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Sony’s Press Conference Did Not impress Me

LEBRON-JAMES-HEY-MAN-HE-WAS-IN-MY-FACE
Written by Chris Lock

I come to you, dear readers, as a Sony fanboy. Being as such for most of my life, I have seen my fair share of disappointment. From not originally understanding why Call of Duty 4 maps just were not on the store yet to hearing “this is the year of the Playstation.” at least 3 times. But, I have also been blown away with the amazing new games that can bend or define genres. Why do I mention this? Because as a Playstation fan I have learned how to weather the storm of criticism and have often enjoyed a press conference even when it is ridiculed everywhere else.  So with that in mind, let us talk about the Sony Press Conference.

Flat out, I was not impressed. Before you get that lynching rope ready, let me explain. I was not impressed by the games. Pulling purely numbers, Sony showed off one exclusive new game that we had never seen or had confirmed, The Order: 1886. On the flip side, Microsoft showed off eight brand new exclusive games; Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Sunset Overdrive, D4, Project Spark, Crimson Dragon, Below, Titanfall, and whatever Black Tusk is working on. You do not have to count that last one if you do not want to, but it only brings the total new games down by one.

The Dark Sorceror 2

Yeah, that was super funny David Cage. Now will this ever be a real game?

Are numbers really that important? No, I guess not; what was important was wowing me as a consumer. I did like some things Sony had to offer, like the killer indie segment, but I had seen nearly everything else before. Whereas I had no expectations for Microsoft and they held only a morbid curiosity for me before the press conference. And then they came out swinging and blew me away with games I had never seen before. They had kept their promise to keep E3 all games, which was, well, surprising.

During Microsoft’s press conference I was legitimately worried for Sony. I assumed that Sony would had some aces up their sleeves, but they would have to start off just as hard Microsoft did to even compete. Unfortunately, they did not. They came out with a sizzle reel followed by gameplay of games we have already seen, or were known quantities. Soon after that they talked about Music and Video Unlimited, cool to some, but totally useless to myself. At this point I was not the only one feeling the heat on Sony’s neck. Twitter, Facebook, and the social media stream beside the Spike TV web stream, were ablaze with “Microsoft trounced Sony” and “Pack it up Sony, you’re done for.”

Assassin's Creed Black Flag ship battle 1

This is where Assassin’s Creed froze mid demo. How does that even happen?

That is, until they brought out their trump card, no DRM. At least, not DRM in the way that Microsoft is handling it. The scene was electric with people standing up and shouting and every social media comment turned right around. Suddenly Sony had ‘won’ E3 with one sentence. The price point and PS+ tidbits were simply icing on the cake. So if this was all it took to win E3, then why not start off with it?

Instead of saving ‘the best for last’ they should have told us the price and DRM plans at the beginning. Then, instead of thinking to myself “These are cool games but very few are exclusive” and “where are the new games?” I could have been thinking, “Holy crap! You mean I can buy all these games for a cheaper system with no crazy eye tracking me while I play!?” For the price point every single third party game becomes a Playstation exclusive. Switching the order of announcement could have changed the entire conference for not just me, but everybody. As it stands, the Services (Music Unlimited and Flixter) side of the Sony conference were nothing but a huge bummer. There was next to no Vita talk.  And let us not even discuss Lebron James talking to Lebron James.

[toggle title=”Things I liked about the press conference”]The Indie segment was great, should have been way longer.

Kingdom Hearts 3

Final Fantasy 15

The candles in that old man demo.

Obviously the DRM/Price

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About the author

Chris Lock

Just a guy that loves games and wants so badly to tell you about them. I have a habit of being a terrible person. Prone to talk about the worst games imaginable. Poke-fan. LBP admirer. RPG lover. Writer. Podcaster. Father. Husband. Student. Tired. @Snickelsox on twitter.

4 Comments

  • Good discussion , Speaking of which , you need to fill out a IRS 706 , my husband discovered a template version here http://goo.gl/CG9am6

  • Well..if you follow Sony you should know how they are by now. E3 is AWESOME but its not their only event and if you follow Sony you should already know they are present at almost EVERY gaming event..wasn’t LBP announced at a GDC? Nd didn’t Yoshida say they have 30 games coming and 12 are new IP’s to announce? Just be patient bro .. One at a time

  • The one thing I really took away from this article, is that it is “Sizzle Reel” not “Scissor Reel” like I had been thinking all this time.

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