E3 2013 Wrap-Up: SONY

On June 11th, SONY took the stage to finally unveil the PS4 console, and the future of the PlayStation franchise to the world. After a very impressive conference back in February, they had to only do a bit more to wow the masses. Mainly show off some great games, settle the release date, price of the consoles, and some new features to their online format.

They staredt the show off with an amazing little video that showed us sneak peaks of what they will be showing at this press conference with a little dub-step. Once that was over, Jack Trenton took the stage for the introduction, and to kick off their press conference.

Trenton started by giving us the PS Vita’s percentages, as it approaches its second year in the market, and says the handheld will have more than 85 games launching before the end of the year, also that Telltale’s the Walking Dead: 400 days will release during the summer. Then he moved on to the PS3, and shows the Game Of The Year contender The Last Of Us, The Puppeteer, Rain, Beyond Two Souls (that release was announced to be October 10th of this year,) and Gran Turismo 6. It was good to see the support for the PS3 still lasting despite the PS4’s announcement.

Next Batman: Arkham Origins was shown with a brand new trailer showcasing the Dark Knight himself, new gameplay, gadgets, along with Deathstroke, Black Mask, Deadshot, and revealing Bane and the Joker to be in the game as well. Then they announced that due to their partnership, PS3 members will be getting 2 exclusive skins for the game from the 1960’s TV series, and from the Knightfall comics series.

Then they announced an exclusive bundle for Grand Theft Auto 5 that will retail for $299.99 and will be available on September 17th, along with an exclusive PS3 GTA5 headset.

Moving on to the PS4, and the long awaited unveiling of what the system will actually look like. They went on to explain that the PS4, thanks to a slew of new partnerships with redbox, Flixster, and more, SONY Entertainment & Movies will have the best in music, video, entertainment, as well as exclusive content only on PS4. You will be able to rent, or own over 150 movie titles, also streaming unlimited Music.

After explaining all the new social aspects that will be coming to PlayStation, it was on to the video games. The first game shown was The Order. Which kinda reminded me of a medieval Men In Black. Using weapons and tools beyond their time, this group is seen slaying unknown creatures.

Next trailers for Killzone: Shadow Fall, Drive Club, inFamous: Second Son, and Knack. Right after it was confirmed that Killzone: Shadow Fall, Drive Club, and Knack will all be launch titles for the PS4, and inFamous: Second Son will be released first quarter 2014.

Then what was showcased was really amazing. They displayed the graphic potential of the new system, with clear graphics, and Hollywood motion capture quality animations.

Supergiant Games, the indie team of developers who created Bastion debuted their next game Transistor, which will be released next year.

Then SONY made a statement, by announcing 8 indie studios that have joined the SONY family, making its claim saying that the PS4 will still be the best console for developers to make games for. This showcased their support for indie game developers. It was then confirmed that Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 3 will receive exclusive content on the PS3 and PS4 consoles.

Next we received a special message from Tetsuya Nomura & Square Enix in which they showed the newest trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which to everyone’s surprise became Final Fantasy XV. I was shocked and extremely happy to see this announcement, and that wasn’t all that had to be shown from Square Enix, because they unveiled Kingdom Hearts 3!

At that point you could hear fans of both series exploding in joy. So brace yourself: Final Fantasy XV, and Kingdom Hearts 3 cosplays are Coming.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag took the stage, for the first gameplay demo of the game, and it did not disappoint. Fans of the series will love Edward Kenway.

Watch_Dogs was next. This has been on my radar since they announced it last year. This open world game will be at your command to hack, and do as you please. The gameplay demo showcased some of the possibilities of the game’s mechanics, gameplay, and gave a hint of the story to us. I have a feeling that this game will be a Game of the Year contender.

The newest trailer for NBA 2k14 was shown next, and it looks like they made a major improvement to the graphics engine for the game, and from the looks of it they spared no expense to capture these players to the smallest detail.

The Elder Scrolls Online was up next, showing off the settings, gameplay, monsters, and the Spring 2014 release window. They also announced that PS4 will have the exclusive beta before any one else, due to their new partnership.

The world premiere trailer for Mad Max was shown, but what they did next was shocking, and what an answer by SONY.

Explaining that over 140 titles are in development for the PS4 including third party partners, their own development teams, and announcing 40 exclusives, SONY went on to say that 100 of said games will be available in the PS4’s first year. Next SONY gave Microsoft virtual smack in the face, saying that the PS4 does not restrict used games, because the XboxOne does. They even made a trailer to show case how they feel used games should be treated by consumers, and that PS4 games do not have to be connected online to play. Then they re-established their social aspects by stating the share button which will allow you to stream content to friends, cross game voice chat, play games as they download in the background, and your PSN accounts will carry over to the PS4. A slew of new features were announced for PlayStation Plus members.

After all was said and done one more partnership was announced. With a new partnership with Bungie and Activision we get the world gameplay premiere of Destiny. I myself have been interested in this game since it was announced. The gameplay was incredible, and the multiplayer co-op is amazingly well done. The first person shooter aspects bear a close resemblance to the Halo games, which is something welcomed since Bungie is developing this. Skills, abilities, classes, and loot whoring, it is all here. I didn’t expect anything less from Bungie.

SONY ended their press conference with announcing the price of $399 for the PS4, with a release window of this holiday season. I have to hand it to SONY, they did an amazing press conference. They answered the fans’ questions, had the games, and showed the console’s potential. It was well done on their part, and I look forward to seeing the launch of the PS4 and all that this system will have to offer.