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It’s difficult to take something as subjective and fanboy-ridden as a day of press conferences and declare one a “winner” per se, but it would be even more difficult to deny that Sony’s press conference “won” E3 2013.
The perfect mix of class and sass, then-CEO of SCEA Jack Tretton delivered body blows to Microsoft with a smile and left the Xbox One in a state of catch-up from which it has only just started to return. All looked to this year’s conferences anxiously awaiting another “drop the mic” moment: that one game, or trailer, or bit of news to work crowds up into a lather and ignite that super-special E3 magic.
Looking back on today, we were probably asking too much of Sony for this year. What happened today in the industry of video gamery is absolutely awesome, and the future of this financial liability we all call a hobby looks pretty slick. Looking down the list, there were big things today - a remastered Grim Fandango, excellent gameplay from The Order: 1886, a terrifying look at the atmosphere of From Software’s Bloodborne, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End - but for one reason or another, it just didn’t seem to stick.
Let's all be honest. There's no way Sony could have lived up to the hype the GIF's promised. #4PNE3
— Joseph Christ (@TheJosephChrist) June 10, 2014
A year of gifs, of hype, of expectation is exactly what one needs to ensure an event which is really just a bunch of dudes in suits playing games and showing a few videos while many of us watch on blurry streams does not come out looking golden. Perhaps the absence of Tretton was an issue, as the man really did grow into a superlative representative of the brand: always able to play the crowd, humble but confident, and just “legit” enough to be fun.
One man does not an E3 conference make or break, however. Truly, the issue here is pretty plain to see: there were things we wanted to see but didn’t, and things we saw but wish we hadn’t had to sit through. Following the Last Guardian debacle, anticipation for a game which many of us considered dead anyway had reached an all-time high: What a slam dunk it would be, we all thought, if Sony had been planning to show the game off at E3 2014 anyway.
Well, they didn’t. So back to waiting on that one.
RIP the last guardian #4PNE3
— Jared (@WaywardOverlord) June 10, 2014
Two of the biggest thrills of E3 2013, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, were known ahead of time to also be absent - lost to the ether that is Square Enix development schedules, never to be heard from for the remainder of the console generation. Please be excited, et cetera.
Sony Santa Monica, said for some time to be in development on something spectacular, went without mention. Naughty Dog was present with a tantalizing Uncharted 4 teaser, but at the end of the day it was only a little more substantial than the teaser shown at the Playstation 4’s launch.
And then, with the conference chugging along if not exactly rolling out the biggest demands, they stopped. The hype train was brought to a screeching halt and we all exited to find ourselves in Microsoft’s E3 2013 press conference: in front of a rambling mess of statistics mostly worth only a brief “huh” before the talk of television shows - those accursed non-gaming entertainment mediums that always slow down every conference - came in, and before we knew it, everyone was about done.
Yeah this is a terrible direction for Sony to take. MS didn't do TV, why is Sony suddenly so interested? #4PNE3
— Timothy Lee (@ChaiThai805) June 10, 2014
It’s a shame, because what came afterwards wasn’t bad. Sure, The Last of Us needed graphical improvements like the Pope needs another funny hat, but the Arkham Knight gameplay was gorgeous and awesome and the Metal Gear Solid V trailer was at least characteristically self-indulgent.
But faced with a year that seemed like it would define a generation with its sheer confidence and audacity - the year that had Jack Tretton on stage smirking as the crowd cheered “Sony! Sony!” - Sony instead spun its wheels this time, doing much right but not much amazing.
Hate to admit it, I think #Xbox won this one. #4PNE3
— Kel M (@wing2k12) June 10, 2014
It wouldn’t be so egregious had Microsoft’s conference this morning, its first with Phil Spencer as the Xbox boss (“Xboss,” if we’re in a goofy mood), had not hit all the right notes. Humility, simplicity, clean-cut product: game after game after game. There may not have been as many announcements, but they hit hard and every one was a winner.
I woke up today hoping to want an Xbox One by the end of Microsoft’s press conference, and I did. What I wasn’t expecting was to go to bed feeling like I had asked too much of Sony.
Comments
9 years, 10 months ago
Sony's conference was pretty disappointing but neither made me want their consoles for the foreseeable future. I'm hoping Nintendo will give me the final push I need to get a Wii-U though.
9 years, 10 months ago
Microsoft's conference wasn't really the best one either. It was just really bland shooters and nothing else, with the exception of Phantom Dust and the isometric Tomb Raider game.
9 years, 10 months ago
Sony used the word "TV" a lot, but they're hardly doing the same thing Xbox was. Xbox One was about TV stuff, to the exclusion of game stuff (The pitch of: TV, TV, Sports, TV), and the TV stuff they did do was useless (picture-degrading HDMI passthrough to save you the trouble of hitting one button on your TV remote, but require you adjust volume one notch at a time through Kinect voice controls) or done better on cheaper things like the Roku, or even PS4 (which had a working TV service in Europe and never required PS+ for Netflix)
The time spent on non-game media was a little embarrassing, but I think they made up for it with multiple moments of game-hype.
9 years, 10 months ago
I thought sony's conference was just good not great but good. Amazed that they started with Destiny.
9 years, 10 months ago
I agree with J_52. Sure Sony had one overlong segment featuring TV but that didn't necesarially represent a new direction; everything else game-related did look sweet.
9 years, 10 months ago
There was a dip in the conference for sure and no mention of The Last Guardian was a big disappointment following the recent IGN report but I felt it was good over all. It didn't trump last year, not even close but they delivered a lot of great games and amazing announcements. Overall fans over-hyped the conference so that it only felt like it was just good instead of great.
I'd give it a 9/10 despite the slump and lackluster end.
9 years, 10 months ago
Sure the TV part was a slow point, but really we got great stuff before and even after that part. Sure they could have told us about Powers later or in a video, but still it was interesting and showing they are going to try and compete with MS in the TV program show arena. I think Sony did great this year and compared to the others on Monday, I say they won. But I feel there is still more to come from other companies and studios.
9 years, 10 months ago
Perhaps expectation for Sony was too high coming into E3. We know (or I hope know) that Sony has alot more studios working on exclusives than M$. We haven't heard much from most of these studios, so naturally, E3 would be the best stage to showcase these mystery games.
But that didn't happen (except for maybe a few studios). We still don't know what Guerrilla Games' new IP is; Team Ico...We know they got TLG, but do we really know what it plays like? Project Beast was present, but I'm not exactly sure what I saw.
Instead, Sony filled in those holes with TV, Project Morpheus, and PS TV. Things that I do not think belong at E3 or is ready on the E3 stage. Could had used that time for other games or ended the press conference earlier.
They talked more about Playstation Now, which I expected. However, other than the beta (that is dated), they really haven't told us anything new. Don't get me wrong, I believe the technology works...I am just skeptical about the business model that Sony will apply to the service.
I didn't say Sony lose cuz they didn't match MS's presser, pound-for-pound (which was impressive, I might add). I just felt Sony didn't show enough to justify they got the AAA games for 2014-2015. 2016...maybe, but do we care about those right now?
Again, perhaps I am asking too much.
9 years, 10 months ago
Sony's press conference had too much focus on indie games. I can't stand indie games. Ratchet & Clank, GTA V and Uncharted 4 have made me excited and those are the games that made Sony's press conference amazing for me! The lack of Driveclub though... very disturbing.
9 years, 10 months ago
overall their conference had too much "FAT" in it. to much talk and focus on things that were un-needed. their conference was like 2 hours, but only about an hour of it was worth it. It was still good with good games but man i was snoring when ppl just talked on and on while on stage. it was still better than EA and ubisofts train wreck IMO.
Microsoft had a overall good conference, it was in the morning they just fired things one after another..very little fat in the conference that was wasted time. a good 90 minute conference, was humble, and it showed what it needed to show, no numbers, no long ass speeches, no dancing!, no sports is more than a game!, etc.
9 years, 10 months ago
I think it was a decent conference, the pacing wasn't the best, but as a non-american, I really loved the games they showed, and I can't really say the same about the MS one, their pacing was better, but the content didn't do anything for me.
9 years, 10 months ago
Sony's press conference felt like it does every year. I don't think there was anything really wrong with it, they went with what works for them. Microsoft's just seems better in comparison because it HAD to do the complete 180 to try and win people back.
Grim Fandango's surprise announcement was amazing, though. I really hope that's coming to PC, and Tim Schafer's Twitter announcement saying "other platform talk soon" makes me hopeful.
9 years, 10 months ago
I wouldn't say they blew it, was a little boring at times but it deff had some high points. Overall in my opinion it wasn't quite up to Microsoft's showing.