Sony E3 2018 conference live report
Nioh 2, a new Remedy game and a fair bit of weirdness. All of the news as it happened.
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Sony offered perhaps its strangest show for a few years, providing an ill-advised theatre set-up that led to some serious lulls during the opening 30 minutes. It did pick up, though, to give us Nioh 2, a new Remedy game and our first look at the Resident Evil 2 remake, plus first gameplay of Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghosts of Tsushima. Not bad, really. Here's all the news as it happened.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Less than an hour to go. You've got this. You can power through. We're nearly there.
In the office it's a little bit of FIFA, a little bit of Fortnite and some beer to get us through.
(I know, we're so *mainstream*, right?)
Hi I just went away to play a bit of FIFA and now everyone's talking about Ecco. What did I miss?
It's like an Ecco chamber in here.
(sorry)
Kami: Also, Martin, boo and all that.
That's probably the best joke I've made all week. I'm all out now.
I'm going to tell you about all the 'p's tonight. You want 1080 'p's? You want 2160 'p's? They're all coming at you on you're a gamer dot com.
I'm hoping none of you ever caught the after hours Eurogamer podcast where a lot of it was dedicated to dolphin's sex habits.
Also this whole chat about Ecco is feeling very 1.45am at the moment.
Someone's going to hand me a cigarette in a moment and I'm going to absent-mindedly light the wrong end before realising what exactly is going on.
But hey 1.45am means we're only 15 minutes away from Sony's conference!
*goes to toot horn, misses then collapses in a heap*.
Will this be good? I don't know. I'm not sure.
You see, I worry it's going to be a bit like that - four stilted Q&A sessions for the first-party games in question, mixed in with a few announcements of third party things.
Sony can get a little... self-involved at times. I'm hoping this won't be one of them.
What we know - there'll be four first-party games.
Those being Death Stranding, Ghosts of Tsushima, Spiderman and The Last of Us Part 2.
Hello from what feels like a PlayStation E3 church. It's a tent with scary sounds being piped in. There are no seats. Everyone is confused.
There's also room for third-party showings. We haven't seen anything of Call of Duty or Destiny 2 so far this E3. Seems like a good time for them to show up.
The Final Fantasy 7 remake that was absent from Square's super bland conference earlier? I'm not too hopeful it'll show up, but it's a possibility.
And how about what Bluepoint's working on? Maybe - just maybe - it's a beloved PlayStation game that also happens to be third party.
Oh, and let's not forget about the Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Wes, Digital Foundry's John Linneman and I (and friend of Eurogamer Keza) are resisting whatever theatrics this is and have fashioned a work station out of folding chairs and a small day table I found in the corner of the room.
That lot would be a tidy haul all in all.
It's at times like this, hearing what Tom's saying about the show in LA, that I'm grateful to be here in Brighton with a beer and a nice comfy chair.
Even if it is coming up to 2am.
One last thing.
Sony's showing four games tonight. I really wouldn't be surprised if at least two of them weren't necessarily PS4 exclusive.
It really is a very lovely beer.
Now that Microsoft has dropped the next-gen bomb, and that Bethesda has openly spoken about two of its big games being next-gen, will Sony follow suit?
Yup, and the other thing. This won't start on time.
kingpin3000: Don we think VR will get a mention?
Yup, even if it's just a quick round-up.
Also my name's not Don.
Hang on. Are they starting...
Early?
Well this is a first.
I. Have. No. Idea.
The downside of sitting down is you can't really see anything.
Well you wanted PSVR - here's some Playroom bots dicking about.
Shawn Layden is apparently here. I can't see him though.
Honestly, the conference could be two hours of this and I'd be completely fine with it.
And now we're properly, properly go.
Shawn Layden steps up to stage, in what looks like a church.
It's weird, standing up - the audience is restless. It's not quiet here, people are talking over Shawn.
This doesn't help the growing perception of them being a bit of a weird cult.
But let's see where they take it from here.
First up, it's The Last of Us Part 2.
I love The Last of Us' music, but this audience is just talking about how they can't see what's going on.
And a live performance from Gustavo Santaolalla.
And some terrible, terrible sound distortion on our feed which doesn't really help things.
That'll be it (I say like I have any kind of technical knowledge).
The church we are in is an environment from The Last of Us 2.
It's cool, man, we're all high.
Here's a new trailer for The Last of Us 2, and that's why everyone's in a church - it's the setting for this fresh look, with an older Ellie taking centre stage.
This is already striking a much better tone than the last time we saw The Last of Us Part 2 - it's got the humanity and warmth that, I think, made the original such a hit.
Oh here's the murder.
From something quite moving and beautiful to a neckstab. Video games, you never really change do you?
'It's like we got new E3 there,' says Bertie, 'and then ol' E3 just crept back'.
CONTRAST!
It's the lady and the hammers and the disemboweling!
That old favourite.
Actual wooos from the audience for being able to climb under a truck.
It's a handsome looking video game, which looks to carry on where the original left off.
With a little more grimdark, though no-one could ever really say that The Last of Us was a game that was light in tone.
The combat does look extremely physical, again taking one of The Last of Us' core tenets a little further.
These kinds of scenes never really play out that well when seen out of context. I remember how grim one of The Last of Us' original scenes looked in a conference, where Joel shot-gunned someone to death and the audience whooped and hollered.
We're being moved rooms. Audience is on the move.
In-game, it made much more sense and was less jarring.
Anyway, that was our first real look at The Last of Us Part 2. It looks like it'll be very bit as fascinating as the original.
And here's the chatty bit while everyone gets to the next venue for this show.
There's plenty of killer going from that The Last of Us Part 2 first look, but it also seems like there'll be at least *some* filler.
But hey we're all kind of in love with Shawn Layden over here so I'm fine with that.
He looks half hamster, half mobster.
I'm trying to find a composite of those two, but well it just doesn't work.
Anyway he's an incredibly handsome, suave and confident presence.
It sounds like Ghosts of Tsushima is next.
As Tom and co. are being ushered into a Japanese courtyard.
And a little snippet there - New Game Plus is coming to God of War.
There's a lot of people to usher through this very expensive set-up.
It's a very strange set-up, too - everyone at the event can't report on it as they're constantly on the move.
While at home we have to wait for them to be pestered along into the next area.
So strange how these things get greenlit, but I'm sure whoever pitched it was very convincing (and asked for a sizeable budget too).
So here's Call of Duty Black Ops 4 with map pack exclusivity.
Less of the almost, I'd say.
It's a mixture of stupidity and arrogance that leads to weird cock-ups like this.
I think it's a little of both, they've clearly got stuff planned as we're getting some sizzle reels they've got prepped.
It is safe to say that no-one really engaged their brain when planning the whole concept of this show though.
We're back to the weird late-PS2, early-PS3 Sony here. And Microsoft is doing a great job stepping back into the good guy role as it recedes from the villainy and arrogance of early Xbox One.
It's amazing how cyclical these things are, and how they don't hire anyone at these companies who can remember back more than five years.
We have walked through a Japanese garden to a larger tent (with seats). Wind is being blown in, and on screen there's a grassy landscape.
Destiny 2 now, and a look at the big update coming later this year.
Will it save Destiny? I'm not sure - it feels like every new expansion has that weight of expectation put upon it.
But they just killed off Nathan Fillion so I guess that gives them a bit more budget to make more awesome stuff.
Right come on here's an actual video game after plenty of filler.
Nope it's another live musical performance.
Get over yourselves and show us something!
This is Ghosts of Tsushima, anyway.
up_the_ante: Cultural appropriation
Lol innit.
A polite round of applause.
I just found out about Cayde's death on a livestream I can't watch while a guy plays an oversize fucking recorder solo. Thanks Sony.
At least Sucker Punch's Nate Fox is always good value.
Sorry, I'll edit.
Sony may as well fart into their own cupped hands, bring it up to their nostrils and just gleefully sniff it in at this point.
Samurai seems to be very much the next big thing.
And this does look awful, awful pretty.
I mean, it looks really, really, really good.
As in I'm not sure I've seen a better looking video game.
And I'm not entirely sure this is even possible on a PlayStaton 4.
This is, from what we've been told, an open world game.
An open world game as gorgeous as this could really be something.
Beautifully composed samurai combat leads into more general hack and slashery.
But still it looks great.
In the words of Kat from USGamer: "The hell of following Naughty Dog is that anything you do is going to look stiff by comparison." Yup.
Some very Sucker Punch traversal - it's still inFamous and Sly Cooper as you leap around.
I hope it's at least an option to play with a Japanese voice track. It'd make such a difference.
The stand-offs, which come at a much slower pace than the general combat, look incredible.
And that was Ghosts of Tsushima. A staggeringly beautiful looking game.
And this is a banana playing a guitar.
This is why I love Eurogamer. The place to come for typeface analysis.
Is this Death Stranding now?
Or Remedy's new game.
Because this looks a lot like Remedy.
Control - it is indeed Remedy, being very Remedy, and being published by 505 Games.
Some game about tins of tomatoes now.
Games have everything don't they?
silents: That was basically quantum break on ps4.
Without the live action stuff. I'm more than fine with that.
And this is Resident Evil 2.
Which looks very, very different to the original which it's remaking.
Also it has tinned tomatoes in it.
This looks so, so different to Resident Evil 2, that it's hard not to get a bit of whiplash when seeing it for the first time.
Beneath all the fancy visuals, though, looks like quite a trad Resi game - and that's also a good thing. It's out January 25th next year.
A new game from the Rick & Morty creators and Squanch Games? It looks like it's got Mr MeSeeks in there.
Trover Saves the Universe, coming to PSVR.
Some weird Nomura nonsense with Johnny Depp in now.
If that's your thing, you weirdos.
Yeah, it actually is.
There's been a succession of good announces, and even though Kingdom Hearts isn't really my thing it's certainly going to tick a lot of boxes for series fans.
And now it's on to Death Stranding, to twist with our heads a little more.
This looks it is, for the first time, actual Death Stranding gameplay.
Like it's an actual video game we can play.
Where we apparently just go trekking around Iceland.
But still I'd be up for playing that game.
It really does look like a slow-paced exploration game.
Or, as some others might put it, a walking simulator.
But there's more!
Lea Seydoux makes an appearance, adding to the all-star cast.
Nope, still none the wiser.
Yup, and I love it.
Oh and Linsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman, is now confirmed to be in it?
And Nioh 2, which is a nice announcement from leftfield.
They've pulled this conference back from the brink.
Spideybobs now.
Which looks amazing, if not quite as amazing as what's preceded it, but we are getting to play it very, very soon.
This looks lovely if big explodey things are what you're into.
Super dynamic, with all the colour and spark you'd hope for from a Spiderman game.
And that was the fourth game.
Are we done here?
What is though?
The recap suggests we're wrapping up shortly.
And it is done.
A shaky start but it got there in the end.
Well, Spiderman has one.
My money is on that being one decent looking PS4 game in Spiderman, and three PS5 games with no date.
We'll see, though, and a new Remedy game makes me very, very happy.
Oh let's not forget a new Nioh. That's alright.
And Resi 2.
Oh and here's a bonus - a From Software PSVR game.
Just as I was about to head back to the hotel.
Oooh they're odd ones, Sony, aren't they?
Deracine is its name.
What else are they going to announce post-conference?
I'm not sure how late I'm willing to wait up to find out.
We're going to wrap here, though of course feel free to stick around and watch the post-conference chat Sony's laying on where we're seeing some of Spiderman's web-slinging in action.
You've all been wonderful, and it's been a delight.
One more show to go, and it's Nintendo tomorrow - hope to see you there.