So, more detailed thoughts:
INDIES
The emphasis on Indies was great I think. A lot of fun looking titles, even if I most likely won't play a vast majority of them. I think it was good to allow so many into the Showcase. I do want to highlight Phantom Blade 0 - this game looks clearly fake/ scripted/ QTE based; can't say I have any interest in this.
PSVR2
Unfortunately a very weak showing. Hopefully this isn't the extent to which Sony is supporting it and trying to get support for it. Otherwise, it's just going to become dead hardware soon. That said, RE4 looks nice, and Beat Saber dropping on PS5 is great.
HARDWARE
I'm a little irked Ryan couldn't bother to talk about the accessibility controller, but at least it showed up. The earphones are a nice tough, albeit I have zero interest in ear-in earphones. The streaming device is interesting. But if it functions only as a remote play device (and only over Wifi) only, I can't help but feel it's going to have limited appeal. I very much expect it to be upgraded for cloud (since Sony have mentioned they will do a push into cloud over the next few months at their business meeting thing). That said, they should really allow it to remote directly to the PS5; have it be used as a 2nd controller (with the screen turned off), and work on the PS4 too. Just kind of baffling really.
3RD PARTY
Probably the highlight of the show. A lot of big games being advertised with Sony (even though MS wants to remind you they come to xbox too) that I think will have a strong impact on hardware for the remainder of the year. I think Alan Wake 2 looked cool, among other games. But that CG trailer for MGS3 was easily the worst thing of the show. Just a very unceremonious announcement, and very nothing. The collection trailer was equally very dull.
1ST PARTY
Easily the most divisive part. Helldivers 2 being announced was good because it looks like a lot of fun. And Spiderman 2 juts looks incredible. Like wow, I've never played the first and I'm pumped for the 2nd. Will catch up with the series in due time. The CG trailers for Haven and Firewalk's games were unnecessary (they were better than MGS3 no lies). But I think they were there to pad out the games, and at least let consumers know that these partnerships are resulting in something (especially after the loss of Pixel Opus and the bad news at Deviation). And I have no issues with CG trailers as long as the vast majority of your showing is not that (which thankfully this showcase wasn't).
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I think it was an ok showing. Probably a 6 or 7. There was a lot of variety on display, and a lot of gameplay, so I think that helped. I'm surprised some games weren't shown, notably Stellar Blade and Convallaria, since they both release this year. That was very strange. I'm not surprised by the lack of either Death Stranding 2 or TloU Factions - I mentioned earlier on in the thread that I doubt either would show here, and they both make more sense for SGF. Kojima has a friendship with Keighley, and Sony I think are hoping for a lot of eyes on Factions (granted the showcase was well watched I believe). It also allows Sony to spread out announcements: Helldivers 2, Haven, Firewalk and then Factions all in 1 showing would've been too much imho.
On a final note: I actually think it would be better for Sony to do SoPs instead, and highlight each with a big upcoming game (like this could've been the Spider-man 2 SoP). But anyways, Sony knows how to market games so they should just keep doing whatever it is they are doing.
