I’ve been working since 1:30am, and I’m starting to get pretty bloody well exhausted at this point, but I still have the energy — I think — to write some barely coherent thoughts on Sony’s E3 conference.
I Got Legitimately Excited
In wrestling terms you would use the words ‘marked out’. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the low blood sugar, but on plenty of occasions during the Sony conference, I totally got legitimately excited. Sony just announced/showed a tonne of video games I’m truly excited to play. Bloodborne, LittleBigPlanet 3, Uncharted 4, No Man’s Sky… the list goes on. Let’s talk about some of them.
Announcing A Game That Is Already Available Is Genius
I’m talking about Entwined of course, the gorgeous indie game that Sony showed off for the first time today, before announcing that you could actually buy the game right this second. Such a great move on a number of levels. To begin with it shows just how committed Sony is to backing off-kilter indie experiences. Secondly, it gives a genuinely cool game a great chance at success. Plenty of folks will have already downloaded Entwined because of its presence at E3, it’s going to be the first thing I do when I get home tonight.
And on that note…
Sony Gives Indie Games The Time And Space The Deserver
Sure, Sony had the age-old Indie montage, but they also gave smaller games time and space to properly show themselves off during the presentation. There was Entwined, of course, Abzu, the Capy stuff.
No Man’s Sky, technically, is an Indie game.
The Game From The Future
Sweet lord. How is it possible that this game even exists? No Man’s Sky has no right to exist. This bloody game, made by a four man team, continues to gloriously outperform games with 300 people behind the wheel. I just don’t understand.
It looked absolutely glorious. Already it feels like my favourite game of the show. Already it feels classic. It has space dinosaurs.
Space Dinosaurs.
No Man’s Sky feels like it dropped in some strange capsule sent back from the future. I have no idea how the game will end up, what it will look like, or what it will play like but, for now, it has fried my tiny little synapses. I am in love.
Project Beast Is… Bloodborne
A new IP from the man who made my favourite game of the last generation. Yes, this is a cause for celebration. We saw little of Bloodborne, and precisely zero gameplay, but when a game is made by Miyazaki, you give that video game the benefit of the doubt. I have no idea what Bloodborne will play like, but it’s already one of my most anticipated video games. From Software has a way of creating the most compelling game experiences imaginable and I can’t see that track record faltering any time soon.
It would have been nice to see the game in action though, considering the GIFs that have been doing the rounds.
Grim Fandango… Ahahahaha. What?
I did not see that one coming.
Did anyone see that coming?
Probably the most pleasant surprise of E3 so far.
Grand Theft Auto V On PS4
Did anyone not see that coming?
I think I was the only one who didn’t see that coming!
LittleBigPlanet Has A Dog
And for a period of two seconds, I’m pretty sure I started vomiting rainbows.
I’ve heard plenty of people complaining that LittleBigPlanet 3 was just more of the same, but it’s all about timing for me. I’m so ready for another LittleBigPlanet game. I’m ready to have that experience again. I loved the original game and I loved the additions to the core mechanics shown at E3.
Sackdog, or whatever his name is, is the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life.
Uncharted 4 Wasn’t A Surprise. But It Kinda Was.
I expected to see Uncharted 4 this year, I really did. I wasn’t quite prepared for the aesthetics of it though. Bizarrely I wasn’t really prepared for the visual leap. Uncharted has always looked good, so I just expected a higher res, smoother version of that. After all, that’s what we’re seeing from most next gen games.
But nah, Drake looks striking. He looks old. The detail is incredible. The facial animations are incredible. Some folks criticise Uncharted for being linear, for being too story driven, blah blah blah. I maintain that it features the best writing of any game out there, especially in the AAA space, and no other game can match it for sheer experiences. No game series can match its pacing, its set pieces, its dialogue.
In short: there’s a lot to love about Uncharted. I’m thoroughly excited for Uncharted 4.
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