first announcements that leave you partially hungry

” It wasn’t what I expected, but I didn’t know what to expect. ” As summed up by one specialist site columnist Kotaku, the presentation conference of the PlayStation 5, Thursday June 11, has reserved some surprises, without major revolutions. Starting with the design of the console, whose curves contrast sharply with the brand’s usual practices and which have inspired many hijackings on social networks.

the ps5 looks like a new expensive campus performing arts center that replaced three academic arts departments and… https://t.co/rSpksFdNrB

– matthiasellis (@but then a strange thing happened)

But beyond the jokes, classic of any console launch, the conference of the Japanese manufacturer was especially expected for the games it would present – main element that makes the success or failure of a machine. Among these titles, Horizon: Forbidden West, following one of most beautiful titles of the Playstation 4, as well as Demon’s Souls, ultragothic remake of the predecessor of Dark Souls, received a welcome particularly favorable players and the specialized press.

With Gran Turismo 7, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Destruction AllStars, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, as well as Astro’s Playroom (which will ship with the console), these are the nine exclusive PlayStation 5 games released Thursday – the ones we won’t see anywhere else.

On the other hand, among the games that will also be available on PC (and, no doubt, one day, on Xbox Series X, even Nintendo Switch), Stray, who offered to portray a stray cat with a backpack in a world populated by robots, was the main exception in the deluge of share titles. It was also one of two games, out of the twenty presented, which is a French creation: it is developed by BlueTwelve Studio, in Montpellier, while Deathloop, variation on the theme of their previous hits, Dishonored, will be the newest creation from Arkane Studios.

With or without disc player

Titles that have not prevented some players from reserving a Playstation 5 colder welcome. The presentation of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which takes over from the excellent Spiderman from PS4, caused a few disappointments: despite an attractive trailer, Sony said on Friday that it would not be a new game as such, but a enriched and longer version of the title already released in PS4 in 2019, including an extension.

Another disappointment for many players: the announcement of a new version of the online mode of Grand Theft Auto V, when an – unlikely – announcement of an episode VI by the publisher Rockstar Games was hoped for by fans.

More generally, it is the questions that the Sony presentation did not answer that raise the most questions, starting with the precise dates of release of the games and the price of the console. Especially since for the first time, this PlayStation will be available in two versions: with or without a disc player, which will lead to a price difference – and already arouses a lively debate. A question that also arises because of the vagueness that remains on the operation of the backward compatibility of the machine with PlayStation 4 games.

Still, the presentation of the console seems to have generally pleased PlayStation fans, with a long list of suites for several large licenses: Resident Evil Village, Hitman 3, NBA 2K21 – even if these are games for which Sony has no exclusivity, even temporary. The few ambitious innovations, such as the technically very impressive Project Athia, of Square Enix, will they be enough to convince the undecided? It will be necessary to wait until the end of July and the presentation of the catalog of Microsoft games for the future Xbox Series X to be able to compare the PlayStation 5 with its direct competitor.

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