With Sony’s cover-based answer to Gears, The Order: 1886, being slid down the schedule to next year, I’m beginning to wonder what PlayStation is going to have on offer come the holiday season when things go a bit crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, Joel and Ellie’s adventures in The Last of Us resonated with me as much as the next guy, but I don’t think revisiting their pandemic play-about is going to cut it as far as big names go for the system this year. Speaking of The Last of Us though, with a date still being kept under lock and key by all involved, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony casually let fans know mid-conference that it can be downloaded “right now” before confetti falls from the rafters.
One title that feels like it’ll inevitably appear, probably to close proceedings, is Uncharted.
This Naughty Dog adventure series served as reason numero uno for me buying the PlayStation 3 just a couple of years ago. Throughout the week that followed, I ploughed through all three games in a blaze of hero quips, khaki pants and bitter old men; the games were great, too. While a resolution was met at the trilogy’s climax, I still felt a sense that not all the boxes were ticked off. For example, if our hero assumed the identity of Drake, who was he really?
That’s a question, perhaps an irrelevant one, which has weighed on me for some time.
I fully expect Santa Monica to roll out a big budget, largely CGI trailer for a new God of War title, which’ll be received with a handful of golf claps throughout the auditorium. After the colossal stinker that was Ascension, the last thing I want to see is Kratos emptying a Minotaur’s entrails out onto the cold cobblestone. If I had to define “franchise fatigue” in three words, those words would be God of War*.
If Naughty Dog want to make me as happy as a pig in poo, however, they could drop a megaton and revive Jak and Daxter. It is still one of my favourite franchises of all-time, and its return would please me to no end.
(* Interchangeable with Gears of War.)
Coming out as top dog from last year, all Sony really had to do was let Microsoft screw up at its own game. Seeing as how Microsoft are (hopefully) buckling down and proving to up the ante, Sony will definitely have to pull out some big guns. Seeing as how the PlayStation 4 is the biggest current generation console on the market right now, momentum is key towards even bigger success.
Project Beast. Project Beast. Project Beast.
As a huge fan of Demon’s, Dark and Dark Souls II, I’m very excited to see if Project Beast is real. Much like Halo 2 Anniversary for the Xbox, if Project Beast is a PS4 exclusive, it’s more than enough to convince me to shell out the money for one. Hype levels are through the roof for Project Beast, and if it turns out to be nothing more than a practical joke I will be very devastated.
Is it too early for another Uncharted and God of War? I say yes to one franchise in question. After the monumental success of God of War 3 and the fairly terrible Ascension, there’s not much further the God of War games can do. I say let it retire in peace and let Santa Monica Studios move on to a new IP. In terms of Uncharted, it seems absolutely brainless to stop that train from running. One of last generation’s biggest franchises, I expect big things from Uncharted 4.
How about Gran Turismo 7? Seeing as how Gran Turismo 5 had its online components shut down and the sixth wasn’t too well received, it doesn’t seem outrageous that work on a seventh iteration in the franchise has already begun.
And finally, will Sony ever let The Last Guardian go? Much like a necromancer that keeps resurrecting the dead, I simply don’t want to see The Last Guardian anymore. It has been too long, I highly doubt the expectations can be met for this game and I just want it officially confirmed to be either cancelled or released. I’m sure I’m not alone with the frustration, especially considering Team Ico have been doing nothing else for the past five years. People who have played the absolutely fantastic Ico and Shadow of the Colossus may think there’s some hope with The Last Guardian, but I’m one who just lost hope.
Sony are going to reveal some sales figures for the PlayStation 4 and dedicate a section of their conference to their indie games support. Some people with love it, others will loathe it (depends on your individual taste). Comparison videos from The Last of Us’ port will roll, followed by a release date (expect it to be a short turnaround).
There are a lot of unannounced titles that Sony first-party developers are working on; Guerrilla Cambridge, Studio Japan, Polyphony Digital, Santa Monica, Sony Bend, Sucker Punch, those are just naming a few examples.
It is probably a bit too early for Polyphony to be announcing games anytime soon after Gran Turismo releasing late last year but for Sony Bend I definitely think some sort of tease could be on the horizon for them. Rumours were spreading about Sucker Punch releasing a substantial DLC package for Infamous: Second Son, personally I am more inclined to believe that they are working on the Infamous series, but will be bringing the next instalment to the Vita.
Sony Santa Monica have been helping out Ready at Dawn with The Order: 1886 but haven’t committed their entire team. So a lot of people will be waiting to hear what else they have been up to, particularly after rumours of a cancelled game surfaced earlier in the year.
Another game under some controversy was Uncharted for PlayStation 4. After losing some influential company figureheads, people started to believe that the series was doomed. Frankly, I am willing to bet that some of those figures had completed their contractual agreements and it was time to move on. So I would definitely say that there will be a gameplay demo for this blockbuster. There also is the question of what the other half of Naughty Dog are up to.
Much like Microsoft, Sony are also in a bit of a weird place for me. I’ve enjoyed everything that’s come and gone so far – including both the Outlast experiences as well as the exclusives like Killzone: Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son. But these experiences were pretty, well, by-the-numbers. As such, I’d like to see Sony announce more exclusives for their console but ones that are much more unique and interesting than what has been previously offered up. The Order looks great visually, but it’s nothing more than a Victorian-era melding of Van Helsing and Gears of War. I want new and exciting. I also can’t get too excited right now about anything that isn’t coming out this year, so call me whatever you will.
I’d love to see Sony really bring it this year with a slew of announcements. Their efforts with indie developers have been commendable and much more approachable than what Microsoft have been doing with their ID@Xbox program. (Although Microsoft’s offerings are also fantastic in this department too.) I’d expect such an effort to continue. But I want Sony to dig into their vault and pull out the franchises that really made me a fan of the PlayStation brand. The most obvious one, for me, would be Syphon Filter, a game we haven’t had a proper sequel to since 2001 (honestly, the PlayStation 2 and PSP games just weren’t the same).
Of course, there’s the elephant in the room that is The Last Guardian.
Shadow of the Colossus and Ico were both fantastic and unique games, and I’m eager to see if the team behind their third title will be able to deliver, or if it even still exists at all. This is one of the games I’m truly interested in and cannot wait to play. Hopefully it’ll make an appearance this year. Rime is another game I can’t wait to see more of. And while I hated Uncharted 3 and its writing, I’m keen to see what Naughty Dog have been up to with the newest game in the franchise.
Sony’s position in this “console war” is the complete opposite of Microsoft, they have the lead in sales, they know their hardcore demographic, and they have the faith of many people that they will treat consumers right. All they need to do is show games that will get people excited to prove that their purchase was the right one. The seemingly huge amounts of support from both triple-A developers and indies means that alongside exclusive games, Sony is going to get a lot of big multi-platform titles being shown at their conference as well. Titles like both upcoming games in the Assassin’s Creed series, Far Cry 4, Destiny and Jonathan Blow’s The Witness are all likely to make appearances.
Then you have the exclusives, I think that Uncharted will show so Naughty Dog can reassure people that everything is going smoothly, despite several key staff members leaving. Apparently God of War 4 has been teased recently leading to a possible reveal? I didn’t finish Ascension, so I can’t speak on where they are going to take the story, which is probably is what is causing my apprehension to the announcement, but God of War is an important franchise so it wouldn’t surprise me that something might be on the way. The Order: 1886 is a no-brainer for this conference, even though the game has been delayed into 2015. The Order is quickly being labelled the PlayStation 4’s Gears of War, plus the teaser stream of the game via Twitch cements it’s showing at E3, in my mind at least.
Then there is DriveClub, and that’s not hard to predict seeing as the game is launching in October and E3 will be the biggest chance to show off the game at such a large scale before its release.
The last thing I personally want to address is the topic on PlayStation Now and The PS Vita.
PlayStation Now, from what I understand, will be undergoing a wide spread beta phase in the upcoming months, and that’s fine and dandy for those in the US. Little to nothing has been explained about how the service will work, or if it is even coming, to the Oceanic region, or in Europe. That said, PlayStation Now speed requirement is 5mb/s down. That may not sound like much, and with the NBN rolling out every so slowly, that is becoming a smaller issue by the day. That being said it’s still an issue. In regard to pricing, I imagine we will get the more finer details on how streaming PlayStation 3 games will work, or even what the launch line up will be for the service.
Now last, and hopefully not the least, time for more PS Vita news, Sony.
With the PSP now being discontinued the issue of making the Vita an enticing handheld is now more important. Last year was a good step in the right direction, but not enough has been done yet. I agree that the Vita is heaven for those who indulge in the niche market, and it’s a great platform for indie games; Guacamelee is the perfect example of that. The problem being that there is nothing for the core market to enjoy that isn’t just a port of a game that’s better played on a console. So I’m hoping that they have something exciting in store. I will always keep my fingers crossed for a new Final Fantasy: Dissidia or Type-0 being reworked for the platform, though.
As we all know, Sony has been living in the sunshine this past year. It seems that almost everything they have done up until now has worked in some way, shape or form.
I’m expecting to see great things from Sony this E3. The fact they have a pretty big lead means that they have a much bigger leeway to take risks with. I want to see Sony push the envelope this year. I’d love to see what they have to offer with PlayStation Now as well, even though it’s not going to be very useful here in Australia, I’m still curious to see how they will implement the service, so hopefully they will have an update on that front.
As far as games go, Sony seems to be doing alright in terms of first-party exclusives and third-party support alike. A must see for me, if it’s present at the Sony conference, is Project Beast. I want an official reveal of the game, being the avid Souls fan that I have become, you can probably understand why I’m so excited to see if that game will appear, or not. Another title that I would love to see, that seems to be an even less likely chance of appearing, is The Last Guardian. That game has been in some sort of limbo for too long, and if it’s still alive, it needs to be shown again. I can feel it though, it will finally appear, and I’m all too expectant for it.
One final thing that I really want to see this year is further support for the Vita. I still don’t own one, but I will be getting one eventually. I’m an avid believer in console-like experiences in a portable manner. The PSP was a masterpiece for its time, and even though it was vastly beaten by the DS, it had its own respectable market that kept it relevant all those years. The Vita is so much more, and I really wish to see Sony push more for it, even if it’s just more games that make their way from the East to the West. Perhaps the rumoured PlayStation 4 and PS Vita bundle that’s been creeping up on the net might do the trick.
I’m expecting a much more conservative conference from Sony this year around. I expect Uncharted to be further teased, as well as something from Guerrilla, but I’m not expecting too many new announcements. I believe that they’ll really spread it out over to Gamescom as they did last year. It’s already been confirmed that The Order has slipped to 2015, so I think that they’ll probably show a little bit more of the game to tide fans over.
It’s quite an interesting time for Sony. Obviously they’re selling consoles with ease, but there is almost nothing coming out for the rest of the year. They have a huge indie presence so I’m sure that they’ll put some new indie games in the spotlight and keep driving that message home.
I’m expecting them to possibly bring the Vita TV to the West. Whilst the Vita has been a tiny success, I believe that the functionality to bring your PlayStation 4 and stream it to another TV through the use of the Vita TV is something that’ll appeal to a lot of gamers for a smaller price. I know that I’d kill to be able to play my PS4 in bed without having to fork out money for another system.
I really hope that Sony intertwine the PlayStation 4 and Vita more than they have in the past.
Remote Play has proven to be a feature that works incredibly well, however there just aren’t enough buttons on the system to make it a viable option for most games. I’d love for them to release a cradle, or something similar, that allows you to attach the Vita to the DualShock 4.
I expect there to be one smaller announcement for the PlayStation 3. Sony have said that they plan to support the console and there is still a ton of people who are buying the console, so a first-party release from a smaller developer might not be out of the question.