E3 2014 – Sony

Closing out the first day is Sony with their 90 minute press conference. They have some tough acts to follow, including themselves from last year.

Bonus Challenges:

1. Show at least three indie games. Success

2. Have at least three new game announcements and show gameplay. Success

3. Say the word “future” no more than five times. Success

4. Show at least one compelling, new title for the Vita. Inconclusive

 

Sony showed many indie games, including a montage from developer Devolver that will have many games making their console debut on the PS4.

I thought this one might be a little tough, but they actually did show some previously unannounced titles with gameplay to boot.

Certain words just start to bother me after a while, and so I decided to see how many times the word “future” came up. Surprisingly, I only counted three uses, and in all fairness, they were legitimate.

I thought this one would be near impossible, and that is why it gets an inconclusive. Sony talked about a few features that do sound useful and cool for the Vita, but the challenge was to show a game. Entwined looks interesting to me, but I wouldn’t call it a compelling title, and it is available on the PS4 as well, but with Grim Fandango coming, Tales of Hearts R, and many unnamed titles being developed, I couldn’t give it an outright failure.

The briefing itself covered a lot of stuff, almost too much, which is a weird thing to say, but I really did feel overwhelmed to the point of forgetting what they talked about at the beginning by the end of it. The highlight list is a doozy this time, so just bear with me.

They started off with what I imagine is the opening cinematic for Destiny as it was narrated with background and such as you’d expect at the beginning of a game. It was announced that Destiny will be coming to PS4 first, with beta starting July 17th, and alpha starting on Thursday. On September 9th, the game will launch with a PS4 bundle that is white.

Gameplay footage for The Order 1886. We got to see a clear visual on the mystery monsters from the cinematic trailer last year. They are apparently zombie werewolf people. Still looks good, lighting effects are cool, and actually it reminded me a lot of The Last of Us with how some things were QTE’d.

Indie developer Pixel Opus showed Entwined, a game in which two souls represented by a fish and bird fall in love and can’t be together. The gameplay involves moving the left and right sticks to control each being and hit/avoid things on screen. The art style is interesting, a kind of pseudo origami. It is available right now for $9.99 with Crossbuy.

InFamous Second Son is getting some standalone DLC called First Light. The story follows Fetch as she recounts some events, and will be available sometime in August.

Little Big Planet 3 required no introduction. The demo-ers just started playing, and it looks awesome. Sackboy has gotten some new friends this time around, each with different abilities. Oddsock is a dog-like critter that runs fast and can wall-jump. Toggle can go from being very big and heavy to very small and light. Swoop can fly and carry other players. Should be available in November. One thing to note is that levels made on previous iterations will be accessible in LBP3, which is awesome.

A very dark, grim setting with Gothic architecture is kind of the last thing I’d expect from Miyazaki, but very much in line with FROM Software’s repertoire. Bloodborne will be coming sometime next year.

We got to see some more Farcry 4, this time attacking a base and escaping via wing-suit. The news on this was that you don’t need to own the game to play Farcry 4 multiplayer, but I’m sure there will be some limitations that will be detailed later.

Deep Silver has been working on Dead Island 2, and will have some exclusive stuff for the PS4. This was the part of the show where they started rambling off a bunch of exclusive deals and partnerships that my notes aren’t particularly detailed on. Diablo 3 has an area featuring enemies from the Last of Us, Battlefield: Hardline has something, Disney Infinity 2 also has something, and Destiny will have exclusive stuff as well.

Paradox has a few games in development, one of which is Magicka 2. The live-action reveal trailer was quite funny.

Grim Fandango is finally allowed to be remastered and let out into the wild now that Disney controls the old Lucas game studio licenses. The updated version will be available for PS4 and Vita.

Insert montage of Devolver games I mentioned before.

Suda 51 who is known for weird and creepy niche titles has a new one coming called Let it Die. The trailer showed what I guess were arena fighters or gladiators killing each other and progressing somehow. I’m sure we’ll see more before it is released in 2015.

Giant Squid is making Abzu, which reminds me of Journey except under water. It is visually appealing, and looks like a cool world to explore.

No Man’s Sky from Hello Games boasts an infinitely expanding, procedurally generated universe. Each player will start on a unique planet with creatures, plants, weather, etc. in different combinations. In a ship, leaving the atmosphere and flying to another planet is seamless, and satisfying to see. This looks like a very ambitious project, and I very curious to see how it goes.

The Playstation camera was mentioned only to bring up Project Morpheus, which is the VR headset peripheral. They kept this short, which was smart.

Later this year, PS4 sharing will be able to upload directly to YouTube. Twitch and uStream are getting enhancements as well. The Playroom is getting free DLC so that it can be used to customize some things about broadcasts.

Sony will have an increased focus on Free to Play games, with 25 titles slated for next year that will follow that model in some respect.

Playstation Now is what Gaikai became. The library will start with PS3 titles, with open beta starting July 31. It will be coming to the Vita at some point down the road, as well as some Sony TVs. You’ll just need a DualShock 3 to play.

Vita is getting some love with over 100 games in development. Specifically mentioned were Ubisoft’s Child of Light, and Tales of Hearts R from Namco-Bandai. Minecraft is getting a Vita version that will have cooperative play.

Playstation TV is coming this Fall. It will be able to play most Vita games, as well as be paired to your PS4 so you can use Remote Play to play something on a different TV in your house, or use media services. The device itself will be $99, and also be available in a bundle with a controller and the Lego Movie game for $139.

Mortal Kombat X (not 10) showed off some gameplay. The lack of a UI works for showing a game off, but I would have liked to have seen it. They managed to make it even more violent than the last one, X-ray attacks are more brutal than ever, and the stages will offer environmental objects that can be used in battle. I enjoyed MK9 more than I probably should have, so I’m looking forward to this.

Powers is a graphic novel about an ex-super hero turned detective that investigates the deaths of other people with powers. It is getting a show that will be exclusive to Playstation, and PS Plus members will be able to watch it for free. The first episode is free to everyone, and that will be coming out in December.

The Ratchet and Clank movie was premiered, and looks decent. Insomniac is heavily involved with the movie, so there should be plenty of care taken with the property. Part of this announcement was also that the first Ratchet and Clank game is getting a facelift for the PS4.

Speaking of enhancements, The Last of Us PS4 version will be coming out July 29th, and the video they showed containing various scenes does look quite good. I’ll be looking for a comparison video as we approach the end of July.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain had a trailer with a responsible length. I’m sure that was hard, but well done.

Grand Theft Auto V is getting a PS4 release this Fall. Online progress and characters can be transferred from PS3 and XBox, which is a little mind-blowing.

Batman: Arkham Knight showed off some Batmobile tank-mode stuff, gliding around, and that the scope of this one is insane. The PS4 version will also be getting some extra Scarecrow missions.

And, finally, the teaser trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End to close everything out. Hard to not be happy about that.

So, yeah, lots of everything. I did miss Jack Tretton as I always thought he did a good job, but the people that spoke this year did fine. All that is left is Nintendo’s Digital Event, and then some overall impressions.