Sony Gamescom 2013 conference

[BoardBonobo]

I'm liking the cheap upgrade route for some games. I think CoD is like $10 to upgrade from the PS3 version to the PS4 one.

That's a neat way of doing things and lends value to the whole idea of upgrading.

My feeling was that Sony showed us a platform that is supported by a multitude of different genres where the whole thing come together in a synergy of ideas.

MS seemed to show two games that were more important than the platform that was supposed to be the star.

 

[BoardBonobo]

1.9 million? I thought they said a million.

From GI.Biz

"Andy [House] quoted a number last night for pre-orders, in fact he quoted a low end number, he said 'in excess of'", Gara told GamesIndustry International this morning.

"The UK represents a significant proportion of that, we're talking unprecedented levels of pre-orders that we haven't seen in 20 years in this business."

So it could be well over the million mark!?

 

[Bagel seed]

1.2 to 1.4 I guess.

 

[Rangers]

I tend to discount preorder numbers compared to history a little bit just cause my common sense tells me it's a lot easier to preorder things with a few clicks online nowdays. Also just that preorders are a lot more of a thing now, even large chain stores do them.

1m preorders, if we assume a 50/50 Euro/USA split, that's 500k for USA, which is pretty good I think.

NPD sales:

Nov 06 PS3 190,000, Dec 06 490,700

Nov 05 360 326k, Dec 05 281k

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Sony's launch line-up is weak IMO.

How much stuff is playable on the show floor at Gamescom? MS practically has every launch game on the floor for demos.

As much as the Internet rhetoric is coming up with fantasy scenarios like October PS4 launches, it's pretty clear that Sony is behind schedule in software.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So it could be well over the million mark!?

It can't be too far over otherwise they'd have picked a better landmark figure, like "nearly 1.5 million" or even "well over a million". 1.1 to 1.2 would be my bet.

Anyone know what Wii U's preorders were? I found this saying 500k, but that was from just GameStop.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony's launch line-up is weak IMO.

Why do you think that? As far as console launches go, it strikes me as pretty robust. If we enter into a list wars...

XB1 - 23 titles

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Crimson Dragon
Dead Rising 3
FIFA 14
Fighter Within
Forza Motorsport 5
Just Dance 2014
Killer Instinct
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Lococycle
Madden NFL 25
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 14
Need for Speed: Rivals
Peggle 2
Powerstar Golf
Ryse: Son of Rome
Skylanders: Swap Force
Watch Dogs
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Fitness: World Party

PS4 - 21 titles

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
DC Universe Online
DriveClub
FIFA 14
Just Dance 2014
Killzone Shadow Fall
Knack
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Madden NFL 25
Minecraft (this is coming to XB1)
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 14
Need for Speed: Rivals
The PlayRoom
Skylanders Swap Force
Tiny Brains
Warframe
War Thunder
Watch Dogs

They seem fairly similar. I'd perhaps give the nod to XB1 for a little more variety and number of titles (11 exclusives to PS4's 8, which includes the PlayRoom which isn't really a game), but it's hardly a chalk and cheese situation where Sony are clearly behind.

 

[novcze]

PS4′s 15 Retail 2013 Launch Titles & 18 Digital Launch Titles Confirmed, All Arrive Before December 31st, 2013, Includes Flower

 

[patsu]

So we should be able to sit at a computer or use a device in game that lets us browse the internet, possibly even looking up how to complete the next level!

I can just imagine playing a game, deciding to take a break and pulling out a mobile from my inventory and loading up iPlayer...

You can join events directly from the live tiles without going through game UI. It's like XML Game Launching in Home. The party system is at the XMB level too.

Glad to see PS4 inherit the salient features of PS3.

Now if they also steal and enhance the PS3 chat room feature, it'd be "perrfect" for me. We can circulate a chatroom's URL to thousands of Gaffers without a central admin. On PS3, we would enter the "GAF" chatroom to form a party. Works pretty well for a huge clan for adhoc party. I trust a Gaffer as my teammate more than any random soul on the net.

I also remember Sony filed a patent for extending the XMB icons. Basically a compatible service on the same network can advertise its presence, and it will automatically appear as an XMB icon.

Now imagine my iPad exports one or more XMB services, it's like a "http gateway" into Apple's ecosystem. ;-) Sony, please allow users to add our own XMB services !

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Why do you think that? As far as console launches go, it strikes me as pretty robust. If we enter into a list wars...

XB1 - 23 titles
PS4 - 21 titles
They seem fairly similar. I'd perhaps give the nod to XB1 for a little more variety and number of titles (11 exclusives to PS4's 8, which includes the PlayRoom which isn't really a game), but it's hardly a chalk and cheese situation where Sony are clearly behind.

The issue beyond having a weaker line-up than MS is that Sony seems behind in terms of actual playable titles.

 

[patsu]

Oh they will be fine. If the third parties can't get their games up on PS4 reasonably on-time, then they may have to deal with the new terms when Amazon, Google and Apple make more headway into core gaming.

It's not a PS vs XB type of scenario anymore.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The issue beyond having a weaker line-up than MS.

Can you please explain that. I don't understand how you are qualifying weaker, unless you mean regards you own particular interest in the available games.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Warthunder PS4 gameplay:

 

[Cornsnake]

I was hoping for at least one first party AAA game reveal, but aside for from it was an excellent press conference. All the indie stuff was just crazy. It was hard to keep track of everything that was announced. It remains to be seen if they'll actually make good games, but with that kind of talent working on it, and the number of them, it's hard to imagine there not being a few gems amongst them.

Launch date is always good to know.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Why do you think that? As far as console launches go, it strikes me as pretty robust. If we enter into a list wars...

XB1 - 23 titles
PS4 - 21 titles
They seem fairly similar. I'd perhaps give the nod to XB1 for a little more variety and number of titles (11 exclusives to PS4's 8, which includes the PlayRoom which isn't really a game), but it's hardly a chalk and cheese situation where Sony are clearly behind.

Well that's interesting. There's more first and third person shooters on Playstation than Xbox for launch. And there's more variety in game genres on Xbox for launch. And no fighting games at all on PS4 for launch? Is this bizarro world?

Also there's a quite a bit more online required games for PS4 than Xbox. DC Online, War Thunder, and Warframe all require an online connection to play.

And quite a few games that have been out for a while now. DC Online, Warframe, Minecraft, and to an extent War Thunder (open BETA for a while). So I can understand why some people might view the PS4 launch lineup as a bit weaker when almost 20% of the announced games are games that have been out and playable for a while.

Bizarro world indeed.

Regards,
SB

 

[patsu]

I remember seeing quite a few F2P games on PS4 too. Would be good to come up with a list to see which F2P games are outside PS+ pay wall. And which ones require PS+.

Of all the 33 PS4 titles this year, I'm only tracking Planetside, Knack, KZSF, Warthunder, Minecraft and perhaps Drive Club (which is free for PS+ dudes ?).

I suspect I'll spend more time on my Vita.

PS+ will give me some free games anyway.

 

[djskribbles]

I tend to discount preorder numbers compared to history a little bit just cause my common sense tells me it's a lot easier to preorder things with a few clicks online nowdays. Also just that preorders are a lot more of a thing now, even large chain stores do them.

1m preorders, if we assume a 50/50 Euro/USA split, that's 500k for USA, which is pretty good I think.

NPD sales:

Nov 06 PS3 190,000, Dec 06 490,700

Nov 05 360 326k, Dec 05 281k

They said "over 1m" and there's still 2-3 months left, and this obviously doesn't include people lining up to buy one. Plus a few stores have capped pre-orders... amazon is even sold out of standard editions. I believe Sony said the PS4 is even outpacing the PS2 by quite a bit. Numbers are pretty impressive if you ask me.

Sony's launch line-up is weak IMO.

How much stuff is playable on the show floor at Gamescom? MS practically has every launch game on the floor for demos.

As much as the Internet rhetoric is coming up with fantasy scenarios like October PS4 launches, it's pretty clear that Sony is behind schedule in software.

The PS4's software launch lineup is by far better than the PS3's launch lineup. It's not great, but it's good enough for the time being IMO, and not bad compared to other launches in recent memory.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Can you please explain that. I don't understand how you are qualifying weaker, unless you mean regards you own particular interest in the available games.

I don't think Knack, DriveClub, and Killzone can compare to Killer Instinct, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, and possibly Ryse.

Killzone is good, but it's hardly like CoD and BF4 aren't going to fill that FPS spot in the lineup anyway.

There isn't even a fighter in PS4's launch line-up.

It gets even worse when you go beyond the launch into the "launch window" where MS has TitanFall (won 60 E3 awards) and Project Spark.

But my main comment was just that MS seems to have more "playable" games right now.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't think Knack, DriveClub, and Killzone can't compare to Killer Instinct, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, and possibly Ryse.

I won't particularly disagree, although that's somewhat subjective. I'd be more inclined to prefer Knack over DR3, for example, nit that I'm interested in either.

Killzone is good, but it's hardly like CoD and BF4 aren't going to fill that FPS spot in the lineup anyway.

It doesn't need to be CoD or BF4 because those games are coming. KZ is a for a particular audience, much like Just Dance.

There isn't even a fighter in PS4's launch line-up.

It's definitely a bit odd, but I guess that's because Japan is getting PS4 later and the Japanese titles are waiting until then. There's no RPG on either platform, for example.

But my main comment was just that MS seems to have more "playable" games right now.

Well that's not what you said. Is there anywhere a list of what games are playable at GC? I haven't found one.

 

[djskribbles]

I don't think Knack, DriveClub, and Killzone can compare to Killer Instinct, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, and possibly Ryse.

Killzone is good, but it's hardly like CoD and BF4 aren't going to fill that FPS spot in the lineup anyway.

There isn't even a fighter in PS4's launch line-up.

It gets even worse when you go beyond the launch into the "launch window" where MS has TitanFall (won 60 E3 awards) and Project Spark.

But my main comment was just that MS seems to have more "playable" games right now.

Can you please explain that. I don't understand how you are qualifying weaker, unless you mean regards you own particular interest in the available games.

That's exactly what it sounds like.