SCEE’s Jim Ryan seems like a much more amicable speaker than Jack Tretton. His delivery is likeable, his tone far more inviting and less preachy than his American counterpart – and, crucially, he seems able to connect with the legions of fans watching his every move in a way that tends to escape other speakers. It helps, of course, that he had one hell of a roster to talk through.
PlayStation’s E3 showing was, with the benefit of hindsight and the hyperbole in the bin, a bit of a washout. It was poorly paced, lacked big hitters and managed to skip over the Vita with an almost risible sense of disdain. Here in Europe, Sony’s long-held bastion and to a crowd eager to see just what SCEA danced around and over, the platform holder give us exactly what we wanted.
Games, and lots of them.
It was, naturally, sensible to start with the Vita. Assassin’s Creed whizzed past this author (I’m simply not a fan) but the mention of Call Of Duty, left hanging until the final few seconds like a twist in the tale, was smartly addressed. I don’t personally care about the negativity surrounding the developer – Nihilistic will build upon and learn from Resistance, and this new entry in the Black Ops franchise will hopefully stand tall.
[videoyoutube]Those are two big AAA third party names, even if one of them is being developed by Sony’s own studios. But the Vita love-fest didn’t stop there – news that we were finally getting PS One downloads was tardy but appreciated, and the promise of Media Molecule’s wonderful looking adventure Tearaway (great name, guys) seemed to tix every box I could want from a mobile title.The trick was to then move without ceremony straight onto Killzone. Mercenary could be brilliant – the trailer hinting at a side to the canon that we’ve not yet witnessed, and that’s precisely how to do a mobile title.
It looked great, and it’s hugely warming to know that Sony’s best studios are embracing the platform: Guerrilla have the power and skill to craft the best shooter possible.
Keeping with Vita, but branching off slightly, was PS Mobile. I knew it was going to get some attention at Gamescom, but I didn’t know they were going to push it so hard with the video reels and the surprise announcement that it would tie into your existing PSN account, across all the multiple devices the service supports. Some of the games looked great, and it’s nice to see that some minis will be getting the PS Mobile update, along with some new titles.
One of which we’ll be revealing and discussing tomorrow.
And then there’s the news that Sony are pushing ahead with Cross-Buy, giving PS Vita owners the game for free if it’s bought on PS3, and vice versa. There was mention of Battle Royale, but others will follow. Generous, clever, and can only be good for Vita.
I personally found the demonstration of Sackboy’s PS Vita controls a little sluggish, but understanding that the concept wasn’t the easiest to get across. The highlight – the seamless transition of the character to the lower screen – was genius, but some of it felt a little bit forced. Hopefully, as is always the case with LittleBigPlanet, the later levels will work the player a little harder than this introductory section.
Plus upgrades? Cleverly timed – my three month sub is about to expire and I’ll definitely be keeping that one going just to grab Red Dead Redemption and play it through again. News that it’ll be cheaper for a brief period to hopefully entice more subscribers was good – that’ll shift the emphasis back into numbers for the team at SCEE to put to publishers – the more people investing, the more likely we’ll be getting the big games on a regular basis.
On the PS3, then, and whilst FIFA would have to forgo football entirely for me to take any notice, Wonderbook is actually really starting to take shape. E3’s bumbled demonstrate was tragic, but it seems like some powerful negotiations have taken place of late: Diggs looks interesting, and with BBC and Disney on board (albeit without details) this is looking much better than I’d imagined it would have. I’ll admit, my heart sank when I saw the logo, but when the piece ended my head was spinning with possibilities.
And then there was the killer move – three brand new, never seen before games.
Until Dawn’s central concept – that the game will revolve around multiple characters and be actually quite scary – was great. The name had been banded around for months, but I’m happy this one was kept secret making the reveal all the more weighty. It was tricky to get a real grip on the gameplay, but we’ll hopefully be able to garner some more of that from our Gamescom playtests.
Rain? Dreamy. Feels like it was developed just for me and I’m already desperate to play it. I adore puzzle platformers that try to do something a little different and the emo atmosphere and the melancholic setting had me hooked. Thankfully we all got that one completely wrong when the name was leaked; hopes are high.
But the real star of the show? Puppeteer. Out of absolutely nowhere came this tragic, hysterical carnival of action and adventure with some wickedly creepy music and vocal work. It looks fantastic in the absolute sense of the word, and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that seeing something for the first time without leaks or rumours is the only way to do this. I’d love to have seen more of a focus on this, but the punchy trailer was perfect to conclude the show.
Well, apart from yet another look at The Last Of Us, which hinted that Joel’s background isn’t exactly clean, and that Call of Duty trailer we’ve already mentioned.
In short, though, this was great. Perhaps it’s because it wasn’t at some unearthly hour in the morning, or because we’d not had to sit through a rambling Microsoft presentation mere hours before, but Sony’s Gamescom felt fresh and exciting without being overtly showy or dramatic. And the true beauty of it all? I’d forgotten about the PSthree Super Slim.
And the PS4.
Shalashaska
It seems to me that TSA seems to have missed that vita will be getting plus I think this is a excellent move by Sony and something that has been overdue. Can’t wait for my vita plus goodies
http://m.ie.ign.com/articles/2012/08/14/ps-plus-red-dead-more-cloud-space-vita-features
cam the man
I missed that too, great news.
enigma_flex
Sony gave a great show and has convinced me not to sell my Vita, well done Sony!
RudeAwakening
Its covinced me to run out and buy it now as since its launch i have been very wary of dropping a couple of hundred euro on it, not now though!
FRUIT0FDOOM
It was a fantastic hour for Playstation fans and gamers in general! New games with new gameplay ideas is exactly what is needed. There wasn’t a game shown that hasn’t got me wanting to buy it or seek more information on it!
Sony now need to keep this momentum up! A very well done indeed.
bunimomike
It was a very strong showing but who were you watching, Al? His delivery was clunky, laboured and full of painful micro-pauses as he tried to avoid reading the autocue too quickly. Very average. If he can sort that out he’d be a great presenter.
Person678
Agreed, he seemed awfully wooden.
MICKY17
Couldn’t agree more. Jim Ryan was so dull IMO, and at least Tretton seems to enjoy what he’s talking about. Heck I would’ve preferred Andrew House to present, even though I’m not a fan of his rather high pitched voice.
MICKY17
Today’s show will hopefully go some way to silencing the doubters of Vita. It may have had a slow start but the big hitters are coming and quite soon (LBP especially). News of PS Mobile was good too, and I thought the Cross play in LBP was superbly demonstrated. All in all, a very good show from Sony.
Stealth20k
This article misses the mark
the vita had a TERRIBLE
event
COD will be shit
kill zone, will be shittier
nobody buys a system for psone games.
Nobody buys a system for ps3 ports
its last place standing is assured now
Alex C
o
k
enigma_flex
ur full of gas and BS!
bunimomike
Look, Pa. Our first troll of the season! Can I keep him… Puuuurlease! I promise not to try and make babies with its face this time.
ico
Gotta love the positivity. Personally felt it was pretty good show for Sony. Plenty of vita love and about time. I won’t buy a system for psone classics or ps3 ports but I’ll happily take themas a fringe benefit thanks very much.
skibadee
some EG trash has slipped in.
Peter Chapman
tentpole 3rd party partnerships with massive publishers just before Christmas.
bundle deals to entice franchise die-hards.
adding system-wide features that fans have requested.
opening up the massive potential in historical catalogue.
securing a mobile ecosystem that could rain down money.
showcasing it as a 2nd screen strategy – the hot topic in current consoles.
demonstrating key franchise interoperability with LBP2 on PS3.
announcing it will be included in PS+ promotions.
announcing several new games for it.
scheme to buy 1st party retail titles once, play on PS3 and Vita.
showing one of PlayStation’s key current gen franchises (KZ:Mercs).
Nope, I can’t find where they fucked it up with the Vita at Gamescom. Can you point to it on a doll or something?
jtomlinii
I thought Vita had a great event with LBP and Assassin’s Creed. COD looks like the same ole’ COD, take it as a good or bad. Killzone actually looks interesting because it’s focus is not on some military jugheads but rather mercenary jugheads. The PSOne and PS3 games are great perks to keep the current players to keep playing.
mugsybalone
Reading that post aloud with a pause at every line break makes it sound like a bad Captain Kirk impression, or some weird poetry.
FRUIT0FDOOM
What utter crap! Please remain in “stealth” and stay out of sight, in your case that is probably alone under a bridge somewhere.
job
its refreshed my belief in vita which was dissapearing fast.
thought it was very good personally and the few gripes mentioned above were all minor imo.
well done sony.
XisTG
Didn’t catch the presentation, but all in all I think Sony is on top of it’s game.
From the wonderful PS+ system that just keeps getting better, to the new Vita projects and cross buy of a disc release game, I’m more happy than ever to have their consoles.
Long live play!
XisTG
Also, 1GB for cloud saves? I reckon 150mb was not that much, but this is quite a leap. I can now stuff the cloud full of every Fallout save I have instead of just the most recent one :p
damoxuk
Killzone : Mercenary looks pretty good. Looks to be a decent game.
Cod however looked a bit drab and crap but coming from Resistance : Burning Skies dev’s it’s to be expected. (Bear in mind I enjoyed Resistance : BS but it wasn’t good in graphics department and definately not worth the day 1 price).