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[Shyakugaun]

EDGE: Sony’s E3 2014 press conference: greater daring and diversity seal another confident PS4 victory

PlayStation continues to outstrip Xbox at every turn this generation. Sony’s showcase had more surprises, more impressive game demos and far greater diversity than Microsoft’s briefing. Sony also had a wider range of things to talk about: there was PlayStation TV, Vita, PS Plus, Project Morpheus and the same kind of services Microsoft once focused on too much, but above all, the games therein simply looked better and more daring. This was a high pressure, high stakes showcase, and yet Sony’s executives were clearly brimming with the kind of easy confidence and good humour that comes with a significant lead in the console race, a superior games line-up and a richer ecosystem.

EDGE: Microsoft’s E3 2014 press conference: a solid but uninspiring start for Phil Spencer’s ‘new Xbox’

And with that, Xbox One is an Xbox again. To the relief of the millions watching around the world earlier today, Xbox One wasn’t referred to as an ‘all-in-one entertainment system’ at all during Microsoft’s E3 2014 media briefing; instead, we were presented with a string of new games intended to recapture some of the spark that made Xbox 360 the market leader and console of choice for the hardcore player last generation.

Without an awkward celebrity cameo in sight, this was a press conference full of familiar franchises and game concepts. They had next-gen polish, fourplayer online co-op and dedicated servers. What were intended as surprises weren’t all that surprising, and once again, Microsoft’s efforts to promote more alternative fare from the indie scene felt forced. But at least they’re trying.

Yet people like to shit on Polygon, nothing is worse than edge...ok maybe cinemablend lol

 

[The Albatross]

I agree?

maybe I'm old fashioned but the E3 winner should be a gameplay video of a game coming this year.

Fair enough. What's your game of the show out of curiosity?

 

[Outtrigger888]

Nintendo still has more to announce you guys.

 

[Divvy]

For me I'd have to rank it

Nintendo B+: Very entertaining and well paced presentation. Honestly, the non-live presentation format turned out to be a lot better since it lacked awkward audience pandering and PR fluff. Some great games were shown with a few good surprises. Zelda looks amazing and Splatoon was a pleasant surprise. What brings it down is the lack of a breadth of third party support that they need and the lack of 3DS stuff.

Sony B-: Overall a good show let down by really bad pacing issues (*cough* powers). I liked the focus on a lot of the smaller dev studios and games that fell out of the general mainstream appeal lens. Also disappointed that Vita pretty much no longer exists to them anymore

Microsoft C: If half the game reveals weren't just CG trailers, I'd probably put it on the same level as Sony's but I just can't get excited over CG trailers. At least make it in-engine so we have a general idea of what to expect when I'm playing it. Aside from that, the show's pacing was good and there wasn't any focus on boring family or ESPN garbage like previous years.

EA F-: I didn't think anything could be worse than a conference of CG trailers but EA really outdid itself.

Didn't watch Ubisoft's

 

[thunder_snail]

MS could've dominated if they showed off Scalebound and Crackdown better.
CGI trailers can be tasteful but they were WAY overdone for both games. There's fine line between showing off game concepts via CGI vs some kinda hollywood action pretending to be a game, and MS took it too far for two of their most important titles.

 

[model13]

My take away from E3 is that I'm glad that I have a PS4 (No Man's Sky, Uncharted, Bloodborne) but that's all coming in 2015 which means my PS4 will mainly be home to multiplats this year (LBP and Driveclub don't appeal to me).

However, Halo, is severely tempting me to pickup a Xbox One this fall with the added bonus of Sunset Overdrive (not a system seller to me but a definite pickup if I have an Xbox One).

Having said that, I don't feel like anyone really had great conference.

 

[plasmawave]

As far as Sony VS MS goes, none of the games on MS conference made me wowed as much as the No Man's Sky.

 

[spekkeh]

i am watering from different sockets of my body just because nintendo satisfies me like nobody can

Hahaha somehow this post, together with

sonikokaruto
Posting on the wrong forum

Made me rofl

 

[MetatronM]

Yeah, if I were them, I would be.

I mean, I really dont understand why someone would say Sony had a better quality E3 if not by their personal game taste. The event quality of MS was better overall!

People said MS did not presented any surprise, but I diagree. Scalebound and Phantom Dust were both unexpected, not saying that Halo Collection was only a rumour and got oficially announced exactly how people wanted it to be. And they could have gained more claim if they reserved Forza Horizon 2 announce for the show, but still that was an E3 announce imo, just not a surprise anymore.

On the other hand Sony showed LBP3, what was a great surprise, also a already rumoured title (Bloodborn, aka Project Beast) and more gameplay of The Order, what was amazing, but completely expected aswell. They only showed Uncharted to let the audience more happy, but it wasnt much different from their first reveal, since it was pratically a CGI.

Other then that, what both showed was pratically multiplatform titles, so I would not say that MS or Sony won the E3 by showing them. No Mans Sky was a pleasantly surprise, but I think thats multiplatform, right?

I would say that it was almost equally good. But imho MS had more big surprises and a more direct and solid conference. Sony got some extra claim because of The Order and Bloodborn I believe.

I feel like I saw a much more interesting diversity of games from Sony. There was a little bit of something for everyone, which really sold the scope of the Playstation brand in a very effective way. Aside from one or two draggy parts, I feel like they really nailed their presentation and what they needed to accomplish.

Microsoft had a lot of good stuff, and I think this was the absolute right approach for them, but at the end, as someone who doesn't have an Xbox One, I still didn't feel particularly compelled to go buy one anytime soon. I don't feel today like it's any more likely that I'll buy an Xbox One in the next year or so than it was a few days ago.

On the flip side, I really feel like I need to go buy a Wii U now after Nintendo's show.

I think they all had pretty solid shows this year. No real clunkers (other than EA). 2015 is going to be a ridiculous year for gaming if all of these games stay on track.

 

[Dragonborn]

MS could've dominated if they showed off Scalebound and Crackdown better.
CGI trailers can be tasteful but they were WAY overdone for both games. There's fine line between showing off game concepts via CGI vs some kinda hollywood action pretending to be a game, and MS took it too far for two of their most important titles.

Had MS showed off actual gameplay of PD, Scalebound, and Crackdown along with strong 2015 release dates for all, they would have won easily. I agree. But they didn't, and CGI is meaningless.

 

[Clairvoyance]

Seriously, what is wrong with Nintendo Fanboys? You guys seem extremely bitter for some reason.

Let's not pretend Nintendo fanboys are the only ones being bitter and irrational the last few days.

 

[TGO]

I liked MS'S show for the multiplies they showed that'll look better on PS4, I like Sony's show for the multiplies and exclusives and Uncharted 4
Nintendo? They got a new Zelda I guess.

 

[Dennis]

Nintendo won, hands down.

 

[Nintentoast]

On the topic of press conferences, I think we all realize now that Digital Events allow Nintendo to do cool things like Robot Chicken and Reggie vs Iwata. So are we going to bitch and moan next year when Nintendo announces they are doing something different or have they proven this is an effective way of tackling E3?

 

[spekkeh]

I see this as a fundamental difference of what people want from consoles
for nintendo fans the exclusives itself are the cake, that's why people keep going on and on about "OMG NO EXCLUSIVES" when it comes to MS and Sony, they just don't understand that third party games would be the main thing that interests people

of course the question being like always if those nintendo fans alone can support a system without the people who think exclusives are just a bonus to a variety of third party offerings


no people are just saying they don't like the games nintendo is offering, which is a completely valid opinion
I have no idea where you got the rest from

OR some people have multiple consoles and a PC, so they're genuinely interested mostly in what the platform holders bring to the table OR some people judge the conferences, like what the thread title says, instead of the lineups OR some people think most third party AAA games are derivative schlock and value creativity.

 

[neojubei]

More wow from Sony? in what exactly? overall Sonys conference was pretty predictable, cept for Grim Fandango

Well it was much better than Microsoft's that's for sure.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Had MS showed off actual gameplay of PD, Scalebound, and Crackdown along with strong 2015 release dates for all, they would have won easily. I agree. But they didn't, and CGI is meaningless.

I dont think its meaningless. It means they WILL be released, now they can just reveal the gameplay whenever they believe its a good idea.

 

[twobear]

I must say I'd probably be pretty exasperated if I were Phil Spencer right now, getting trashed last year for not having a focus on games and now getting trashed for focusing on games while Sony gets praise for 'broadening' their E3 Conference by showing concept art for a TV show. I hope MS stick with it though, more E3s like this one (but with fewer leaks) and I'll probably actually buy an Xbone in a few years time.

 

[spekkeh]

On the topic of press conferences, I think we all realize now that Digital Events allow Nintendo to do cool things like Robot Chicken and Reggie vs Iwata. So are we going to bitch and moan next year when Nintendo announces they are doing something different or have they proven this is an effective way of tackling E3?

No Nintendo finally delivered on the promise. Previously the Directs were pretty lackluster though. Seems like NoA took over from NoJ.

 

[eso76]

I swear I have no idea what people saw at Sony's conference that I didn't.
Nothing new or unexpected, diversity was only provided by indies or indie-like games and speaking of those both platforms had a few interesting exclusives.

 

[Natureboy99]

2015 won E5. Every cool new game is coming next year. Personally I enjoyed Nintendos the most, followed closely by Sony. Microsoft seemed very uninspired and by the numbers.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I'd give Sony an A and Microsoft a C.

Nintendo gets a solid B+ .

I think Sony had the right mix of variety, surprises and big budget titles. Microsoft was competent but they didn't have enough exclusives coming out in the next 6 months for my tastes. i don't think they will close the sales gap any time soon based on their showing. Nintendo was solid for Nintendo fans and they are taking a stab at the figurine/game combo that has become all the rage. They are on their last legs but it seems they are doing all they can to stay afloat. I think they have put in a great effort so far so here is hoping it isn't ignored.

 

[GAF]

Well it was much better than Microsoft's that's for sure.

neojubei
Will drop pants for Sony.
(Today, 10:55 PM)

I'm surprised and shocked.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Yes we've all played open world games before. You can do all those things in most open world games, it's not anything new.

Yeah, sort of the point of the emphasis
IF you would look at my post again, the whole point is Zelda is going back to OG Zelda Open World style

That's what's being hyped here, the direction he's taking is amazing and seems to be what we want, along with how great the game looks in its visuals

 

[Strictly]

Well it was much better than Microsoft's that's for sure.

Sony conference was just as predictable as their last 3.
The only thing that could be looked on as new and interesting was No Mans Sky.

 

[Dragonborn]

I dont think its meaningless. It means they WILL be released, now they can just reveal the gameplay whenever they believe its a good idea.

A CGI trailer is just as good as sending a press release with the title and nothing more. It shows us nothing, they may as well have waited a bit longer before announcing to have something to actually show.

 

[Red Liquorice]

I don't even have a Wii U and I thought what little I've seen of Nintendo's offerings this year was better than MS and Sony combined. Other than Bloodborne and Cuphead, this E3 has given me serious reason to want a Wii U, which is something I thought I'd never say.

 

[BotoxAgent]

By default, yes. E3 was a stalemate that changed nothing, and Xbone and Wii U are vying to be the companion console to the PS4.

If that's the case, I think the WiiU then made a good compelling argument. PS4 and X1 have the multiplats going, so having an X1 would be a bit redundant.

 

[SlickShoesRUCrazy]

MS B-, Sony B-, Nintendo B+

 

[Dragonborn]

If that's the case, I think the WiiU then made a good compelling argument. PS4 and X1 have the multiplats going, so having an X1 would be a bit redundant.

Yup, MS did give good reasons to buy an X1, but not this year, heck not even next year. 2016 will be the year to get an X1, once Scalebound and Crackdown are within reach. Wii U/PS4 will serve well until then.

 

[Yoda]

I must say I'd probably be pretty exasperated if I were Phil Spencer right now, getting trashed last year for not having a focus on games and now getting trashed for focusing on games while Sony gets praise for 'broadening' their E3 Conference by showing concept art for a TV show. I hope MS stick with it though, more E3s like this one (but with fewer leaks) and I'll probably actually buy an Xbone in a few years time.

Yeah I think people are a simply regurgitating their fanboi allegiances. While I liked the offering of games showed as Sony's conference more, there is no doubt Microsoft's sent a much better message and had much better pacing.

 

[geordiemp]

Nintendo won, hands down.

What is the point of winning E3 ?

Its to get more customers onto the supplier console and also sell software. So who actually won E3 other than fans proclaiming their system won ?

I predict for consoles :

MS won E3 software : Looking at Amazon pre-orders for Halo, looks like they have struck well.

Sony won hardware : Would be surprised if they are not still leading in sales figures, as most E3 games were console multiplat which is Ps4 strength.

Nintendo Cant see how they won anything really other than keeping their loyal fanbase.

If N won, and their presentation was so good that WiiU sales increase to be the leader in next 2 NPD's then it would be a VERY interesting NPD thread....

Spoiler

Megaton Chances 0.001 %...

 

[spookyfish]

So how exactly do you play that? I bought my console to play games.

Same way you play CGI footage.

 

[chubigans]

Added the first Nintendo weigh in, and separated/cleaned the OP a bit.

 

[Kazerei]

Nintendo Treehouse coverage has been really good too. They've been playing games live, explaining how it works, and providing commentary. The way they present is just very natural and comfortable, not rehearsed.

 

[ModBot]

This thread hasn't to resulted in anything except a thousand different definitions of "won" and attacking other people's tastes so far. Sorry chubigans :/