Recap & Review: Sony’s E3

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Sony’s E3 press conference was yesterday and after Microsoft blundered their reveal of the Xbox One Sony claimed the limelight. But could they keep it after Microsoft’s impressive E3 press conference? Arriving late to their own press conference wasn’t a good way to start it, but things got better.

The reveal of the PlayStation 4 design wasn’t too impressive, with the console looking far too similar to the Xbox One for most peoples’ liking. The resemblance was uncanny for some. However, the PlayStation 4 will cost a reasonable $399/€399 this holiday season, while the Xbox One will have an extra $100/€100 price tag attached.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Michael Lynton announced that Sony would be producing entertainment content which will be exclusive to the PlayStation . No details were announced but it’s likely they will be producing original content, similar to Netflix’s Arrested Development and House of Cards.

Sony also stated that the Music Unlimited and Movies Unlimited services would be available on PlayStation 4 at launch. Movies Unlimited will offer “over 150,000” movies and TV shows which can be either rented or purchased. Music Unlimited will have more than 20 million songs, all available for streaming. Alongside these, Sony also announced multimedia apps will be featured on the PlayStation. These include Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Redbox Instant just to name a few.

Sony then got into games. They announced multiple titles, one of which was The Order: 1886. The game, set in Victorian times is developed by Ready at Dawn and Sony Santa Monica and it will follow a male and female who fight against supernatural threats. CEO of Ready at Dawn promised that the visuals seen in the trailer were done using the in game engine so it’s “what you can expect in the final game when you play“.

Familiar ground was then recognized as Sony announced that Killzone: Shadow Fall and new IPs DriveClub and Knack will be launch titles for the PlayStation 4. Along with these games, we also learnt that inFAMOUS: Second Son is expected to release during the PlayStation 4’s first quarter of 2014. If you want to watch any of the trailers, they’re all below.

A teaser trailer was then revealed, showing The Dark Sorcerer. No details were given but Sony promised that a full demo would take place at Sony’s E3 booth at 1PM Tuesday. The trailer started with a sorcerer taking part in a ritual, and as the spell begins to take shape it stops. The sorcerer is on a green screen and the entire scene was taking place on some kind of a movie set. That’s all we got about the game however, today may give us more information after the demo is unveiled.

Next we saw Transistor, a game by Supergiant Gamer which will make a debut on console on the PlayStation 4 sometime in 2014. A trailer was shown, which had some gameplay along with a few cinematic scenes.

Sony also showcased that indie titles such as Secret Ponchos, Don’t Starve, Octodad: Dadliest Catch and many more will be making their console debut by coming to the PlayStation 4.

Later Sony dropped an unexpected surprise by announcing that Kingdom Hearts III is currently being developed for the PlayStation 4. This was announced right after Sony announced Final Fantasy versus XIII will make a PlayStation 4 appearance. The last Kingdom Hearts game was a PlayStation 2 exclusive but recently it’s been discovered that Kingdom hearts III will also be featured on the Xbox One.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be coming to PlayStation 4 as well. The MMO is coming to PS3 and PC but it’s been confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will also get a bite of the apple. It’s expect to cost around $39.99 for PS3 and will release on August 27th.

Ubisoft has announced that PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 will be getting over an hour extra of gameplay content for both Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Three exclusive missions will be available on Assassin’s Creed IV, while Watch Dogs will have four extra missions for Sony platform users.

Mad Max, a third-person, open world adventure set in the Wasteland (the setting of Geroge Miller’s Mad Max movies) will be coming to PlayStation 4. The game will be produced by Avalanche Studios and published by Wb Interactive. Road Warrior content will also be exclusive to the PlayStation 4. The game will also be releasing on PS3, PC, Xbox 360 and the Xbox One.

The first gameplay of the highly anticipated MMO FPS Destiny was showcased during Sony’s E3 press conference. The game, created by Halo masterminds Bungie, will see exclusive content feature on the PlayStation 4.

Sony also addressed the used games issue in their conference saying that the PlayStation 4 will support used games, which earned uproarious support. The trading, lending or selling of games will be permitted. A punch that was intended for Microsoft was also slyly added as Sony clarified that the system wouldn’t require any sort of online connection to play disc-based games. Ouch

Sony then pulled a Microsoft. They confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will require PlayStation Plus in order to play games online (entertainment apps such as Netflix and Music Unlimited, however, will be available to non-Plus members). This is similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold membership, except now Microsoft is giving two games a month with to users who have an Xbox Live Gold account.  It may have been inevitable, but the free PlayStation Network service will be sorely missed.

FINAL VERDICT: Sony showed a wide range of what the PlayStation 4 has to offer, from exclusive content to multimedia apps. They are still ahead of Microsoft, even after their impressive E3 conference.

SCORE: 9.5