The first-ever PlayStation Experience in Asia was met with a blasting opening and an impressive closing. When it was first announced over at PlayStation Asia’s Facebook page, everyone was filled with joy and excitement as the exclusive Sony event held each year in the United States has finally came to the region.
PlayStation Experience 2017 South East Asia was held at KL Live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Designed to be the exact model as the PlayStation Experience in the U.S, everyone who attended had lots of goodies and games to try, and the best part of it was that it’s free! Attendees who went to PSX didn’t pay any cent to get in. There were also stage presentations from famous game developers on-stage and the media had their own closed-door talk.
As early as 7:00AM, a lot of people already lined up outside the event place. The faces were filled with enthusiasm, everyone were excited to get their exclusive PlayStation Experience 2017 tees and loot bags, and most of all – the games they were thrilled to play.
The door officially opened for attendees at 10:00AM and 9:00AM for media.
Games. Games. Games Everywhere!
Everyone gathered around booths and played the games available on the show floor. Attendees lined up for Gran Turismo Sport as they were so excited to get inside the GT Sport pods, and next to it was the Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite area where players had fun battling out with their favorite characters; and across the MvC:I booth was the official PlayStation Merchandise store – and the first Funko Pop! toy that got sold-out was the Uncharted 4 Nathan Drake vinyl figure (I didn’t get the chance to buy one!).
But the longest line ever in the event was at the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT booth. As players waited to get their hands on Dissidia, the others went to try Far Cry 5 which was just right beside Square Enix’s booth. The other playable games on the first level floor were Knack II, Matterfall, FIFA 18, Masquerada: Songs and Shadows, Dusty Racing Fist, and Everybody’s Golf.
But that’s not all, on the second level floor, there were a lot of great games showcased. That includes Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human, Dragonball FighterZ, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, and Taiko No Tatsujin: Drum Session!
Aside from these games, a lot of people lined up to try Final Fantasy XV Monster of the Deep VR. As the VR demos were on the second level, everybody were lining up for the VR games available. Stifled, The Inpatient, No More Heroes, Light Tracer, and Bravo Team were the available games playable on the second floor.
The Enjoyable Closed-Media Sessions
Media briefings starts off formally in most events, but this time at PSX 2017 SEA, it was a bit different. There were laughter and the mood was casual than we expected it to be. Ryozo Tsujimoto, the Monster Hunter: World Producer, revealed to us some pretty cool stuff about their latest Monster Hunter installment. The new approach to the game’s mechanics will make fans and newcomers love it.
After Tsujimoto-san’s presentation, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite’s producers Tomoaki Ayano and Kansuke Sakurai had a delightful, cheerful, and fun showcase. To add to that fun, they jokingly posed the Pen Pineapple Pen for the cameras. They also announced some really good stuff about Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite’s new direction especially for its casual players.
Then another great media briefing was with Wan Hazmer, the Lead Designer of Final Fantasy XV and Monster of the Deep VR – the standalone Final Fantasy XV VR add-on. There were no moderated Q&A and he encouraged all media people to ask away their questions during the course of the discussion itself.
And lastly, we had the most technical and informative media briefing with Gran Turismo’s Producer, Kazunori Yamauchi. The presentation went on as he discussed the technicalities of Gran Turismo Sport and the future of the franchise. Yamauchi-san’s talk was highly organized and he was able to showcase Gran Turismo Sport’s potential when it comes out.
The First South East Asian PlayStation Experience – A Success!
The day was jammed-pack with gamers, fans, giveaways, games, and merchandise. Much like PlayStation Experience in the U.S, everybody enjoyed themselves at the event.
Sony Interactive Entertainment Hong Kong Limited Singapore Branch (SIES) hosted the event perfectly. We hope that with this success we will get another PlayStation Experience in South East Asia!
