The first ever PlayStation Experience held in Kuala Lumpur went down this weekend and we were there to take it all in! Read on as our correspondent in KL, Jasmin Giebel-Osman, takes you through the highs, lows and best games from Malaysia’s first taste of the PlayStation Experience!
The event was held from 10AM to 10PM at the Life Centre in sunny Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Being the first ever PlayStation Experience in the region, this definitely drew in a crowd from all over. And what a massive crowd it was! There were people lining up as early as 5AM (when doors open to the public at 10AM) and by the time I got there, the line went the length of the street from the venue and once you finally get into the venue, you’ve got another two bits to go. While myself and a lot of other event-goers scoffed at such an event being held in such a small venue, I will admit that as soon as I got into the hall, bobbing and weaving through crowds to get into (more) lines for game demos definitely put me off for a little bit before lunchtime came around and crowds started to shrink.
Demos of 17 titles were on the floor for visitors to experience first-hand, some of which we got our hands-on at this year’s E3 like Matterfall and Knack 2, but more notably the upcoming Far Cry 5, Quantic Dream’s upcoming Detroit: Become Human on top of Singaporean-made horror game Stifled and The Inpatient which is a prequel to Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn were both available to take on a nerve-wrecking test run on PSVR. I personally got my hands-on Detroit, Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom and my favourite game announcement for the event: Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (of which I was among the lucky few who scored a demo session with producer Tomoaki Ayano) before hunger got the best of me and standing in more lines was just not an option anymore.
Throughout the day there were presentations and demos of some of the titles available on the floor by development team members for games like classic arcade game with specially made drum controller for the PS4: Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session!, Gran Turismo Sport and long-awaited instalment of its series: Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. PSX guests also had the chance to catch Malaysia’s very own Wan Hazmer, the lead designer of Final Fantasy XV, who presented for the first time ever, XV’s cheeky ‘spin-off but not a spin-off’ (his words!) aka sexy FFXV boys not-just-a-fishing-simulator (also his words!): Final Fantasy XV: Monster of the Deep.
Fans of the Monster Hunter series were also in for a treat as Capcom’s very own Ryozo Tsujimoto graced the venue with his presence, presenting the series’ latest instalment: Monster Hunter: World by, which was unfortunately unavailable on the floor to demo but the game presentation definitely stirred quite the excitement from the crowd. With a release date planned for the early 2018, I will say that fans of the series should prepare to feast your eyes once more because this game looks to definitely be environmentally stunning from start to finish.
Overall, there could have been a bit more thought put into the venue and I definitely feel like the staff manning the demo booths could have been picked better. I was lucky enough to play through the entirety of the demos I managed to play but I have heard that some people were ‘timed’ and couldn’t enjoy the full demos. Hopefully organisers and PlayStation Asia pay a bit more attention to detail at their next PSX-SEA, wherever that may be. But despite the wrinkles here and there, the Experience was an overall great…experience (sorry) and I definitely enjoyed my time at my first PSX event.
———-
