While Sony's E3 2016 press conference was stacked with untold riches of first-party titles, we did think that it was odd how the platform holder practically opened with Days Gone – and then closed with it as well. This has led to some speculation that the organisation changed its schedule, and while it's possible that the PlayStation 4K may have been ejected, that doesn't really tally with comments that gaffer Andrew House made last week.
There's an interesting anecdote in Eurogamer.net's report on the media briefing, however: according to whispers around Los Angeles, the platform holder had one more game, which was pulled. This instantly raises two questions: what was it and why was it pulled? It's a query that only the likes of House and Shawn Layden will be able to answer, but it shows just how strong the platform holder's first-party lineup is if it's able to "save" this year's convention without its supposed show-stopper.
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My guess is either Last of Us 2 or Red Dead Redemption 2. But who knows, could of been anything.
To be honest I was surprised at how 'few' games actually got a mention and there was a lot of absentees - Dreams, Hellblade, Wild, GT6, FF7 remake, Shenmue, etc quite a few that got a mention (inc 2 of the 3 that Sammy went nuts over) at last years E3. In terms of number of games shown, it was quite low. VR had a highlights reel but where was the 'indie' highlights reel - MS had their expected Indie reel.
I am not complaining of course but I did feel that Sony's was lacking in quantity considering what we know is certainly in development. I would rather see a focus on 10 quality titles than lots of talk, behind the scenes, brief glimpses, guest interviews/chats, weird dancers and/or rushed through to show as many as possible without really showing what each offered.
As for the return to Days Gone, I am very happy Sony did this. The earlier trailer set up my interest but didn't really 'sell' the game. I was left wondering exactly what the game would be, how it would play, quite what to expect. Returning to it though was a master-stroke. I started thinking this is very Last of Us - even the Music. As the level progressed, we saw a very brief glimpse of something whilst looking around, then we end up meeting up 2-Dog, get attacked by him, end up falling down and from that point, it went into WorldWarZ!!! The sheer number of these swarming after you was insane. It ended up with you trapped and as the camera pulled back, you could see in this big open world areas, 100's if not thousands of these swarming to your position from every direction!! Visually it looked impressive from the start but when you factor in all those enemies on screen, the explosions, flames, destruction and the tension building with both the threat and the music, it had a very similar impact to last years Horizon reveal.
Horizon: Zero Dawn for me was the equivalent of Uncharted 4 from last year - a game I really want given more gameplay ro push my anticipation levels beyond what I though possible. Days Gone though would have been almost forgotten, lost amongst all the other reveals despite a relatively interesting trailer but that game-play just blew me away - just like Horizon did the year before. It sold me that game right there and then. Days Gone, because of that game-play, instantly became the best 'new' (as in not previously shown/announced) game reveal of E3 2016 - it was awesome and a great way to end in my opinion!
@BAMozzy I was never expecting Shenmue because it's clear from the Kickstarter updates they've barely got started yet. Final Fantasy VII Remake was at PSX so not a massive surprise again.
But yeah, I think they just wanted to keep it really nice and tight, which is no bad thing. We'd all been on here complaining if they'd spent ten minutes talking about Dreams again, for example.
I didn't watch it because Sony's conferences are usually overlong, but it seems this one was shorter, which helped with the pace, as I read that was a positive thing this year.
@sinalefa Yeah, it was only about an hour long, and it was literally just back to back games with almost no talking. It's well worth seeking out on YouTube actually - it was really good.
Yeah I'm not so sure. It seems like conjecture and spurious reasoning. I mean, if there were a game that were pulled, they still could have had Days Gone's two reveals back to back near the start and closed with Kojima or something else. It seemed to me they were just really proud of the crowd/swarm physics and wanted to close the show on a "wow" note. It seemed thoroughly planned out.
I think that the absences made it a little worst that 2015 presentation.
And to be honest I think that Days Gone looks very generic.
@sinalefa It was about 1:20, but a pretty good ride. If you aren't overly interested in PSVR I'd say skip the show - it had a 5 minute orchestral opening, no video, just music - and just watch a few trailers. Horizon Zero Dawn has an 8 minute gameplay vid that's really good, and GoW was good. I have no idea what was up w/ Kojima but some people liked it. Gone Days had a good trailer early on but the game play just looked like Last of Us 2 to me.
GoW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ_GCPaKywg
Horizon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Xx3MdqdgM
@get2sammyb As you know, those 2 games aren't exactly on my wanted list and therefore not been following their progress or appearances. Even without those 2, there were still a number of absentees. Dreams wasn't a game that appealed to my either but I still expected something - a brief highlight reel showing some of the upcoming games in development - inc the Square Enix games too. Without really thinking about it, I was able to list 6 games, and I am sure there are a lot I missed Nioh, Gravity Rush, Ni No Kuni (just added a few more) that could have at least got a mention in that highlight section. Its acknowledging the games, without taking too much time up and showing you have a big library in development. I also thought that we may of seen a highlight reel of their indie games too.
As I said it wasn't a criticism because I appreciated the more in-depth look and extended game-play of these games - rather than just a 2 min (max) and rush on to the next - much better to get a good look at these but never the less I still expected to see at least a condensed highlight reel for those games not shown. Whether that would have cheapened the overall presentation or not, I don't know but maybe these were removed.
I certainly can't fault they way Sony conducted their presentation, the overall staging and the way they returned to Days Gone - hell, it had me 'almost' wanting a God of War game!!!
An apparent insider on Reddit has claimed that Sony's final game was Red Dead Redemption 2 but the trailer got pulled because it showed someone going into a bar/saloon shooting at innocent people, which in light of the tragedy in Orlando was seen as too near the knuckle to show.
Also there's been rumours that all content is been pulled on Death Stranding from the official channels, hope it isn't true.
Bloodborne 2. It was pulled to be shown at TGS and because it overshadows anything.
Please. Please let that be it.
Sony bend days gone looks good.my second hype ps4 exclusive after God of war
@adf86 What do you mean by that second part, adf? Red Dead Redemption 2 seems plausible, though, as Take 2 earlier this month told they would be at E3 in a big way... well, where are they?
@Kidfried A Neogaf thread (Granted it's Neogaf) are claiming this, I admit it is a surprise that haven't put out an official trailer on their YouTube page or something. I just thought I'd mention it in case Sammy and co look into it and see if there's a story there.
Could have been something that was in some way considered distasteful after the shootings of the last few days. I don't think anyone's making a massacre simulator or anything, but perhaps a particularly gory first person shooter for VR or something. Think along the lines of No Russian from MW2.
That was the first thing I said at the end of the show—this isn't what they were going to close with. Since I doubt they're worried about showcasing a game too soon (looking at the triumvirate that got fans into a tizzy last year), I'm betting it was something shooting related that felt off given current events.
Spiderman can be the show-stopper for me.
@BAMozzy Pretty strange you managed to list to many games not present at Sony's conference. And that's not even talking about Gravity Rush 2, NieR or Wattam for example. No indies either. I feel like they could've added another 15-20 minutes of just showing those games. They'll probably be at another conference though.
@Octane Why is so strange??
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