With E3 2013 less than a month away and after re-watching last year’s press conferences (mostly to get them off my DVR), let’s recap the claims that were made by each of the Big Three companies (plus EA and Ubisoft) and see how they did almost one year later! Five conferences will be reviewed for not their content quality, but the truthfulness of the claims that were made, between now and Episode 135 of SMYN. Up next is Sony at E3 2012, after the break!
CLAIM: PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale will be cross-compatible on PS3 and Vita. Nathan Drake and Big Daddy will be playable characters.
RESULT: True. If you bought the game on PS3, you got the Vita version for free. Each worked with each other as promised. Both characters were indeed playable.
CLAIM: Cross-Controller DLC for LittleBIGPlanet 2 will arrive later this year.
RESULT: True. This pack was released on December 18, 2012.
CLAIM: The Unfinished Swan will come to PlayStation Network later this year.
RESULT: True. The Unfinished Swan was released on October 23, 2012. PlayStation Plus users could download the game a week early.
CLAIM: PlayStation Plus will add an Instant Game Library. It launches tomorrow and features Infamous 2, LittleBIGPlanet 2, Saints Row 2, and more for free with a PS Plus subscription.
RESULT: True. This has been one of the best features for PS3, as PlayStation Plus has become a complete bargain. These games were available the day after the conference as promised and Vita even got its own collection of free games on November 20, 2012.
CLAIM: PSOne Classics will be coming to Vita this summer.
RESULT: Shaky. PSOne Classics arrived on Vita on August 28, 2012. However, due to imperfect emulation, the Vita could only play a fraction of the available PSOne Classics library. Whoops!
CLAIM: YouTube, Hulu Plus, and Crackle are coming to Vita soon.
RESULT: WRONG! A YouTube app is now available on Vita, but Hulu Plus and Crackle? Nowhere to be seen…
CLAIM: Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified will launch in Holiday 2012 on Vita.
RESULT: True. The game arrived on November 13, 2012. Although, it wasn’t any good…
CLAIM: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation will launch on Vita on October 30, 2012. It will link to Assassin’s Creed III for bonus items in the Vita game.
RESULT: True. The game met the release date and carried over all of the bonus items if you linked it to the PS3 game.
CLAIM: A crystal-white Vita bundle will launch with Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and a 4 GB memory card included on October 30, 2012.
RESULT: True. This bundle met the release date – I even bought one!
CLAIM: Assassin’s Creed III will launch on PS3 on October 30, 2012.
RESULT: True. This was pretty universal for all ACIII games.
CLAIM: A PS3 bundle including Assassin’s Creed III and a 500 GB harddrive will launch on October 30, 2012.
RESULT: True. This bundle met its launch date exactly.
CLAIM: Far Cry 3 will include a 4-player co-op campaign. The game will have free exclusive DLC on PS3.
RESULT: True. The co-op campaign was well-received. The High Tides pack was free and exclusive to PS3 for two months, until it was available on PC.
CLAIM: Wonderbook will be the next way to use PlayStation Move. There will be more to share soon on the title Diggs Nightcrawler.
RESULT: WRONG! There has been no word about Diggs Nightcrawler since this conference, considering Wonderbook has struggled heavily. Still, that’s hardly “more to share soon,” when its development is in limbo.
CLAIM: Book of Spells will the first of many games for Wonderbook, as the J.K. Rowling-inspired game arrives in Fall 2012.
RESULT: Shaky. The game did arrive on November 13, 2012. However, this has been the only game released for Wonderbook. Hardly the “first of many” games in hindsight.
CLAIM: PlayStation Suite will be coming to Android tablets and smartphones soon. HTC will be the first certified partner, as the service is now named PlayStation Mobile.
RESULT: True. The PlayStation Mobile service became public on October 3, 2012. HTC was indeed the first partner to be certified. Has it been popular, though? Not especially…
CLAIM: God of War: Ascension will launch on March 12, 2013.
RESULT: True. The game met this release date exactly.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS with no outright claims: Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us
CONCLUSION:
True: 12
To be determined: 0
Shaky: 2
Wrong: 2
Sony could have been a bit more stable with their claims here. Wonderbook turned out be to a travesty and it looked even worse in hindsight. Claims on Vita’s future apps and capabilities also proved inaccurate, at best. However, when it came to games and release dates, the PlayStation brand was rather spot-on. Especially impressive was calling the God of War release date in 2013 perfectly, without delay. While the content was average at best, the claim accuracy was slightly better than that.
CLAIM GRADE: B
What would you give Sony?
