What to expect from Sony at E3 2012

Coming off what many think was the "winning" press conference at E3 2011, Sony will take the stage Monday night to tell the world what the future holds for the company behind the PlayStation 3.

What's up with the Vita?
Without a doubt, last year's shining moment had to be the official debut of the PlayStation Vita, which impressed us on numerous levels, from its performance to its launch lineup. But now that the dust has settled, the Vita hasn't seen much action in terms of high-profile releases and feature additions.

Sony needs to reaffirm confidence in the powerful portable by giving us reasons to own one. We know about upcoming games like LittleBigPlanet and Sly Cooper but we're sure there are a few franchises being kept secret. Look for the revealing of these titles during the Sony press conference.

We're also expecting some talk about more Vita functionality, including things like cross-platform play and other Vita/PS3 interactivity. We were teased about such features prior to the Vita's launch, so now it's on Sony to make good.

PS3 exclusives
A PlayStation 3 price drop isn't totally out of the question, but we're expecting Sony to focus more on the exclusive console games that make a PS3 worth owning. Exclusivity has taken somewhat of a backseat to exclusive content for multiplatform games, but this year it looks like Sony has a handful of titles worth making some noise about.

The company's press conference is sure to show off titles that have already attracted buzz, like God of War: Ascension and The Last of Us, but we're curious to see if we'll hear from games like The Last Guardian, a notable title that went silent in 2011.

PS3 multimedia
Kudos to both Microsoft and Sony for turning their respective consoles into the multimedia powerhouses they have evolved into. That said, look for Sony to hit the gas pedal again by offering up more content, hopefully in an exclusive fashion. Sony has a bit of catch-up to play with the Xbox 360's recent addition of FiOS support and HBO Go.

Is PlayStation Move dead?
By now it's safe to say that the PlayStation Move initiative hasn't performed as well as Sony would have liked. Move was a big focus in 2011, but consumers have been turned off by the need to buy extra accessories and a lackluster list of software. We don't expect Sony to come out and give up on Move, but the amount of talk time it gets at the show will be a good indication of where it resides in the company's priorities.

One last thing?
Sony has implied that there won't be any new hardware like a PlayStation 4 at E3 2012, but don't be shocked if there's a tease. We're not expecting any prototypes or even concepts for that matter, but perhaps a video, or some sort of prerendered "target" clip is totally plausible.

Tune in on June 4 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET for our live blog and additional coverage from the Sony E3 2012 press conference.