Sony E3 Press Conference 2013 - Recap and Impressions

Welcome, internet! As of this posting, we're on our third day of E3, and I haven't gotten to talk about Sony's press conference quite yet. I watched this presser front to back, and boy was there some dirt being thrown. First, I should mention that there were TONS of games shown at Sony's presser. They were seriously bombarding the fans with game after game, so much so that if I were to try and list all of them, this would take at least two days to type out. I will talk about some of the one's I was particularly excited about, though. With that out of the way, let's get on with this.

Some of the first things I should point out are that they touched very lightly on the PS3 and Vita. They will be pulling out some new games for both systems, but Sony really didn't seem to focus too much on them, at least not nearly as much as they did with the games and PS4 details. They started off well, showing off a bunch of pretty colors. Then thanked everyone, as a good presenter should. Jumping into the Vita, probably just to get it out of the way. They had some games like killzone mercenary, doki doki universe, and some remastered games. Those are always nice, right? Then they promised some other things like netflix then onto the PS3

First they showed off PS3 games. Simple as that. We had The Last of Us, Puppeteer, Rain (which had some really pretty music, by the way), Beyond two souls, and a few more. There was Drive Club, Batman: Arkham Origins, which is on almost literally EVERYTHING, and Grand theft auto 5, which will aksi have a bundle for around $299 which comes with neat headphones. Sony really has brought their A-game here with it, but let's move on to the PS4.

They didn't hesitate, showing us exactly what the PS4 looked like, which was honestly underwhelming. It wasn't a bad design. Compared to the Xbox One too many, it looked great. Much smaller than the Xbox, and much sleeker. It was just less than what I expected (then again, I expected a lot). All in all, it will look better on my desk, hooked up to my capture card, much better than the One or the WiiU (I have the white WiiU, so it does clash with my black pc, but it does look good). After showing the console, they touched on the media. I wasn't particularly interested, but they've definitely put tv on the side, as opposed to making it their main focus. In Microsoft's defense, they did just seem to get the TV functions out of the way during their reveal, so they could show us tons of games. They talked about their services offered. Netflix, music, flixter (which I've honestly never heard of), and some other things. Hold on...finally, more games!

Well, not really. Not yet, at least. Shu Yoshida, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide, came out and showed off the social networking function, then began talking about games. They started with a bang, almost literally, with a game trailer called “The Order:1886” This was an impressive trailer, and supposedly made in-engine, meaning the graphics that were put into the game, are likely the same as what's in the game itself. The game trailer had an olt-timey, yet steampunk feel to it, which is really unique in this day and age. This one made it work, and gave it a nice, dark tone to start it off. Easily one of the highlights of the conference.

Next, they talked about some games that they said they had shown at their reveal. I don't know because I didn't see the reveal. Killzone: Shadowfall looked good, as far as shooters go. I really enjoyed the idea of the little drone. Then Driveclub, which they had already shown, but that's okay. This game looks like a great racer. Then Infamous: Second Son. Tons of people were interested in this one. I was too. The story seems very deep, and what gameplay I saw looked pretty gripping. Also, they played Nirvana in the trailer, which really helped.

Then, one I was particularly interested in, Knack. Developed by the makers of the Crash Bandicoot series, Knack is a Golem-like entity that can build himself up by means of certain artifacts found in the environment. The trailer was great, but I should point out that the Gameplay demos I saw were somewhat Boring. They weren't boring because of average gameplay, but there were so few enemies for the demo players to fight, it began to repeat itself much more quickly than one would have hoped. I will talk about one of my own observations, though. During the gameplay demos I saw, the levels architecture was very linear, much to the stylings of Crash Bandicoot. The buildings and fences would guide the level itself. This reminded me of the Crash Bandicoot games right off the bat.

Back to the conference. Next game a game called Dark Sorcerer, which I was pretty excited about. I laughed at the end, when it was showed to be a TV set, but I was still excited by it at the end. Apparently, there was a demo of it the day after the conference. Then came the Indie Devs. Remember how Microsoft said they wanted to lead in indie titles, then only showed Minecraft (which is barely even an indie title anymore)? Sony here really got the ball rolling with some quality indie games. One of my personal favorites was the first one they showed, Transistor. It seemed like some sort of futuristic game, and the singer had a wonderful voice. It really set the tone for the game, which simply amplified my excitement for the game.

They also mentioned that developers will have the ability to self publish their own content. They really showed how they want to be some of the best and most open among developers and gamers. Next came Don't Starve, Mercenary Kings, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Secret Ponchos, Ray's dead, Outlast, an interesting Oddworld remake, and Galak-z. The best part is that they are all supposed to be an exclusive. Then they showed Diablo 3, which will be going to the PS3 and PS4 with some exclusive items.

Next up, lock up your fan-fiction, Final fantasy and Kingdom Hearts fans! You got some amazing new things! They began with a gameplay trailer of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, otherwise called XV, which was pretty mind blowing. I may prefer this one over VIII, which was my favorite of all time. Then came a game people have been waiting a grand total of ten years for. Kingdom Hearts 3 was revealed at the conference, and was later noted to be on the Xbox One, as well. Sora was shown running from a huge serpentine pattern of Heartless, which was pretty nuts. I can't wait to get my hands on a PS4 now.

Next, we got to see some of Ubisoft's stuff. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Apparently, you can play as a character from Assassin's creed: Liberation as a PS4 exclusive character, Don't you love exclusives? (Shush, fans. Everyone has their exclusives, so stop whining about who has more. What are we, children?) For the most part, the gameplay of AC4 was just the protagonist walking. There was some sneaking, and a little bit of murder. The action was nice when it picked up, though. The visuals are great, as has become a staple in the modern gaming world.

Next game: Watchdogs. This is an interesting one. The protagonist can hack into just about every piece of techology, and you'll want to, considering all of the police activity in this game. It looks like an incredibly interesting take on the idea of Hacking. Then some sports stuff, and next we have the Elder Scrolls online! You know oblivion, Skyrim, those games, right? Well, now it's online! Not sure if that's a surprise, but there you go. PS4 owners will have access to a beta of the elder scrolls online, as well. After a strange clip of what is supposed to be a game called Mad Max.Not sure exactly what it was, or who, but it did look pretty cool, as little as they gave us.

Next, Playstation got to the real mudslinging. These guys really ran at Microsoft. They blatantly showed off that you will be able to trade, buy, and sell used games as easily as giving them by hand. And the whole time the crowd was cheering about hearing this, you could hear the presenter chuckling on stage. He was literally saying to himself “Take a look, Microsoft. We just won over tons of gamers by doing what you didn't.” He was thinking either that, or “Good thing we made those last minute changes! If we'd had that same system, Nintendo might be able to make a comeback!” Then again, Nintendo is off in their own little world, smoking fire flowers and having a merry little time, so I doubt too many people are worried about them. PS4 games don't need to connect for authentication, so you don't have to connect every 24 hours. They were throwing proverbial mud at Microsoft yet again. I did find one minor problem, though. In order to play online multiplayer on a game, you need to have Playstation plus, which you need to pay for. I don't like the idea, honestly. But, when you compare it to all the other things you're being charged for with Microsoft, it's not really that bad. Then came a game that had me wanting to jump into shooters for the first time ever. It was the world premiere of a game called Destiny, which looked awesome! The gameplay looked interesting, the environment made me want to explore, and yet there was still the shooting. Wouldn't be called a shooter if it didn't have shooting, right?

Then came some things about the cloud service that didn't concern me. To finish things off there was the price! $399! why is this so mind blowing? Well, after all of the things they showed, plus the lack of restrictions, it's surprising that it was $100 cheaper than the Xbox One. This is probably what caught people's attention more than anything else. People were thinking it was going to be more expensive than the Xbox, but were quickly reassured. I'll admit, I'm a sony fan. I've been one since the first playstation, but stopped around the PS3, and I intend to pick up the PS4 this Holiday. Which will you choose? Will you take the Xbox One? Or will you throw your money at Sony for the PS4? If you have enough money, you can always buy both! Either way, both are good gaming consoles with great games and good companies backing them up. In the end, there is always the option to have both. But, if people still insist on picking sides in this war, so be it. I'll grab me some popcorn, and sit back and smoke some fire flowers with Nintendo until the PS4 comes out. In the meantime, see you guys soon!