E3 2013: Sony press conference recap
June 11, 2013
Sony’s press conference at E3 did not deviate from their message during their Playstation 4 reveal back in February. It is not about TV shows or getting together to play games with the family, it is about games and the gamer. Sony showcased new intellectual properties (IPs) that are exclusive to Playstation. The Order: 1886 is a steam punk shooter, which is being developed by the same studio that created God of War, Santa Monica Studios. Another new IP specific the the Playstation brand is the third person adventure game called Knack by Sony’s SCE Japan Studio.
Along with new IPs, Sony revealed new trailers for previously revealed PS4 games like Killzone: Shadow Fall by Guerrilla Games, Driveclub by Evolution Studios, and Infamous: Second Son by Sucker Punch Productions. Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack and Driveclub were confirmed to be launch titles for the PS4.
To show their indie game support, Sony revealed gameplay from upcoming PS4 games such as Transistor, Don’t Starve and Outlast. Transistor by Supergiant Games which is the same game studio that made the critically acclaimed game Bastion. Don’t Starve by Klei Entertainment is a sandbox style survival game that released on PC and Mac back in April, but will be ported to PS4 as well. Outlast is a horror survival game by Red Barrels that centers around you the player“outlasting” and surviving from being chased by a creature.
On top of having first party titles such as The Order: 1886 and Killzone: Shadow Fall to name a few to come to the PS4 along with indie games, the PS4 will also have third party games such as the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch Dogs. Both from Ubisoft and Final Fantasy XV by Square Enix. Final Fantasy XV had been previously called Final Fantasy Versus XIII and had been originally announced at E3 in 2006. Square Enix also revealed they are working on Kingdom Hearts 3 during their section of Sony’s conference. The last numbered title in the series, Kingdom Hearts 2, was released on the PS2 back in March of 2006. Both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts franchises have sold millions of games.
Another third party developer Bethesda, the developer/publisher that made Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, showed a trailer for their upcoming MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) called Elder Scrolls Online.
Towards the end of their conference Sony talked about the PS4 ability to play used games without restrictions, unlike Xbox One which has restrictions on used games and the sharing of games. After the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America Jack Tretton annouced that fact the crowd in the building began to cheer. Tretton then remarked with a smile, “Guess that’s a good thing.”
Another shot Tretton took at Microsoft was the Xbox One’s requirement of having to be hooked up to the internet once a day to function properly by saying the PS4 does not require an internet connection. Tretton finished the conference by saying that the PS4 will have cross game chat, the ability to record and share video as you play games, and that you can play a game even as you download it.
On of the last features that was shown was Playstation Plus, which is the Playstation equivalent to Xbox Live Gold membership. Unlike PS3, the PS4 will require one to have Playstation Plus to play games online. A year of Playstation Plus is $60 and comes with the Playstation instant collection which is known for free full length games. Playstation Plus subscribers will also get Driveclub for free at launch.
Sony gave the reigns over to the creators of the Halo franchise, Bungie, for them to, for the first time ever, show gameplay of their new game Destiny, which will have exclusive content that can only be found on the PS4. The conference ended with the announcement that the PS4 will cost $399.99.