Paris Games Week 2015 brought the goods earlier today – but could it measure up to Sony's extraordinary E3 2015 press conference? The answer, unsurprisingly, is no – but the Japanese giant still delivered some big announcements and ably illustrated just how much variety there is on the PlayStation 4 right now. As is becoming a tradition, editors Sammy Barker and Robert Ramsey share their thoughts below.
Sammy Barker, Editor
Well, in stark contrast to E3 2015, this most definitely wasn't the greatest press conference ever – but I'm not sure that that one can ever be topped. Paris Games Week seemed to take a step backward from more recent breakneck PlayStation briefings, with bulky pre-ambles and some translation issues hurting the pacing. But once again the platform holder demonstrated the sheer diversity of content coming to the PS4, with its 2016 lineup looking pretty formidable right now.
One thing I've always appreciated about the organisation's European shows is that it's not afraid to put something a little out-there on stage. I'm still not entirely sure I understand what Dreams is, but I applaud the fact that there's a manufacturer out there at least trying to push boundaries in the AAA space. The likes of Gravity Rush 2, WiLD, and Detroit all furthered that line of thought for me – oddball outings in an industry that's quickly proving that it only wants to accommodate a few types of game.
And the reaction to the press conference summed that up in many ways for me: Twitter was filled with people yearning for new ideas – then criticising any original projects that dared to show their face. At least there were old faithfuls like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Street Fighter V, and No Man's Sky to fall back on – although the latter is getting a little long in the tooth for me. Horizon: Zero Dawn demoed great again, too – even though you could make the argument that it didn't really need to be there.
Perhaps most impressive to me, though – as I've already alluded – is the kind of lineup that Sony seems to be assembling for next year. After a good spell of criticism, we're now looking at a 12 month period which could, assuming nothing is delayed, host: Street Fighter V, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, No Man's Sky, The Last Guardian, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Gran Turismo Sport. That last game, by the way – it's got gangbusters written all over it.
Robert Ramsey, Associate Editor
Eh, there's not much to say about Sony's Paris Games Week presser. I came into it with relatively low expectations – partly because the company was never going to come anywhere close to equalling its still unbelievable E3 event – and even then, I found myself a little underwhelmed.
The main problem was that the French conference just didn't match the pace of the Japanese firm's recent outings. It was bogged down by too much talking and a couple of demos that dragged on for far too long. I mean, Media Molecule's Dreams is undoubtedly intriguing, but even after a lengthy stint of gameplay, most of us are still trying to work out what it actually is. I feel as though a quick run through and a basic explanation would have been a bit better suited to the occasion.
The same could be said for the on-stage appearances of Street Fighter's Yoshinori Ono and Tekken's Katsuhiro Harada. They're entertaining personalities, of course, but realistically we could have covered both of their announcements in the space of five minutes with a couple of trailers. It's just the kind of needless padding that we thought that Sony had cast aside, but here it is again, almost like pressers from 2010 have come back to haunt us.
It wasn't all bad, though. I thought WiLD looked really promising – even if it's likely years away – and although much of the show wasn't exactly bursting with big surprises, there were some good games in the mix. DriveClub Bikes is a really neat idea, and even though Boundless looks a bit like Generic Indie Dev Number 8467 got commissioned to do a Minecraft expansion, I can get on board with its attractive art style. Overall, it was a pretty standard affair – but I'm kind of left hoping that Sony's keeping some ammo in reserve for this year's PlayStation Experience.
What did you think of the platform holder's press conference? Did it live up to your expectations – or did it let you down? Do you agree with our editors? Let us know in the comments section below.
How would you rate Sony's Paris Games Week press conference? (104 votes)
- Very good
- Good
- Meh
- Poor
- Very poor
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 39
I too, enjoy alliteration
@mikepass20
Underwhelmed. There's plenty to look forward to regardless.
"Street Fighter V, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, No Man's Sky, The Last Guardian, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Gran Turismo Sport"
Is FFXV ever coming out? If my year started w/ Uncharted 4 and ended w/ FFXV, w/ R&C in the middle just for fun, my year would be complete and my PS4 purchase justified.
I thought the conference presented excellent variety, and when it comes to serious gaming, variety is all important. Sure the SF5 and Tekken deus talked a little to much, but they are making exclusivity deals with Sony, and I am sure Sony wants to reward them for that with the chance to speak on their project, at length, in front of a grand audience if need be.
I know some folks feel let down about the June release of NMS, but who really thought it was coming this year? I hoped it was, but surely didn't believe it would. And why should it? Releasing this year means battling the likes of Battlefront, Fallout, CoD, and Halo, a murderers row of popular shooters that a new IPS probably stands little chance against.
We got peeks of games from almost every genre. Gran Turismo, SF5, Nier, UC4, NMS, even some music games. I think Sony has made a concerted effort to have good exclusive games for every genre, and this conference proved that in spades. Of course we all wish all are favorite games would come out sooner than they do, but would we really have time to play them all?! All in all, I say good show, and good job giving gamers a wide variety of games to choose from.
P.S. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Rime show up in Paris? Was really wanting to see that and wasn't sure if I just missed it or if didn't make an appearance? Either way, Rime looks to be another amazing game.
Pacing was awful, so many awkward silences and pauses waiting for applause that never came, and the first half hour was painful. Some good games mixed in there, although its hard to remain excited for games that are still up to and beyond a year away.
I don't what the hell the press expect. Why can't the street fighters dudes be a little silly. Maybe they actual enjoy creating games. One minute Sony is considered boring in press conferences for talking only about sales #'s from 2 yrs ago, then when they want to be Loose and have fun the press is bitching. I expected way less from Sony for Paris week and they delivered. At least most of these games are coming out 2016 where as who knows when FF7, last guardian and shenmue 3 are coming.
Language -Tasuki-
WiLD and the stealth release of Driveclub Bikes were my favorite parts of the show. I do think Sony held stuff back due to the December PSX event in San Francisco, which is maybe why the PGW presser felt underwhelming to most.
E3 2015. Push Square: "Best presser ever".
Community: You guys are too positive.
PGW 2015. Push Square: "Disappointing presser"
Community: You guys are never happy.
A show that raises as many questions as it answers isn't a good show imo; the script might have been written by the creator of Lost. That said, it gives us lots to speculate about.
I was really hoping to finally hear a PS VR launchdate and although I kinda knew it wasn't coming, I was litteraly holding my breath at times when Shu was talking. Sure, VR is just taking its first babysteps and I really should be smart and wait, just like Sony for that matters, but it indeed feels like we are on the verge of a totally new way of consuming all sorts of media. The Sony Pictures demo is simply brilliant and breathtaking at the same time and that is exactly the kind of stuff I want to take home to SA and brag to all my mates about, just like when I owned a PSone and they didn't.
With NMS, which indeed is losing every momentum this way, coming in June, I am gonna go out and predict PSVR will launch in June too. I still believe Sony knows its potential and will make it a tie- in game. I don't know exactly what to think bout GT sport, but the confirmation I'll be driving with VR (a $1100 setup :S) is all I wanted out of them. I didn't expect less from Yamauchi, who has always been a real tech- nut, but to hear him say it makes me sleep better. I am a bit afraid though that it'll take quite some time before we see it, unless he isn't going for full VR optimization till GT7 and is simply adding a VR mode instead of building it from the ground up simultaneously with the actual game.
I'm curious to see what's in store for us at PSX, because there should still be quite a lot of games in development we don't know of. I hope the pricecut will be enough for Sony to keep people interested, cause just like with NMS I'm getting the feeling the PS4 as a whole is losing momentum too. This might be because we're too close to the fire and see (or don't) things your regular consumer doesn't care about and with CoD, Destiny, Battlefront and Disney Infinity they have a lot to offer; the core gamers have made their choice already for the most part, it's the CoD playing dad or the 12 y.o. Wii owner who should be persuaded at this point, and I feel PS got them in their pocket. PS focused on the core gamer when it mattered at launch and now targets the casual gamer as well, where MS wanted to "own" the living room and pushed the real gamers away and now they've bought a PS4 Phil Spencer has shifted focus and targets the core gamer
Content was good. Poorly presented. French crowd were French.
@ShogunRok you can't please everyone
Wasn't too bad for me. New title from Quantic Dream & VR for Gran Turismo was enough to see me through
I didn't expect much. They had a lot at E3 and TGS and 4 shows in a year is a bit much. PS Experience needs to be a lot better than this show because if you're going to dedicate an end of the year show to specifically your console it needs to be top notch. My hope is they held back a bit here to make PS Experience a bit more special. The reality is, Sony probably shot its load at the first two shows. 2016 looks good, but two mediocre shows at the end of the year could hurt momentum heading into the new year. To get that back, it needs to make sure Capcom stays on track with SF V and that Naughty Dog definitely stays on track with Uncharted 4. Sony has done a lot right with PS4 but the big-time exclusives need to start hitting at some point. Both of those are big exclusives and Naughty Dog especially has had a lot of time to get Uncharted 4 right. It's time to see the results sooner rather than later.
Wasnt really a "meh" for me but it was decent. The games that really left an impression on me are WiLD and Boundless.
One for what it could push in the action/adventure genre and the other for the promise of online team play.
I would very much temper your expectations for PlayStation Experience. Other than God of War IV (which will be early) and potentially Sony Bend's new game, I can't think of anything else they could have that would be new and really excite the 'megatons' crowd.
Obviously they can pace things better, though.
Still haven't seen what SCEJ has been cooking up either. Probably get release dates for alot of games as well as PSVR at the final show. Pretty sure there will be a couple surprise exclusives as well.
@ShogunRok Nice. And E3 was the best presser ever. And always will be.
I thought it was kind of nice. I'm really interested in Nier, Gravity Rush and Detroit, so it did a good job of getting me excited about buying a PS4. The only thing I don't like about Sony is their tendency to announce games waaaaaay before they're ready for release. So I guess we just have to play the waiting game. Hopefully a Slim model will be out soon because that's the version I want to buy.
@get2sammyb
I feel like pacing is always an issue for the Western branches of Sony. E3 was better this year though, maybe SCEA is learning.
It was a solid conference that just lacked the big WOW moments that E3 had, chances are now that regardless of your preferred genres and tastes there's a PS4 exclusive for you. The way to look at all this is imagine Christmas dinner (other religious holidays are available) you sit and see all these familiar faces that you haven't seen for most of the year, you tuck into the feast, enjoying the sprouts and roast potatoes. Then you start eating the most delicious Christmas Turkey you've ever had (E3) nothing has ever been as good as this. Once that's done you start pulling the crackers with the CRAP toy in (insert indie joke here) then you finish it off with the chocolate sponge dessert (PGW) it tastes really lovely and the custard is nice and warm but by this point your full up and you know deep down that your never going to have anything as good as that turkey.
@adf86 lol. Amazing post.
Probably about 70% of the stuff they presented was stuff that I was interested in. But I watched it after it aired and it took me almost four hours to get through because they way they presented it was so bad. So, to sum up: I'm excited about the content, but the way it was delivered could have been vastly improved.
Hey, as a Nintendo fan I am just saying this is better than Nintendo's E3 2015 and subsequent no Nintendo Directs. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It was better than nothing.
Bears, sexy semi-naked men, dinosaurs, cyber dinosaurs, animals, dream creating, awesome androids full of ze emotions...HELL YES.
The delivery was awful but there were at least 6 games I really really want.
So glad I got a PS4 instead of an Xbox One.
I thought it was a decent show. It didn't top the excitement of e3 but that had huge announcements Sony couldn't reasonably replicate here, so I'm not sure what people were expecting. No platform holder can reveal absolutely everything people want to play all at once. The pacing could have definitely been snappier but they showed an interesting and diverse range of games. The PS4 looks like it will have a great line-up going forward into 2016 and beyond.
I think E3, Gamescom and PSX is enough conferences for one year. They should drop Paris Game Show imo.
@JoeBlogs So they didn't! lol
@AyeHaley Me too. If I had an X1 I'd definitely be looking over at PS4 jealously (and probably thinking of trading in!)
@Neolit
I didn't get to watch the whole show, and I'm just catching up with everything this morning. I thought it was a pretty good show to be honest. From what I saw, there were definitely some off moments that slowed the show right down, but overall, Sony showed off some excellent-looking games, and that's what matters.
Also, pay day has come - Driveclub Bikes shall be mine!
@get2sammyb Well maybe Naughty Dog will work on two games at the same time for once and announce TLOU 2 or another original project. Ehhh, that's not gonna happen.
I do think Sony need a bit of a turbo boost going towards Christmas. E3 was great, even if a lot of it was smoke and mirrors, really, like "In about 3 years there'll be a remake that will be on PS4 but most likely other things, there's a Kickstarter going for a game that's also on PC, and a game we announced years ago will be out soonish". But they made it sound so good.
This was decent but plain, functional I'd call it. They could do with one or two wow moments that'll light up the internet at some point in the next month or so.
I didn't watch it but all the news i got was awsome. I think people are spoiled just like i don't understand people claim that there area't any games. I'm still busy with my backlog. I think @Boerewors tries to put a negative spin on everything he posts at least i see a big patern.
But it looks like they need a new spokesman i think.
@Flaming_Kaiser
True. I'm actually a Xbox One owner who hasn't got any games to play on that damn VCR from hell. I don't even own a PS4 actually, never owned a PS for that matters, and because I'm having trouble with the fact I spend $399 on a console I don't like, I try to talk myself into liking it by bashing the competition.
I wonder how many people I managed to convert and joined the green team already. We've got Halo and you guys Tearaway! Lol! I don't like Sci-Fi shooters, but it's great to know we're having something you lot don't.
It was a rock solid show... At a point.
You can't deny they showed off new stuff.
You can't deny that the first half hour was approved.
You can't deny that your emotions wasn't fulfilled.
You can't deny that Dreams was apparently scary.
You also can't deny that the influence The Last Of Us multiplayer had on the making of its successor The Last of Us - Uncharted Multiplayer.
It wasn't bad nor was it terribly good, it was just rock solid.
I suppose "meh" is as close as I'm going to get to rock solid.
@Punished_Boss_84
If E3 and TGS hadn't been so good I think this conference would've been more well received.
Presser - god I hate that word.
@Gamer83
By comparison, sure.
@Boerewors The sarcasm is strong in this one seriously though you shouldn't bother retorting, it's what Kaiser wants, I know it's very unfair and annoying that they have targeted you specifically but it's best to let it go. This site is better than that and from what I've seen from your posts so are you Help fight the flame! (that should be a hastag )
@kyleforrester87
@Hego
Lol, usually I don't mind, but if you only care to read the first sentence of my comment and decide to start flaming right away, than there's lil left for me than to just laugh it away with some good ol' sarcasm. I am actually quite positive about PS's outlook, but I didn't like the presser very much, a sentiment I share with lots of other PS fans.
#helpfighttheflame ... Shouldn't we make it "fite da flaim" so the fanboys will get it?
Tap here to load 39 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...