Unfortunately, work got crazy at the exact moment that Microsoft’s press conference started, so as a result I didn’t get a chance to watch much of the livestream, and so I missed a lot of the shittiness (1, 2). General reaction on Twitter seems to be almost comically negative, even more so than during the …
E3 2013: Sony and the death of the Xbox One
Sweet Jesus, Sony just won E3. It’s over. Mic is dropped. Microsoft is dead.
Even if the software lineup hadn’t been so spectacular – and it was – the 1-2 punch of the used games policy (i.e., they’re OK with it) and not needing a constant internet connection was utterly devastating. PLUS the $399 price point? BOOM. Game, set, match.
Shit, they very nearly sold me on the Vita. If they come out with a price cut or a bundle with the PS4, I’m in, no questions asked.
Let’s run down what they did cover, though – these are my hastily written notes (enhanced with my Twitter commentary):
Opening montage:
- The Last of Us
- Puppeteer (?)
- Rain
- Beyond
- Gran Turismo 6
All known quantities, for the most part, except Puppeteer, which looked colorful and also a little forgettable. Beyond remains enigmatic and weird; I want to like it, but I have no idea what the hell it is anymore.
Featured trailer
- Batman Arkham Origins – a little nervous. I mean, I’m happy to play more Batman, but that’s all this seems to be.
PS4 reveal:
- it looks like an Xbox Rhombus. This might be the most underwhelming part of the evening; the box looks a lot like the Xbox One, except tilted.
- Sony Entertainment integration. Why are they only getting around to this now? Seems like a no-brainer.
- new IP: The Order (which is less “steampunk” and more “wildly and randomly anachronistic” – no gameplay)
- Killzone: Crysis – er, ShadowFall
- Drive Club – don’t quite know what this is, but as a PSPlus member, I get it for free!
- Infamous Second Son – this looks great. Big fan of the first game, underwhelmed by the second. This looks like they took their time with it.
- Knack – got a weird Kameo vibe from it.
- Quantic Dream tech demo – “The Dark Sorcerer”
- Supergiant’s Transistor, which continues to look great.
Indie montage – and this was so great to see:
- Klei – Don’t Starve
- Tribute Games – Mercenary Kings.
- Young Horses – OctoDad
- Secret Ponchos
- Ray’s The Dead
- Oddworld! Lorne Lanning!
- Galak-Z (some sort of side-scrolling open-world space shooter! looks amazing)
Featured items:
- Diablo 3 – PS3/PS4 – with exclusive items. Meh. I played the shit out of it on PC and don’t need to go there again.
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII is now Final Fantasy XV and that trailer looked completely fucking insane.
- new Kingdom Hearts. Which is good for people who like Kingdom Hearts. My deep-seated loathing of Disney makes it impossible for me, but whatever.
- Assassin’s Creed 4 gameplay. As I missed the Ubisoft presser, this was all new to me. Still very wary of this franchise after the debacle of the last 2 games.
- Watch_Dogs gameplay. Looked great, as always. (For some reason, when I was trying to recall the footage just now, I got it confused a little bit with that new Tom Clancy’s game, The Division, which also looks incredible.)
- 2KSports NBA2K – hard to do a facial tech demo after that Quantic Dream “Dark Sorcerer” bit.
(Here’s where it started getting very, very interesting, and when Twitter started to explode.)
- Elder Scrolls Online?!! PS4 exclusive beta?
- Mad Max (by the Just Cause devs)
- Oh shit. Used Games are OK. Doesn’t need to be online. SHOTS FIRED, DIRECT HIT.
- World gameplay premiere of Bungie’s Destiny. Halo + Borderlands = awesome.
- $399?!!!
I need to sleep on this and process it. Because if I don’t, I will pre-order a PS4 right now with money that I don’t actually have.
Well played, Sony. Well played. You just won the shit out of E3.
