Kojima Productions, the new studio founded by industry legend Hideo Kojima, has released their new logo. Many have already pointed out the logo bears a striking resemblance to the “soldiers without borders” logo Big Boss adopts after he goes solo, which is fitting considering the original logo Kojima worked under Konami was the same Big Boss used when he was still a part of Fox unit. Kojima Production is now working with Sony on a Playstation exclusive title. Check out the new logo below.
Microsoft has already made it extremely clear that in Windows 10 you can play your Xbox games. It now seems Sony will follow suit with the PS4. I myself have experienced the majesty of game streaming while sitting at my on computer. Sony, while late to the party, it seems is finally joining in. Shuhei Yoshida said today on twitter
“Some people asked if we plan to provide Remote Play function to PC, and yes, we are indeed working on an official application for PC/Mac. :D”. This is particularly awkward after at least on competitor announced last week they would be releasing a third party tool which would be doing the same thing.
If its like the Xbox version of streaming we can expect to see it working with low-latency, and not very much by way of extra features. The majority of my time with Xbox streaming has been spent on the high intensity multiplayer of Halo 5, and I can say I really was surprised, there is no latency, the games perform well, and I can frag just as well as I could sitting in front of the console. Full disclosure this is with a Netgear nighthawk and both the streaming console and PC hardwired. Hopefully Sonys addition of console to PC streaming will re-invograte my play on my PS4 which is currently just gathering dust.
Please note that this review covers the PS4 version, and some features are not available for the PS3/Xbox 360 versions
Treyarch does an amazing job once more with another installment in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops 3. The series has come a long way from the World War II era setting of World at War, to Cold War settings of Black Ops 1, and the more recent near future settings of Black Ops 2 and now 3. Just like Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch tries to keep the Call of Duty fresh and engaging for it’s fans, and I feel that it has succeeded with those objectives.
Upon starting up the game and getting the necessary content downloaded to be able to play single player, I brought up the menu and happened upon the Identity section and was immediately taken aback when I explored further into it. I was taken aback due to the fact of the sheer level of customization that can be done with individual weapon setups. A new feature in the franchise is the ability to customize optics, attachments, camos, and paint jobs. In addition to that, the player can save multiple variants of individual weapon setups and use them across Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies, provided that the weapons and attachments are unlocked though each mode. One thing to note is that similar to the emblems, paint jobs add an individual flair if one wants to take the time to make use of a whopping 64 layers for the left and right sides, and the top of the gun. All of that can be done within Gunsmith or Paintshop sub-menus. Also making returns are unlockable calling cards and customizable emblems, franchise staples introduced in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 1, respectively. Expanding upon those two features you are now the abilities to unlock calling cards via Campaign, Zombies, and from Supply Drops found in Multiplayer.
From a bygone era that nearly broke Sega, Shenmue III rose from the ashes to breathe life into a franchise that had one of the more dedicated followings among gaming communities online: once developer Ys Net and creator Yu Suzuki presented the unveiling of the Kickstarter project at E3, it sent ripples felt all over the gaming world. This was, to me, one of the larger announcements of the entire conference and, as such, was the center of a lot of controversy.
Now in it’s third month of development, Suzuki revealed on Shenmue III‘s Kickstarter page that most of the planning for the game has come into its final stages and it’s finally time to start making things real. He opened up about how planning for stages were going and how development for some of the core placeholders for the game were coming along but the big thing that everyone’s been salivating for are these screenshots:
Considering this is all very early work it’s hard to not get excited if you have played any of the previous Shenmue titles at all: they were perhaps the first foray into a truly open and alive world that lived and breathed much the same way the real world does. Of course, back then, this was a very expensive undertaking and if that was them going all out back then I can only imagine, thanks to these small tastes of what’s to come, what this could mean for this day and age.
Polyphony Digital unveiled Gran Turismo Sport during their time at Sony’s Paris Game’s Week conference. The brief trailer shown at the press-event showcased the history of auto racing all the way back to the days of black & white film!
Developers said that they didn’t just want to have upgraded audio or visual performance but wanted to change the way that people play racing titles. Within GT Sport there will be two simultaneously championships running – One is the Nation’s Cup where players race to represent their country and the other is the Manufacture’s Cup where the player represents their favorite automobile maker.
Players will be awarded their rewards for the in-game cups at the same time as real-world racers in the FIA! Also support for PlayStation VR was mentioned and surprisingly there may be a closed beta for Gran Turismo Sport next spring!
In a slight change of pace, Sony decided to give us PlayStation Plus users a chance to delve into some great indie titles for the PlayStation 4: Broken Age and Super Meat Boy, both games I have never given myself the chance to play. I find that, usually, the PlayStation Plus titles were merely alright – while they’re great by indie standards and stand the test of time, for some of them, they didn’t always hit home with me – and this was a welcome change.
Broken Age
Put together by Tim Schafer and the fine folks at Double Fine Productions, Broken Age is a tale of two teenagers who come from two drastically different worlds to eventually come together in a common battle to free their people from oppression. A point-and-click game reminiscent of Schafer’s old work and stuff like the old PC point-and-click adventure games from companies like Sierra, you take control of Vella and Shay in what appears, at first, to be two completely different adventures. It’s this variety and diversity of characters and motives that keeps a game like this fresh and interesting but the one part that kept me hanging on more than anything was the fact that the game’s script and direction was extremely mature without coming off as “gritty” or dark. This was one of the things I liked about games like this back in the 90s; the game respected your ability to learn and discover things about the world around you to solve its mysteries and puzzles. There was no hand-holding, there was no signs of the game doing anything but immersing you in the environment like a well-told storybook. While some of the whimsy and wonder that was present in games like those in gaming’s past is missing from Broken Age, it holds its interest in being extremely easy to relate to and intriguing without being heavy-handed or philosophical.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Considering I got the game for free through PlayStation Plus, this is one heck of a great deal and it’s one of those few times that I’m extremely happy I’m a member. It’s games like this that take me back and keep me in touch with my inner child.
Super Meat Boy
Yet another one of those games that was fostered on Newgrounds and got enough of a reputation that the next logical step was to take this game to new platforms: the result it Super Meat Boy. It has all the makings and trappings of a typical flash game that succeeds on a site like Newgrounds: light on premise, huge on user-friendliness, with enough to keep you playing and keep you succeeding. In case you haven’t heard much about the game you take the role of Meat Boy, whose girlfriend is kidnapped by a mad scientist baby and your missing is to rescue said girlfriend. This mission takes you across several different courses and stages with tons of bonuses along the way. While the gameplay is simple, a good majority of the courses aren’t; the difficulty scales slowly until the game, essentially, stops holding your hand altogether and unleashes hell on you.
I ought to say that I’m not much for this kind of time-trial style platforming where there’s almost zero room for error but for all the messes that AAA developers will stuff in your face that feign to be philosophical and meaningful, it’s nice to put that down in exchange for a light-hearted romp through rampant and colorful death. I get why a lot of people like the game and while I could get myself through a good portion of the courses I know that it just isn’t the type of game I’m terribly into, I would only be able to play so much at a time before the game frustrates the hell out of me but for the low price of free, it’s definitely worth spending some time with.
Gravity Rush fans rejoice as Sony Computer Entertainment Japan confirmed during their Tokyo Games Show presentation that both a remastered version of the 2012 original and its sequel Gravity Rush 2 will be heading to the PS4!
Sony released a pair of trailers centered on the announcement and I couldn’t be more excited. GR2 looks absolutely stunning in motion – once again we get glimpses of sweeping cityscapes and bright blue skies as heroine Kat utilizes her gravity manipulation powers to fly through the skies.
When I reviewed the original game I had this to say about one of my absolutely favorite (and in my opinion essential) PlayStation Vita games:
The gameplay and freedom to fly through the city streets appealed to my senses, they aren’t the only great part of Gravity Rush. The game both looks and sounds absolutely fabulous. Characters, environments and effects are rendered in a style that is very similar to modern Japanese Animation. Characters sport expressive eyes and make gasps and gestures that convey their emotions clearly
Gravity Rush Remastered will be released on PlayStation 4 in Japan in December of this year and in February of 2016 in North America. Gravity Rush 2 is currently scheduled for release sometime next year.
The latest PlayStation Store update for North America is now upon us! Some noteworthy new releases including Ubisoft’s enhanced port for the 2012 Wii-U exclusive Zombi onto the PS4, a new version Helldivers that includes a bunch of bundled DLC and a brand new dungeon crawler for the PlayStation Vitas in the form of Dungeon Travelers 2.
Sony’s weekly sale also includes some heavy hitters: Score discounts on titles like Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield Hardline, Dragon Age: Inquisition and a whole selection of Ubisoft titles for previous generation hardware! Check out their official blog post for a complete list because there is quite the exhaustive selection available at slashed prices this week.Read More
DriveClub’s free PlayStation Plus version will be launching tomorrow on the North American PlayStation Store Evolution Studios has announced. This free version of Sony’s latest racer comes a full eight months after the release of the full retail version and more than two years after DriveClub was announced alongside the PlayStation 4. Evolution says that they needed the extra time to ensure that their multiplayer servers were up to handling the potentially millions of gamers eligible for the PlayStation Plus version.
The much vaunted online modes won’t be available at release for everyone who downloads DriveClub: PlayStation Plus Edition. Instead Evolution will be “rolling out online access” to PS+ users slowly to ensure that their servers don’t spontaneously explode.. or something. PS+ players will get access to 13 different courses in the Indian subcontinent and 15 different cars for your garage. PS+ subscribers will be able to upgrade to the full retail release for $24.99 USD while non subscribers will have to fork out the full $39.99 USD for the full version.
What are your thoughts on DriveClub: PlayStation Plus Edition? Some have likened it to nothing more than a glorified demo. I’ll be sure to post full impressions of the racer tomorrow evening!
Guerilla Games has been pretty quiet about what shape their next PlayStation 4 exclusive would take. Two years after the release of Killzone: Shadowfall Guerilla took the wraps off of their latest project Horizon Zero Dawn during this week’s PlayStation Media Briefing at E3. To say that this 7 minute debut trailer has me excited about the future of Sony’s latest platform would be doing Horizon a disservice, it is possibly the freshest new IP I’ve seen in years.Read More
Sony took the opportunity to open it’s E3 2015 press conference with a nearly 7 minute demonstration of The Last Guardian. During the gameplay demo we see the giant dog-bird creature in all of its majesty cross platforms and make new areas accessible for the game’s child protagonist. The boy pushed and pull in-game object to try and make his way around the game’s environment – luckily just as trouble started brewing the dog-bird was there ready to save the day.
Earlier this week I posted an editorial about why you shouldn’t care about The Last Guardian but I can’t help but be caught up in the hype.
The Last Guardian will be coming to PlayStation 4 sometime in 2016. Check out the trailer below.
Capcom’s upcoming fifth entry in the Street Fighter franchise is expected to have a huge presence at Sony’s E3 press conference thanks to the platform exclusivity agreement the two companies previously announced.
Before things kick off early next week Capcom has released a brand new “Battle Systems” trailer explaining some of the mechanics we can expect in Street Fighter V alongside a fresh batch of new screenshots. From the press release and trailer they’ve provided it seems like SFV feels a lot less like IV and more like the EX series.
Here are some of the new mechanics:
New Strategies and Battle Mechanics: Highly accessible new battle mechanics, which revolve around the V-Gauge and EX Gauge, provide an unprecedented layer of strategy and depth to the franchise that all players can enjoy.
V-Trigger: Unique abilities that use the entire V-Gauge, giving players the opportunity to inflict damage when activated.
V-Skill: Utility skills (such as evasion) for each character that can be activated at any time. o V-Reversal: Unique counterattacks that use one stock of the V-Gauge.
Critical Arts: Ultimate attacks that use the entire EX Gauge.
Honestly to me this feels like a cross between the “Ultimate” attacks that made Street Fighter IV so memorable and the nuanced EX Attacks that were introduced in the Street Fighter EX Series. I haven’t played Street Fighter V so obviously I don’t know how the game feels when you have a controller in your hands, but as you can see from the below media it sure is pretty.
Expect more on Street Fighter V as E3 rolls on all next week.Read More
Rumors abound about the possibility of The Last Guardianmaking an appearance at Sony’s upcoming E3 press conference and all I have to ask is: Does anyone really care about this title anymore? Even if Sony were to re-reveal the long dormant game can any showing live to the expectations that longtime fans have built up throughout all of the vaporware memes and denials of cancellations?Read More
Sony has released a substantial update to the PlayStation 4’s firmware that adds a number of exciting options to Sony’s latest home console. Headlining the “Yukimura” update are a whole suite of accessibility options, the long awaiting ability to suspend games when entering rest mode and 60 FPS Remote Play on PS Vita!
Bruce Straley and Neil Druckman the pair of directors behind the upcoming Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has announced via the PlayStatiom Blog that Nathan Drake’s latest adventure is being delayed. A Thief’s End is now slated to ship sometime in the Spring of 2016 rather than later this Fall.Read More
