In the last of our E3 round-ups, Leo Stiles recaps a Sony press conference that surprisingly pulled a lot of punches when it came to the PS Vita and Sony’s next-gen console.
By Leo Stiles
Oh dear. Whatever kind of E3 we might have imagined, it certainly wasn’t this.
Sony has had a bad couple of years to put it mildly and all the while its TV, camera and computer divisions have been hemorrhaging money, the Playstation brand has been the sole saviour of a company that saw its share price plunge to below levels seen in 1980 last Monday.
Add in an impending downsizing plan that will result in the loss of 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years and you can see that times have never been tougher for the tech giant.
So it’s fair to say that Sony had got a lot riding on a good E3 showing, not only to reassure shareholders but also to reassure the Sony faithful who have endured the PSN debacle last year and the disaster that was the launch of the Playstation Vita in February
Added to this is the fact that this generation is getting long in the tooth, a situation that has seen creativity ebb away in favor of safe first-person shooters and a server case of sequelitis. So, the pressure was on Sony to deliver the goods: Stellar first party titles, creative casual gaming treats, a shot in the arm to the struggling PS Vita and some sort of statement about the future of gaming.
Sadly they only managed two of those…
Highlights
The Last of Us
You can always rely on Naughty Dog to deliver E3 showstoppers and The Last of Us was no different. Early screens and videos has seen the game pegged as a re-skinned Uncharted but this week’s showing proved that despite the obvious similarities, the new came couldn’t be more different.
The post-apocalyptic setting isn’t just your regular end of the world jaunt as you have the to protect your companion Ellie at all times. Ammo is scarce and weapons are often improvised and used with a startling amount of savage violence. This game is literally kill or be killed and looks like a fresh take on survival horror.
The game is stunning to look at and retains the same level of polish that Uncharted games displayed with huge detail and a colourful palette that is light years away from the brown on brown that has become standard for games of this type.
The bad news: it’s a 2013 game.
Wonderbook
This might not be for you guys but it is hugely significant all the same and shows that Sony will always outshine Microsoft for bringing new IPs and a creative slate of first party offerings (although not always – see lowlights).
Wonderbook is the same sort of thinking that pushed the PS2 into the stratosphere in its twilight years when the Singstar, Eye Toy and Buzz games saw bundles of hardware and software fly off the shelves at astonishing rates. I was in retail at the time and for a couple of Christmases, Sony owned just about every segment of the market, from the hardcore to the casual gamer.
Teaming up with J.K. Rowling certainly seems like the same sort of thinking and has the potential to be massive for Sony and repositions the PS3 as a more family oriented machine in the face of impending hardware reveals.
Wonderbook is an augmented reality game that takes words and stories on a specially designed page an brings them to life on the screen. The Book of Spells game that was featured at the conference links in with the Harry Potter universe and Rowling’s Pottermore media site for all things Potter.
The demo was laboured, seemed to go on forever and it stuck out in the presentation that was dominated by crunchingly violent games. But it worked well and represents the best use of motion technology outside of Wii Sports.
Tellingly, when I showed some kids the trailers, they went from placid to parent-pressuring monsters in five seconds. They got the fact that this was something exciting for them.
Wonderbook is not for the core gamer and it’s not even for the casual crowd. It’s for kids and its innovation and magical execution show that Sony have still got what it takes to find an audience, whatever age they are.
Beyond: Two Souls
Heavy Rain might have split games down the middle into love/hate camps but there is no denying that it was a bold and creative game that strived to do something a little different than just shooting more space marines.
With a fully motion captured performance from actor Ellen Page, the game looked stunning. This comes as no surprise to those that saw the Kara tech demo earlier in the year but the improvement on Heavy Rain is massively apparent. Gone are the awkward animations and the dead eyes of its predecessor and its fair to say that this is perhaps the most cinematic video game we have ever seen.
Gameplay details were scant but it appears that Sony has given Quantic Dream the money and the space to be as creative as they can. A brave move when Uncharted 4 would be more palatable to its restless shareholders.
Again, the bad news: it’s a 2013 game.
Lowlights
PS Vita
As a PS Vita owner, I have been hanging on for dear life for the excellent games that I was so sure were coming. New consoles can always expect a drought in the first year as developers get to grips with a new machine but the disturbing lack of stellar titles on show really is becoming worrying. Yes, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty are games to be excited about but we have yet to see a single screenshot of the latter despite its release date being this Christmas.
Sony seemed to be more interested in giving the Vita more media apps that smartphone already provide. These apps are nice added benefits but hardly a thing to crow about when your latest expensive handheld is floundering at retail.
PS Vita needs a reason to exist at this point and a price cut might have been enough to jumpstart its sales but cross platform play between people playing a Smash Bros rip-off (see below) is not going to convince anyone. A shocking disapointment.
Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale/ LittleBigPlanet Karting
While Nintendo forgot to give us even the smallest of glimpses of their flagship fighting and racing titles, Sony decided to show them how it was done. Except without the charm and the special magic that sets those perennial Nintendo titles apart.
Aping Super Smash Bros is fine if you’re are a second tier publisher but Sony should really know better than to offer us a pale imitation in lieu of some next-gen excitement.
Kratos, Sly Cooper and Nathan Drake may all have some triple A gaming heritage for sure, but that list pales next to the true icons from the Nintendo stable. Two questions hang over this game: Who is this game for? Who really cares? Frankly, it’s not for us and we couldn’t care less
Little Big Planet Karting is even worse as it smacks of exploiting a brand that has become synonymous with creativity and unique gaming experiences and then forcing it down a gaming cul-de-sac.
Media Molecule has already said that they are done with LBP games and we imagine that this was not what they had in mind when they dreamt up Sackboy. History has shown that karting games simply do not work without that Nintendo spark and two decades after Mario Kart, Sony should have gotten that particular memo.
No Next-Gen Announcements
Let’s be clear. We never expected a new console reveal but for Sony to not even acknowledge the impending next generation was an amazing thing to behold.
We get that Sony needs to make a profit, and now more than ever, but the games industry is an ever forward facing industry and to see the gaming giant not even allowing for some next generation excitement is baffling.
A sizzle reel of footage with hints of what is to come would have be all that was needed with a next-gen Nathan Drake to tell us that Sony is going to lead the charge with exciting things to come.
No machine announcement would have been needed – no specs and no release date – just a promise that we should be excited for the future of gaming, as Star Wars 1313 and Ubisoft’s stunning Watch Dogs were just that and both demos were easily the highlight of the show. Microsoft or Sony both have to make their stand on this issue and an unexpected piece of showmanship here could have put a Sony stamp on who can deliver tomorrows gaming experiences.
Verdict
Sony is in trouble and even the Playstation cannot escape its effects. The Playstation 3 and more seriously, the Playstation Vita have cost the company much without delivering the profits that Sony so desperately needs.
This means that the next generation is far away as far as Sony is concerned as they seek to exploit its user base and integrate more media services into the living room. The industry badly needs new experiences as genre stagnation is beginning to be a real cause for concern.
Third party support is thankfully as strong as ever with Assassin’s Creed III, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and Dust 514 all set to know our socks off over the next 12 months but leadership always comes from the console manufacturers and there is a sense that Sony dropped the ball this week.
Sony is still the most willing to take chances on new software ideas as evidenced with Beyond and Wonderbook but the core gamers are becoming restless and with all the biggest hitters of the conference not slated to hit until 2013, there is precious little to get excited about for this year and perhaps, beyond.
Grade: C+
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
