Yesterday, I went to bed a happy man.
After watching Sony’s media briefing at the Paris Games Week, I was full of adrenaline, joy and excitement. Here is a round up of the media briefing with a topping of our opinions in brief.
The briefing was kicked off by Jim Ryan, President and CEO of SCEE, by celebrating the 20th anniversary of the launch of the PlayStation. Given below are all the announcements that were made by Sony in the order there were made.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III exclusive content for PlayStation gamers
All map packs will be available to PlayStation gamers 30 days before any other platform and also a special edition Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4 was announced. A trailer for the ‘Giant Zombies’ bonus map was released and it looked very impressive. This map will be available only with the purchase of the collectors edition or the season pass.
Star Wars: Battlefront
Call of Duty’s trailer was immediately followed by a Star Wars: Battlefront trailer, which starred a few Star Wars celebrities and hence looked really cool. You can check out the trailer below.
Ryan then announced a Darth Vader PS4 which would come out with the game next month.
Street Fighter 5; New characters
Street Fighter 5 is console exclusive on the PS4 and at PGW it was announced that Dhalsim, an iconic character from the previous street fighter games, will be making a return. The executive producer of the game then went on to announce that new additional un named as of yet characters would be added to the roster within a year of launch. All of the characters will be available for everyone to unlock using in game money. The game will come out on 16th February, 2016.
Tekken 7 for the PS4 and PlayStation VR
Sony probably realized that showcasing two fighting games one by one would probably be kind of awkward and hence choreographed a smooth/cutesy/funny transition from Street Fighter 5 to Tekken 7. Harada, executive producer of the Tekken series announced that Tekken 7 will be coming out on the PS4 and later it was added that the game would also be developed for the PlayStation VR.
Battleborn: Early beta access for PlayStation 4 gamers
Battleborn, an upcoming shooter game from 2k, the same guys who brought us the eccentric Borderlands showed off a new trailer. Its open beta will be available next year and PS4 users will be the first ones to get their hands on it.
Boundless, Vector and No Man’s Sky
All the three games are console exclusives on the PS4 and each showed off a brand new trailer. No Man’s Sky finally got a release window; it comes out in June 2016.
Boundless and No Man’s Sky are huge open world, exploration based games while Vector is a ‘new type of music rhythm game’.
Matterfall
A new game, Matterfall, was announced along with a trailer. Matterfall is being developed by Housemarque. There weren’t any more details disclosed.
Ratchet and Clank gets a new trailer
Nothing more to it. A brand new trailer was released which, as expected, looked really freaking cool.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
A new demo for the game was showcased. Which was quite similar to the one showcased at E3 2015. It did get the audience excited but not me; I am really excited for the game but I want to see some new stuff, not rehashed demos.
Bloodborne: The Old Hunter gets a new trailer
The Old Hunters is a DLC expansion pack for Bloodborne and it comes out on 24th November 2015. It was playable at PGW and you can check out the trailer below.
Driveclub Bikes announced
Despite the leak earlier in the day, it was refreshing to see something new. Michael Dinny, Senior Vice President of World Wide Studios, said that the game would have a campaign, multiplayer and many challenges. The game can be bought as an expansion to Driveclub or as a standalone game. The best part about this particular announcement was that this was an immediate release; that is, the game was available on the PlayStation store for purchase as soon as the show ended.
Gravity Rush 2
More details regarding the gameplay mechanics of Gravity Rush 2 were revealed by the game’s creative director coupled with a gameplay trailer showing the gameplay mechanics.
Uncharted 4 shows off multiplayer trailer
Never before has a multiplayer trailer looked so freaking awesome. With the exception of GTA V maybe. Naughty Dog showed off Uncharted 4’s 5v5 multpilayer mode with a brand new trailer. A multiplayer beta will be available on PSN from December 4th to December 13th and the game itself will come out on March 16th, 2016. The game was playable at PGW.
Dreams
Dreams, a new game (or art?), being by developed Media molecule showed off a gameplay demo showing what Dreams is all about. You can find out more about this interesting concept where you are free to make your own game here.
PlayStation VR titles
RIGS
Consider this a mash up of Titanfall and Rocket League Yup, that is pretty much it. The gameplay demo looked great. Will have to wait for further details.
Until Dawn Rush of Blood
A Until Dawn themed VE roller coaster ride. Yup.
Robinson The Journey
A VR game developed by Crytek, this was the most interesting VR game for me. Check out the demo below. Very interesting stuff.
Battlezone
Will be the first VR title to come out, a simple shoot em up game. Looks decent and fun.
The Walk
VR simulation of the movie ‘Th Walk’ starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The movie is based on Philippe Petit’s famous high wire walk between the twin towers of the world trade centre.
Tekken 7 would also be coming out on VR. Further details weren’t disclosed.
Gran Turismo Sport announced
The developer promises that this will be the most realistic GT to date. Lets hope they stand good on their promise. The game will include nation’s cup, where the player will represent his/her own nation and manufacturer fan cup where the player will represent his/her favorite manufacturer. The series champions will be awarded alongside real life GT champions like Lewis Hamilton. Sound pretty darn good. Beta testing starts early next year.
The developers are also planning on making GT VR compatible. I was not surprised.
Wild
The briefing was great on the whole but this is where it really started to kick in for me. Introduced at Gamescom, Wild is a game being developed by Wild Sheep studios. The game is still in early development stage but I really liked what I saw. True to its name, the game is all about the wild and how you manipulate it for your benefit. You can possess eagles, rabbits or mount bears. And using this gameplay mechanic, you go through various adventures and ordeals in the world of Wild. Very impressive and very promising.
Detroit: Become Human
Sony’s ace in the hole. Easily the most exciting announcement of the whole briefing. At least for me.
A few years back Quantic Dream had released a small technical demo titled ‘Kara’ which showed a android of the same name with human emotions. The basic purpose of the video was to demonstrate the wide variety of emotions that could be portrayed by their game engine. The video now has about 27 million views.
The response from the community encouraged David Cage to further dig into the plot; what would happen if an android could feel?
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to report Quantic Dream’s new title; Detroit: Become Human.
So that is everything folks! I am psyched and I hope you are too!
