lvgarrett

@junkboy0: No problem man! Game definitely seems like it is going to be good.

@seikenfreak: I remember seeing Skytorn in the indie booths and I think Darkest Dungeon was there as well but I didn't play either of them.

@corevi: Cause capitalization is just another way the man tries to control you! Lol I guess I was thinking of AMA and then just typed it out because I'm dumb. And to think I write for a living as well. For shame.

@dussck: Nope. Basically all we attendees saw was that new trailer they revealed at the keynote. At the end of the first day was a concert by an indie instrumental rock band called 65 Days of Static. While they played on the stage where the keynote was held, they showed more gameplay footage behind the band on giant screens, but it was hard to tell what was new and what was already released as it was mainly more flying to planets and back out into outer space. Made for a cool pairing with the music though.

@mosdl: Oh damn, that's cool! I didn't see Penn, but can totally confirm that Adam Boyes is a super cool guy. Saw him signing one guy's copy of Destiny and his accompanying strategy guide lol (who buys a guide for Destiny?) But he was super nice about it. Also, I got a picture with Shuhei which was pretty exciting!

@brentasaurus: Galak-Z was there and playable, but unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to play it. There was a guy totally dressed up as that old school anime pilot main character from the game though that people were taking pictures with.

@historyinrust: Though I've wanted to attend gaming conventions like the ones you listed, I had only been to one before. Around 7 or 8 years ago I attended E for All, which was meant to be like E3 but open to the public at the LA Convention Center. It didn't do particularly well since Sony and Microsoft didn't bother to attend and there were no major announcements made and it only lasted one year.

Not that that makes for a particularly great comparison, but PSX felt much larger and better suited to gamers. One of my biggest takeaways was just how fun it was to walk up and down the indie booths and try games I had never heard of before. Often times there were no lines, or maybe a very short wait to play the indies, and the devs would be right on hand to watch you play and answer questions. I ended up spending a good amount of time talking to these smaller dev teams about their games and enjoying the discovery of new and interesting little titles. A takeaway within a takeaway was just how many local multiplayer games there were within the indie section. My rough estimate was that 1 out of every 4 indie games there was a local multiplayer focused experience, but most of them were actually really fun to pick up and play.

My other main takeaway is, that after getting my hands on them, Bloodborne and The Order: 1886 both play really well and have really gorgeous, interesting to look at worlds. I've never played a Souls game, but Bloodborne looks like it will be the game to get me into that kind of game and The Order:1886 looks like the new Gears of War in terms of stunning graphics and good cover based shooting.

Overall I had a lot of fun and never had to wait too long to play a game. I felt like I played everything I wanted to play, enjoyed listening to panel discussions and loved getting to shake hands with and talk to people in the industry I've followed and respected for years, so I would definitely go back next year if they hold another one.

@thelastgunslinger: The event seemed pretty well attended but it never felt that crowded. I heard they were only letting in the "first 5,500 people" into the keynote, that's the only time I heard a number for how many people might have been there, but being in that main hall for the keynote, it seemed full. Several of the big titles like Mortal Kombat X, Bloodborne, Destiny's expansion The Dark Below, Battlefield Hardline always had lines that took anywhere between 15 min to a half hour to play, but in comparision to bigger events, that doesn't seem that bad. The only game that consistently had the longest line of the event was The Order: 1886, which was usually a wait between an hour to 3 hours at one point. To be fair though, they were giving people a 30 min demo. Speaking of, I got to play The Order toward the end of the second day when the line was dying down. Initial impressions are that the game is gorgeous. It has a great amount of detail in the world (the level said it was chapter 5 and it took place on a huge airship). Actually really liked the cinematic presentation with the letter boxing and the film grain added over things. Gameplay felt similar to a Gears of War game, which in my opinion is a good thing, with a button to snap to cover and then left trigger right trigger aim and shoot. The shooting felt right, and the weapons that I got to use (didn't get to try any of the more exotic ones) felt powerful. The only funky thing seemed to be the enemy behavior behind cover, which sometimes looked awkward the way they blindfired around doors, but that is nit picking. Definitely looks and plays like it could be a huge new franchise for Sony. For those worried that it would be nothing but cover shooting, the level had a nice balance of stealth sections (that didn't suck) and some basic but cool looking minigames for lock picking and overloading circuits. The only other thing I noticed was I got spotted one time during the stealth sequence, instead of just transitioning into combat, the guy just headshot me for an instant kill, which was lame. Overall though, really excited to play more.

@ripelivejam: Why did you have to remind me? Being in that room for the keynote, which was freaking huge by the way, when they brought up the guy from Square Enix an air of excitement swept over the crowd. I haven't seen the livestream so I don't know how well it was depicted but when the FF7 logo appeared on the giant screens, things went nuts. I, like everyone else, thought it was going to be a remake with updated visuals. When that trailer started playing with the PC version port graphics of the original game, people were still pretty thrilled for the first 15-20 seconds thinking that it was going to transition from the old graphics to the new. But, as history has shown, that never happened. The way I described it to my friend was the crowd was like a balloon filling with air, getting ready to burst with excitement, and then Square just slowly let the air out until all that was left was a flaccid rubbery disappointment.

@junkboy0: I did! I played a couple of attempts on the level they had set up on the show floor with two friends and a stranger. The first round we were naive in thinking that we could drop right into the action and start kicking ass. We lasted all of 53 seconds if I remember correctly. The game is brutal. I'm sure part of that is jumping right into it, but between the hordes of alien bugs and my dumb friend continually gunning me down, it was a challenge just to stay alive. That said, the game controls great. Character movement speed felt a little slow at first but you get used to it and there is a run button. The inputing of fighting game combo-like commands to summon mechs, turrets or revives is actually way more fun than I thought it would be because it adds an extra layer of tension to things. Once we started working together as a team, we began planning our attacks on the enemy nests, calling in mechs and ammo before charging into battle, and we survived much longer (though still ultimately failed). Walked away from it definitely wanting to play more. If you're into dual stick shooters (personally I am), this one seems like a really cool evolution of it, requiring teamwork and preparation. Also there are a good amount of different options for what you can call in, you set up a loadout like call of duty before each level and I felt like after playing the game for 30 mins I only scratched the surface. Hope that answers your question!

Hey all you lovely people of the internet. Though I've been a member of Giant Bomb for years now and a premium member the last two years, I've never spent much time on the forums. Today, that changes. I spent my entire weekend seeing and playing as much as I could at the Playstation Experience in my hometown of Las Vegas, sprinkling a couple of panels in here or there. I figured since many people on here probably didn't get to go, that I could try my best to answer any questions people had about the event, the keynote, the games, etc. So go ahead, AMA about PSX!