The orchestra was classy and reminds us that music is art, not just noise in the background.

Screens and the stage image going all the way to the floor was under utilize. But it was neat to see

OMG they did something interesting with God of War! I'm very into this new look and feel, I hope teh game actully is less like teh past games. If it wprks like The Last of Us they way it seems to, I will buy this game for sure

Horizon: Zero Dawn likely looks great, but I hope its doesn't end up like a Far Cry Primal...which was a boring 'by the numbers' game

Detroit looked cool, and it's David Cage does interesting things, I hope it more like an improved Heavy Rain with even more story choices and splits.

All the VR experiences look typical, likely fun for 20 minutes and never played again. I'm am only intrigued by the two games that looked like full games.

Like, what's up with Resident Evil VII? Still a nope/no way from me. Capcom has lost the thread of what to do with this game.

CoD Infinite Warfare looks and plays like a CoD game, and that's what it should be. The VR bits will be one of the better VR things Sony will have to show off.

LEGO Star Wars looked a bit "samey". I think Lego games are on their downward slope, they need only one per year. I think they market has been saturated.

Crash Bandicoot Trilogy is not what peopel wanted, I think they needed a new game to show., Skylanders wasn't enough and Sony needs to try harder.

Hideo Kojima is the emperor with 'odd' cloths. The last Metal Gear game worked for me, and was the best game since Metal Gear Solid on PSOne. I'll live him time to prove to me he is making a game, not an experience.

Spider-Man looked cool again, but we'll see if they cna pull of a story that draws people in. I

Days Gone looks far more interesting to me than a lot of games I saw on that stage...maybe it is not for everyone.

Not discussing Neo and not even mentioning its possibility was smart. Sony can and will sell tons of hardware this year and will face off with Microsoft/Scoprio behind deep trenches. I think Sony will be well positioned to counter Microsoft's with so many units in the wild....the PS4 can show off pretty games.

Stuff That Should Have Been There
- I woudl have liked to see an Indie showcase this year. The indie games being shown off was always a highlight.

- I would have liked to see the VR hardware shown off more, I think this was the perfect time to show off each part with a quick explanation of what it does.

- Where the hell was Kazuo Hirai?

This was Sony's practice run for next year when their conference is just a live stream of game trailers from their headquarters.

Sony's press conference had the most suprises but none of them (except kojima) impressed me. Everything felt so bland and generic.

Horizon still looks awesome though.

Days Gone did it for me.

@marcsman: Just curious, what was it that it did for you?

I really appreciated Sony mixing things up with their "movie trailer" approach. Especially after Ubi Soft had a really bloated conference that dragged due to some interviews that should not have been more than 30 seconds.

Most of the games that Sony shown looked really nice, but there are two things that just nag at me. First is that most of the lineup is 2017 and on. That has become Sony's MO at E3 to show games that are pretty far down the road, and it leads to long gaps between their releases. I have a really hard time getting excited that is more than eight months out due to how often things change in that time frame.

Second, Sony's first party games are all starting to look the same. God of War, Horizon, and Days Gone all have a very similar vibe with how the environment looks and the top-level design of each game. There are only so many ways you can tell a "the world is in the grasp of the apocalypse" story before things get stale.

I was really excited to see that Sony's rights to Spider-Man now extend into video games. I'm sure that Activision probably let the license expire since they are not in the "licensed mobile" industry that seems to be the destination for movie licenses nowadays. Insomniac has been a favorite developer of mine since the PS2 days, and it looks like they are doing their own spin on the hero.

Kojima's thing was whatever. That game will not be out before 2019, and will probably change in tone a half-dozen times before then. The man is great, but he needs a leash to make sure things get done. Sony will not provide that leash and now people will be wondering at ever game show where that game is.

God of War becoming a slower, more deliberate combat experience is probably the most shocking thing from this show for me. That series needed something if it were going to continue, and changing the focus to something that has a bit more emphasize on exploring and tactical in combat was just it. The setting is "whatever, Skyrim" for me, but it is still pretty far off.

Resident Evil 7 is looking like a shift to more of the psychological horror game that has become really popular the last couple years; especially with VR becoming more and more a thing. I am still waiting for the damn demo to finish downloading because I really want to dive into that.

I just could not get into Days Gone at all. The amount of zombies was impressive, but everything else just felt like a "The Last of Us 2" design doc that a different studio found and adopted. I need the hook to be more than "Day Z amount of zombies" to get interested in it.

I was pretty shocked to see that Sony did not have their usual "indie block" of games to show off. They were the first console manufacturer to really give those games some significant show time, and didn't have an answer to a strong showing from Microsoft on that front.

The VR block was pretty much a disaster. You cannot stand up there and say there will be 50 games, and then be ambiguous as hell when the games you highlight end up being something that will be a short experience. I get it that they wanted to keep that "movie trailer" theme all show long, but that is tech that you cannot hope to hype people up with 30 second sizzle reels.

I get why people loved or hated this conference. There was a lot of cool software shown that was shown in a way that might not be terribly fun to watch. It looks like Sony set up this show to be a fun watch for a live audience with the orchestra and stage setup. I just do not think it is something that translated well when watching it from a stream.

I don't get why the GB crew keeps going on that they were not informed enough about the games that Sony showed. They showed gameplay. What more do you want to know? This is the game and this is how it plays. How many games in previous years were just announced with a very vague CG teaser and a title card and that's it.

And getting more info about the game is their job, right? Go out there and get those interviews going already :)

@dussck: Yeah it's a little weird - the companies literally toss the press outlets a softball pitch: "here's a trailer or demo, now get out here and do your impressions articles and videos and interviews and get those clicks!"

Maybe it's the fact that GB simply does not cover E3 like most other outlets, but them being flabbergasted by what they consider to be too shallow of a look is a bit of a culture-shock compared to how other outlets seems to view it as a huge opportunity to go out and chase/tell that story. Although, the uncertainties and questions posed by these press conferences literally fuels the GB Crew's nightly impressions streams...

Had a night to sit and think about this conference. Overall I thought it started strong with games that I'm really looking forward to but it kind of stumbled later on.

God of War looks great. Feels like they've put a lot of thought into where to take the franchise and understand it was time to move past its history and legacy. I love the concept of 'dad Kratos' but I'm also keeping in mind that narrative thread may or may not carry through the rest of the game. I mean it could entirely be the case that Kratos dies near the beginning and we actually end up playing as the son later on. We'll see.

Horizon continues to be intriguing. It looks great visually with an intriguing setting where it looks like there will be a ton of things you can do. I hope it controls well. As long as it reviews solidly I have a feeling that will be a day one purchase for me.

I'm glad that Last Guardian has a release date. My expectations for it are limited because it's no secret it's been in development hell. I will not at all be surprised if the actual gameplay feels stilted but as someone who has an interest an Ico, an absolute love for Shadow of the Colossus, and how the story and lore of that setting was presented I just want to see what they finally end up doing. Shadow was a clunky game in a lot of ways but just felt really special in such a way that I was willing to overlook the performance hitches and vast (and often directionless) world so here's hoping the Last Guardian has something special about it as well.

The VR stuff was not interesting or clear with the exception of the RE stuff. Think the guys were right to feel a bit let down on that front. I feel like that thing is in trouble at a release price of $399 for just the headset. If they're releasing in October and that was all they had to show I think that's an incredibly hard sell personally.

Days Gone is iffy. The tech is impressive especially the way the swarms work. It's not just that they have a bunch of enemies on screen but there's also a real fluidity and complex behavior to how they're all working as a collective. I'm also fine with it not being the wacky thing that Dead Rising is because not everything needs to have that tone to be an interesting game (also worth remembering that Dead Rising was primarily an Xbox series so people who stayed in the PS ecosystem perhaps missed out on that front). Unfortunately if there are narrative hooks to that game Sony didn't show them during that conference and giving it that second segment just didn't do it any favors. I feel like they actually would have been better served just showing the first trailer and leaving things a mystery and skipped what was essentially a tech demo. Also emptying clips against the swarm of zombies just looked dumb (but molotovs looked cool).

I'm definitely interested in Kojima's new joint. Way too early to tell what the hell it is or to necessarily get excited about it as a game but he's got my attention for the time being.

I'm also interested in Detroit. There's a place for interactive story-focused games and it feels like the genre is making some advances with things like Until Dawn. Seems like this has a chance to be interesting if you're interested in that style of game.

I know they have to show a certain numbers of titles for the broader gaming audience but I could really do with less Lego Star Wars. I like Star Wars and this segment just felt lifeless.

Overall it wasn't a flawless conference by any means but the key thing for me was that I saw signs there are games coming for the PS4 that will be fun and interesting. More than enough to keep me happy.

In regards to the commentary, while I do think the wrap up focused a bit on the negative I think the things they were critical off mostly deserved it (especially VR). The guys were certainly positive about the things that really warranted it like GoW and Horizon as they were being presented. Also I really appreciate that they can comment on something like this after a long day. Last conference of the day is rough spot and I had the impression that it wasn't the most comfortable of rooms in terms of temp so kudos to the crew.

@mrpandaman: I like zombies. The last decent zombie game for me was The Last of Us. Days Gone looks like The Last of Us combined with World War Z. Plus the biker angle is something I never really experienced in a game before.

I kinda feel like they're all potentially eating each other's lunch. I think they all look great in their own regard but to me, they all looked like iterations of same game built around a different hook. Maybe that'll be enough, but at this moment right now, all three are doing more to remind me that I should buy the currently available Rise of the Tomb Raider, then they are getting me excited for Q4 2016, 2017 and possibly 2018.

That could entirely be the case. I can't tell on Days Gone because what they were showing is so limited. That game is still a big question mark in my head.

I'm not sure if I see it with God of War and Horizon. Seems like they're going for something different in my mind but maybe you're right.

You should definitely pick up Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Incredible banner this year for the Sony. Nice work @nihlus4 ! Best one I've ever seen!

Not enough people are talking about how excellent Spider-Man looks. Watch the HD trailer:

That bit at 0:33...man.

imo sony won e3.

Sony, again, easily put on the best presentation. Whether they had the substance to back it up is more debatable. Was already sold on Horizon, but glad we got another look of how gameplay flows, still looks cool. Not the biggest Team Ico fan, but that trailer did a good job getting me more excited that it'll finally be out soon.

The conference did a great job of turning around opinions about franchises going in. That God of War demo? Man, SHOCKINGLY emotional for a GoW game. If they are really humanizing Kratos and have a story of him maturing that is a fantastic turn-around. Don't care about RE that much but love the big change in direction there too. Hell, even Call of Duty looked fun!

Could've had a better trailer for Detroit, could still be dumb fun.

Days End doesn't look terrible, but I'm so beyond tired of zombies (didn't even like Last of Us) and I can't imagine they'll be able to match what Naughty Dog excels at, this is going to have a very uphill climb with the comparisons its going to draw.

Kojima trailer was good fun, not sure what more people could actually want at this point.

I don't know why jeff still says that Sony isn't putting out enough 1st party exclusives on ps4. I just don't see it.

Yeah, Idk why he thinks that. Seemed like everything they showed, except FFXV and CoD, was a exclusive.

Though i think the press conference wasn't all bad. Like the Giantbomb crew, I think they just missed the mark on the games they need to show. Now that day 1 is over there are a TON of games on E3 they could have show cased. GT sport is one of them. While I prefer GT over Forza, i'm in the minority, they should have came out and give a reason to think GT is the best racing game. That game is out very soon and its odd they wouldn't push it like they should. Maybe they are afraid of what happened with Drive Club? Let's hope not.

The VR issue is probably how well it may be preceived on stage. Lets be honest, its not the best place to showcase it and perhaps their strategy is to let the media tell their experience through the week in their own words.

A list of games they did not put in their press Conference. Including PS VR games that are making headlines in other sites.

1. Persona 5!
2. GT Sport
3. Injustice 2
4. Volume Coda (VR game)
5. Abzu
6. A Psychonauts VR game???
7. Gnog (VR game)

Sony's conference fell kind of flat. Outside of Horizon and maybe Spiderman nothing really stood out.

@crithon: Actually, from what I've read, Sony is still footing the bill for Spider-Man movies. The guys at Marvel are just making the films for them

Sony's conference ran and was operated like a massive 3rd party dev's(Like Ubisoft). No talk about growth or future plans, only show'd us games. That's fun, but not informative, and not important, imo.

@langston7056: I find it difficult to take comments like this seriously. What do you care about? Games...or the projected growth of a company?

@snowypliskin: The growth of the industry. Sony primarily talked about games and barely touched on VR or any long term plans at their own conference during the biggest trade show. Games are why we're here, but how these major companies plan to make games a better experience and easier to access is more important to my purchasing decisions. Sony didn't do a bad job, they just acted like a 3rd party developer. They have the dominating console and probably the most pull in the industry right now. And they talk about remakes and remasters. Why should I invest in a PS4 if they don't talk about how they plan on improving their own console at their own conference?

Microsoft talked about cross platform, the XBOXs, Scorpio, future plans for Esports, and even personalizing merchandise. They seemed to have more to say on where they were going. While also showing they have a pretty good lineup.

@langston7056: I understand what you mean. Like I think Jeff said though and I'm not one those who blindly follow gb's word to the death, this was the e3, in terms of life cycle of the console, that we should see mostly games.

Save VR and all that for a special Sony VR press conference closer to the time. The games industry has basically been shanghaied by this new technology when in reality it might not even catch on like people think.

Microsoft talked about all those other things, much like when they announced the one, precisely because they don't have the games. To your first sentence, there is no growth in the video game industry without video games.

I thought the conference was probably the best in terms of content.

Lots of great looking games most of them being exclusives, 4 big new reveals ~> GOW, RE7, Spiderman, and Days Gone, the latter of which is a new IP. Crash getting remastered is probably gonna be a remake along the lines of Oddworld new and tasty which sounds excellent to me. VR section was alright, but nothing amazing.The only real negative for me was that it was too short, 1.5 hours would be better. They could've easily padded it with an indie section. Also, suprisingly missing was the developer talks, which I do miss to an extent, but I did always find that livestreams are way better places for that rather than an onstage conference.

Not too suprised by GB Crew thoughts, they never seem to like any sony conferences no matter how good they are.

@snowypliskin: I didn't mean VR specifically. I mean any thing innovative or long term that they are doing. Xbox had plenty of games, but they also mentioned a huge, impactful , initiative that changes their model, and gaming, for the better; Cross platform. To your last sentence, games are only made better by making hardware and software better. They go hand in hand, which is why it's important to talk about both. Especially if you make a console.

At some point, I think, people are going to be tired of, "The games make the console" mentality.

If you're a shareholder I can see being annoyed by the lackadaisical approach to selling VR and Neo (assuming it is released this year). But to the average consumer that watches these things? Don't see how "it's all about the games" comes off badly. I centainly enjoy less PR talk, and that fact they feel they just let the trailers do the talking comes across as confident. My only hangup is that they should've shown GT, Gravity Rush 2, highlight a few indies, bug Atlus for a Persona trailer, etc.

I went to the PlayStation E3 experience at a theater in Boston and got some crowd reactions. Would have been better if I was at E3 itself. Maybe one day. Definitely looking forward to God of War and Detroit Becoming Human. Horizon Zero Dawn seams like another game I'd be interested in.

God of War:

Death Stranding:

Crash Bandicoot

Plus many others in this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfiUWslpPfwwX180Ca66S77f30d2tZ-Ey

Exactly! Personally, I felt conference was between the two extremes; not as bad as the bomb crew seemed to think, not as great as others seemed to think. I pay 50 a year to Giant Bomb because I find the content entertaining; not because I think the crew's opinion on anything is relevant at all.