I have zero interest in what MS is doing with the next Xbox. I hate the Wii U controller. And now Sony is screwing the pooch by copying many of Nintendo's worst ideas. *sigh*

The Killzone video looked amazing.  The Infamous video...meh!

travo said:

The Killzone video looked amazing.  The Infamous video...meh!

Finally saw the whole thing, here is my reaction (this can be your recap as well).

System Specs:

Don't know much about this but from what I hear everyone is super impressed. The thing I took out of it is that it was made by a western team and it was made specifically for devs. This is the opposite of PS3 which was hell for devs. Hopefully this means the best versions of third party games will be on PS4.

System Features:

Dual Shock 4 looks awesome to me. We dont know what the touch pad or light bar is for but I am sure it will be put to good use. The share button is awesome, instantly download videos. Do you know how many times I wanted to show you guys one of my runs, or show you how to do certain moves, stuff like that. Now I can do it.

Eye is now a sensor bar, looks like a mix of kinect and wii sensor bar. It watches you play and can broadcast you to others. Of course it is used for move though that wasnt talked about much. One cool thing is that it has a mic, so no more needing a headset.

The community features are absolutely mindblowing. With a button I can broadcast my play and have people watch. Or I can watch what you are playing. The best feature by far is the ability for a friend to take over control of another friends game to help them pass a certain part. This means NEVER being stuck in a game again. Dvader mode for all! It looks to have cross game chat and video, stuff I probably wont use much but people want. All this available on phones and other devices is a nice plus as well. Instant message boards while in game is like Miiverse only seems much better. It sounds so good that it can't be free.

Instant resume and background downloading is taken to a whole new level. The ability to shut down a game at any moment and then press one button and instantly resume is pretty cool. There are many times I want to watch a show or I have to leave but I am in a really bad spot in between saves or something and I need to finish this stupid section before turning off the system, well now I can. The ability to download while the system is off Xbox can do but its nice to see PS have it. Being able to play a game while its downloading is amazing!

The streaming service, this is where this system can revolutionize the way we access games. To be able to go to the PS store and INSTANTLY play EVERYTHING in the store is like a dream come true. Forget hoping for a demo, downloading it. All gone. Just press a button and you get to try the game out, probably for a few minutes but its still one hell of a feature. I actually like that the store will get to know you and have games already predownloaded for you because it knows you would want to play it. All the ads for games will be talored to your tastes, I am all for that.

Then comes the big one streaming games ANYWHERE. Play PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 on any device, sounds crazy but that is what the guy said. For me who travels a lot being able to play my console games on the road is huge. Not to mention this will give us instant access to a huge history of games, the virtual console for the Playstation. Who knows when some of those features will be ready but at launch we will have the Vita being a portable PS4 with PS4 streaming, just like Wii U. I love that feature on Wii U so I know I will love it on PS4. All this talk about the fastest gaming network ever made worries me how much this stuff will cost cause there is no way they are giving us all this for free. But if I can play any game from the past or future streaming, I am willing to pay up.

The Games:

Knack - I love platformers and cartoony action games so this is right up my alley. Great animation, nice models but again not that mindblowing graphically. Reminds me of Kameo, being a launch game and all. This guy made Marble Madness so it has to be good.

Killzone Shadowfall - Yeah it looked nice but not that nice. Here is my issue, it all had the feel of current gen. The way the characters moved, the way you still had bad blood stain effects on the screen, the gameplay all looks identical. Next gen shouldnt be all about making things prettier, it needs to show off new experiences and this demo is just a greatest hit of every current gen cliche there is. I have played this game a million times already.

Driveclub - Can someone tell me why Sony is competing with themselves. This is just Gran Turismo with more online. So the guy talks about how obsessive they are in every detail, honestly the cars didn't look that much different than when GT5 goes super graphics mode. The first person few is ok but that animation can get boring quick, and again wow all those animations and the hands especially all looked current gen. The community features are neat, I am a big fan of giving challenges and being able to accept a never ending list of them. Could be an excellent game but it just seems like GT by another team.

Infamous Second Son - This is all a cutscene, this tells me nothing. Again looks nice but none of it is gameplay. I cant tell if that is what the game will look like when in real action. While Infamous is fun and all its Infamous, it doesn't exactly make me jump out of my chair.

The Witness - Ok this is cool, a game by the guy who made Braid. Here is a game I am actually really curious to play. Its a big open world puzzle game, nice not great graphics but who cares. The world looks interesting, that is the most important part. I do fear it has to many line tracing puzzles, what was up with that.

Quantic Dream face dude -  So David Cage talks about emotion and how he stives for it in all his games. JASON!!! JASON!! Remember the emotion we felt from that, non stop laughter. Then he should an old man face which was very impressive. The eyes were right, it didnt have that hollow lifeless feel.

Media Molecule - Ok here it comes, the geniuses behind the most creative and original title of this gen is going to show us the future of interactivity. They said the Move is the dream device they have always wanted, YES, that is what I have been saying we need to show what these motion controllers are capable of. The true future of gaming is there. So here it comes, blow me away... AND THEY SHOW RANDOM WAGGLE. OMG why, why, why, why. That was Wii Music. Ohh i can sculp crap in 3D, I am not an artist, I dont care. Clearly they showed some stuff on how easy it is to create with move and PS4 but it was all done in passing without a true demo of how it is done. I do believe Move can be an incredible tool but not like that. At least I can see that they maybe working on a full 3D game world kind of create game.

Dragon's Dogma 2 (you know it is) - By a MILE the most impressive demo graphically. It blows away killzone, infamous, everything really. This is exactly what I am talking about, next gen animations, lighting, camera work all working together to present a scene in a way no current gen game can ever replicate. Yes it maybe is all bullcrap but they showed angles that could absolutely be you controlling the character. The way the dragon moved and interacted with the game world and the way your characters animations were so life like in the middle of the action is something we have only seen in CG movies. The kind of jump I am looking for is like how it was this gen where it wasn't simply better looking models and worlds but how those worlds came to life. In Uncharted 2 and GoW3 how the backgrounds came to life and were actual moving interactive parts of the game world. I am talking about that kind of graphical jump, one that can enhance a setpiece, I saw that in this demo. I want this even though I think Dragon's Dogma is meh.

Watch Dogs - Looks fantastic from a gameplay perspective. It has AC DNA, you can see glimpses of it all over but mixed with modern day setting and tools makes it more interesting. The concept seems so ambitious its bound to not live up to the promise, yet, the sequel probably will. Graphically very nice but since it is a cross gen game it isnt that wow. But easilt the game I want to play most from this show.

Other Annoucements:

Square, really, REALLY... Just go away. You get on stage and waste my time to show an old clip and trot some dude out to simply tell me the next FF game is coming. Oh THANK YOU, want to tell me that the sun will come up tomorrow while you are at it. Go away until you have something to show AND WHERE IS VERSUS. I hate you.

Blizzard, oh hey lets talk about this amazing team up. Oh yeah this is going to change everything. Ready for this, READY... a two year old game, yay. Woopie freaking do. I can play Diablo 3 now. I am sure it will be fun but nothing to waste time over.

Bungie, hey lets talk about all the same crap we talked about on Sunday. Show us something or dont come at all. Yeah it looks good and I want it but this is not the place to be rehashing old stuff. 2 seconds of new footage doesnt count. PS exclusive stuff, not a fan of exclusive content for systems.

Overall it was not a great show. Sony does not understand pacing, way too many people talking about stuff rather than showing us. Their third party announcements were simply terrible. There was no big shock moment. No super franchise where fans can go gaga over. It was like the Sony B team show. I guess all the good stuff is being saved for E3. No system reveal is unthinkable, how do you do this whole event and not show us what the console looks like. I didn't expect any other info like pricing or release so that is fine but I fear for the worse. A lot of this stuff sounded expensive, this whole conference felt like a first date where you present all the best you have to offer and try to hide everything else. As we get to know the PS4 it seems to me we will find some baggage.

Look at this beauty

I'm in love.

Dev confirmed to be in engine.

So at least going by those dashboard screenshots (looks nice) it looks like they are keeping trophys, and maybe they will carry over from last gen?

Dvader said:

Says the man who makes giant hype threads. But oh no people like what I dont GRRRR HOW DARE THEY!

And no, we are having a normal unbiased discussion at GS.Obviosuly pretty underwhelmed.

I make giant hype threads about GAMES I've aready PLAYED, Thank You very much. Not threads generating hype about a brand name with no hands on experience whatsoever. So there.  

Before you say it, my Wii U topic was not at all for my benefit. It was made to somewhat quell the UN-happiness going on around here lately about the "lack" of games for Wii U. SPOILER: I made it for Bear.

Please direct me to all the Giant Hype threads I've made about Wii U or Nintendo games, other than the one already mentioned. My hype threads have been about 360 or PS3 games.

...so you are saying there was NO MENTION about Wii U in the GS thread at all?  

AND ANOTHER THING (and then I'll stop):

At least I try to keep an open mind. Can you imagine Carnage, Grammaton or Solid sitting through an entire Nintendo conference?

phantom_leo said:

AND ANOTHER THING (and then I'll stop):

At least I try to keep an open mind. Can you imagine Carnage, Grammaton or Solid sitting through an entire Nintendo conference?

I would actually like to see a video of the 3 of them doing that.

On the PS4.....well, the controller is an improvement. The menu looks more like the Xbox dashboard. And the console is pretty powerful. Nothing bad, nothing totally shocking or amazing. Expected. My question is still what are they going to do to make this system the clear choice over the competition? I didn't see anything that I don't expect Microsoft to match tech-wise or service-wise or games-wise. Graphically, I didn't see anything that blows the Wii U away either. A few of those demo's DO look better than anything on the U as of now, but I believe the U can match what they showed.

I did not catch a price or a release date.