How strong exactly is PlayStation's 2014 line-up?

Sony's president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida has spoken about the importance of third-party games such as Destiny as well as PS3 remasters like The Last of Us Remastered in the PlayStation's line-up towards the end of 2014, as well as the importance of new audiences the PlayStation 4 has found.

An underlying message at E3 last month is that the remainder of 2014 is looking relatively thin - and it's Microsoft who potentially has the bigger hitters for the Christmas season. Platform exclusives on Xbox One include Insomniac's colourful open-world action game Sunset Overdrive, the generous Halo Master Chief Collection that bundles the first four Halo games together alongside a multiplayer offering that features some 100 maps, and the return of Playground Games with Forza Horizon 2, the sequel to one of the last generation's finest driving games. PS4, meanwhile, has the likes of LittleBigPlanet 3 and DriveClub to shout about in terms of platform exclusives - the latter game being absent from Sony's E3 conference.

"It was because of a time limit," Yoshida explained last month. "It overran a little bit. The game has a great showing on the floor, it's a fully playable experience, so we didn't feel the need."

So how exactly does Sony's line-up compare to Microsoft's going into the latter half of this year?

"Very well, very very well. Games like Destiny coming out, The Last of Us HD, it's a new game to play for people who didn't play on PS3. One amazing statistic, to me at least, was published by Nielsen a couple of months ago. They researched the PS4, and reported that 17 per cent of PS4 owners had never owned the last gen. A completely new consumer who skipped a generation. 32 per cent additionally didn't own a PS3, but owned a 360 or Wii.

"Almost 50 per cent of people who have purchased a PS4 didn't own a PS3, and that's lots of people that missed exclusive PS3 titles like The Last of Us, so it's a great way to welcome those people back to PlayStation, saying this is what you missed."

There are other ways Sony is allowing PS4 owners to catch up on the PlayStation back catalogue - such as PlayStation Now, the streaming service that's going into beta this summer - but are there other remasters that offer 1080p, 60fps experiences being considered?

"There are requests from some consumers for games that were released later in the generation, like Uncharted, which people might have missed," says Yoshida. "That would be a good candidate. We don't want to flood the market with remade games either."

Sony's other big offering in 2014 is PlayStation TV, with the popular Vita TV being rebranded for its introduction to the west. "We decided to call it PlayStation TV, because it does way more than play PS Vita games. And used with PS4 with a companion device, it's a really strong proposition, so we called it PlayStation TV," said Yoshida.

And where does this leave Sony's own PlayStation Vita, some two years after its initial release?

"There are lots of new Vita games, you can go and find little gems and there are lots of exciting games," Yoshida said of the vibrant indie offering on display at E3 last month. "But it's not about individual Vita games any more. It's more about how Vita can have multiple uses - with PS4 remote play, PS3 games with PS Now, and the dedicated games. The whole ecosystem with PS4 at the centre, the Vita's a part of that."