AFTER XBOX KICKED off E3 with its keynote, Sony was the second of the three major console players to reveal its plans for the next twelve months.
While Xbox’s presentation was very games focused, and Nintendo’s keynote is likely to follow the same format, Sony not only announce key games, but developments in services like Playstation Now and Playstation TV. Here were some of the key announcements.
Destiny
Release Date: 9 September
One of the most anticipated games of the year, Destiny is a highly stylised first-person shooter from the creators of Halo, Bungie. Taking place in what it describes as a “mythic science fiction” setting, the game will incorporate massively multiplayer online elements to create a world that will develop as players play.
The beta will arrive on 17 July, while the alpha will arrive this week for Playstation owners.
Entwined
Release Date: Now
A breather from the gritty and dark action games that preceded it, Entwined tells the story of “two souls who are in love but can’t be together” and has you guiding both a fish and a bird over the course of their lifetimes.
With origami-style graphics and trippy visuals, the surprise was the game is available now in the Playstation Store for $9.99 and will appear on the PS3 and Vita.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Release Date: November
The third edition of the playful level creator series throws a number of new characters into the mix like Oddsock, a dog that can wall run, and a bird named Swoop. These characters will form the basis of the game’s co-op section, which will allow up to four players to play together.
More than 8.7 million levels have been created across the first two LittleBigPlanet games, and all of them will be playable in the sequel.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Release Date: 2015
A gameplay demo of the latest game in the Arkham series has Batman gliding through the city, driving through Gotham in the Batmobile, and hunting down the Penguin before the Scarecrow makes an appearance.
Batman moves fluidly, transitioning from flying to driving to fighting smoothly, suggesting that this could be the best one yet.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Release Date: 2015
Uncharted 4′s trailer revealed very little about how the game will play, but what we do know is it features a much older Nathan Drake, now a retired fortune hunter, and numerous references to it being the last job, suggesting everything will be wrapped up in this installment.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Release Date: 2015
Directed by its creator Hideo Kojima, The Phantom Pain’s five minute trailer will go over the heads of those who haven’t been following the series, but for those who are up to date, we got glimpses of Big Boss and his new private military force Diamond Dogs, something that will play a major part in its open-world setting.
No Man’s Sky: Infinite Worlds
Release Date: Not announced
The space exploration games is one of the more visually stunning games shown during Sony’s keynote. The main hook is that each player starts on a different planet, and will be able to explore other planets and solar systems.
Since the game is procedurally generated (generated through algorithm instead of manually), it means that not even the developers know what planets are out there.
Re-released and remastered games
While the announcement of remastered games like The Last of Us were expected, and the news that GTAV would arrive in the Autumn got a warm response, some of the biggest cheers came from the news that the classic adventure game Grim Fandango will be remastered for the PS4 and PS Vita.
If this news doesn’t excite you, it’s from Tim Schafer who is responsible for some of the best point and click adventure games around like Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island and Psychonauts.
Playstation TV
The microconsole that Sony released in Japan last year will be arriving in the US, Canada and Europe in Autumn for $99 and will play games from Playstation Now, and Vita games.
Those who own a PS4 already will be able to enable remote play which allows them to stream their PS4 games to another TV in their house.
Playstation Now
Sony’s on-demand cloud gaming service will go into beta on 31 July. While the line up hasn’t been announced yet, the pricing of games, which will include both first- and third-party games, will range between $2.99 to $19.99 depending on the rental period.
The company did say it was working on expanding the service to Europe and Japan so potentially it could arrive here by the end of the year.
Also, it took the time to announce its first original television show Powers, an adaptation of the graphic novel which follows a pair of detectives with superpowers. The show will be make its debut on Playstation Network on December, and every customer will get the first episode for free.
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