The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is here once again and as per previous years, Sony has hosted a special press conference in order to inform gamers of its latest masterplan. Despite the fact that the company is not showing the upcoming high-end PlayStation 4 variant – codenamed Neo – at the event, there were plenty of things that were shown at the event that gamers especially PlayStation 4 and (future) PlayStation VR owners should look forward to moving forward.
Leading Sony PlayStation E3 Press Conference for 2016 is the brand new God of War – yes, you read that right: Kratos has returned once again. Judging from how he is being as portrayed as a father in the gameplay demo which lasted almost 10 minutes, the new God of War game could be a reboot or prequel title to the series.
Meanwhile, a major part of the press conference was focused on PS VR titles with the announcement of Batman: Arkham VR alongside a new shooter called Farpoint which also led to the development of the new PS VR Aim Controller. In addition to that, Capcom has not only unveiled the new Resident Evil 7 biohazard at the event but also stated that gamers can choose to play the game from start to finish using PS VR.
Together with several other VR-oriented trailers shown at the press conference such as Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission from EA and the VR experience in Square’s Final Fantasy XV, we take this as a sure sign that there will be plenty of interesting VR action coming to PS4 via PS VR later this year. In fact, Sony did take the opportunity to reveal the exact release date for PS VR in United States which will take place on October 2016 with a starting price tag of USD 399.
Another game that was introduced at the PlayStation E3 2016 Press Conference is Death Stranding which is currently in production by Hideo Kojima and will be available exclusively for PlayStation 4. With the maestro himself appeared on stage to introduce the game to the world, the debut trailer of the game which features Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead’s fame has a rather mysterious vibe to it but nevertheless, it received tremendous response from the crowd at the press conference who were likely excited to see the return of Kojima.
Sony also showcased another new franchise called Days Gone rather strongly at the press conference having the trailer shown after God of War gameplay trailer and mentioned the game once again through a live stage demo to wrap up its E3 2016 press conference. Developed by Bend Studio which previously worked on Uncharted: Golden Abyss for PS Vita, it is apparently an open-world action-adventure game that is set in post-global pandemic world that has rendered millions of survivors into zombie-like creatures called Freakers.
Meanwhile, there were also plenty of other interesting materials shown at the press conference including gameplay footage for upcoming new franchises such as Guerilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn and Detroit: Become Human by Quantic Dream.
Sony has also confirmed that a brand new Spider-Man game which is being developed by Insomniac Games will be on its way to PS4 as well while The Last Guardian will finally be meeting gamers starting from 25 October 2016 after being in development since 2007.
For those who love Lego franchise, you might be aware that Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released very soon but nevertheless, PS4 owners are able to play its demo version today as announced by Sony at the press event. There was also a new gameplay footage shown at the event for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare that showcases combat situation on space.
Last but not least, gamers will able to see the return of fan favorite Crash Bandicoot to PlayStation this year starting with its appearance in Skylanders Imaginators in October. Not only that, gamers will be able to relive the original three Crash games – Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped – that will be remastered for PS4 in 2017.
Even though Sony didn’t come to E3 2016 with the much anticipated PS4 Neo, its press conference was still quite solid in general and managed to capture attendee’s attention thanks to the amount of attractive titles that the company has shown there. Given what we’ve seen at the event, it seems like PS4 and upcoming PS VR owners are able to look forward for exciting times ahead.
