E3 2013: Sony Conference Recap

With the door open after Microsoft’s fumbling of the Xbox One reveal, Sony has a chance to barge in and seal them off with a strong PS4 showing. They also need to present a strong showcase for the Vita as it flounders in sales. With needing to look at the past (PS3), present (Vita), and future (PS4), could they muster enough to attempt to catch to the 3DS AND leave the Xbox One in the dust? Let’s see… after the montage.

The show started with one last look at the PS Vita. Sony promised that many games would be coming to the system, including Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD, God of War HD 1 and 2, and Tearaway. In addition, Vita bundles will be coming that have The Walking Dead — as well as its new episode, 400 Days — and more in content.

Next up was the PS3, showcasing The Last of Us, Puppeteer, rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Gran Turismo 6, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Grand Theft Auto V. The Last of Us will be releasing at the end of this week. A GTA5 PS3 bundle will be available in September. Up to 300 games will be released on the system during the year.

Moving on to the PS4, SCE President Andrew House revealed the console design. House said that they strove for a design that was as revolutionary as the power behind it. Here’s the look:

After the reveal, the President of Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that they will be bringing original content to the PlayStation Network, specifically for PS4. It was also announced later that Redbox Instant, Flixster, and Pay-Per-View services would be coming to the PlayStation Network for PS3, Vita, and PS4.

They then moved to games. The head of SCE Worldwide Studios announced that they were developing over 30 games for PS4, with up to 20 ready for the first year. They began with a bang — quite a few actually. The first game to be shown was the steampunk shooter The Order: 1886.

Next up were a number of titles revealed back in February. These were Killzone: Shadow Fall, Driveclub, Infamous: Second Son, and Knack. Killzone, Driveclub, and Knack will release at launch. Infamous will release in Q1 2014.

Remember the Old Man with lovely eyes from the Quantic Dream demo back in February. Turns out that he is a sorcerer in a new tech demo running on the PS4 called The Dark Sorcerer.

Next up, Supergiant Games with Transistor. The game will make it’s console debut next year on the PS4. Some other indie games making their exclusive debuts on PS4 will be Mercenary Kings, Octodad: Daddliest Catch, Ray’s The Dead, Outlast, Oddworld: New and Tasty, and Galax-Z.

More information was brought up about the Diablo III port that will be coming to PS3 and PS4. The game will feature items found in PlayStation games, such as an amulet from the Uncharted series.

Tatsuya Nomura appeared and revealed the newest trailer for the long awaited Final Fantasy Versus XIII. However, when the trailer ended, the logo broken apart and revealed Final Fantasy XV. Also shown was a teaser for the long awaited Kingdom Hearts III (no name change at the end). It was also revealed that Final Fantasy XIV would be console exclusive to PS3 and PS4.

After the announcements from Square Enix came game play for a couple of games. The first was the premier of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The second was a new gameplay segment for Watch Dogs. The latter game will be getting exclusive content at release.

After a quick look at NBA 2K14 — where we get an awkward look at Lebron James talking to his digital self — we skip ahead to The Elder Scrolls Online. The game will be coming to the PS4 in Early 2014. PS4 owners will be able to take part in the beta, coming exclusive to the system.

One of the last third party games revealed was Mad Max. The game is based off of the classic Mel Gibson movie from the 80s.

Some new information was revealed by Jack Tretton that was well received and was an obvious stab at Microsoft. The first thing was that PS4 would not restrict used games. He also said that you will be allowed to lend or trade games with friends (which got a Sony chant going on). No online connection needed to play or activate games. And there will be no checking in every day and no shutting down when something happens.

Also talked about was memberships for PS Plus. Plus memberships would work for all Sony products. That means that you will only need one membership for your PS3, Vita, and PS4.

Finishing off the games was the first look at Activision’s and Bungie’s collaboration, Destiny. Destiny is the new MMO first person shooter that was announced for PS4 back in February. The game will release in 2014. In addition, a partnership has been reached between Sony and Bungie.

After the games were done, Andrew House came back out and revealed that Gaikai, Sony’s new Cloud-based service, would be available next year. PS3 games will be available at Gaikai’s launch.

And finally, the price was revealed. For the US, the price will be $399. For most of Europe, the price is €399. For the UK, the price is £349. The console will release this holiday season.