Sony E3 2012 Press Conference

Sony's press conference started with a long montage of all kinds of games that are on Sony's platforms. Kind of too long, if you ask me. And then Jack Tretton kind of talks even longer. I kind of felt that that was the main problem with this years event for Sony. Lots and lots of talk.

Beyond: Two Souls, new game from Heavy Rain developers. Ellen Page plays the lead role. Face detail is very nice, but it's hard to gauge anything else from the short and rather simple demo. Not really sure what to make of it at all really, what kind of game is it.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a terrible terrible name, and I guess that works out all right because it looks just like Super Smash Bros Melee, and that's terrible as well, right? The game doesn't appear to have a traditional health meter, winner is determined by scores, and you grab scores by using your supermove to kill other players. Two new playable characters unveiled, Nathan Drake and Big Daddy. Out on holiday this year.

The Oprah moment was a little weird I think. They gave a year of PSN+ for everyone in the conference. Way to juice the crowd in the middle of the conference. Back when Microsoft gave away those slim Xbox360's they at least had the class to wait right up until the end of the event.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Classified for Vita, an all new CoD experience on your handheld system, just the way you want to play your big triple A titles, right? Uh huh.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation for Vita, first lady assassin as the lead character in the series, they promise a proper AC experience for the handheld, and some connectivity between this and PS3 console game with unlocks and other nonsense like that.
Assassin's Creed III PS3 demonstration, BOATS. They demo a sea battle event, you steer the boat around and fire some cannons at other boats. At least it's not tower defense minigame. Looks great, they talk about the weather system and it starts raining during the demo. How convenient, but it looks really nice. AC3 will also get its own PS3 hardware bundle and some exclusive DLC.

FarCry 3 multiplayer demo. First thing I really notice is the really ugly and heavy shadow pop-in. It's really noticeable. The gameplay itself seems a little messy. 4 player co-op campaign, map editor, and free exclusive DLC.

Wonderbook, augmented reality nonsense. Some kind of Harry Potter related Spell Book will the first released book. You learn spells and stuff, uses Sony's Eye camera and Move controller.

God of War: Ascension, yep, it's another God of War game. I mean it looks great, but man, it's just another God of War game. Of course if you like those games, I allow you to excited. Dated for March 12, 2013.

The Last of Us, looks pretty great. Impressive faces, but hard to say anything about the rest. Seems really brutal, survival seems like a key concept.

It's a little funny how much Tretton talks about innovation and creativity, and then the only games developed internally at Sony (if I caught this all right) are another God of War game, PlayStation Smash Brothers clone and an augmented reality book. Even the Sony exclusives from Naughty Dog and Quantic Dream, look totally fine, but are certainly not grabbing any innovation awards.

Posted in Gaming by Kilu on June 04th 2012 at 10:35pm