Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Sony PlayStation E3 2017 conference live report

Shadow of the Colossus (again)! Monster Hunter World! Spiderman! Sony's event as it happened.

That, I think it's safe to say, was not a banger, but Sony's E3 conference did at least offer a few surprises. Skyrim in VR, Monster Hunter World and a (new) remaster of Shadow of the Colossus were the big stories - see it all as it unfolded here.

Our live coverage of this event has finished.

Hello!

Martin Robinson

Oh hi this seems to have started early then.

Martin Robinson

Supermassive - them of Until Dawn fame - have just announced Hidden Agenda.

Martin Robinson

It's a new social game that follows the same style as Until Dawn with many players helping make the decisions.

Martin Robinson

And it's using something called PlayLink.

Martin Robinson

That'll teach me to go downstairs to get a bottle of whiskey.

Martin Robinson

hermanallen: So has it started or are these two going to show all the games?

It starts officially at 2am, but before then we're getting a steady trickle of announcements it seems.

Martin Robinson

hermanallen: So has it started or are these two going to show all the games?

It starts officially at 2am, but before then we're getting a steady trickle of announcements it seems.

Martin Robinson

It's not making much sense to me really - I do know that Polyphony are up next with GT Sport, and we should get a release date.

Martin Robinson

hermanallen: Thanks for the update Martin

Bowmore single malt. Cheap but effective!

Martin Robinson

Matterfall is out 15th August.

Martin Robinson

And now it's Everybody's Golf.

Martin Robinson

SAVE SOME GAMES FOR THE CONFERENCE ITSELF GUYS.

Martin Robinson

Now I know how Tom felt during the reveal for Beyond Good & Evil 2. This new Gran Turismo Sport trailer is beautiful.

Martin Robinson

Having been to the N24 a few weeks ago, it absolutely nails the mood, lighting and atmosphere of the place.

Martin Robinson

Nothing more than a 'Fall 2017' release window for Gran Turismo Sport, which is a little disappointing.

Martin Robinson

kingpin3000: @Martin GT release date feels like a TGS announcement.

I thought it might be out a bit sooner than TGS... Maybe wishful thinking on my part.

Martin Robinson

Superhot on PlayStation VR.

Martin Robinson

If this is what they're showing before the conference, what will the conference itself hold?

Martin Robinson

Half-Life 3 inbound people!

Martin Robinson

Pack up and go home boys, we're done here.

Martin Robinson

Tropico! There's surely nothing left to show now.

Martin Robinson

X201: We need Eurogamer's Tropic correspondent, now!

Fine, you go and wake him up. I'm not doing it.

Martin Robinson

Undertale also coming to PS4.

Martin Robinson

CALM YOUR TITS SONY.

Martin Robinson

No Vita version, before you ask.

Martin Robinson

God, maybe we could get around to reviewing it this time. Sorry about that...

Martin Robinson

OH THERE IT IS! A Vita version of Undertale is coming.

Martin Robinson

That's the megaton. Step aside Half-Life 3, the big one's just landed.

Martin Robinson

Crackerjacker: Anyone else get the feeling that Martin had a dream about "Car DLC for every game", and everything since has been a disappointment?

A man is allowed to dream.

Martin Robinson

And Ni No Kuni 2 - just a trailer, and the release date which we already knew.

Martin Robinson

man.the.king: Ni No Kuni 2 looks like real-time action instead of turn-based.

It is I believe, quite a departure from the original.

Martin Robinson

And one final piece of news - the PlayStation Experience is coming back to Anaheim this December.

Martin Robinson

All this and we've got two minutes to go 'til the actual show.

Martin Robinson

hermanallen: Why the fark is everything in California?! No love for the southeast?!!

I was kind of hoping it would come to Europe.

Martin Robinson

Oh you probably weren't talking about south east London were you.

Martin Robinson

It's the guy from Catastrophe talking about TV.

Martin Robinson

Oh, so that's why you kept all the games in the pre-show?

Martin Robinson

Ah, it's just all part of a pre-roll before the actual show starts.

Martin Robinson

Let's hope they sort the stream quality out first.

Martin Robinson

Here.

Martin Robinson

We.

Martin Robinson

Go.

Martin Robinson

We start with a live music accompaniment, as we did last year.

Martin Robinson

But what for? My money's on the standalone Uncharted DLC.

Martin Robinson

Happy to be wrong. I often am.

Martin Robinson

kingpin3000: Does Eurogamer have anyone there this year?

Tom, Wes, Aoife and Bratt are all over there. Probably all pissed up somewhere on Sunset now though idk.

Martin Robinson

Ashkorsair: martin are u related to chris robinson, singer from the black crowes? (a propos of nothing)

Yeah that's my son. We don't talk anymore.

Martin Robinson

Tom is in the press conference itself - but as is often the case with these events, wi-fi in the venue is very poor.

Martin Robinson

Yup, it's Uncharted. And the sound is screwed for us here.

Martin Robinson

That's what you get for placing an emphasis on a live band rather than the game itself.

Martin Robinson

Audio is screwed for everyone.

Martin Robinson

Unless Naughty Dog's going super experimental with this new DLC and doing a silent game.

Martin Robinson

This is embarrassing.

Martin Robinson

Also, hilarious.

Martin Robinson

Muted, polite and slightly confused applause in the auditorium.

Martin Robinson

It's snowing there though.

Martin Robinson

Audio is back on the Twitch stream now. Apologies for the technical issues.

Martin Robinson

You missed the Uncharted DLC, Horizon Zero Dawn DLC called The Frozen Wild and now we're into Days Gone.

Martin Robinson

This looks... weak.

Martin Robinson

A generic zombie action game with QTEs, gut stabs and strangling.

Martin Robinson

I'll pass thanks.

Martin Robinson

Oh and there's bat vision too because it's a video game and this is 2017.

Martin Robinson

LividCarrion: Discount the last of us?

That's one way of putting it.

Martin Robinson

There are real people dangling in the audience writhing like corpses.

Martin Robinson

Apparently that man's jacket looks nice in 4K.

Martin Robinson

If that's your sort of thing.

Martin Robinson

COME ON VIDEO GAMES YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS.

Martin Robinson

X201: Martin, that's the sound guys being dealt with

Haha!

Martin Robinson

This is Horizon without the colours (sorry I didn't love Horizon I know a lot of you did!)

Martin Robinson

Oh, a zombie bear!

Martin Robinson

Man bowing in the audience - take a long hard look at yourself.

Martin Robinson

And sit down.

Martin Robinson

Anyway, here's a sexy exec to brighten the tone - Shawn Layden!

Martin Robinson

Donlan's got a bit of a thing for him.

Martin Robinson

Silk handkerchief in the top pocket is a nice touch.

Martin Robinson

'He's so Buggsy Malone' swoons Donlan.

Martin Robinson

Sony's had a great year so far, as Shawn's highlighting - Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Nioh, Nier.

Martin Robinson

pelican_: Is that Martin bad mouthing Horizon again? ;p

It's a decent game, alright! I'm sorry I don't love it. Don't hate me.

Martin Robinson

A game with a cult following next.

Martin Robinson

This could be Monster Hunter World.

Martin Robinson

A proper console Monster Hunter.

Martin Robinson

Yes please.

Martin Robinson

win543: I thought monster hunter was nintendo?

Speculation is that it still will be - this could be a slightly different strand.

Martin Robinson

This looks amazing - I think we've been waiting for years to see what Monster Hunter would look like with a bit more power behind it.

Martin Robinson

I still want it for Switch, mind.

Martin Robinson

Seamless transitions between areas?

Martin Robinson

The phenomenal animations that are a series' trademark are certainly intact.

Martin Robinson

Monster Hunter World.

Martin Robinson

I believe this will be different to 5 - a play for the west, and a big social experience that's looking to muscle into Destiny's space.

Martin Robinson

Early 2018. And that's the game of the show for me so far.

Martin Robinson

pelican_: Still think MH will appear on the Switch

I really hope so! It's still a portable game at heart, I think.

Martin Robinson

And no, Shadow of the Colossus remake from Bluepoint.

Martin Robinson

Okay this has got off to a decent start.

Martin Robinson

2018 release.

Martin Robinson

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite now.

Martin Robinson

September 19th release date for that.

Martin Robinson

And there's a demo available today.

Martin Robinson

Call of Duty WW2, I presume - and hopefully our first extended look at gameplay.

Martin Robinson

Sledgehammer can do little wrong in my eyes, so looking forward to this.

Martin Robinson

And now Skryim VR.

Martin Robinson

Our stream isn't very happy over here, so apologies for the slowness on our part.

Martin Robinson

There's a healthy emphasis on VR here - from Skyrim to an all-new VR game.

Martin Robinson

A third-person VR game - which, from experience of Edge of Nowhere and Chronos on Oculus, actually works really well.

Martin Robinson

Starchild, from Playful.

Martin Robinson

They're the team who previously did Lucky VR - so they've got some experience.

Martin Robinson

Another new game from Supermassive - them behind Until Dawn - and it's called The Inpatient, a psychological thriller set in an asylum.

Martin Robinson

Meanwhile, you can fish in VR in FF15 now.

Martin Robinson

I think the appropriate response is 'lol'.

Martin Robinson

Supermassive again - they're very busy, it seems - with an AIM controller game.

Martin Robinson

I guess they need to make the most of that weird peripheral. That doesn't look like it's going to shift any units though.

Martin Robinson

Continuing the theme of slight and underwhelming VR games, here's something with a mouse by Seattle dev Polyarc.

Martin Robinson

And that's Moss. It does look kind of cute and charming in its own way, and it is good to see Sony go big on VR.

Martin Robinson

Biggish, anyway.

Martin Robinson

It's dad in a boat.

Martin Robinson

Dad of War. Angry Dad. Whatever you want to call it.

Martin Robinson

We're getting a properly look at the combat, which does seem to have its roots in God of War's overstated action.

Martin Robinson

It's still really violent, then.

Martin Robinson

Pacman8MyGhostkart: I'd enjoy this more if it wasn't buffering every 10 seconds...

We're having some of the same problems here.

Martin Robinson

nurrishd: Sea monster with a beard!!! i'm sold!!

A neckbeard no less, as Johnny just pointed out.

Martin Robinson

Early 2018 release date for Dad of War.

Martin Robinson

Detroit, I'd wager.

Martin Robinson

I don't fully trust David Cage to handle the themes of slavery he's toying with here, and the blundering dialogue suggests he might come a cropper.

Martin Robinson

Clumsy and overearnest are two words that immediately spring to mind.

Martin Robinson

Still, pretty is another one and maybe that'll be enough for some people.

Martin Robinson

And it has choices, and we all love them.

Martin Robinson

Destiny 2 though!

Martin Robinson

The Cabal Guy.

Martin Robinson

We're not seeing too much here beyond the reveal the other week.

Martin Robinson

But Destiny 2 is definitely something you'll be able to play on yourPS4, and it'll have an exclusive strike - The Land of Shadows - as well as exclusive weapons and an exclusive PvP map called Retribution.

Martin Robinson

It looks like this one will only be an hour, as Shawn Layden is back on stage.

Martin Robinson

We're ending with what I imagine will be Spiderman.

Martin Robinson

Mazzle: Holy shit has this years e3 been underwhelming compared to others.

Ubisoft though!

Martin Robinson

Not a classic Sony conference by any standard, really.

Martin Robinson

Brief, but with little substance.

Martin Robinson

As some of you have already noted, this does look very much like the Arkham games.

Martin Robinson

But with more colours. I guess that's what you'd expect of a modern day superhero game.

Martin Robinson

Not the big showstopper I'd have hoped for though.

Martin Robinson

oxman2k: crap e3 we need big leap in tech to take gaming to the next level it has become stale

Mid to late-gen E3s do often get this way.

Martin Robinson

The most exciting reveal was a remaster of a game that's already been remastered.

Martin Robinson

Pulsar_t: I hear reading is a decent hobby.

Then we'll all just be arguing about the dpi of our respective books though. I've seen it all before.

Martin Robinson

If you like QTEs, this has been a pretty vintage E3 so far.

Martin Robinson

And that was Sony's 2017 E3 conference.

Martin Robinson

In a word? It's probably too late for words. A noise? 'Fe'.

Martin Robinson

Oh, I did briefly forget Monster Hunter World - I'll blame the early hour, not the small whiskey I just had - which upgrades this from a 'fe' to a solid 'fwoooo'. It does look ace.

Martin Robinson

You can sense the deflation in the room.

Martin Robinson

MONSTER HUNTER WORLD THOUGH!

Martin Robinson

If you've never played a Monster Hunter game hooooo boy are you in for a treat. It's the very best of them.

Martin Robinson

Thanks for joining us, it's been a pleasure as always. Tomorrow, Nintendo. Then some sleep maybe.

Martin Robinson

Mazzle: Game of E3 anyone?

Monster Hunter World, Mario x Rabbids (I know, I can't believe I just typed that either). And hopefully Nintendo will bring some more tomorrow.

Martin Robinson

We'll leave it there, though. Thanks again, and see you tomorrow!

Martin Robinson

Read this next