I had no idea this happened, but Atsushi Morita, who used to be vice president of administration and control of Sony, was promoted to President of SCEJ effective today (9/1/14). He seemed humble and a little nervous as he took the stage a number of times throughout the conference.
Some statistics to get things started.
- As of last month, PS4 has sold 10 million units worldwide making it the fastest selling console to date
- between February and August, PS3/PS4 sales accounted for 78% of systems sold in Japan
- disc-based versions of Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous Second Son, and the Last of Us Remastered edition have sold a combined 10 million units worldwide in the 9 months since the system released in the West
The Vita will be getting another color this year. Entitled 'Light Pink/White', the model will retail for 18,980 yen (about $182) and will be released November 13th of this year.
The upcoming MMO-like shooter Destiny will be getting a special PS4 Glacier White bundle to be released October 11th (so a little over a month after the game comes out).
There's also going to be a Dragon Quest Metal Slime PS4, set to release next year.
UI/Service Announcements
The most notable feature of software update 2.0 is the theme support, a long-awaited feature to the system. Themes will have PS4 and PS Vita support. It's about time theme support got added!
Sony also talked about a program called UMD Passport. Unfortunately they didn't go too much into specifics, but it allows users access to over 250 titles that were previously only on the Playstation Portable. Vita is also getting a software update, but Sony didn't detail any big features beyond theme support.
Games
Ah. At last, we've arrived at the thing that everyone cares about. I will begin with my favorite game announcement. In a teaser trailer, famed developer Atlus announced that the previously PS3-only Persona 5 is in development for the PS4 and is slated for simultaneous release with the PS3 version. Persona 5 is one of the only reasons I'm still holding on to my PS3 (that and KH 2.5), but with this announcement, I'm happy to report that I can enjoy the next installment in the Persona series on Playstation 4.
Another big announcement was about a new title in the Y's series, set to come to Playstation 4 as well as Playstation Vita next year. I will definitely be picking this up! Another cool-looking game was Yakuza Zero, Sega's next game in the Yakuza series. In this game, you'll be playing as younger versions of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, protagonists from earlier Yakuza games.
Bandai Namco announced a new Dragonball game titled Dragonball Xenoverse, which looks like it could be more than your traditional fighting game.
Morpheus
Project Morpheus will have a playable demo at TGS this year. The title, called 'Summer Lesson' lets players study in a room with a high school girl during the dog days of summer. I wasn't exactly impressed with what I saw with the title but I'm sure it'll get some people 'excited'. I really hope that Sony takes its time developing this peripheral. I don't want to see something underdeveloped hit the market. If it takes 6 years to get something great developed then so be it. I can wait 6 years. I have plenty of games to keep me busy.
Some Takeaways
Sony really appears to be hitting its stride. They even scheduled another press conference for the 17th, ahead of the Tokyo Game Show (I really wish I could go this year). You say this with every big conference, but this is a really big moment for them. They have a new console that is selling quite well and lots of developers are getting on board with the PS4. TGS is very much a Sony/Nintendo-focused event and it's important that they keep this momentum up.
The last trailer shown at the press conference yesterday was of a new Square Enix, Koei Tecmo collaboration Dragon Quest game to be released in the spring of 2015. It features presumably Dynasty Warriors-like combat and is set in the Dragon Quest universe. It's been almost 10 years since Dragon Quest has been on Playstation and to be honest, I can't say that I'm really excited about this game announcement because I would much rather prefer a traditional installment to the franchise.
The Playstation Vita seems to be selling well in Japan. Last week I wrote about a little bit about the Vita's recent marketing strategy shift in the west. However, much to my surprise, the Vita was actually in the spotlight for much of the press conference (which was directed at the Japanese market). Sony seems to be marching to a different tune with Vita marketing in Japan. Maybe Sony doesn't think that a handheld can be successfully marketed in the west. Who knows.
I'm looking forward to this year's Tokyo Game Show. I would expect to see a trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3 and maybe even Final Fantasy XV. Definitely count on announcements from Hideo Kojima about Metal Gear Solid V.
That's all for now. Take care folks.
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