E3 and PSX
Sony has consistently gotten better with their conference delivery. If you go back a few years, you’ll see these shows focus on figures or trying to convince you that watching TV shows and movies on your PlayStation is the hip thing to do. With the PS4, they learned that people just want to see the games.
The company still brings out its cast of executives, but they serve mostly as clear transition points to introduce the next stream of tantalizing trailers and demos. E3 showed off some stellar games while once again giving fans a nostalgia trip they wouldn’t be able to forget in the form of Crash Bandicoot remastered. 2015 brought the long requested announcement of the Final Fantasy VII remake, so the company kept its streak up by bringing another passed over game to the forefront. God of War wowed everyone in attendance with a new take on a long-time Sony franchise. Days Gone looked like a cross between The Last of Us, World War Z, and I Am Legend with its hordes of zombies, and Resident Evil VII took the same horror themes but brought them back to their classic roots with slow, terrifying gameplay.
Sony still had another big surprise in store, though, when they revealed an exclusive Marvel and Insomniac Games collaboration: Spider-Man. One of the biggest, and weirdest, announcments of all, though, was easily the return of Kojima with his new collaboration with Sony, Death Stranding. The trailer showed Norman Reedus, a bunch of death sea-life, and a mysterious baby, and that was all we needed to know that Kojima was back to his old self. All of this was cradled by some stunning indie titles and VR experiences to get players excited for the hardware releasing later in the year.
PSX closed the year off with a bang, keeping the game focus upfront during the company’s final major show of the year. The conference started off a bit slow with some attractive indie titles as it slowly began building momentum. Yakuza Kiwami started kicking up the pace with its complete remake of the first Yakuza title, that was followed by new features in Pyre (the next release from the critically acclaimed studio, Supergiant Games). Then Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and NieR: Automata showed off some more intriguing craziness in the pipeline.
Nostalgia reared its head again, this time as the full reveal of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, completely remastering the first three games in the Crash series, followed by remasters of PaRappa the Rapper, Patapon, and Loco Roco. Uncharted 4, the final entry in the long-running masterpiece from Naughty Dog, got some love, too, in the form of DLC called Lost Legacy that brings Chloe and Nadine together for a new adventure. The show continued to build up until an epic close that came in the form of The Last of Us Part II.
We all remember the cringe-worthy shows that Sony used to provide, so this year’s events were a breath of fresh air and a sign of feedback-led improvement.
