Sony's E3 Presentation to be Less Talking, More Games

Last year's E3 was dominated by PlayStation, who put on one of the most impressive showings we've [...]

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(Photo: Sony)

Last year's E3 was dominated by PlayStation, who put on one of the most impressive showings we've ever seen in the expo's history. Things were kicked off in the most epic manner with a live orchestra, and then we went directly into trailers and announcements. No fluff. This year, Sony is going to take the same approach during its E3 conference and is promising more show, and less tell. This, according to Shawn Layden.

"The crowd will only have to suffer I think in aggregate 90 seconds of me," he quipped in a recent interview with Time. "And in the middle will be all the games." This is exactly how last year's conference played out. Shaw Layden showed up on stage at very choice intervals, and only for short periods of time, in order to hype the next announcement or make a brief introduction. There were no drawn-out speeches, no PR or marketing spins, and no sales pitches. From the opening seconds to the final applause, we were treated to nonstop games, and that's how we like it.

Not everyone is for this format. I've heard some of my peers and colleagues state that they like a little bit of down time. They like a little break in between each trailer because it gives the developers or marketing executives a chance to tell us more about the games we're seeing and when we can expect to play them.

I totally get that, but I also think that well-produced trailers can show you everything you need and want to know. A good trailer will tell you a little something about the story, show you some gameplay, and tease a release date with multiple platforms if that information is available.

More importantly, it sends a message to consumers and competitors: "We have plenty of compelling, exclusive content on the way that you can only experience right here." If you don't have enough time to sit around talking -- introducing, spinning, pandering -- that's a good sign. It communicates an abundance and overflowing of content, something that Nintendo and Microsoft both need for their respective platforms right now.

So prepare yourselves. It sounds like Sony is poised to take over E3 once again. With Project Scorpio right around the corner, Sony will need to show up in a big way, and it sounds like it plans to do just that.

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