Back in June 2013, it seemed like Sony pretty much stole the show from Microsoft with their E3 briefing. But do their promises still hold up now, almost a year later? Following yesterday’s look at Microsoft’s big press conference from last year, it’s time to examine Sony’s.
Picture: AP Images
Sony went for a mostly balanced look at its two older consoles, the Vita and the PS3. Of course, being the newcomer, the PS4 got a lot more attention. So let’s dig in.
PlayStation Vita
The Promise: “More than 85” games will launch on the PS Vita by the end of 2013, including six games which are mentioned by name.
True? It’s a bit of a mixed bag. IGN’s database lists 79 released Vita titles for the dates between June 10 and December 31, 2013, and there are problems with two of the explicitly named games, too:
- Arkham Origins: Blackgate: Released on October 25
- Counterspy: Not released yet, currently slated to arrive this Summer
- Destiny of Spirits: Missed 2013, released on March 25, 2014
- Doki Doki Universe: Released on December 2, 2013
- Killzone Mercenary: Released on September 10, 2013
- Tearaway: Released on November 22, 2013
The Promise: Four older, but remastered games will come to the PS Vita “soon.”
True? Yes. The four (actually four plus two) games are:
- God Of War Collection: Released on May 6, 2014
- Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD: Released on March 18, 2014
- Flower: Released on November 29, 2013
- Dead Nation: Released on April 15, 2013
The Promise: Season one of The Walking Dead will come to the PS Vita in August, along with the 400 Days DLC.
True? Yep, season one and 400 Days were released in one package on August 20, 2013.
The Promise: The PlayStation Vita can be used to play PS4 games via remote play.
True? Yes, although Remote Play works best when you’re close to the PS4. More on that in our recently-updated console review here.
PlayStation 3
The Promise: “Nearly 300” games will be released for the PlayStation 3 before the end of the year.
True? Looking, again, at IGN’s database, I counted about 250 releases between June 10 and December 31, 2013. Close enough, I guess.
The Promise: Action-adventure The Last Of Us will arrive on Friday (that is, the Friday following the briefing, on June 14, 2013), and it will be very, very good.
True? It did come out that day, and it really was very good. Multiple-award-winning good, even.
The Promise: SCE Japan’s quirky side-scroller, Puppeteer, will be released before the end of 2013.
True? Yep, Puppeteer hit the PS3 on September 10, 2013 — and here’s why you should play it.
The Promise: Another SCE Japan game, rain, a somewhat moody stealth-adventure, will be released for the PS3 in Fall 2013.
True? Yep, it was released on October 1. Our review can be seen here.
The Promise: Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls will be out on PS3 on October 8, 2013.
True? Yep, released as expected. Here’s what we thought of it.
The Promise: Before the end of 2013, the PS3 would see the release of Gran Turismo 6.
True? It did. On December 6. It had a moon rover! You can watch us play around with it here.
The Promise: Arkham Origins would not only be available for the PS3 on October 25, 2013, but it would also come with an exclusive piece of DLC containing a classic Batman costume and a Knightfall costume.
True? Yep. The game was released on October 25, and the Knightfall DLC was made available as a free download. Our review is here.
The Promise: Apart from the standard release, Grand Theft Auto V will be part of an exclusive PS3 bundle on September 17, 2013. A GTA V-themed Pulse Elite headset will also be released before the end of the year.
True? Yes. Both the bundle and the headset were released on September 17.
PlayStation 4
The Promise: The PlayStation 4 will launch in the 2013 holiday season in the US and Europe at a price of $US399, €399, and £349.
True? Yep. The PS4 became available on November 15 in the US and two weeks later in the EU. It eventually reached Japan on February 22, 2014, and is currently in the process of being introduced to China.
The Promise: 20 new SCE Worldwide Studios games will be launched for the PS4 in the console’s first year.
True? Well, in the six and a half months since the PS4’s launch, there have been four (or five if you include the pre-installed Playroom): Knack and Killzone Shadow Fall on November 15, 2013, inFamous Second Son on March 21, 2014, and MLB 14 on May 6, 2014.
The Promise: The Order: 1886 will launch exclusively on the PS4.
True? Not yet. The game’s currently slated to arrive in 2015.
The Promise: Knack, Killzone Shadow Fall, and Driveclub will launch with the PS4.
True? Yes for Knack and Killzone Shadow Fall, but not for Driveclub, which was eventually delayed to 2014, or more specifically, as it was recently announced, to October 7. And speaking of Driveclub…
The Promise: PlayStation Plus members will get free access to the PS+ edition of Driveclub at the PS4’s launch.
True? Obviously, since the game got delayed, this didn’t happen. But in the meantime, it was revealed that Driveclub’s PS+ edition was a) basically a scaled-down demo that you’d have to upgrade for $US50 to gain access to the full game, and b) that your full, upgraded game would disappear once your PlayStation Plus subscription ran out.
Fortunately, Sony later changed their mind on the latter — so even if you end up with an upgraded PS+-version Driveclub, you can keep it even if you eventually cancel your PlayStation Plus subscription.
The Promise: Sucker Punch Studios’ inFamous Second Son will launch in Q1 2014.
True? It did, on March 21. We have a review over here.
The Promise: Jonathan Blow’s The Witness will make its console debut on the PS4.
True? Not yet. The Witness is coming in mid-2014, though we do have some impressions.
The Promise: Transistor, Supergiant’s new indie RPG, will also make its console debut on the PS4 early 2014.
True? It wasn’t particularly early, but Transistor arrived on the PS4 on May 20, 2014 — the same day it arrived on PC, making this more of just a debut instead of a console debut. In any case, read our review here.
The Promise: Eight more indie games in addition to Transistor and The Witness will make their console debut on the PS4.
True? Yes for some, but not yet for others. Let’s take a look:
- Don’t Starve: PS4 release on January 7, 2014
- Mercenary Kings: PS4 release on April 1, 2014
- Octodad: Dadliest Catch: PS4 release on April 22, 2014
- Secret Ponchos: Early Access version hits PC this Summer
- Ray’s the Dead: Currently preparing for a Kickstarter
- Outlast: PS4 release on February 4, 2014
- Oddworld New n’ Tasty: Coming after this year’s E3
- Galak-Z: Coming in 2014
The Promise: Diablo III will come to the PS3 and PS4 along with exclusive items, like an Uncharted-themed amulet and Journey-inspired shoulder armour.
True? The PS3 version of the game hit on September 3 last year, and it had no less than five exclusive items. Currently, the PS4 version is slated to arrive on August 19, 2014.
The Promise: Final Fantasy Versus XIII, now renamedFinal Fantasy XV, and Kingdom Hearts III are both coming to the PS4.
True? Not yet. Some additional details have since been revealed about Final Fantasy XV, and Kingdom Hearts III has a new trailer, but that’s about it. Of course, there are no release dates, either.
The Promise: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX will be released on September 10, 2013.
True? Yep. Here’s a rundown on how the upgraded re-release compares to the original games.
The Promise: On consoles, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will come exclusively to PS3 and PS4.
True? Yes. The console versions of FFXIV were released on August 27, 2013 for the PS3 (although the launch was a disaster), and on April 14, 2014 for the PS4.
The Promise: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will come to the PS3 and the PS4 along with an exclusive DLC pack centered on Aveline, the heroine of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. Sadly, the E3 demo was a bit unstable.
True? Yep, Black Flag was released on October 29 for the PS3 and it was a November 15 launch title for the PS4. The Aveline DLC was present, though it was also available on PC (but not on Xbox).
The Promise: “When Watch Dogs launches” on the PlayStation 3 and 4, it will be released along with an hour’s worth of extra gameplay, and an exclusive outfit for protagonist Aiden Pearce,
True? Yes — though the game was delayed to 2014, the PlayStation-only DLC consisted of four extra missions, the White Hat Hacker outfit, and a passive hacking boost.
The Promise: 2K Games’ NBA 2k14 will be on the PlayStation 4.
True? Yes, the game was one of the PlayStation 4’s launch titles, coming out on November 15, 2013. Here are our impressions on NBA 2k14, and the PS4’s sports games in general.
The Promise: The Elder Scrolls Online will arrive to the PS4 in Spring 2014, and the game’s console beta will be available first on the PS4 as well.
True? Nope. Unfortunately, the console (PS4 and Xbox One) versions of the game have been delayed towards the end of 2014.
The Promise: The folks behind Just Cause are making a new Mad Max game, and it’s coming to PlayStation, where it will release along with the exclusive “Rogue Warrior Survival Kit.”
True? Not yet. Currently, Mad Max is slated to land in 2015.
The Promise: Destiny, the online shooter from Bungie and Activision, is coming to the PS4 in 2014.
True? Destiny is currently set to come out on September 9. We have some impressions you can check out here.
The Promise: “Over a hundred” games will be available for the PlayStation 4 in its first year.
True? The current tally for PS4 games released since November 15, 2013 is about 75-80, according to IGN’s database.
PlayStation Network & Miscellanea
The Promise: The PlayStation 4 will support used games and sharing games, with disc-based games that won’t require an online connection, and single-player games that can be played offline.
True? Yes, and there was even a quirky video to support this. On the other hand, a PlayStation Plus subscription is now required for online multiplayer (except in the case of free-to-play games) — but PS+ subscriptions can be shared on the same console. There was also concern over whether third-party publishers would disallow used game trading.
The PS4’s used game policies are explained in the big PS4 FAQ here.
The Promise: PlayStation Plus memberships will carry over to the PlayStation 4.
True? Yes — one membership works on the Vita, the PS3, and the PS4, as stated on the PlayStation Plus website.
The Promise: Don’t Starve, Outlast, and The Secret Ponchos will be available for free via PlayStation Plus during the first year of the PS4.
True? For Don’t Starve, which was made available on January 7, and Outlast, on February 4, yes. Secret Ponchos is only coming this Summer, but only to PC — currently, there is no known release date for its PS4 version.
The Promise: PlayStation’s cloud gaming service, powered by Gaikai, will be available in the US in 2014.
True? Yes. PlayStation Now, a service which can stream PlayStation games to various devices using the internet, was announced in January, and it’s currently slated to launch this Summer. Sony’s video has all the details.
The Promise: Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited will make their way to the PS4 and will be available at launch.
True? Yep — in a pre-PS4-release blog post, Sony showed off how the two apps work.
The Promise: Verizon’s Redbox Instant movie streaming app will be added to the PlayStation Network in the US.
True? Yes. The app became available on the PS3 in late October, 2013, and was among the many media apps present on launch day on the PS4.
The Promise: You’ll be able to watch pay per view events on the PlayStation Network.
True? Yes, via the Live Event Viewer app, which was introduced on August 13, 2013.
The Promise: Popular movie-finding-and-watching service Flixster will launch on the PlayStation Network in Fall 2013.
True? Actually, no. The Flixster app was missing from the PS4’s list of launch apps, and it’s still unavailable today. Some people are still wondering where it is.
That’s it for past briefings — time to look forward to this year’s E3. Have you seen the schedule yet?
Comments
15 responses to “One Year Later, Did Sony Keep Its E3 2013 Promises?”
I feel that for the most part both Sony and Microsoft did keep the promises, even though we are still waiting for some stuff from both companies.
Both consoles are shaping up very nicely at this stage IMO, that’s enough for me. I’m more concerned about promises made this year at E3 (in what, less than a week now, exciting) 😛
I agree, it seems like a lot of the undelivered things are third party things, which they can’t directly fix.
I forgot about Oddworld. Can’t wait to take over sligs in glorious HD
Where are the games???
They are coming. The consoles have just launched, and both were rushed out the door and games got delayed.
There are a good amount of games available and anything that I would have bought if it were still ‘last’ gen (ie no ‘new’ consoles) have come out on the new consoles anyway (Bar some like Dark Souls). In other words: The new consoles coming out have not affected the amount of games I would have bought anyway, except a hand full of exclusives that, if the new gen weren’t out, we could say would hypothetically have been on the old systems anyway (For arguments sake).
It’s a gaming dry spell in general and I don’t think it’s the consoles fault that there are no or few ‘good’ games right now (Or not enough in general). It’s been a smooth launch and E3 is right around the corner now. Games are coming.
Edited for clarity, I suppose
I still can’t make the jump to PS4 while it lacks a DLNA client or PlayTV compatibility. These are services that have become central to the PS3’s place in my loungeroom. The fact that I’m still churning through Skyrim and several other A-list titles is almost a secondary concern next to the PS4’s lack of media functionality.
Alot of the “missed promises” that both Sony and Microsoft made were from 3rd Parties.
MS come off looking worse though because while they kept alot of their promises, they also backtracked on alot of their original core beliefs over the last year also.
So it goes without saying for a number of years now, what you see in these conferences is certainly likly to happen within 12mnths.
Most of this is just ‘not yet, later this year’ and mostly due to 3rd-part devs taking longer then expected – same issue as Microsoft. The interesting one for me is this:
I could be wrong but are Driveclub and The Order: 1886 SCE Worldwide Studios games? Even with those counted (unexpected delays for both) that’s only 7 titles out of 20… That’s a huge gap, I really don’t expect even half that many games out before November.
E3 will be a very interesting.
Was that an image of Dark Cloud on the PS3 image? can i play that game? i think i’ve missed it
I know right, was so rad back in the day.
So does the PS4 have any DLNA capabilities whatsoever yet?
No. Although, if you use plex, you can use the browser. The quality is surprisingly good.
can we have an article on Wii U as well ? pretty please?
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/06/one-year-later-did-nintendo-keep-its-e3-2013-promises/
Voila!