Sony offers Playstation apology, look ahead with Vita, 3D bundle

IDG News Service - Sony opened its E3 press conference Monday with an apology for the multi-week PlayStation Network outage.

"You [consumers] are the lifeblood of the company," said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. "Without you, there is no PlayStation and I want to apologize both personally and on behalf of the company for any anxiety we have caused you."

After the apology, the press conference quickly switched gears to more positive news like the PlayStation Vita, previously known only as NGP or next generation portable. The PlayStation Vita has dual touchpads, dual cameras and networking options like 3G and WiFi. It will be available this holiday season starting at $250.

Much of the company's presentation focused on 3D gaming. Hoping to aid adoption of 3D, Sony presented a bundle that includes a 24-inch 3D television, a pair of 3D active shutter glasses, an HDMI cable and a copy of Resistance 3 for $500. One of the special perks of the television is that in two player mode, each player sees something different on the screen, rather than the typical split screen environment of multi-player games.

E3 runs until June 9.

Nick Barber covers general technology news in both text and video for IDG News Service. E-mail him at Nick_Barber@idg.com and follow him on Twitter at @nickjb.