Sony PS4 E3 2015 PlayStation Press Conference Reaction 1

Republished on Friday, 1st January 2016: We're bringing this article back from the archives as we look back at some of Push Square's features from 2015. The original text follows.

Originally published on Tuesday, 16th June 2015: Push Square Towers is in a state of shock. Uneasiness quickly dissolved into ecstasy, as Sony dropped bomb after bomb after bomb after bomb after bomb during its E3 2015 media briefing this evening. Prior to the show, we'd warned that it would be too third-party focused; in the days leading up, we'd pondered whether Project Morpheus would play too big a part. As it turned out, we could have done with a few more of the duller bits – it was honestly hard to keep up at points. Fresh from the show, the reactions of editors Sammy Barker and Robert Ramsey are below.

YouTube Video
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube150k
Watch on YouTube
Sony PS4 E3 2015 PlayStation Press Conference Reaction 2

Sammy Barker, Editor

I'm utterly speechless. Writing about video games seven days a week, I sometimes have lapses where my passion for the medium dips. I'll openly admit that I've been experiencing one of these periods of late – but tonight's PlayStation E3 2015 press conference, and I don't say these words lightly, had me choked and tearful at times. There were moments when I genuinely didn't know where I was.

I daresay there will be some reading this who will think I'm exaggerating, but let me just recap some of the titles that appeared during the media briefing: The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII (the long-awaited remake, no less), and Shenmue III. The platform holder was, honestly, one Gabe Newell cameo away from a nuclear explosion – and what you read above are just three of the main highlights in a conference that was stacked to the brim with memorable moments.

It's a testament to just how exceptional the showing was that a game like Horizon, the gob-stopping new intellectual property from Guerrilla Games, wasn't the main takeaway. Or that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, with its set-piece laden gameplay demonstration, got overshadowed. Let's not forget: No Man's Sky also looked sensational. And that Call of Duty partnership with Activision may have had your eyes rolling, but is a massive deal.

This was E3 press conference history in the making; it was the Jack Tretton smackdown from E3 2013 and the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto sword and shield moment multiplied, amplified, turned up to eleven – and then sent into outer-space. And yes, you could argue that Shenmue III is "just" a Kickstarter and Final Fantasy VII doesn't have a date – but it doesn't really matter. If this is a sign that Sony's getting complacent, then thank heavens for that.

You and I just witnessed the greatest press conference in E3 history.

Sony PS4 E3 2015 PlayStation Press Conference Reaction 3

Robert Ramsey, Associte Editor

I'm honestly still in shock. In all my years of following the games industry, and writing about it for Push Square, I have never seen a spectacle quite like Sony's E3 2015 press conference. Over the course of an hour and a half, the company dropped numerous incredible announcements that other firms could only ever dream of. This is a presser that will go down in history as one of the most utterly ridiculous events that gaming has ever seen.

If you had told me that Call of Duty: Black Ops III had completely switched sides and moved over to PlayStation as part of a fully fledged co-marketing deal, complete with timed DLC exclusivity, I would have been blown away. But compared to what else the Japanese giant revealed, that now seems like a mere drop in the ocean.

I mean, the show started with The Last Guardian – a title that's been in limbo for so long that I haven't even bothered counting the years. Shawn Layden just threw it out there, and people lost their minds – we were barely five minutes into the presser. And here at Push Square, I was the cynic; I never thought that The Last Guardian would ever show its face again. Now it's coming in 2016, and it's actually alive.

Amazing stuff, and you could already hear the fans declaring Sony's 'win'. But the part that still has me collecting my thoughts is that it didn't stop – the hype just kept rolling like a storm. Sure, the conference had its downtime with the likes of Disney Infinity, that's undeniable – but I could hardly care when a PlayStation 4 remake of Final Fantasy VII had just been announced.

To me, Final Fantasy VII represents a time in my life when gaming first truly spoke to me as more than a form of entertainment. The PSone was at its height, and Cloud and co.'s journey captured my young imagination more so than any game prior. I never believed in a full remake, and I can hardly describe how I felt when I saw that trailer – CG or not. I stood up, put my hands on my head, and just gazed in absolute awe at the screen. When I saw that buster sword on Cloud's back, as daft as it may sound, it felt like time stood still.

And then you've got stuff like Shenmue III, Horizon, Dreams, No Man's Sky, and all of Devolver Digital's games. I'm probably missing some things, but again, I'm struggling to wrap my head around what's just transpired. Oh, and how about that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End gameplay? It was easily one of the greatest demos I've ever seen at E3.

All in all, you'll just have to come back to me tomorrow or something, after I've picked up the pieces of my broken mind. Sony somehow squeezed several unforgettable moments into one press conference – moments that you'd be lucky to see individually at a single presser. And here we thought that the company was going to spend an hour or so talking about Project Morpheus. Ha!

Are you in awe like our editors, or did you think Sony's showing was a bit meh? Collect your thoughts and try to form a sentence in the comments section below.