What Sony Should Have Shown at the PS4 Event

Now that the dust has settled after Sony's grand unveiling of the PlayStation 4, the world has had time to digest the information that was presented. There are certainly a number of things that made the console instantly appealing — the fantastic visuals, a number of games that were displayed, and the sharing functionality included — but there were a few things M.I.A. during the conference that left many gamers wanting to know more about the forthcoming platform.

Be it a new game, a look at the console itself, or even a price point, there are a number of things that fans would have liked to see during the event. The crew at Game Rant drummed up a list of a few PS4-related items that we would have liked to see at Sony's grand event.

Let's begin.

PlayStation 4 The Last Guardian Screenshots

By: Riley Little

There are a handful of games that get me genuinely excited every year, and Team Ico's The Last Guardian has been teasing me with its awesomeness for far too long. Sony continues to assure fans that the game is still in development, but nothing new has been seen or heard on the project in several years. It's because of this exceedingly long delay that many began to believe that the long-forgotten title may make the jump to PlayStation 4.

As fans quickly found out, after sitting through Sony's two-hour PS4 showcase, The Last Guardian is still nowhere to be seen, and it almost definitely won't be ready for the console's launch later this Fall — if ever. Sony needs to provide gamers with an official update on the project soon, because this beast needs to take its rightful place in the spotlight or be put down once and for all.

God of War PlayStation 4 Screenshots

By: Kyle Matthews

While it's no surprise that Santa Monica Studio has had its hands full for quite some time with the franchise, one of the odd men out last night was Kratos and the God of War series. Frankly, even something as simple as a nod back to the original title on PS2 and its subsequent evolution to the PS3 and beyond would have sufficed.

Tremendous care was taken with GoW2 on the PS2 to ensure the system could crank out as much juice as possible just before the PS3 was released, so could not the same have been done for the transition from PS3 to PS4? I'm just snowballing ideas here, but the exclusion of Kratos, punctuated by a slap in the form of the series' iconic musical cue placed knowingly in one of the developer intros, seems a little odd to me. Especially considering that God of War 4 was rumored to debut at the event.

PlayStation Characters

By: Kevin Moonlight

It's not too surprising that new IPs or new sequels were hardly talked about at the event. This was about the PS4 and its features, not the games. Sony only brought a sample of trailers and gameplay clips to show off some of the new hardware in action and how it has progressed since the PS3. Getting the bulk of the hardware and features out of the way opens up their conference at E3 to show off as many games for the PS4 as possible, and should provide an even better look at what Sony has in line for the launch window. Maybe we'll even get a glimpse of the actual PS4 system, and there's little doubt that playable demos will be in abundance at the big event.

If E3 hits and there's no mention of hit franchises, continuations, or even a dose of new IPs, that is when we should sound the alarm for worry. Gamers should hold their cynicism pertaining to the PlayStation 4 until E3 has wrapped up, since there's little doubt that games will be a heavy focus during the event.

PlayStation 4 The Last Guardian Screenshots

By: Travis Grosz

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two of Sony's biggest and most acclaimed exclusives to date, so when it was announced that their newest project, The Last Guardian, is still in production, I had my mind set on seeing Team Ico at the conference. When the conference came to an end, however, I couldn't help but feel a bit empty inside regarding the absence of the developer; and more importantly its highly anticipated game.

No new information on the title has come out recently and it has left me with the question, "where in the world is this game?" My guess is that Sony has to save some stuff for E3 and future events… right?

Uncharted 4 PlayStation 4

By: Kalen Nelson

Two of my favorite Sony developers were noticeably absent from the conference. Not only was I treated to a new Killzone instead of a new Resistance or main Ratchet & Clank title, but there was a distinct lack of Nathan Drake on the stage.

You would think that Sony would push for both of these studios to have some serious announcements to get gamers pumped up and impress the stock holders. The Uncharted series of games has been one console seller after another and announcing a new one would have put Sony in a very good position.

PlayStation 4 E3 2013

By: Brian Sipple

After the two-hour affair that was the Future of PlayStation, it became widely apparent that this wasn't the PlayStation 4’s coming-out party. It was a bridge. Sony appears to be waiting until E3 2013 to fully unveil its new console, and that’s entirely understandable. But they missed a massive opportunity to keep the pot stirring until then.

That's why I think the final piece of Sony's presentation should have been a 15-second teaser trailer:

We're traveling down a dimly lit hallway, walls lined with pictures of iconic PlayStation characters, and in the distance sits a table enshrouded in darkness. As we creep closer, a vague object forms on the table, a logo at its center flickering weakly on and off. Suddenly — and we're inches away now — the logo sparks to life, spelling out "PlayStation 4" and illuminating the object just enough so that we can discern a few rough outlines, a few blurry textures and maybe even an output port or two.

The screen cuts out to black.

A voice begins to marvel at what he's seeing.

It's Nathan Drake's voice.

"E3 2013" fades in, sleek and sinewy in corresponding PS4 font, and Christmas for Sony fans has just been rescheduled to the month of June.

PlayStation 4 logo

With that, we've completed a list of things that a number of the Game Rant staff were hoping would make an appearance during this week's big PlayStation 4 event. There are countless other possible announcements that gamers would have loved to see occur, but were instead sorely missed. Now that E3 2013 is quickly approaching, fans can rest assured that Sony has plenty of additional surprises up its sleeve.

What were you hoping would be revealed during the big PlayStation 4 event? Which unannounced games are you hoping Sony will unveil at E3?