5 reasons why the PlayStation Conference Rocked

This is why you write about games. You write reviews, and walk-through to fill in the time, but the real reason that you write about gaming is so that you can tell the world what you think when something BIG happens. I saw the gaming community stand still. I saw Sony overload IGN, Machinima, and Youtube (their own live-stream didn't fare much better). I saw the official announcement of the PS-4.

So last night (i.e. 20th Feb 2013), Sony held a press conference in New York. Invites were sent out almost 20 days ago, mysteriously titled the Future Of PlayStation. No one was fooled however; everyone and their grandmother expected Sony to unveil the new Playstation. There were questions however, Sony had been known to shoot themselves in the foot before. What will the announcement be, will they change the controller, will they change the name. What games will come out, will we see any demos, why will the console be better, how will Sony sell their latest toy.

As it all went down, in hindsight it was fabulous. The live-stream began at 4 pm Eastern Time (or 11pm UK time) which meant it was 4:30 in the morning in India, and I had office the same day. I kept awake through the night however (a feat I have been ranting about, but have got no appreciation for), and watched in anticipation as Sony fired the first salvo in the 1st console war of this decade. Read on to find out why it was so good.

The official PS4 logo

1. They unveiled the PlayStation 4:

I was in 2 minds whether this shuould be my first or my last point. In hindsight, it seemed inevitable that Sony would announce anything else but. In anticipation however, with all that hype and all that pressure, I wouldn't have put it past them if they would have just put in a conference talking about next-gen and not actually announcing it. That would have been a sheer waste of hype and more importantly anticipation. I was so glad, it wasn't. It was not to push God Of War and Last Of Us, it wasn't to push the price drop in PS Vita, and it wasn't to push a new P.S.N.. True we did not get to see how the new console looked like, but perhaps the first time ever, Sony themeselves uttered the words "PlayStation 4", and just like that it was set in stone. There is a new console, its gonna come out in the holiday season this year, and its gonna be called "PlayStation 4".

The Dual Shock 4, Don't fix whats not broken

2. It's still Playstation:

I am so glad that it isn't called the "PlayStation Orbis" or whatever else that was doing the rounds on the internet. Its the next PlayStation, the PlayStation 4 or quite simply PS4. I am also glad that they haven't changed the Dual Shock Controller. Its still looks like the design that has served Sony so well, albeit with a few subtle changes (picture above). It just gives the feeling that Sony are confident and comfortable of the brand that they are extending. They have'nt thrown away years of accepted and recognised tradition for the sake of tailgating and hollow innovation. Anyone who has had a PlayStation before would be able to identify and feel familiar with it at once. It give the console a legacy, a history, a name to live up-to, and a consumer base too.

The button and the media, which will change the way we capture game-play

3. The Advent Of Sharing and Spectating:

When I first began writing game reviews, the first roadblock that I faced was that I didnt have actual footage to back me up. I had to rely on official trailers, or official gameplay video to complement my work, often unable to provide evidence of my experiences. If I wanted to do so, I needed to invest a bit extra, buy splitters, recording devices and what not to record my gameplay on my PC (not to mention I needed to find those parts first, which in India is a pain), all the while PC gamers were sneering their noses at me. Now all I need to do is press a button, and most recent of my gameplays will be uploaded to the internet in no time, I can even Live-Stream my games, and let others spectate me in real time. What this does is it takes the PC component out of the equation, you don't have to pause the game, or worry about video editing, all the tools are available at one central location, and there is no technical expertise you need to have.

The Holy Grail of RPG, Diablo finally hits the console

4. The Games:

It is easy to forget in the midst of the hop-hullah that no console becomes great without some great games. Sony opened the conference with KillZone: ShadowFall; the gameply footage of which they uploaded live during the event using the PS4; The game looked gorgeous. Watch_Dogs was on full display too, showing off the graphical might of the PS4 as it rendered Adam Pierce in drooling polygons. Bungie's new cross-platform project, Destiny was on display too, once again providing a sneak peek at Halo's creator next magnum opus. The game that took the cake for me however, was Blizzard's Diablo. From the moment Blizzard's name appeared on the screen, I started mumbling Diablo 3 repeatedly (it was scary, creepy and pathetic all at the same time). This for me was the wow moment of the conference, to get my all-time favorite franchise onto my all time favorite gaming brand was huge, even if no one in attendance made a sound, my heart just gave Sony and Blizzard a huge ovation. Find the complete list of the games announed for the PS4 below:

Title	Publisher/Developer
Deep Down (working title)	Capcom
Destiny	Bungie
Diablo III	Blizzard Entertainment
Driveclub	Evolution Studios
Final Fantasy (TBA)	Square Enix
Infamous: Second Son	Sucker Punch Productions
Killzone: Shadow Fall	Guerrilla Games
Knack	SCE Japan Studio
Watch Dogs	Ubisoft Montreal
The Witness	Jonathan Blow

The companies which are set to make games for the PS4

5. There was no bad news:

There was no price announced, and hence it gave no opportunity to people to haggle and complaint how over-priced the machine was. The console itself was not unveiled, perhaps saving it for the E3 later this year. This again saved the company from Troll Wars between early adopters and traditionalists. There were rumors that P.S.N. would be turning into a paid service, if that's true, it wasn't announced here. This conference was planned to create positive hype, and no controversy at all. Even the console's pitch wasn't that it was a new untethered powerful beast, rather it was pitched as a product developed after consulting deeply with the developer and the gaming community which aimed to please everyone with its simplicity and ease. In a nutshell, there was no damper, no pot-shots, and no controversial statements made during the 2 hours (except for the small mention that PS4 won't be backward compatible).

We might not know how the console looks like, but here is a peek at its interface

This is an exciting time to be a gamer, we are on the cusp of new console war. The PS4 is all set to go against the Wii U and Microsoft's next. There is also Valve's Piston (a super small computer to play games) and Ouva (the android based gaming console) over in the horizon. A lot of people are heralding the end of the console generation, with the rise of casual gaming and cheap PC hardware. In spite of all that, it seems like a throwback to the old 90s when there were plenty of consoles to choose from. What do you think of the new PS4, and gaming consoles in general, tell me more in the comments. For some more coverage of the PS4 conference check out my friends over at whatsyourtagblog and their view here and here.

Sony E3 2012 Press Conference

So we have covered EA and Microsoft (not particularly in that order). Now we move onto another big-wig of the gaming industry.... Sony... The creator of the now legendary PS-2, and the herald of the rise of the consoles. Sony had a lot to show off this year, right from God Of War: Ascension to Naughty's Dog very own Last Of Us and beyond to their PS Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed 3. There was also this new hardware for PS-3, the wonderbook I think they called it. But we will get to that with time. Or you can just skip reading what I though of all this and just watch the conference below.. and tell me what you thought of all this.




First thing that I want to talk about is PlayStation All Stars. Actually I don't, instead I will just ask you to go through this comic  http://corpseruncomics.com  has made, and probably you would get the idea. I mean fine you want to rip-off a game, almost every gamer knows or at least has heard about, but please be truthful about it. You see that demo, and the first thing that comes to mind is Super Smash Bros. Maybe I am just mad that Kratos lost in the demo they showed ( I mean come on... that guy is the God Of War for a reason) but the way they say this is an original idea pitting all of Play Station's characters in a four-way dance in all out brawl, in a way no-one has ever thought about... and you know he is lying. Anyways check out the comic below, and if you like it, please do follow, (by clicking on the pic) Alex on his site as well, that guy has a sense of humor for sure.Here is the permalink: http://corpseruncomics.com

PlayStation All Stars Vs. Super Smash Bros

Okay from the totally disappointing to the totally awesome, and here there are a few to take notice of. The first of them is obviously God Of War: Ascension. Kratos ushered me into mature gaming, and even though I own a X-Box now, the God Of War still remains my most favorite franchise of all time. So anyways, this game is a prequel to the trilogy and shows how things got bad between Kratos and Ares, and how all the madness started. I would tell you more, that's the graphics are still awesome, the game-play is still visceral, and Kratos is still kicking some mythological ass.But rather if you are a Kratos fan boy ( I just made that up), check out the trailer below and tell me if it ain't awesome.


Next up, is Beyond: Two Souls. Quantic Dream's next magnums opus after Heavy Rain. The game is a mix of Resident Evil and Silent Hill from what I can tell. All serious business it seemed, serious enough for the Quantic people to hire(for want of a better word) Ellen Paige to model their protagonist on. Here is how she looks in the game:

The game looks nice (that goes without saying these days), and I couldn't tell what kind of game-play it was cause they didn't really show it. Though I am not really interested in this one, Sony is putting a lot of push into this IP, so you better watch out.

Next up, is the Last Of Us. This is Naughty's Dog latest outing after the ground breaking Uncharted series, and this one doesn't look like it will disappoint either.The game is placed in an apocalyptic world, with the onus on survival of a man and teenager as they make their way through a now wild city. The reason for the apocalypse is unknown for now, and if it has something to do with viruses, I haven't seen any infected zombies as of yet, so your guess is good as mine. The game-play on display was interesting, it showed off different tactics that the protagonist used to take down foes (other ruffians trying to survive any way possible). And tell you what that teenage girl ain't just a courier, she can kill, cold blooded style I tell you. Watch the game-play video below if you don't believe me.


As I try to end this article about Sony's latest E3 attempt. I need to mention, Assassins's Creed exclusive port to PS Vita, and the announcement of 5 PS Vita exclusive games. Also a host PS-One games are coming to the Vita. Yes that's right the handheld console is powerful enough for PS-1 games( remember the time when PS-1 had the best graphics ever). This looks like Sony's attempt to give the PS Vita a much needed shot in the arm.With all the competition it gets from the mobile gaming industry, it needs everything that Sony has.

I know it would not be a complete review until I talk about the Wonderbook (Do I have to?). Well if you must know, its a new hardware, that Sony is gonna be pushing soon, as an add-on for its PS-3. Its supposed to simulate a book, and as you tilt it towards the camera, the screen will show you what is supposed to be on  the book, only more animated and interactive. I wasn't really impressed by the demo, and while it did seem to be targeted towards a kid audience( and I am not one), I am not sure if it would help Sony, I mean isn't that Nintendo's market. Sony makes games like GOW, Uncharted, Last Of Us, and then they produce the Wonder-book. I didn't even want to finish that last sentence.

That about wraps up the conference. Sony's wasn't that bad to say the truth, it wasn't all game, but it wasn't all non-game(read Microsoft) either. All in all Sony has more to look forward to this year, and I predict a comeback for the console.

Regards,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan