Feature: 15 Things You Should Expect During Sony's E3 2013 Press Conference

The countdown may still be ticking, but E3 2013 has already more or less arrived. How do we know? Well, because we have a checklist of tasks to complete, an inbox absolutely overflowing with press releases, and a splitting headache. But the pounding in our skull is only partially fuelled by stress – it’s mostly the anticipation for next week’s event that’s got us in a spin. This year’s show promises to be one of the most exciting in over half a decade, as Sony and Microsoft both do battle in a next generation console clash of the titans. And we’re going to give you front row seats, with live video, text, chat, and much more. Alas, there are still a few days to go until the PlayStation press conference gets underway, so let’s take a moment to consider what you should expect.

Leave it to The Last of Us

Sony will not pass up on the opportunity to promote The Last of Us to the thousands of hardcore gamers tuning into its live broadcast. It may not be what you want to see, but we guarantee that the platform holder will spend time talking up the title’s current Metacritic rating, and reminding viewers that the game’s due out on 14th June. We wouldn’t be surprised if it used its press conference to debut the title’s launch trailer, too, which is bound to get gamers excited ahead of the survival horror's release.

Dropping PS3 prices

The PlayStation 3 is arguably enjoying one of the strongest years in its entire lifespan, and we think that Sony will continue to capitalise on that with a price drop to $199.99. While company’s usually wait until the busy holiday season to make a pricing adjustment, we reckon that a PS3 reduction makes sense right now. New consoles will be consuming store shelf space this Christmas, so by lowering the price at E3, the move will get much more attention. Furthermore, with The Last of Us right around the corner, it makes sense to slash the system’s cost and really capitalise upon the enormous excitement surrounding the game.

The console that refuses to rest

As already alluded, the PS3 is enjoying a staggering year, and we expect Sony to double down on that during its press conference. While we’re not anticipating any game demonstrations for the current generation console, we reckon that there will definitely be a montage of some kind. Expect upcoming releases such as Beyond: Two Souls, Gran Turismo 6, Rain, Puppeteer, and more to feature during this video. We wouldn’t be surprised if a few new titles debuted, too.

Extended PlayStation Vita section

We think it’s worth tempering your expectations if you’re hoping for a lengthy PlayStation Vita segment during Sony’s press conference, but we do think that the platform holder will have taken the feedback from last year’s presentation on board. Twelve months ago it almost ignored the console entirely, but we don’t expect that to be the case on this occasion. While we’re not convinced that there’ll be any stage demonstrations, we suspect that the organisation will check off a number of new first-party announcements. We know, for example, that Sony Bend is working on a new game, and we fully expect that to be officially confirmed. Elsewhere, we suspect that it will have a montage featuring various third-party titles, too.

Here’s how you Remote Play

One way that Sony can bridge the gap between its Vita and PlayStation 4 segments is by showing off Remote Play, which has now been confirmed for every game that doesn’t make heavy use of the PlayStation Eye. We suspect that the platform holder will use this to demonstrate a title that may have already featured during February’s big PlayStation Meeting, with Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack likely to be the strongest contenders. The former would probably be the most impressive; we already know how good Guerrilla Games’ sequel looks, but imagine it running remotely on the handheld’s razor sharp OLED screen.

TV, TV, Gaikai

We still fully expect Sony to focus primarily on games during its press conference, but with the mainstream media in attendance, we reckon that it will get crucified by shareholders if it doesn’t at least mention the PS4’s various entertainment functions. It’s been pretty quiet in this department since the console’s announcement, but we expect it to confirm some new partnerships with various streaming services at some point during its show. We also anticipate that David Perry will make an appearance to provide an update on the status of Gaikai.

inFAMOUS: Second Son leads the charge

While we suspect that the company’s going to get criticised for retreading ground from February’s monstrous PlayStation Meeting, we expect it to revisit a couple of previously announced games. It’s clear that inFAMOUS: Second Son is going to lead the charge in this area, as we still haven’t actually seen the game in action, despite it securing a Game Informer magazine cover and more. As an open world title, this really has the opportunity to showcase what the platform’s capable of. We don’t think that it’ll happen, but confirmation that it’s a launch title would be the icing on the cake.

DriveClub parks on the stage

Much like inFAMOUS: Second Son, we haven’t seen much of DriveClub at this point either. Racing games always demonstrate extremely well, primarily because they generally look so good. We expect Evolution Studios to quickly take to the stage to show off a short snippet of its latest racer in action, but we suspect that the emphasis of the demo will be to highlight the many social features that are being built into the PS4. Prepare to hear the words “connected” and “network” more times than your ears can tolerate.

Revealing our Destiny

There’s no prediction here, as this is happening. Bungie has already confirmed that we’ll get our first glimpse of Destiny during Sony’s press conference, and we anticipate that it will be the first third-party demonstration that occurs. Expect the platform holder to really reinforce the importance of the developer without actually mentioning Halo, and to also reiterate the fact that the PlayStation versions will ship with exclusive content. Perhaps it will provide some more information on what those extras will actually entail, too.

No hurdles, just games

Considering the manner in which Sony has been talking up its relations with indie outfits in recent months, we expect the platform holder to give those studios a podium during its press conference. Whether it simply flashes up a few logos or introduces a developer onto the stage will depend on timing, but there’s no way that the organisation won't reference some PS4 games from smaller teams during its press conference.

Ooh Ubisoft

Sony’s always had a strong relationship with Ubisoft, and that looks set to continue with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch Dogs. Both of the titles have appeared in virtually all of the PS4’s pre-release materials to date, and each of the games will include exclusive content on the PlayStation platforms. As such, we predict that both will get short stage demonstrations during the firm’s press conference.

Future game teases

The importance of this E3 is paramount, and that may result in the platform holder looking to the future more than it would normally like. We expect it to release teaser trailers for a number of impending titles that may not release until next year or later. Uncharted 4 is likely to be one of these, but we also reckon that we’ll see something of The Order 1886. We fully anticipate the company to pull the trigger on virtually every title that it currently has in production, as giving the impression that there’s a ton of content in development for the PS4 will be key.

The Last Guardian re-revealed

The timing of this will probably depend heavily on which platform it’s on, but we fully expect The Last Guardian to be one of Sony’s biggest announcements during its E3 press conference. We still think that it will be a PS4 game, and are expecting it to appear towards the end of the press conference as a result. Whatever form it’s resurrected in, though, we suspect that this will be one of the platform holder’s banner announcements.

Final Fantasy XV goes exclusive

We’ve heard rumblings that Sony and Square Enix are in bed together behind-the-scenes, so this isn’t as ridiculous as it first seems. The latter has said that it will reveal “the future” of Final Fantasy at E3, and it already teased a big announcement during February’s PlayStation Meeting. The JRPG series may not carry the same clout as it once did, but we still reckon that an exclusive entry in the franchise would be a big deal, and if it’s true that the firm’s been secretly co-developing Final Fantasy XV with Sony’s own Japan Studio, then this could be absolutely massive.

Box of tricks

The ‘one last thing’ of Sony’s press conference this year will surely be the unveiling of the PS4’s outer chassis. We’re predicting that Andrew House and Mark Cerny will have the honours of revealing the hardware, especially now that Kaz Hirai has taken the job in the big office. Exactly what shape the system will adopt, we’re not entirely sure, but we do expect something a little more memorable than the Xbox One’s big black box. As an electronics manufacturer, the Japanese giant’s been producing some lovely products of late, so we’re expecting the PS4 to be similarly slick.

What do you think that Sony will announce during its E3 press conference? Are any of these predictions tickling your fancy? Let us know in the comments section and poll below.