Normally I’m not able to discuss my feelings on video game conferences until at least a day or so after everything is said and done. That is not necessary in this case.
Sony’s State of Play is an attempt to capitalize on the success of Nintendo’s Nintendo Direct (that’s a mouthful of a sentence), and it genuinely lacks every aspect that makes a Nintendo Direct worth tuning in for. A Nintendo Direct does feature game titles, both never shown before and updates on older announcements, and that was practically the only similarity.
(Days) Gone is the feeling of comradery with our host/speaker, (Days) Gone is the dad jokes that surprise you at the fact you laugh at them, (Days) Gone is the general tempo of knowing which games need a lead up and which ones need little-to-no introduction.
I remember several years ago, I almost want to say as far back as seven or more, when Sony was known as the montage king. They would start an E3 conference with the best montage, and would end with one just as fitting. Sony is skipping E3 this year, and apparently, they’re also skipping out on their montage game. State of Play opened with an Iron Man VR game, and ended with Mortal Kombat 11. VR is divisive, so opening with a VR game is not entirely wise, let alone having around 85% of games featured being VR games (I’m including one game that had a VR mode announced along with it’s own announcement, Concrete Genie, a game I almost just forgot the name of as it did not hold my interest). A montage would have been far more appropriate to build the hype, and I have vague memories of maybe one that lasted a couple of seconds just after Iron Man VR, before they moved on to Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled, admittedly a game many are excited for, but one we have known about for months and a remake of a game that has been available for decades at that.
As for everything else, the experience felt more like a waste of time. Those who are interested in VR may still have not fully enjoyed what they saw, there was not enough time given for some of the games to flesh out what made their experience stand out. The few that did, admittedly looked fine, not too different from the better-looking VR games but nothing to convince those who weren’t already convinced. It was interesting to see that they are trying something new with the 5 Nights At Freddies franchise. As someone who never played them as the idea of a horror game that only relied on jump scares never interested me, there was some small sense of this game using genuine dread and uncanny movement instead of just jump scares. Yes, it made the jump scares look incredibly forced, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work, variety is still the spice of life and I appreciate the attempt.
So it’s clear I had a bit of fun with the title for Days Gone for some wordplay earlier, but to be frank that’s the most interesting thing that happened with this new trailer. For the longest time (remember this game was announced not long into the PlayStation 4’s life, it’s been a long time for this game to still not be out yet, even if it is just next month) Days Gone did literally nothing that held my interest. A few weeks ago, it was featured on Show of the Weekend on the channel Outside Xtra, and the first interesting bits I’d ever seen for the game suddenly appeared to me. For once, I was excited for Days Gone. This new trailer just made me even less excited than I was all those years ago…….
I”m sure Sony wants to do more of these, and perhaps the biggest misstep was really nothing more than them having nothing to show. It’s what some people have speculated is the real reason they are ducking out of E3 this year, and this almost feels like concrete (genie) proof. Still, there were some other problems, and those problems seemed eerily similar to their E3 performance last year, sans a stupid tent. If this is the direction game announcements are going, I hope for a time I am excited about this, instead of dreading it. Nintendo Direct’s do have their duds, but they are mostly spectacular in their own special way. Sony needs to find theirs, and it wasn’t what we saw today. They say you only make one first impression, but, I find in some cases you can and maybe even should allow a second chance. I’m willing to give that to State of Play, but this is not a free pass, I am not as patient as I may have made that sound. I’m not big on third chances.
Mortal Kombat 11 looks great though! Cant’ wait to play it on the Switch! CHECK YO’ SELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YO’ SELF!