After the poor performance of Microsoft this morning, I expected Sony to do better. They did, but not by much.
Opening montage:
Mind blown. That was the way to start off E3!
Quantic Dream's Beyond:
Their previous game was Heavy Rain so I was expecting a graphics feast. I wasn't disappointed. It was incredible. It's also incredible that it was all done in real time, something Xbox fails at. Job well done! While it showed very little gameplay, I'm excited. Besides, the main charectar is performed by Ellen Page. That's enough for me.
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale:
The title is horrible, but what can you do? It is a direct copy of Super Smash Brawl, but that can be overlooked. The levels themselves mix in with many Playstation locations, such as the God of War series or Racket and Clank. It also has cross play between the Playstation 3 and the PS Vita. They showed a demo of this and it was really good. Two played on the Vita and the other two were on the PS3. The combat, however, looked rather boring. It was just them jumping around trying to hit the air. I was also expecting more in the graphics department. They chose a very bland graphic style, most likely to blend in with any of the game locations that it takes you to. It's not high on my list of games to get.
They ended the showing by unveiling two new charectars to the game. Big Daddy from Bioshock and Nathan Drake from Uncharted.
Cross Play between Vita and PS3:
All talk, little show. They only showed this for Battle Royale and a little with LittleBigPlanet.
Playstation Store:
Bragging about their store, especially with Journey. Unfinished Swan looks rather good, though. I'm looking forward to it.
Playstation Plus:
They just exploded the amount of games that it offers. I'm so impressed. $5 bucks a month for five or more free games is just incredible.
Vita:
Youtube and Hulu coming to the Vita. Yawn.
Call of Duty Vita:
Oh god. It's true. Black Ops 2: Declassified is coming to the Vita.
Assassin's Creed for Vita:
IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE!!! OH MAN! Gorgous graphics, rendered wonderfully. It comes out the same day that AC3 does. That's going to tear my heart apart. Vita is coming in white soon
Assassin's Creed 3:
Another demo is being shown. I'm okay with this. It's showing a naval battle this time around. The water alone is something to behold. The player is just about to crash the ship into another ship. There are cannons going off everywhere. Oh god. A cannon ball just killed a guy and it was glorious. The demo also showed off a dynamic weather system. Assassin's Creed 3 will take game of the year for sure.
That and Microsoft is dead in the water. All they have is Halo 4.
Far Cry 3:
They just announced that Far Cry 3 has four player coop. Some screen tearing and dubstep don't stop them from kicking some ass. Job well done.
Playstation Move:
Dust 514, Bioshock, Epic Mickey 2, etc. All of this games are said to use the Move. Why? Nobody uses it.
Wonderbook:
What did I just see? I don't even know what happened. They did announce the first book coming to it is Book of Spells, made by J.K. Rowling. It's cool, but the whole presentation is really off. Everything is so very awkward. That's what you get when using motion capture technology, though. So much for a flawless presentation...
Playstation Suite:
Playstation games are coming to any Android or iOS device. This basically puts Playstation exclusives such as InFamous onto mobie devices. Not much else was given.
God of War: Ascention:
The graphics are jaw dropping. Combat is the same old same old, only with more gore. I mean, they really went all out on that. Like stated, the combat is the same. it's a shame they didn't try to add on to it. Apparently Kratos has time control powers? He just rebuilt something that a sea monster just destroyed.
Once again going back to the graphics, though. The series has never really been about combat, but graphics and storyline. This one seems to go with both really well.
Last of Us:
Uncharted quality graphics, but we were already expecting that. The enviroments definately make it feel like the apocalypse happened. At one point, they go up against a vent. The amount of interaction between the object he is behind (such as touching it lightly or leaning against it) is incredible. Naughty Dog once again shines in the detail apartment. The rest of the game was mostly a escort mission. The combat doesn't improve much, despite the slamming into the wall part. Same old broken Uncharted gunplay. At another point in the demo, he pulled up a menu to create a moltov with the items he had on hand.
The demo had it's up and down moments. Graphics and attention to detail were a huge plus. The combat needs improvement, as does the AI. It's still high on my want list as it's a Naughty Dog game.
Conclusion:
Overall, it was a pretty good conferance. It showed off some great footage of God of War and Last of Us, but that was it. There was no new exclusives (InFamous 3, Sly Cooper) that were shown during the presentation. Sony did beat Microsoft, though. Too bad neither of them got even remotely close to the awesome that was Ubisoft. That conferance was pure gold.
