Sony pulled no punches at this year’s E3 event in Los Angeles. I managed to catch most of Ubisoft’s conference, but I came to see Sony and being a PlayStation man I was eager to see what they had in store.
Andrew House kicked off Sony’s press conference with a Destiny trailer, and announced beta access for the game exclusively on PlayStation. But the hype didn’t end there…
Exclusives
He was quick to get the show on the road and rolled out the graphically stunning Order 1886, which showed off the games’ seamless cut-scene/gameplay transitions, and the terrifying return of the button prompt (press triangle to live). This was another in a long line of really cool-looking exclusive titles for the console. One of those games being Infamous: Second Son, which had its DLC announced straight after The Order.
Speaking of exclusives a bombshell in the form of Little Big Planet 3 was then dropped, stunning the audience. Here we got a look at how a next-gen Sackboy will behave along with his 3 new friends, Toggle, Swoop and Oddsock. The game looks as fun as ever, albeit a little buggy, and unlike most of the games on display will be available in time for the December holidays.
Then it happened. From Software’s new game, formally titled ‘Project Beast’, Bloodborne was announced. This is a new IP despite many fans, myself included thinking that the leaked screenshots of the game where hinting at a new addition into the Souls series. It clearly follows the same art style as Dark Souls, and with Miyazaki at the helm I feel confident that this gothic adventure will be one to remember.
Naughty Dog has also been incredibly busy, not only re-mastering The Last of Us for the PlayStation 4, but announcing a 2015 release for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
Cross Platform Games
They all looked visually amazing, and the gameplay in Batman: Arkham Knight, which made full use of the drivable Bat-mobile just made me want the game even more, also Scarecrow (one of my favourite Bat-Villains) looks super freaky.
A Far Cry 4 trailer also premiered, and confirms that the game is still an open world free-for-all, as the amount of carnage that ensued in the 2 minutes we saw was startling. There was hang gliding, explosions, elephants and the news that you can play the game with a friend even if you don’t own it!
Dead Island 2 was also announced amongst this sea of games and it debuted with an ironically less than serious trailer, as a jogger makes his way down the street with a zombie massacre happening just behind him, while he obliviously listens to his MP3 player.
Similarly in the mix is MGS5: The Phantom Pain, which had a new trailer for fans, Grand Theft Auto 5 which is coming to next gen consoles, and Mortal Kombat X, which showed off some of its gruesome gameplay.
Indies
But it wasn’t all triple A blockbusters, as Adam Boyes had the crowd laughing along as he presented the arrival of Magicka 2 on PS4 and a letter, clearly written by Tim Schafer, leading to the reveal of a remake of Grim Fandango.
The stack of indie games in development for the PlayStation continued, including the likes of Entwined and Broforce, and they look really exciting. I mean who wouldn’t want to play as Bronan the Brobarian? Suda 51 will also make a PlayStation 4 appearance with Let It Die, a gory slasher, as will Giant Squid with their game Abzu.
My personal favourite of the bunch and a game which I think has a good chance of winning some awards is No Man’s Sky. Never mind that the game looks good, the in game exploration of new planets and the space battles that randomly follow had the astronaut in me ready to go, needless to say I will be picking it up.
Other New Stuff
I won’t bore you with all the details but Sony unveiled many new features coming to PSN, but the biggest were PlayStation Now and Free to Play. PS Now will be getting an open beta shortly and allows you to stream games over the web at the cost of a subscription fee. The latter is a service coming soon to PlayStation and PS Vita and allows you to simply play selected games for free.
A new product was also revealed as Sony plans to launch PlayStation TV; which allows the user to play their games on a second television, for $99.
It was then announced that there have already been 220 million shares on the PS4 to date and that this may rapidly increase due to a new partnership with YouTube, which like you can already do on Twitch, will allow you to stream and upload your gameplay directly.
We got a glimpse of the new Ratchet and Clank movie coming out next year, and comic book inspired show Powers will also be available on PlayStation this holiday season.
Finally the eagerly awaited Project Morpheus was also given the nod and is under development for the PS4.
Watch Sony’s E3 press conference:
[youtube url=”http://youtu.be/ozo1EYAjkNM” fs=”1″ hd=”1″]
All in all Sony had a solid E3 press conference, but it did drag a bit when compared to the others. A little less CG and a little more gameplay I feel would’ve made for a better showing, however I’m still excited to see whats next.
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