No Need For Next-Gen As Sony Shows Gamescom A Good Time

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.