Sony Conference Recap - E3 2013

Closing out the first day of E3 press conferences was Sony. Earlier in the day, barring a few technical hiccups and audio problems, the other companies had put on some solid shows, so it was time to see if Sony Computer Entertainment America could continue its recent streak of excellence. Screens all around the stage showed gameplay of all sorts of PlayStation 4 titles while the audience took their seats. A fifteen minute delay wasn’t the best of starts, but the following two hours would be a lesson to all companies on how to deliver a dominant press briefing. Not many people were quite prepared for what was to come.

After a fairly lengthy gameplay montage video, Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCEA took to the stage. Starting out with current hardware, he let us know that more than eighty-five titles would release on PSVita before the end of the year, including Batman: Arkham Origins, CounterSpy, Destiny of Spirits, Killzone Mercenary and Tearaway. Mobile remakes of God of War HD 1 & 2, FFX and FFX-2, Flower and Dead Nation will also be coming to the device this year. Tretton also took the opportunity to announce the much anticipated next chapter of Telltale’s The Walking Dead game, entitled Four Hundred Days, coming this summer.

Just to show Sony is still caring about the current generation, trailers for The Last of Us, Puppeteer, Rain, Beyond Two Souls, and Gran Turismo 6 were unveiled. A new trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins was shown, featuring Bane, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Mask and of course, The Joker. The PS3 version will have some exclusive content along with a 1960s TV show skin for The Bat. Closing out the section on current generation was the announcement of a Grand Theft Auto V PS3 bundle costing $299, and the unveiling of a GTAV themed headset. The current PlayStation has some life left in it yet.

Next out on stage was Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. He came straight out of the blocks by unveiling what the PlayStation 4 will look like. As expected, it is a black box, albeit a slightly jaunty one, sparking debate on the Internet over whether it is a parallelogram or a rhomboid. It will be discussed a lot more over the coming days, but for now, we’re interested in the games.

Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment was up next. He teased Sony’s original programming plan, with unique access to content coming to PlayStation Network. Along with this he stated that “...all existing programming will be tailored for the type of entertainment gamers want.” House came back, talking about more media streaming services. PlayStation 3 is currently the number one device for streaming Netflix to living room. Redbox Instant by Verizon will join this by coming to US users soon. A new live events viewer is also coming soon, showing pay-per-view events from partners across the world. On top of all of this, Flixter is coming this fall.

Here was the time everyone was waiting for. Let’s see some next generation games. President of SCE Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida came out on stage, bringing his infectious grin with him. He introduced a new title called The Order 1886, seemingly a Steampunk fantasy game set in London. Details were thin, but we were treated to a horse-drawn carriage, followed by explosions and an ensuing battle using futuristic weaponry. Next were a few short trailers for the games announced back at the PS4 reveal. Killzone Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Infamous Second Son and Knack. Infamous will launch in Q1 2014, but the other games were confirmed as launch titles. Finally we had a snippet of the new Quantic Dream. We see the old man who was part of Quantic’s tech demo at the reveal in February. He is apparently The Dark Sorcerer, brewing spells, ready to wreak havoc upon mankind. That is until the cameras stop rolling for a break in filming. A bit of comedy from a developer known for its seriousness was refreshing.

Adam Boyes, Vice President of third party relations for SCEA was next to show off the support the PlayStation is giving indie developers. Supergiantgames, Clay Entertainment, Tribute Games, Young Horses, Red Barrels, Oddworld Inhabitants, 17 Bit Games and more all took to the stage, showing off their wares. Diablo III was confirmed as coming to both the PS3 and PS4, along with PlayStation exclusive items. Next, a video from Square Enix. Is this Final Fantasy Versus XIII that fans have been clamoring for? Yes! And no! At the end of the suitably epic trailer, they do a quick switch with the numbers, revealing it to be FF XV. Just as people were rejoicing, next came a trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, along with the announcement of the long awaited Kingdom Hearts 3.

Next was Ubisoft. Its press conference had only ended a couple of hours before, so what would they have to show here? How about a world premiere gameplay demo of Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag? There seemed to be a lack of intrusive HUD elements, and the visuals are very pretty, but it still looks and plays like an AC game. A seamless transition to boat control and back to free running was a nice touch missing from AC3. Sadly, technical issues with the game stuttering caused the demo to be cut short. They quickly rolled out a Watch_Dogs demo to cover their tracks, and thankfully the demo ran without a hitch and looks as terrific as ever. We are treated to a driving sequence, fleeing from cops in helicopters, forcing the protagonist to hack a gate to hide inside a tunnel. Safe for now, we see him hack into the CCTV system and aid the escape of an accomplice by directing his movement and creating distractions. The PS version of the game will have an extra hour of gameplay and an exclusive outfit for the main character.

Next we had a video of Lebron James talking to the video representation of himself, and then showing off some of the new mechanics in NBA2K14. After that, a quick trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online, featuring a voice over from Michael Gambon. You must save Tamriel from the encroaching forces of Oblivion. It will release in spring 2014, and there will be a beta before then which will be exclusive to PS4 users first. Then, a trailer featuring a desert wasteland, a dying man and a big car running him over. This can only be the world premiere of the Mad Max game, and PS users will have a road warrior survival kit exclusive.

So far it was pretty much all about the games. Many people were questioning some of the policies and price points though. Sony was about to come out firing punches in all directions, and the closing moments of the press conference became blow after blow against Microsoft and all other competitors. The PlayStation 4 will support used games, allowing players to trade in, sell them on, lend them to friends or keep them forever. The PlayStation 4 will not require an online connection to play video games. Cheers rang out around the auditorium and around the world as Sony goes in completely the opposite direction of its main competitor. Your current PSPlus membership will carry over to the new console. In all the furor, it would’ve been easy to miss the statement that online multiplayer will now behind the PSPlus paywall however. A cloud service will be coming in 2014 to stream PS3 games to the new console.

Our final game of the day was the world premiere gameplay demo of Destiny, the new title from Bungie. Before the demo I wasn’t paying much attention to the game, but that all changed after the next five minutes of multiplayer action. The gun combat looks good, there is loot, and what looks like an open world featuring impromptu multiplayer quests. I was pleasantly surprised, and that demo firmly placed Destiny on my radar.

There was one final announcement though. Earlier in the day, there was a bit of a surprise at the seemingly high price point for Xbox One. Sony’s press conference closed with the announcement that its new console would release for $399, €399 and £349. A full $100 cheaper than Xbox One. With that, the first day of E3 is over, and there I’m sure there is a lot of head scratching to be done over at Microsoft. There hasn’t been a press conference as dominant as this in a very long time. Stay tuned to New Game Network all week as we'll have more from E3 2013.