You see, consoles are after all about games, and Microsoft delivered completely on that regard yesterday. They had an impressive showing, with Ryse from Crytek, Forza Motorsport 5 from Turn 10 and Dead Rising 3 from Capcom all looking great, plus quite a few surprises as well, such as Sunset Overdrive from Insomniac Games (the makers of Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series, which is a direct blow to Sony), Crimson Dragon from Panzer Dragoon/Phantom Dust creator, and most of all the comeback of Killer Instinct from Rare. There were also a couple of teasers for Halo 5 and the new Black Tusk game, plus Quantum Break which is still a mystery to me, but I can’t really fault Remedy’s track record: I have faith the game will deliver.
Unfortunately, Sony couldn’t quite match the surprise. They had a quick montage of Killzone: Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Knack and Infamous: Second Son, confirming that the first three will be launching with the console later this year, but Infamous was perhaps the most interesting of them and it got delayed to Q1 2014. Sure, there was some great Square Enix stuff for those who love JRPGs with the Kingdom Hearts 3 announcement, but I was never much of a genre fan to be honest.
What was left, then? The Order 1886, developed by Ready at Dawn. This looks like it could be really interesting, but it was just teased. Overall, I am much more confused after the conferences than I thought I could be; Microsoft and Sony traded blows like fighters in a death-like match, but it is far from over, unlike some may think. In fact, expect many more announcements and surprises in the upcoming months, especially during Gamescom.