Thoughts on Sony's E3 2016 Press Conference

Although Sony's conference was the first one I watched of E3 this year (and so I have nothing to compare it to), I still feel like it was by far one of the best I've seen of any E3. Their amazing line of games was backed up by an equally impressive live orchestra. This orchestra was such a cool touch that really showed Sony's dedication to their fans. The conference primarily featured upcoming PS4 games/exclusives and PS Virtual Reality. Here's my thoughts on each of these (but not necessarily every game).

The Games:

I'm worried that the first and last game shown, Days Gone, will end up being another American zombie ballad. It's rural, mountainous terrain seems fun to explore, and much more lush and vibrant than typical post-apocalypticia. The live demo definitely highlighted the things left out of the trailer, as I didn't even know there were zombies until then.

I've had my eye on Horizon Zero Dawn for a while, and my excitement has been constantly building over the past few weeks. Fun combat, fascinating premise.

Resident Evil Biohazard was pretty unsettling.

Detroit: Beyond Human seemed though provoking (add it to the list of games about AI ethics) but the gameplay puzzled me. If you play through the same hostage rescue situation each time, does that mean the game is only about 45min long but has to be replayed over and over? I'm just afraid it will be pulled off poorly.

The Last Guardian looks mysteriously beautiful and I'm looking forward to playing it. The trailer really moved me even though I'm fairly unfamiliar with the game.

Hideo Kojima was a great surprise visitor, but his new game Death Stranding was easily the most confusing and bizarre game announced. I didn't really know what what was going on the entire time. It also has visible parallels to the film industry. While it definitely has potential, I would be happy if the gameplay consisted solely of exploring the beach, poking all the washed-up sea life with a stick.

I wish Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens had stuck to the original lack of voice acting.

I liked the new God of War's addition of Norse mythology and a wizened Kratos. It will be interesting to see how the series has matured and where it is headed.

Spider-Man PS4 looks great, especially if they incorporate Tom Holland from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

PS VR:

As much as Sony pushes the impending success and popularity of virtual reality, I'm just not sure how much I believe it. However, that's probably a topic for another day. I do acknowledge that if I was to purchase a virtual reality system, it would be the PS VR. The fact that every PS4 can play all PS VR games is such a huge plus to current PlayStation owners, but will consumers eagerly pay hundreds of dollars more just for the VR experience? I think not. In my opinion, VR still needs a bit of time to mature, and so I'll be interested to see just how well PS VR does. Most current VR games, and those announced in this conference, seem short and - well - worse compared to the non VR games. And does being able to turn your head in a game really count as an immersive VR experience?

This conference reinforced what I love about the PlayStation: unique third-party titles. I got chills (hopefully of excitement) so many times and I'm really looking forward to this year in gaming. Let's see what Nintendo (the makers of my other console) have to say tomorrow!

-Daniel

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