Sony at E3 2017
Sony had a mild press conference in comparison to its showing in 2015 and 2016, but they kept to the same general setup. Once again, the show was all about the games, though they did take the time to make it clear that they are pushing the PS4 Pro and the PlayStation VR headset, both of which were released late last year. This was clearly in response to Nintendo’s new hardware and the Xbox One X, a new mid-generation console that happens to be more powerful than the Pro. Yet, they didn’t feel a need to once again hammer in the capabilities of the hardware, which was appreciated. This allowed the conference to focus on the games.
Sony didn’t bring as many as Microsoft did, which was honestly expected. Yet, while it was cool to have a seemingly endless stream of games, much like Microsoft’s showing, it needed to slow down and talk about what we were all seeing. However, while it did feel like a rushing stream, one area where Sony excelled was with major exclusives. Last year, a lot of games were announced, and this year we finally got to see some solid gameplay that gave us further glimpses into the worlds and action we’ll be exploring.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy looks to be every bit as exciting as Uncharted 4 was, if not more so. A further look into the action of God of War ahead of its 2018 release was definitely appreciated, and Detroit: Become Human is shaping up really nicely. The star of the gameplay reveals was easily Insomniac’s Spider-Man. It looks to be the Spider-Man game we’ve been waiting years for.
One section that wasn’t as exciting as others during the conference, though it did have some interesting titles, was the whole PSVR segment. There were some intriguing trailers such as The Inpatient from Supermassive games, but nobody was talking and breaking down how these would be VR experiences you absolutely need to play. It also didn’t help that several of the trailers were quite vague, with only quick glimpses of gameplay spliced with cinematics that didn’t tell us much. Even with the vagueness of it all, though, it did show that they’re serious about PSVR support, which was a worry coming in that has been calmed. Hopefully, they can actually get these games to PSVR owners in a timely fashion.
Interestingly enough, Sony’s pre-show had a lot to offer. There were a lot of games shown off, and we even got some updates on GT Sport, which has been on shaky ground for some time. There were demos shown off, dates provided, and bright trailers. Sony breaking things up between smaller and larger did provide a good progression, but it was odd to not just have an extended stage-show. And the fact that it was condensed in place of slowing down and going into the games was at times lackluster.
Still, if the purpose was simply to show reasons to keep playing on PS4, then mission accomplished. Strong first party offerings over the next year and solid third-party support (including exclusive content for Destiny 2, which was expected).
