Support NeoGAF

[Clover904]

I got a couple very interesting game announcements and dates to a lot of games I’ve been hoping to see more of. This is what I want and expect from a SoP. A

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Show was not perfect, sure.
But showed a lot of different games. Saros will be great. Onimusha.

Then it hit me.
A lot of you are the problem of the industry. Sure, jokes are fine. But furthermore. Cancerous. No Bloodborne? F rating! "This, that"... "It sucked!".

Cancerous. All of you are doing this to yourself.

No, the problem of the industry is people still getting excited about movie-like trailers for movie-like games that barely show more than two consecutive seconds of gameplay. Getting excited for stuff that has almost literally the same presentation, the same montage, the same music, the same key elements, the same character designs, the same endings. And it’s been going on for years. It’s all so trite that as soon as you see a good-looking female protagonist you know it’s an Asian game, as derivative as it may be, and even a trailer for Metal Gear manages to look and feel more interesting than the rest, despite MG with its Hollywood ambitions being one of the main culprits for the state of the industry today.

When just two or three things in a 40-minute presentation from the console market leader can scroll you out of complete boredom among a sea of been there, done that games, the problem is actually people pretending this was a good show, or a good sign of things to come.

 

[Clear]

Your question was: "What would an "A" rank show look like to you ?"

In a perfect world for me, Sony would announce a Bloodborne remaster and a sequel, a new Socom game, a Legend of Dragon Remake and Nioh 3.

But since I am not delusional, I would be happy with the release date announcement of the two Sony games I am most interested in this year.

Which they didn't, instead they showed a lot of stuff that I am not interested or already knew about.


For me that was bad show.


There's no formula for a perfect A rank show, since everybody thinks different. Many are extremely hyped for the new Housemarque game, which did nothing for me, since I don't like their games.

This is a fair and reasonable comment for the most part, but I disagree on there not being a formula because if you look at the comments you'll see some pretty consistent requests.

It seem pretty obvious that:

1. For some people, its all about the known legacy IP.
2. They want hard release dates.
3. They want gameplay not CG concept trailers.
4. Some are (strangely in my view) placing an especially high value on first party vs third party offerings.
5. Some demand all new content, e.g. previously shown or leaked announcements are devalued.
6. Maybe I'm wrong but the underlying sentiment seems to be that people want to be surprised, but by familiar franchises.

It wasn't a "trick" request on my part, I just thought it'd be nice to see if some sort of consensus view could be teased out.

I'm not going to be coy about this, in my opinion with a mentality like the above (as in based on a set of criteria like that) you are pretty much guaranteed to be disappointed Every. Single. Time.
Not because the individual points are in themselves outrageous or unreasonable, but it seems like the expectation is that the platform holder is supposed to trot out new iterations of their big franchises for release in the near future, with extensive footage and clear release dates every time they put on a show.

Now I don't feel I need to explain why that's not going to happen, why the realities of modern game dev make it utterly impossible, what I would point out is what apparently isn't considered valuable.
New IP for instance doesn't seem high on the want list. unless of course its first party for some reason. When a new IP does appear its only viewed in a retrospective sort of way in the sense that its always compared to something superficially similar and preexisting - as if 50 years into games the area isn't fundamentally mapped out already.
No one seems to give a damn about smaller indie-games, what's demanded is big-time spectacle, even though the prevailing sentiment is that spectacle is now boring!

It really seems to me that these demands seem mired in a desire to recreate the past. Which ultimately just says that a lot of people are really fucking jaded at this point.

 

[Aion002]

This is a fair and reasonable comment for the most part, but I disagree on there not being a formula because if you look at the comments you'll see some pretty consistent requests.

It seem pretty obvious that:

1. For some people, its all about the known legacy IP.
2. They want hard release dates.
3. They want gameplay not CG concept trailers.
4. Some are (strangely in my view) placing an especially high value on first party vs third party offerings.
5. Some demand all new content, e.g. previously shown or leaked announcements are devalued.
6. Maybe I'm wrong but the underlying sentiment seems to be that people want to be surprised, but by familiar franchises.

It wasn't a "trick" request on my part, I just thought it'd be nice to see if some sort of consensus view could be teased out.

I'm not going to be coy about this, in my opinion with a mentality like the above (as in based on a set of criteria like that) you are pretty much guaranteed to be disappointed Every. Single. Time.
Not because the individual points are in themselves outrageous or unreasonable, but it seems like the expectation is that the platform holder is supposed to trot out new iterations of their big franchises for release in the near future, with extensive footage and clear release dates every time they put on a show.

Now I don't feel I need to explain why that's not going to happen, why the realities of modern game dev make it utterly impossible, what I would point out is what apparently isn't considered valuable.
New IP for instance doesn't seem high on the want list. unless of course its first party for some reason. When a new IP does appear its only viewed in a retrospective sort of way in the sense that its always compared to something superficially similar and preexisting - as if 50 years into games the area isn't fundamentally mapped out already.
No one seems to give a damn about smaller indie-games, what's demanded is big-time spectacle, even though the prevailing sentiment is that spectacle is now boring!

It really seems to me that these demands seem mired in a desire to recreate the past. Which ultimately just says that a lot of people are really fucking jaded at this point.

Everybody is different, I personally always have low expectations with these presentations, but Sony presentations never failed to have one or two games that made me interested.

However, this time I am baffled that there was absolutely nothing new for me from Sony. I have been watching Sony presentations since the ps3 announcement and this was the first time that this happened.

That's the main reason for me hating this showing so much.

 

[envyzeal]

Current views on US Playstation youtube

1- Five Nights at Freddy's 874k
2- Tides of Annihilation 512k
3- Stellar Blade DLC 445k
4- Days Gone Remastered 389k
5- Lies of P DLC 355k

*Saros 293k
*Digimon Story 288k
*Lost Soul Aside 202k

Interesting

 

[Ristifer]

It was fine. Got some good previews and some good announcements. I'm not gonna drop my drawers and bend over for it, like some seem desperate to do. Still, knowing what Housemarque is working on and getting some new looks at many games is always good by me.

 

[Clear]

For me:

- Auto Buy -
Saros
Days Gone upgrade
MGS3 Delta

- Interested but will wait for more info -
Onimusha
Midnight Walk
Dreams Of Another
Hell Is Us
Tides Of Annihilation

- MIldly interested -
Lost Soul Aside
Mindseye
Darwin's Paradox

Seemed like a good show. The rest of the stuff will likely sell better than all of these, and its no reflection on quality just interest.

For instance the Lies Of P add-on looks great but I have the main game on GamePass so unlikely to double-dip.


I'm not apologizing for rating it an "A" because I'm not going to penalize a show for serving tastes other than my own. I know things like Borderlands and Monhun are big deals to some people, so I have to give them credit even if I personally have minimal interest.

 

[Boss Mog]

I don't get why so many people are giving it an F. I sat through many "F" state of play videos that were filled with nothing but shitty woke indie garbage that almost nobody would want to play and this was a significant step up from that. This is easily a C+. Lots of games from Asia, almost zero indie garbage. Some interesting looking Western games too.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

Not enough multiracial female leads.

 

[ChiefDada]

FUCK YEAH!!!!!

Spiritual successor to the greatest game of all time was announced, therefore it automatically goes down as Sony's best show ever.

All you haters can suck on the barrel of my Pyroshell Caster.

 

[sachos]

I think it was Ok to Good when it comes to 3rd party (lots of action games im interested in) and Meh to Bad when it comes to 1st party (i loved Returnal and im really interested in Saros but it was only 1 game, aside from the DG Remaster).

 

[nial]

im really interested in Saros but it was only 1 game

Come on people, Lost Soul Aside. It even had this!

 

[Fabieter]

Come on people, Lost Soul Aside. It even had this!

So if we count it. Is this the starting point for aaa single player games getting day one releases on pc .

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I like it, new Housemarque game, interesting hack'n'slash titles, Metal Gear Delta, good pace. No megatons but a solid presentation. I guess I miss the PlayStation Experience events and the Playstation Showcase, with more than one title to be excited. Microsoft is doing better in the hype department recently, Sony needs to step up their game.

 

[nial]

So if we count it. Is this the starting point for aaa single player games getting day one releases on pc .

It factually isn't, and this doesn't trigger me as much as it does with some of you, so whatever, honestly.

 

[saintjules]

I expected it at their summer showcase, not this early in the year



Who gives a toss? It shows the main character, world, and art style. And it’s right up my alley.

We can’t get excited for cg trailers?

Talking to brick walls man. Gotta take the high road.

 

[scydrex]

Watched it yesterday. I give it a C+ because i liked Returnal and Saros awesome. Some games that looks good. Hopefully they will be good games. Hell is Us and the Metal Eden seems interesting.

 

[engstra]

When I first watched it I was definitely having some of the same reactions that have been shared here and gave it a D+. Although some cool stuff shown, none of the games were really grabbing me. Saros I'll be there day one, as Returnal is the best game of the generation so far, but even that game I thought the trailer was pretty bad.

However after having rewatched it and discussing with some friends, looking back that was actually a really jampacked showing. It's clear that Sony has dropped the ball this generation and wasted a few years of development by trying to get into GAAS, and that's a real shame. But it's not like there's plenty of games to play. Darwin's Paradox looks like a charming paltformer. Midnight Walk looks stunning. Directive 8020 will be a fun ride like their other games. Dreams of Another, I have no idea what it is but I'm intrigued. Shinobi looks sick. Mindseye could be cool, the pedigree is there. The list goes on.

Lots of japanese sword combat soulsborne/final fantasy games that I have absolute zero interest in but overall not a bad show. Would maybe bump my score up to a C. Good games and variety but no real big surprise reveal I'd say. Saros could have been that but honestly just a pretty bad trailer.

Frankly, I don't think people are buying PS5s or Pros for AA games and indies.

Of course people buy consoles to play big and/or AAA games but I think we need to remember that that doesn't mean people play those games exclusively. Most people would only have one console so I don't see how a showcase showing interesting new 3rd party and indie games coming to the console is a bad thing. Their availability on PC or Xbox is irrellevant

 

[saintjules]