — not AI. Which mean the the leader of the squad will be someone recognized as being of good “leadership skills.” Each player’s character will have skill growth, and you’ll have long term goals for characters advancement with a skill tree so that you can create the character that best suits how you fight. Faction based campaigns will be ongoing.

In other words, MAG will be the closest thing you can get to simulated war outside of the Pentagon.

The title is being developed by Zipper Interactive, and there’s no date for debut.

This could be one of the greatest innovations in MMO shooters and war games. But then again, this comes from Sony: The proud papa of Afrikaaaaa!

Color me intrigued, but skeptical.