Why Sony is My Best Brand of E3 2012
As the Sony Editor I believe it might be kind of my job to talk about the Sony conference, which I have to admit was my favourite of this year’s E3.
James has already had a great post detailing the conference itself so I’ll try not to repeat too much information, but instead tell you why I think Sony walked away with my vote for best brand this year – it was all about the games.
Every other company had games yes, but they also focused on apps or hardware or had big dance numbers. Sony opened with a reel of games, both first and third party, old and new and revealed its catchphrase for the year.
“Never Stop Playing”.
While there may be a monetary incentive to the gaming population continuing to do so, it’s up to the companies themselves to ensure that happens, so they have to give us a reason to do so. The easy option, as most of the games shown at this year’s E3 will prove, is to release a sequel. Look at Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, EA and everyone else. Nearly every single game shown was a sequel to an already established franchise, and those sequels all had the same look and feel as everything that came before. I’ll admit while I enjoyed watching everything, and even get excited about most of them, I began to feel a little burned out. Sony helped remedy this.
Half of the games shown at the Sony Conference where new IPs:
–Beyond by Quantic Dream
–PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale by SuperBot
–Wonderbook by Sony
–The Last of Us by Naughty Dog
All are fantastic looking games within their genre. Beyond is a graphically phenomenal interactive story that looks set to outdo Heavy Rain in every conceivable way, PlayStation All Stars looks to be a fantastically fun over the top brawler, Wonderbook will hopefully provide an incentive for children to look into reading and nurturing their imaginations and The Last of Us…
These four new IPs alone stole the show for me (perhaps not so much Wonderbook but I’m not the target demographic) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Beyond and Last of Us walk away with multiple Game of the Show awards (though Ubisoft’s surprise in Watch Dogs will put up stiff competition).
In these days of high budgets and high sale prices make anything that isn’t a sequel a risk for a company to undertake, yet Sony not only is ready to put four of them out on the market, but dedicated half of its show to them because they know this is why we never stop playing. We like the new IPs, as long as they’re good games; a fact Sony has always been the best at knowing. PlayStation exclusives are the reason many buy the consoles, they’re system sellers, and there always seems to be a new IP on the horizon for a Sony console.
Looking back to Microsoft and its exclusives it’s lining up, how many of them are the first in a franchise. Halo is the 6th entry in the franchise (not including the remake), Gears of War is on its 4th, the Forza spin off will be the 5th Forza game, Fable The Journey will be the 5th Fable etc…
Nintendo hasn’t had a new First party IP in living memory, and its 3rd party games are always multiplatform or rumoured to be heading that way as is the case with Zombie U.
Sony has just announced these four, had Dust 514 on show outside the conference, has just not long since released a slew of new IPs for the Vita launch, is gearing up for Ni No Kuni etc…
Sony has asked us this year to Never Stop Playing, and has provided us all new ways to do say, refreshing us before we get too burned out on the same universe, where as other companies seem content with adding some updated seasoning and serving us the same plate.
Granted sometimes we just want more of the same, we know what we like after all and right now that’s what we want, fair enough, but Sony has us covered there as well. The four reaming games shown (Black Ops Declassified and Assassin’s Creed 3 Liberation for the Vita, and God of War Ascension and Far Cry 3 for the PS3) where entries in an already well-established franchise, but maintained a very fine balance between update and preservation.
Whereas something like Halo 4 has tried to stay the same game, but also tried to reinvent itself to appeal to old and new alike (with mixed success) the Sony titles revealed both change the formulae of the games but preserve the very distinct feel of the series. Take Assassin’s Creed 3 Liberation for example, it’s on Sony’s latest handheld and as such utilises all the new features, such as the touch screen, rear touch pad and gyro sensors, but still looks and feels like Assassin’s Creed 3. It’s more of the same without being tiring, letting fans jump in and enjoy the further adventures of the series without becoming bored or alienated.
Never Stop Playing. Simple advice I’m sure we can all get behind, as long as we have a reason and the will to do so. Sony, in my opinion, was the company that gave us the most of both at this year’s E3, and we didn’t have to suffer through terrible scripted banter or a dance number that didn’t choreograph to the game that was being shown off…
So yes, Sony was my favourite conference of the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, but they didn’t win.
We, the people watching the show, won.
Everybody who even has an interest in gaming will have found something to be excited about this year, something they are now really excited about, and some of those will be game that you or I have dismissed. I know that our very own Josh is excited for Halo 4, a game I have now said mean things about in two separate articles, and Aaron found Dead Space 3 disappointing, but it’s a game I really liked the look of. In the end it all comes back to something Kevin Butler said at Sony’s conference 2 years ago:
“Though we may pledge fanboy allegiances to different flags, deep down inside we all serve one master, one king, and his name, and his name is Gaming”
Long may he reign.