Wrapping up today’s mega-coverage of PrE-3 shenanigans, Sony will deliver their presentation which will hopefully focus on a number of PS4 titles. The event will also give us our first look at the PS4’s design, as well as confirmation on a release date and price point. Considering only one of my wish list games have been announced thus far (Thank you, DICE,) I’m really hoping that Sony throws me a bone and announces either Gravity Rush 2 or a new entry in the Ratchet & Clank: Future series. Seriously, Sony, I need a pick-me-up after that radio silence Ubisoft gave me in regards to Beyond Good and Evil 2. We’ll see what happens in less than an hour. Stay tuned after the live-blog for my recap, where I’ll offer my analysis of the presentation and upload all the trailers released during the event.
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The event kicks off with Sony’s usual musical intro complete with flashing lights and a montage of upcoming titles. A mix on indie and major titles that have previously been announced
Jack Tretton takes the stage to introduce the presentation
The event will be broken into two parts: First, the PS3 and Vita software lineup, and then the PS4 section
- The PS Vita is “just beginning its life cycle.”
- Vita owners have purchased, on average, more than 10 games (I guess we’re going to get hit with statistics now. What is this, the Nintendo event?)
- More than 85 titles will launch on Vita by the end of this year; including Batman: Arkham Origins, Killzone: Mercenaries, along with some remastered titles such as God of War 1/2 HD, as well as Final Fantasy X/X-2
- The Walking Dead will be included in a new bundle for Vita; it comes with Season 1 and the newly announced 400 Days
The PS3
A new launch trailer for The Last of Us is shown
Followed by a trailer for Puppeteer
Then straight into a trailer for Rain (looking as gorgeous as ever)
Immediately followed by a new trailer for Beyond: Two Souls; revealing the game has a heavy focus on military elements.
- Jodi is recruited to be a soldier using her powers to take down targets
- Jodi infiltrates a foreign country and gets into a firefight with a number of enemy soldiers
The next trailer is for Gran Turismo 6 and showcases new features:
- New physics engine
- New tire models
- New aerodynamics model
- Adaptive tessellation (Umm… I don’t know)
- A new rendering engine
Tretton returns to celebrate Naughty Dog’s success with Uncharted and The Last of Us, before showing a new trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins
- Narrated by Black Mask, who puts a hit out on Batman worth $50 million
- Batman’s new voice actor (George Newborn) is heard for the first time
- Ends with a shot of The Joker, voiced by someone other than Mark Hamill
- Coming October 25
- As part of Sony’s partnership with Warner Bros., exclusive content will include a Knightfall costume as well as the Adam West 1960’s Batman costume
Tretton then talks Grand Theft Auto V
- Introduces a new PS3 bundle, and a separate GTAV-branded headset
Andrew House takes the stage to discuss PS4
Starts by unveiling of the PS4 hardware
It’s… strange. It’s angled design makes it look a bit like a Tetris piece.
Discussing the new PlayStation Network:
CEO of Sony Entertainment Michael Lynton is introduced to talk about entertainment content coming to PSN
- “PS4 represents a groundbreaking new platform for amazing entertainment”
- “Curated for gamers on PSN and PS4”
- Sony is hard at work on unique, original programming available exclusively on the PS4
- Sony publishes content across the entertainment spectrum; including music, movies and TV
Lynton comes back to talk PSN features and services:
- Redbox Instant will be available soon
- “Live Events Viewer” will provide Pay-Per-View and On-Demand events
- Flixster will also be available for PSN later this year
Onto the PS4’s software lineup:
President of Sony Entertainment Worldwide Shu Yoshida comes onstage to discuss new games coming to Sony’s next-gen platform
The worldwide team committed to exclusive content consists of 14 studios; making it the largest in the world
Social networking is a big aspect of the PS4
Over 30 PS4 title’s in development, with 20 of them scheduled for launch within the first year, many of them are new IPs
Introduces an exclusive, new IP by Sony Santa Monica and Ready At Dawn Studios titled The Order: 1886
Followed by updates (trailers) of the four titles announced at the PS4 reveal back in February:
Killzone: Shadowfall
Drive Club
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Knack
Yoshida comes back onstage to announce that Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, and Drive Club will all be PS4 launch titles. inFAMOUS: Second Son will debut Q1 2014
Yoshida then details how the power of the PS4 can lead to more emotinally engaging experiences. Debuts a sneak preview of Quantic Dream’s new project, an original IP titled The Dark Sorcerer
- That old man from February is a central character. He appears to be “the” dark sorcerer
- a fourth-wall segment breaks the action as the sorcerer appears to be acting in front of a green-screen
- More information is coming soon
Adam Boyes is introduced to discuss upcoming third-party titles
He introduces the team from Supergiant Games (makers of Bastion) with a new trailer for Transistor
- Transistor will debut first on PS4 early next year
Focusing more on indie creators, Sony reaffirms that indies can self-publish on the PS4
A trailer showcases a few indie titles:
- Mercanary Kings
- Octodad: Dadliest Catch
- Secret Ponchos
- Outlast
- Galak-Z
- A new project from Oddworld Inhabitants is coming. In addition, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is an HD remake of the original Oddworld title
Shifting focus to blockbuster titles
Diablo III will feature exclusive PlayStation-themed content on the PS3/PS4, such as Drake’s amulet from Uncharted
He discusses Square Enix, then presents a video to introduce an update on Final Fantasy Versus XIII
- An action-adventure title with real-time hack ‘n slash combat
- Platforming segments utilize protagonist Noct’s grappling hook ability
- Versus is officially re-branded as Final Fantasy XV
Followed up by a teaser trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3
- No release date given, but announced exclusively for PS4
Additionally, Final Fantasy XIV will be coming to both the PS3 and PS4
Next, Boyes talks about Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed to introduce an exclusive gameplay demo of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Followed by a gameplay demo for Watch_Dogs with Jonathan Morin
- A second player can use a tablet to assist the primary player by hacking nearby objects to manipulate the environment
- An example of Aidan needing backup to escape resulted in the tablet player to raise road blocks and short out spotlights to facilitate Aidan’s escape
- PS4 will have an exclusive costume and “an extra hour” of gameplay (no further details provided)
Boyes presents some upcoming sports titles with technology that is only possible on next-gen consoles
Introduces NBA 2K14
Bethesda is introduced next
The Elder Scrolls Online is confirmed for the PS4 with a debut gameplay trailer
- Releasing Spring 2014
Boyes debuts a world-premier trailer for Mad Max
- Developed by Avalanche Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment
- PS4 will get some exclusive content
Jack Tretton returns to close out the show
- PS4 won’t impose any restrictions on used games
- The PS4 also supports lending games to friends; won’t impose any barriers for sharing games
- Disc-based games don’t require an online connection or require any type of online authentication
- There is no “checking in”
- It won’t stop working just because you aren’t checking in to PSN every 24 hours (blatant shot at Microsoft, deservedly so)
- Cross-game voice chat reaffirmed, as well as the ability to play games as they download in the background
- PS+ will carry over onto PS4, so members will have benefits across all platforms
- Access to all media services will NOT require a PS+ subscription
- Drive Club will be immediately available to PS+ members as an addition to the Instant Game Collection
- Plus members will get a new game every month for free on PS4
Tretton closes out his segment with a mention of Bungie and Activision
He introduces the world gameplay premier of Destiny
- Classes include Warlock, Hunter, and Titan
- Enemies are known as The Fallen
- High-level enemies drop loot
- Weapons have unlockable abilities through skill progression
- Public Events can trigger, leading to massive online group battles against boss-like enemy types
- Destiny launches in 2014
Lynton returns to discuss the power of the cloud and offers launch details before closing out the show
- The cloud will be available in early 2014 and will provide access to PS3 titles when it launches
- PS4 will be available for $399 and will launch this Holiday season
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Sony knocked it out of the park tonight. With a strong focus on a variety of titles across every genre, the reaffirmation of their commitment to indie games, and their announcements concerning used games and DRM were all total crowd-pleasers. With the perfect price point of $399 and the great selection of content coming to PS4, it’s hard to argue against Sony reigning supreme over Microsoft headed into the next generation.
Upsettingly, none of my E3 wish list titles have come to fruition. With the exception of DICE developing a new Star Wars: Battlefront, none of the titles I was hoping for found the elusive greenlight. Perhaps Nintendo can come through tomorrow morning. If I had to point out a disappointment coming out of Sony’s event, I’d say it’s still pretty disappointing we haven’t any news concerning The Last Guardian. Seriously, what the hell happened to that game?
Alright folks, that’s going to wrap up all my PrE-3 coverage for today. But there’s still an entire week’s worth of news and trailers to look forward to, so be sure to check back with IGXPro for full coverage of everything shown out on the show floor.
What did you folks think of Sony’s presentation? Have you decided on which console to purchase, or are you stil sitting on the fence? What playable demo out on the show floor are you looking forward to seeing more of this week? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to like IGXPro on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or give us the ‘ol +1 on Google+. If you can’t get enough of my shenanigans, (who could blame you?) you can check me out @GamingsNirvana, or add +VinnyParisi to your circles.