Well, here I am actually WRITING a post for our blog. This feels...unfamiliar, but necessary. Instead of waiting until Sunday on the podcast to share my thoughts (I still will). I figured I better run down my thoughts on the entire thing while they're still fresh and the news is hot.
I do not normally sit through press conferences. Usually I wait for the news to come out on IGN or ScrewAttack and get the interesting bits from there. After sitting through this one I can say this: I was right, press conferences suck. If the time they took for "hype" was boiled down to substance the conference would have topped out at an hour instead of slightly over two. Now I should admit that in the past console generation I have been on the side of the Xbox 360. I do understand, though that this type of press conference is not unique to Sony but is more of what the entire industry is now: hype. I should digress though and get to the meat of this (while being as objective as possible).
I went through 4 stages of thought with the PS4 controller. They went: neat, weird, cool, oh god what. The design of course stayed pretty much unchanged which I thought was neat. I don't like to use this term a lot but "if it ain't broke don't fix it". That being said I thought that adding that touch pad in the middle was a little weird, we didn't really get to see what it was used for. All we saw was the fact that it is there. I liked the new share button and headphone jack, very cool additions. My "oh god what" moment was the light bar, which is a bar that interacts with a light on the back of your controller. It is supposed to feel the depth of the room and allow you to use motion controls with your controller. I can't help but think how goofy our entertainment set ups are going to look if we invest in more than one console. (Playstation Move, light bar, Kinect, Wii Motion Plus, sound bar). I'll have to wait and see but the light bar is a big turn off.
A lot of the interface looked messy at times and I even thought it looked similar to Windows 8 tiles at one point (which I loooooathe). The interface when you're viewing a profile, however looked great and showed relevant information without cluttering the screen. They also talked about everything working much faster than before. I don't have any experience on the matter but I'll take Andy's word for it that change is needed when it comes to interface speed.
I don't like to tell companies or people they are trying too hard but I must do it. Sony, you are trying too hard. The same can be said for Microsoft's Kinect. These motion control add ons (I guess they aren't add ons anymore) are being shoved down our throats. I consider myself pretty plugged into the gaming community and I don't remember hearing anyone clamoring for more motion controls and mediocre motion controlled games. The move demonstration did nothing to change my opinion, all we got were ugly models created with the move and a video of people seemingly jerking off to music. I was hoping this motion control fad would have stayed just that, a fad. Instead it's being integrated into the new generation of consoles. I'm not ready to live with it yet, but I might just have to.
This is awesome. I was wondering for a long time what Sony would do with Gaikai and from what we heard at the press conference, they are going to impress. Being able to play trails of full games, not demos, but full games without downloading them is fantastic. You will also eventually be able to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on your PS4 via Gaikai. Also, when you buy games you'll be able to play them right away, while the game finishes downloading in the background.
If anything is going to pull me over to the Sony side, this is it. With the PS4 you will be able to stream your game directly to your channel on UStream. While I really hope you'll be able to chose from more streaming services in the future I would totally switch over to UStream if need be. Many people know how difficult streaming can be, especially with all the added hardware you need to do so. Being able to do so directly from your console is huge and will no doubt add to the every growing game streaming fan base. Not only that but your friends can sit in and watch you play your game if you so choose without streaming it publicly.
Now with those out of the way, let's get to some games.
Hey, did you know your kids can play PS4 too? This game looks like the family friendly launch title that every console seems to have. Interesting game play mechanics of growing smaller and bigger. Not for me but I'm sure it will sell well
Looks like another Killzone, kinda obvious, right? While they game looks cool I can't help but think PS3 would have been able to run it just fine. It doesn't look particularly "next gen" especially not when you compare it to the POLYGOOOONS demonstration from later in the conference. Seems to me like another run of the mill shooter. Killzone fans will love it, non fans won't.
This one got on my nerves to no end. 95% of the demonstration was all about how it looks, the detail, the shine, the shadows. While I get a new console will show off it's graphics peen, this took it to a whole new level. Drive Club should have come with more game play to show, especially since it will have to compete with Gran Turismo.
I could almost copy and paste what I said from Killzone. While this game does look to have more appeal outside it's core fans it is still another Infamous game. This one though did look like it was taking more advantage of the PS4's processing power.
From the creator of Braid comes this 3D puzzle game. And you know what? It looks down right fun and pretty, seems like a good relaxing sort of game.Unlike others so far in this list, it seems this game will be multi-platform
- Deep Down (working title)
Capcom really impressed me here. This game looks AMAZING and also seems like it's a blast to play. The medieval style was something I didn't expect from Capcom. If I were to jump ship to PS3, this is a title I would probably buy.
This game looks like the next big thing. The graphics, the game play, the setting, the style all seem very fresh and new. I can't wait for this game to come out. From time to time I catch myself drooling at the hacking ability and the open world look of it. Won't get me to change allegiances though, it'll be out on multiple platforms.
Not being a close follower of Blizzard or Sony I was confused to see Blizzard making an appearance at this conference. After a little bit of hype they announce Diablo III would be coming not only to the PS4, but to the PS3 as well. This seems like an interesting partnership that could bridge a little of that PC-Console gap.
Bungie making an appearance was weird to me since for so long they were Microsoft only. They showed of a little of their new game "Destiny". This game looked almost like an mmofps which got me real excited. They labeled it as a "shared world". While I need to see a little more before I'm hooked it does look quite impressive. They also did mention that while Destiny will be multi platform that PS4 will get exclusive content.
It seems to me that the PS4 is going to start off a lot stronger than the PS3 did. It is shaping up to be worth the purchase on launch day. There are some things that if I bought it I wish I could do without but ultimately it looks worthy of "the next gen". What I noticed though is the game play and graphics are not taking that huge generational step. Instead we're getting a myriad of new things you can do with the console itself to make it more personal and connected. Sony is keeping up with the changing gaming community and it has made me very impressed.
- tl;dr four things I love, four things I hate.
Love
- Streaming
- Gaikai
- Desitny
- Deep Down
Hate
- Light Bar
- Move
- Drive Club
- Messy Interface
Here is a Platypus
