Sony
Now, for the record I didn't get to watch the livestream of this conference because I was busy with other things (see: work). That being said, I didn't have to deal with the delays before Sony finally took stage. Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) took the stage to talk quite a bit about the consoles and how the PS3, PS4, and PSVita were all so wonderful and exciting. The PSVita will soon be receiving ports of God of War HD 1 and 2, Final Fantasy X and X-2 and Flower. Nothing I'm personally interested in, but it's always good to add to the evergrowing library of fucking PSVita ports. Every game I currently have for the Vita is either a PSP digital copy or some kind of port.... or Gravity Rush. The Vita shows a lot of promise, now if they'd only do something to fulfill it.
Well I guess part of that wish fulfillment is using it as a controller for the PS4. Tretton informed us that the PS4 was designed to support the Vita, built all the way into the system's core, and that at some point in its lifetime, the PSVita will actually be able to stream games from the PS4 via WiFi. So there's something.
Moving on to games, we got a preview of a few titles coming soon to the PS3.
The Last of Us - If it weren't for technical difficulties, Mike and I would already have a podcast out about this game. Sony showed a trailer for it at E3 that didn't do the game nearly enough justice. Fortunately, it released Friday of the same week. There will be a review and most likely a podcast about how this game is a huge amalgam of everything the game industry can do right if it tries. That being said, the trailer offered some game footage, some cutscene footage, and little way to tell the difference between the two.
Puppeteer - No information about this game was really given, other than it was coming to PS3. It looks like somewhat of an indie platformer. Wasn't quite able to figure out much more than that.
Rain - An interesting looking indie title where you seem to play as an invisible boy in a rainy city, trying to find an invisible girl. I do have to say that I am a sucker for indie titles, especially ones that can tell a story in a unique way. Looking forward to understanding more of this title.
The Ellen Page Simulator 2013 - *COUGH* I mean -
Beyond: Two Souls - a mov-... video game by French developers Quantic Dream, famous for the hit Heavy Rain on the PS3, and a littler known multiplatform title called Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US). Writer/Director David Cage is known for his emphasis on character, emotion and story-telling in games, and has tried to push them more into the realm of interactive movies. What does this mean? Historically, lots of quick-time events. The trailer shows us a young girl named Jodie (Ellen Page) being enlisted into some elite military program, her struggles to become an operative, and eventually field work. Now while it's not possible to discern what's gameplay and what's cutscene here, I am rather taken aback by Juno, the action heroine. Will I play it? Probably. I love Ellen Page.
Gran Turismo 6 - We got to see a shiny trailer for yet another shiny race-driving simulator with shiny cars. Except this one didn't come with a shiny car. Not on stage at least. Gran Turismo 6 got nothing more than a shiny trailer. Nobody seemed to want to talk about it or gloat about it's mechanical accomplishments. Based on the text applied liberally throughout the trailer, it seems that the game has been nearly rebuilt from the ground up with new tires, suspension, graphic rendering, etc. Good for it.
Batman: Arkham Origins - This trailer showed us a lot of what we already liked about the Arkham series. Batman kicking ass, nifty gadgets, batman kicking more ass, famous villains (Black Mask, Bane, and Deathstroke to name a few that aren't THE JOKER), and oh yeah, Batman. The thing here that's going to be the problem is continuity. IS Warner Bros. Games going to be able to fit this into Rocksteady's Arkham timeline effectively, and are we all going to ask ourselves "Why the fuck didn't I have any of this cool shit in Asylum?"
Grand Theft Auto V - Now Sony didn't actually show us anything from GTA5. In fact, the only thing that happened was that Tretton announced that there would be a GTA5 PS3 bundle being released for $299, a pretty easy price to stomach. They were also doing a GTA5 themed headset as well. All this promotion for Grand Theft Auto and you didn't even have a trailer to show me?! Meh.
Next, Andrew House (President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.) took the stage. It was he that got to unveil the ACTUAL PLAYSTATION 4. Like the PS3 before it, and the PS2 before it, the PS4 is a FUCKING BLACK BOX. HOW ORIGINAL. Xbone is a black box. Original Xbox was a black box. Xbox 360 started out as a white box, but then became a black box. Nintendo usually lets you choose between white and black boxes now. Excuse me if I don't piss myself from excitement at what the fucking box looks like. I'm much more interested in what it can do.
Michael Lynton (CEO of Sony Entertainment and CEO and Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment) then talked to us about what "relevant and meaningful media content" can be brought to the Playstation platform. Frankly I don't give a damn. I don't use Music Unlimited or Video Unlimited. I buy and use a game console for playing fucking games. The fact that they happen to have Netflix applications is just an added bonus (and, if you don't have an Xbox Live GOLD membership, then you can say goodbye to Netflix as well, greedy-ass bastards). Though I suppose someone out there will be happy to know that Sony is bringing Redbox Instant to US users, as well as Flixter and some Pay-Per-View events as well.
Shu Yoshida was next up in the parade of Sony big-wigs to talk (in his nearly unintelligible accent) about some upcoming first-party titles for the PS4.
The Order: 1886 - The trailer claimed to use only in-game engine footage, and for that it seems pretty damn good. Had they not tacked that on to the beginning, I'd have had to say that this was just another way for devs to impress us with all the shiny cutscene graphics that the game doesn't look like. From what I can tell, it's a game that involves some sort of taskforce that combats unidentifiable shadows in the fog in steampunk London. And that's probably about all you'll get if you watch the trailer as well.
Now for those of us that just tuned in for the press conference, we didn't get to see this, but apparently the 4 games listed below all have actual playthrough footage available on the Playstation Facebook and YouTube channel. They showed off these games for the crowds at E3, but not for their conference. They could have used with a little less jabber about the media experience and a little bit more impressing me with games for the game console.
Killzone: ShadowFall - Following in the same vein as it always has, Sony's "Halo-Killer" continues to look like a sci-fi version of the modern military shooter. Good for it. Lots of pretty in-game footage of a one-man wrecking crew.
DriveClub - While we didn't see much of the actual game here, it looks like we'll be getting yet another racing title. Though it's hard to tell if this one is more arcade-racer or more driving-sim. Guess we'll have to wait until the PS4 launches, since this will be a Day One download for Playstation Plus members as part of the Instant Game Collection. Yup. You heard right. Sony is giving away a full price title at launch through Playstation Plus.
Infamous: Second Son - Ok, so another installment in the Infamous franchise. Except this one doesn't revolve around Cole. It doesn't seem to revolve around the same incident. We get a new protagonist with new not-quite-lightning powers. Oh, and he doesn't look like Vin Diesel. You know, like every other "action hero guy".
Knack - Seems to be some kid-friendly title about a golem or something made out of small parts. Woo.
Yoshida then came back out on stage to RATTLE THE CAGE. Talking about how Quantic Dream has made a thing out of emotions in games and how the PS4 hardware can push the boundaries further with realistic emotions blah blah blah. So they showed us a short by QD called The Dark Sorcerer. Not a game. Not a trailer. Not hardly an IP. Just some really pretty graphics and a silly joke.
After which, we welcomed Adam Boyes (VP of 3rd Party Relations at SCEA) to the stage. After briefly mentioning The Witness, a game by Jonathan Blow of Braid fame, we got to see the trailer for Transistor presented by the heads of it's developer, Supergiant Games.
This was the intro to Sony's Indie Game segment. Boyes expressed a commitment to indie games, and that the PS4 would allow indie developers to self-publish on the console. Sony also plans to add an indie section to the PS Store to make finding these special gems that much easier. Some titles we got a look at included:
Don't Starve - A dark, open-world exploration game already available on Steam.
Mercenary Kings - A "competitive" side-scrolling shooter that looks a lot like comic-book Contra.
Octodad: Deadliest Catch - A game where you play as an octopus posing as a human and living with his human family. The object of the game is to keep the charade going as long as possible. Sound ridiculous? It is. The game is already available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Secret Ponchos - This seemed to be a western-style cross between a third-person shooter and 3D versus fighting game. I have little to no hope for this, since these sorts of things haven't worked very well in the past.
Ray's the Dead - A "stealth-action-puzzler" where you play as a zombie who raises other zombies to figure out why he died. The gaming industry has officially resorted to pulling genres out of a hat, three or four at a time. Does it have combat? Action! Does it have jumping? Platformer! Does it have a character that moves around through levels to reach the end? ADVENTURE!! But that's a rant for another time.
Outlast - A game that looks part Amnesia, part Quarantine (the movie). Nothing more was said of the game, save that it will scare the piss out of you.
Oddworld: New n' Tasty - A rerelease of the very original Oddworld, by its original team. Way to bring gaming to the 21st century guys.
Galak-Z - A side-scrolling, open-world space shooter. Looks like it plays similar to Geometry Wars ON CRACK.
Now we hit everyone's favorite part of the show: TRIPLE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GAMING!
Diablo III - As was mentioned long ago, Diablo III will be hitting PS3 and PS4 in the near future. What do we know about this console release? That it will have Playstation themed items exclusive to Playstation.
Final Fantasy XV - The game formerly known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. This game basically looks like Kingdom Hearts fucked Devil May Cry. Lots of warpy swordplay. Lots of running. Lots of androgynous Japanese boys. Oh and speaking of Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts III - SquarEnix announce the newest sequel, Kingdom Hearts 3. Nearly 8 years of spin-off titles later, Squenix finally committed to a legitimate fucking sequel. Fanboys, you may now proceed to cream your panties again. The trailer showed some gameplay, but frankly speaking it hardly looked like a step up from the PS2 titles. Nope. PS4. So after showing us how far they could push the console to look amazing, Squenix also showed us how far they could push the console to looking like shit.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - More footage from the sequel whose entire lineage is on the previous generation on consoles that will not be backwards compatible. Breaking down the footage we saw here, it looks like social stealth has been improved. Sitting and standing next to people, the protagonist will now interact with the NPCs to appear a bit more normal, instead of awkwardly lurking in silence. The actual game engine looked beautiful. You could see the rubbery shimmer off the jungle plants. However, the developer running the demo seemed to run into a few issues with loading/lag times, as the game seemed to freeze in more than a couple segments. Hope this gets ironed out before launch day! We also got to see some dual-pistol combat footage before we watched our new protagonist engage in the same parkour movement we've all come to expect from the AC franchise. The new element here was that after he escaped the burning beach, we got to see some actual maritime fighting! Ship-to-ship combat gets introduced in this year's pirate simulator and it looks surprisingly good. You know, when it's not freezing on the big stage.
Watch_Dogs - Yes, everyone's favorite new IP from Ubisoft got another slot during a major conference. This time, we got to see a huge chunk of gameplay and watch Aiden Pierce complete an entire mission. We were lead into this demo with the quote "In Watch_Dogs, you can play any way you want". I swear to god, if one more fucking developer tells me that I can play "any way I want" in a game that obviously lends itself to a "stealth path is best path" style of game play, I will seriously mail them a copy of their game with a copy of my shit review on why going balls-to-the-wall destructive gunzerker, DOESN'T FUCKING WORK.
Anyways, back to Watch_Dogs. Aiden being on the run does lend itself to a fair bit of sneaking around. One of the coolest things we got to see wasn't that there was driving involved, but rather that you could turn the car on and off. There was a very distinct difference between being on the brakes, and being parked. It was also interesting as to how damn near everything in the city could be hacked, and that once hacked into a camera system, you could jump between cameras just by pointing them at each other. Watch_Dogs was yet another game that offered tablet integration with their "call for help" option. We then got close up footage of someone playing on tablet disabling and engaging parts of the city that weren't being controlled by the player. Last but not least, when Aiden gets cornered by the cops, he lifts arms in surrender, smartphone in hand. He then initiates a citywide blackout that stuns the police for just long enough for him to knee-cap them and get away in a nearby boat. Every time I see gameplay for this title I get blown further and further away.
NBA 2K14 - This was a segment dedicated to NBA star Lebron James talking to an overly-expressive video game version of himself. Then some clips of digital Lebron playing ball. Yay. I guess.
The Elder Scrolls Online - The MMORPG that everyone's been waiting for. It's like Skyrim, but with other players. Not entirely sure how the multiplayer aspect will work out, but the actual gameplay seems to have not changed much from the previous Elder Scrolls title. Which is good, if you're a fan.
Mad Max - Oh good, a video game about an 80's post-apocalypse movie. I haven't watched the film, but I like the concept. I'm just not so sure about reviving it as a video game franchise. Let these dead things stay down. Tomb Raider didn't need a reboot. Killer Instinct doesn't need a reboot. Likely, few people who are going to buy a PS4 is going to have ever watched Mad Max. Hope you can make it interesting.
THE SMACK DOWN*
Jack Tretton came back on stage with some wonderful news for us. In addition to handing us some numbers about games in development for PS4, games that were exclusive to PS4, and games that would be launching in the next year, he gave us this tasty nugget of information with the following quote:
"In addition to creating an amazing library of new titles on Playstation 4, we are equally focused on delivering what gamers want most, without imposing restrictions or devaluing their Playstation 4 purchases. Playstation 4 supports used games."
Received by all in the room with cheering and applause. He followed up with this:
Which looked like this:
And we just about lost our shit.
"When a gamer buys a Playstation 4 disc, they have a right to use that game. They can trade in the game at retail, they can sell it to another person, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever."
"Playstation 4 disc-based games don't need to be connected online to play, or for any type of authentication."
"Playstation 4 won't require you to check in online periodically."
"And it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated within twenty-four hours."
-Jack Tretton, President and CEO Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Hero to Next-Gen Gamers Everywhere
It's pretty hard to follow that up, but Tretton had a few more things up his sleeve. The PS4 will allow you to play games AS THEY'RE BEING DOWNLOADED. Your Playstation Plus membership will carry over to PS4. PS Plus members will have immediate access to Driveclub, PS Plus edition FOR FREE ON DAY ONE as part of the Instant Game Collection program.
With all these things at the crescendo of Sony's conference, it was hard to follow it up with any sort of game footage at all. But these guys seem to be on top of their shit when it comes to saving best for last.
Destiny - A game spawned from a partnership between Bungie (creators of Halo) and Activision (satanic spawn that sell us a new Call of Duty every year), comes Destiny. A futuristic, seemingly post-apocalyptic shooter that, after watching the gameplay footage with the character classes, levels and loot, really just seems to be a hi-def shinier Borderlands. I can't say for sure how I feel about this upcoming Triple A title, but I do fear that we'll end up getting a sequel once a year, thanks to Activision.
Andrew House came back up to close it out for us. He talked about Gaikai, Sony's newly acquired streaming service and how that beginning in 2014, through the use of cloud gaming, they plan to bring a catalog of PS3 titles on to it. Sony has set us up for streaming PS3 games to our PS4, PS3, and in the near future, PSVita. It's not exactly backwards compatibility, but it's a fucking start. Better than anything Microsoft is doing.
And finally, the price point. The PS4 will launch at $399 US Dollars. That's $100 below Microsoft's price for the Xbox One at $499. Used games. No online check-ins. Streaming service for backwards compatibility. One HUNDRED DOLLARS cheaper.
Your move Microsoft. Your. Move.
*I am aware that as of the publishing of this article, Microsoft has already retracted their used game policy, DRM, and online check-in system. This will be applied in a day one online patch This does not mean they are gone for good. Microsoft can always patch them back in.
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