One of the things that I generally look forward to at this time of the year are the big reveal shows. Traditionally these were part of the giant cluster of events that was E3, but with Covid still boiling through the country those are all rightfully cancelled. What exists in its place however is a number of individual productions by the big companies themselves. Last night was the big PS5 reveal event and to be truthful it felt pretty much like one of the good Sony shows of old. It was chock full of interesting titles, a number of which were console generation sellers for me personally.
The above embedded video should be queued up to the beginning of the show if you want to partake of it. If for some reason the embed is not working for you, then it is roughly 40 minutes into the Gamespot coverage. I would say the best part about getting the presentations in this manner is that it was completely devoid of big showy in person events or the horrible before and after the show hype squad trying to get us excited about what we are about to or just saw. Instead the games themselves stood on their own, which is ultimately the way I would prefer everything work from this point going forward. I am not a fan of the correspondents telling us how we should be feeling with their ever Plasticine sheen of being paid to be excited for something.
If you don’t want to sit through the entire hour and some change show, here are a list of trailers for the games that were shown off specifically.
I didn’t get to watch this as it was actually happening live, but when I got off a conference call and clocked out I picked up the stream from the very beginning. So for those who were watching it in real time my “live tweets” were delayed by about thirty minutes. If you are curious about my in the moment reactions as I was watching the presentation you can check out that twitter thread here.
The Games that Sold Me
Ultimately when it comes to a new console generation, what matters most are the games that are on it. I am by nature a PC gamer, and as a result when it comes to playing a console, you have to hook me on the exclusives. That traditionally has been the reason to own a PlayStation console, is that they have games that never (or very very very belatedly) arrive on the PC. Xbox looks like a great console but since my play method of choice is with the mouse and keyboard and the vast majority of games ultimately release as well on Windows, it is an uphill battle to make me care. So as a result I am going to talk about the three games that will have ultimately sold me this PlayStation generation.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
I love that we are seeing a hand-off between Peter Parker and Miles Morales with this next Spider-man game. It looks every bit as amazing as the first one, with updated graphics for this console generation. Into the Spiderverse is one of my favorite comic book movies in general and is most definitely my favorite spider film, so I am super on board for this game. Miles is just such a great character in general and this being a launch title has me real excited.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
I love the Ratchet & Clank franchise. It was probably the game series that I spent the most time playing on the PS2, and I was super into the most recent game that released a few years ago. This alone probably would have sold me a new console to be honest. I like the whole set up of dimension hopping, which should add a really interesting flair to the already frenetic gameplay. The thing about this franchise as a whole that I love is the creativity that it always brings. Super on board with this.
Horizon Zero Dawn II: Forbidden West
I love Aloy and I love Horizon Zero Dawn. I will absolutely buy the first game again when it releases on PC and I will absolutely play through it in its entirety. This was the game of the generation for me when it comes to the PlayStation 4, and I have been anxiously awaiting the sequel since 2017. The big take away from the trailer is it looks like this game is overall much larger. HZD had plenty of room to roam around but was not on the scale of many of the big open world titles. It seems like this generation is going to change that because it feels like we are covering a large area in the various biomes displayed, at least more variety that we saw in the first game. It also gives the impression of underwater combat and I really hope they stick the landing on that, as it is something that most games struggle with. I had hoped this would be a launch title, but I am guessing we will have to wait awhile.
Other Things of Interest
Little Devil Inside
There were a ton of titles that I thought were interesting. Godsfall still looks really cool but I am somewhat concerned as to what sort of game it might be. Right now it looks very much like a significantly higher resolution Skyforge, which isn’t a bad thing but definite the vibe I am getting. Pete and I talked a bit last night about the concern that this is a launch title and the game didn’t really show much as far as varied environments, which gives me a concern that this might be some sort of an arena brawler which lowers my excitement considerably. It also seems the type of thing that will eventually release on PC.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Souls looked adorable, like a blend of an action rpg with Pikmin as you appear to be gathering fuzzy adorable critters to do your bidding. I was also into the trailer for Little Devil Inside which appears to be some sort of monster hunting game, or as I referred to it Arthouse Monster Hunter. Stray was a weird game full of robots and apparently cats, which could be cool or could be incomprehensible nonsense so it is too early to tell. Goodbye Volcano High gave a strong Night in the Woods vibe, but realistic looking Anthros are always a hard sell for me personally. Deathloop was the other big title that I am looking forward to, but it isn’t a console exclusive so 99.9% chance I will just be playing this on PC.
The Big Reveal
One Generation, Two Product Offerings
The other big reveal of the night is that we finally got to see what the PlayStation 5 look like. I gave it some shit last night, but overall I like the look of it. I don’t like it anywhere near as much as I like the controller design, and quite honestly it reminds me of a fancy USB hub or a cable modem. The key concern that I have is that it is vertical orientation, and I question if it will be a good thing sitting it on its side. Both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 appear to be designed so that all heat is vented through the center of the console out and out the top. Tipping the unit over may cause heat to evacuate the system less efficiently, and given the power that both are packing I would imagine heat dissipation is going to be key to sustained performance.
The other concern that I have with the horizontal orientation is that it appears that a large chunk of the unit is cantilever out over the base. I can absolutely picture my cats trying to hop up on top of this and flipping it off of the shelf. All of that aside it does at least look unique, and isn’t just a box… though admittedly I still greatly prefer the appearance of the Xbox Series X. The internet is already full of memes as is expected, but if I remember correctly there were a similar batch of memes floating around with the Xbox reveal so I think that is just part of life. The more I get used to this design the more it grows on me, but it does look like it will be a pain in the ass to break open for repair work, and this is coming from someone who has changed out several PS3 bluray drives for friends.
It’s About the Games
Horizon Zero Dawn II: Forbidden West
In the end however the design ethic of the console doesn’t really matter that much. When it comes down to purchase, it will rely solely upon the catalog of games available and this reveal hearkens back to some of the great shows from the past. The only part that was left out however was the price point, which I guess matters significantly as well. If this is a $600 console, I am not sure if one great launch game is going to make it worth the price of admission. If it is a $400 console this is an instant pre-order for me, but Sony has not shown a great willingness to launch consoles at a significant loss in the past and I fear a repeat of the PS3. I am more than likely targeting the all digital unit, given that I just don’t buy physical games and my hope is that comes with at least a $50 price break.
So what were your thoughts? Are you more interested or less interested in the PlayStation 5 at this point? Will you be instead following the path of Green and Black and going with the Xbox One X? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know your thoughts.
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