The Annual E3 Sony press conference thread, 2017 edition

[Clukos]

Sony's games show real investment . It is kind of disturbing that they won't have not even one big game for another holiday season though.

I'm sure that won't matter, they have marketing deals for Destiny, Cod and Battlefront 2. It looks like they are following the same plan every year:

• Get marketing deals with big multiplat titles in the fall
• Release big first party games in the first half of next year
• Repeat

 

[Rangers]

How did MS conference get 21 pages and this get 7 so far? seems a marked reversal from past years on this forum unless I remembered? Scorpio (aka only new hardware reveal I suppose) that big a factor?

Ok I was half dead asleep trying to keep one eye open watching Sony. I already mentioned E3 underwhelms me the past few years (basically since PS3/360 gen) so dont kill me. Here's what stood out.

No price cuts on the hardware was the biggie. Expected, especially if you watch Sony fiscals (where they predicted to sell slightly less PS4 this FY, aka a big ol hint of no price cut). I imagine since they come 2nd and can react to MS, they probably had a Pro cut to 349 lined up, but didn't need it when XBX came in 499. I also think Scorpio coming in at 499 suggests on it's own that Pro/Scorpio are a little more expensive to manufacture than we think, so Sony was probably not eager to cut the Pro price.

I was surprised, delighted in my super tired state so I didn't have to force myself awake any longer, to see Sony conference only lasted one hour? Is that normal? Vs Xbox tweeting about 90 minutes plus...I dunno, I kinda like a tidy one hour conference, less bloat potential.

They seemed to misstep a bit by having a bunch of jaded journos in there, not clapping about everything, making things appear to fall flat. I didn't see MS conference so I dont know if that was similar. Maybe pack a few Sony marks fanboys in next time.

Also honest Q did they have anything besides a couple DLC for 2017? After the GAF thread about "Sony E3 is about games you wont play for years" I was on the lookout. Mostly I saw coming 2018, but again I was half asleep. I saw gow was 18, I kinda expected that be the holiday 17 tentpole. Is the spidey game 2017 I assume?

Was just watching spidey ps4 game on youtube randomly, sorry guys environments looked bland as hell. Plus I just have a hard time with spidey being hip when in movie world it's all avengers or whatever isn't it? anyways I'm not into superhero movies much less games.

The coolest for me was honestly probably SOTC. The graphics a little dated but the scale was really cool. IMO they should have just redone that as a totally new graphics title instead of "remastered" treatment. Either way it was kinda neat, although i never played the 1st.

Oh and COD looked graphically awesome at times, I was thinking have we reached E3 2005 Killzone trailer at points? Other points looked a bit janky though. Still, I have to laugh at WW2 being sold as new again. Like am I in bizzaro world? Everything old is new again I suppose. BF did it first but at least there was a little new spin it being WW1. I'd prefer WW2 anyways though.

Honestly both MS and Sony didn't seem to have a ton so I wonder if there's just less Triple A games full stop including 3rd party. Dev budgets keep going up...

So far maybe the most interesting/potentially cool thing I saw at E3 yet was probably EA's Anthem. And I'm not saying that blew me away.

Oh and I forget Sony showed a LOT of VR, possible misstep. No two ways about it the VR titles just have poor graphics so when displayed like regular games they dont come across great. I was happy to see they appear to be trying pretty much ever genre in VR in a big way. So we will find out if VR works or not. Just in general though, VR seems to be in a somewhat precarious position currently, as there's plenty of reports of low sales and reduced investment.

 

[Johnglen]

I'm sure that won't matter, they have marketing deals for Destiny, Cod and Battlefront 2. It looks like they are following the same plan every year:

• Get marketing deals with big multiplat titles in the fall
• Release big first party games in the first half of next year
• Repeat

Well I am talking as a gamer not as a Sony executive. Obviously whatever Sony is doing is working, just look at the sales, but for me it is disheartening that the holiday season will be barren , when it comes to PS4 exclusives.

 

[chris1515]

Well I am talking as a gamer not as a Sony executive. Obviously whatever Sony is doing is working, just look at the sales, but for me it is disheartening that the holiday season will be barren , when it comes to PS4 exclusives.

This it is better for third party too and first party games not sent to die during the end of the year. With the high cost of game it is very clever and it help Sony first party or Insomniac to be in good shape financially... The important things is to play games and there will be plenty to play this fall... The only exclusive game to launch this fall is GT Sport a car niche game... Now car games is a niche not big sellers like before...

It is very funny because each year we heard the same things no holidays exclusive, and the consumer continue to buy some PS4 and he can play in march or november...

 

[Johnglen]

Yes the consumer will buy the PS4, I never said anything about sales. All consoles are basically being sold on the back of big multi platform games.

Gt sport doesn't interest me one bit, it's e-sports focus is annoying and it looks vastly inferior graphically to forza 7 (as everyone can see from my post history I might be a little crazy but I try to stay objective) in gameplay.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Woke at 4 and couldn't sleep so put on a replay of the conference. A lot of games that all looked the same, both as each other and games already played. I was like, "Is this Uncharted? Horizon Dawn? LoU? Oh, different IPs all being exactly the same." Wasn't a single bit on fun on show.

 

[Jupiter]

Yeah, too many third person action singleplayer games. SONY should develop some multiplayer games again (once they had Warhawk, MAG, Starhawk, SOCOM etc). Microsoft on the other hand should develop more singleplayer titles.

Spider Man had too many quick time events. For a long time the player only presses buttons that are shown at the screen. I like games such as Detroit, Beyond and Until Dawn but in such action games as Spider Man this stuff does not fit at all.

 

[chris1515]

Yeah, too many third person action singleplayer games. SONY should develop some multiplayer games again (once they had Warhawk, MAG, Starhawk, SOCOM etc). Microsoft on the other hand should develop more singleplayer titles.

Spider Man had too many quick time events. For a long time the player only presses buttons that are shown at the screen. I like games such as Detroit, Beyond and Until Dawn but in such action games as Spider Man this stuff does not fit at all.

I disagree many third party multiplayer games and service oriented games, I prefer Sony develop some single player game...

EDIT: For spiderman it is an Uncharted style set piece... More freedom in other part of the game...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony may not have to develop other games, but they could certainly do with showcasing them.

 

[Johnglen]

That days gone game looked way too close to the last of us . I have to say that even they look kind of samey and are less.....gamey than what ms offers I prefer the big Sony productions by far. They seem to have hit the sweet spot this generation, as evident by the sales numbers of their first party games. I can already tell that God of war, spider man, days gone will be huge sellers while I believe that things like sea of thieves will flop badly .

 

[chris1515]

Sony may not have to develop other games, but they could certainly do with showcasing them.

Surprise by the no show of gameplay demo from third party game...

 

[Deleted member 13524]

The Uncharted stand-alone side story seems great because it's just what people want: a bit more Uncharted but without that feeling of milking the cow too much. Naughty Dog will need to be extra careful about what they do with the franchise for the next 4-5 years. I think I'd rather have them put it on hold until this generation ends.
TLOU could be a trilogy for this generation, for example.


It's nice to see a smaller studio like Sony Bend risking a new iP with Days Gone, even if said IP is based around... bleh zombies again. Lots of Naughty Dog inspiration in this game, from gameplay to dialogue and narrative, but they did develop Uncharted Golden Abyss. But I can't help the feeling that this could have been set in TLOU universe with minimal changes.

Shadow of the Colossus is a full on remake, not a remaster. I'm thinking this is Sony demanding Team Ico to put out money-making stuff in compensation for all the sweet time they took making The Last Guardian.
Since it's from Team Ico, I'm fulling expecting HDR support and the game should look gorgeous.


Then Sony did something I enjoyed quite a bit, which was to put PSVR on the spotlight in a way they hadn't done before: with actual game trailers instead of awkwardly filming people with the headset on playing a gem. All signs point to them not pulling a Vita with PSVR and that's really encouraging. I guess they're happy with the 1M sales so far.
Bethesda making a Skyrim VR exclusively for PSVR, in order to compensate from the lack of Fallout VR in the platform. I wonder if people will play this again after the 300 hours spent on the original version. I guess it depends on the price.. Fallout VR is going for $30 on Steam, so a similar price on the PSN could gather lots of attention. (Though I do wish Bethesda was focusing their efforts on Elder Scrolls VI instead.)
Then they showed a bunch of very diverse games for PSVR: platform, horror, shooting, fishing... The fishing FFXV game may seem like a joke of sorts, but at least it tells us that Square Enix is serious about expanding their adoption of Luminous Engine, even to the point of making VR games with it.

God of War super cool, but a bit disappointed it's not coming this year. Insomniac's Spider Man is coming earlier and is looking really cool, though.
I can't really get what Detroit is about, but coming from Quantic Dream it doesn't look like it'll be an action focused game.


Notably missing:
1 - Final Fantasy VII Remake
2 - Death Stranding
3 - Grand Turismo Sport (again?! is that thing in development hell?)

Scorpio (aka only new hardware reveal I suppose) that big a factor?

Of course it is. If you look at the posts in that thread, about 80% of them are about reacting to Scorpio's price and features.

 

[messyman]

I'd say it was somewhere in between good and great. No real surprises in the caliber of FF7, Shenmue 3 and Death Stranding but I guess the last few E3s were just that good and weren't the norm.
I saw the SotC rumor on NeoGAF but didn't believe it. Surprised it turned out true

Ni no Kuni 2 coming out in November is nice. Also a Monster Hunter game on consoles?!

For me

Ubi = Sony (I'd have put Ubi number 1 but there were so many cringey moments in their conference)
MS
Bethesda
EA

...

Devolver

Over all this year's E3 has been Okay.

 

[Jupiter]

Sony may not have to develop other games, but they could certainly do with showcasing them.

Yes, I missed BATTLEFRONT II at SONYs PK.

 

[Technewsreader]

I forgot about GT sport with all the potential games that could've been present. After the conference I realized that something was missing. That is very surprising to me...

I think a 1 hour+ conference without a lot of talk could be great with a bit more gameplay. Solid conference it just didn't feel "complete" in a way but hey you don't have to show everything on stage these days.

I'd say it was somewhere in between good and great. No real surprises in the caliber of FF7, Shenmue 3 and Death Stranding but I guess the last few E3s were just that good and weren't the norm.

wut?? Beyond good and evil 2 was a Unreal announcement! Thats literally Half-life 3 Magnitude
a 14 year gap. Maybe you are only referring to Sony's show.
such announcements are cool but I find gameplay of games that are closer to release more interesting and excting. All these games you've mentioned were announce so early.

 

[messyman]

I forgot about GT sport with all the potential games that could've been present. After the conference I realized that something was missing. That is very surprising to me...

I think a 1 hour+ conference without a lot of talk could be great with a bit more gameplay. Solid conference it just didn't feel "complete" in a way but hey you don't have to show everything on stage these days.

wut?? Beyond good and evil 2 was a Unreal announcement! Thats literally Half-life 3 Magnitude
a 14 year gap. Maybe you are only referring to Sony's show.
such announcements are cool but I find gameplay of games that are closer to release more interesting and excting. All these games you've mentioned were announce so early.

Yeah, I'm only talking about Sony's conference. It was only "disappointing" because of the lack of megaton reveals. Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer was amazing.

 

[iroboto]

This maybe for a different topic ...but are we gamers wanting "more and more" different game mechanics that haven't been touched yet, or discovered? I'm all for eye-candy like any other tech-junky, however, during the passing years the eye-candy shock is wearing thin. I'm looking for something different, which I overly-thought VR would accomplish, but I was wrong. The brain is craving more than eye-candy now...

This may also be a coming of age type of bit. I don't know any gamer that didn't eventually get bored after mastering their favourite type of game.

I mean if we were kids seeing games for the first time again, I could see myself loving a lot of these open world games with all sorts of stuff to do. But I grew up on pen and paper and that's shaped my view on RPG, in particular always looking for something that lined up like that. I don't know, sometimes it helps to step back or spend time in the indie scene.

 

[iroboto]

Woke at 4 and couldn't sleep so put on a replay of the conference. A lot of games that all looked the same, both as each other and games already played. I was like, "Is this Uncharted? Horizon Dawn? LoU? Oh, different IPs all being exactly the same." Wasn't a single bit on fun on show.

you did better than I. I thought the show was for 9PM PST. After moving baby seats back and forth between cars, 10PM got ready for sitting down to have my buddies tell me that it was already over lol.

I'm going to try to zoom through it on the train now. It does sounds like I didn't miss much though. No new Exclusives announced from what I can see from the general lack of enthusiasm here.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Just a bunch of trailers. Look them up piecemeal on YouTube. Oh, plenty of new exclusives I think but they were seemingly clones of existing games so not really new or exciting. Nothing of Dreams. Still. this gen will be over by the time that game releases.

That's actually a big point for me though. No LBP-type games. No karting games. No light-family games. All heavy, solo, epic, gritty...anyone new to video games watching this would think all gaming was a bleek indulgence in violence and blood-lust.

 

[messyman]

We still have Knack 2!