E3 2016

Sony Conference Wrap Up – E3 2016

Sony E3 2016As we come to a close on Day 2 of E3 let’s see what Sony has brought for us to enjoy. The conference starts with a live Orchestra performance complete with male vocals as a backup and boy did it sound professional. Not sure what it has to do with gaming but having them play out the audio throughout the conference is definitely the icing on the cake.

GOD OF WAR

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

This is a new way to introduce a new God of War title and it’s a weird experience but holy crap it’s a new God of War that seems to have switched over to the RPG genre. We watch as a bearded Kratos trains his son on how to complete a hunt before encountering a demon or two.

DAYS GONE

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

A New IP from Bend Studio gets teased after God of War with no release date but we do get to see some gameplay straight away which is always a nice touch. Unfortunately the gameplay was a bit boring? It was 4 minutes of walking backwards while shooting an assault rifle at hordes of zombies and a few explosions.

THE LAST GUARDIAN

RELEASE DATE: 25th October 2016
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

We see another teaser trailer for The Last Guardian. Nothing much is going on in the trailer but this might be Sony’s theme throughout the conference. While a release date has been given this has been changed before so I’m not expecting this one to stick either.

HORIZON: ZERO DAWN

RELEASE DATE: 28th February 2017
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

Finally some gameplay is seen for this PS4 exclusive. This open world experience seems to be an RPG complete with Biomechanical enemies and technology based weaponry. This reminds me of a 3rd person Farcry game which could definitely be a good thing for this game. Cutscenes are complete with dialog wheel options and complete voice acting.

The main character has the ability to hack the biomechanical monsters with their weaponry and use them to your advantage. Either find their weaknesses and exploit them for maximum damage. The combat even gives me a monster hunter vibe from time to time which is a welcome site.

DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

Inspired from a 2012 tech demo called Kara we see an investigation type experience where you are able to build your own story and choose your own adventure as you go. You follow Conner, an android organism who is used to track down and solve the crimes before they happen.

RESIDENT EVIL VII: BIOHAZARD

RELEASE DATE: January 24th 2017 + Demo available now
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4 + Playstation VR

PLAYSTATION VR

RELEASE DATE: 13th October 2016
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4
PRICE: $399 USD ($549 AUD)

The only hardware announcement throughout the conference was for the PlayStation VR system. Sony has advised that over 50 games are apparently ready to go for this platform so look forward to gaming on this device when it hit stores in October.

FAR POINT

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: Playstation VR

“Farpoint is an unnerving VR space adventure set on a hostile alien planet. On a mission to pick up scientists studying an anomaly near Jupiter, a rupture from the anomaly transports the player and scientists to an unknown alien world.”

BATMAN ARKHAM VR

RELEASE DATE: October 2016
PLATFORM: Playstation VR

A quick teaser trailer and nothing more shows Mark Hamill as the Joker talking to Batman (or you) in this VR experience.

FINAL FANTASY XV

RELEASE DATE: 30th September 2016
PLATFORM: Playstation 4 + VR

Chocobo mounts, Fluid action combat and some stunning visuals. Exactly was I was hoping to see from a modernised Final Fantasy experience.

There also looks to be a VR experience that will be included with FFXV. This on-rails type shooter lets you provide assistance with taking down big monsters together with the main characters.

CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE

RELEASE DATE: 4th November 2016
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

We have some space gameplay here in Infinite Warfare and I think this actually looks pretty cool. I’m unsure why people dislike it but from what I have seen it would be a pretty fun experience.

CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE REMASTER

RELEASE DATE: 4th November 2016
PLATFORM: Playstation VR

Along with the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare package we have the remastered version of Modern Warfare making a comeback. Only a teaser trailer was really shown during the conference but it was stated that the campaign would arrive 30 days early on PS4 users. Unsure as to what this means exactly but we will see more as we get closer to the release date.

CRASH BANDICOOT 1/2/WARPED REMASTER

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4

Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2, Crash Bandicoot: Warped will be remastered for the PlayStation. I have to say that I was instead looking forward to a new Crash Bandicoot title but never the less I’m OK with this. Crash will also be appearing in Skylanders: Imaginators (seen below).

SKYLANDERS: IMAGINATORS

RELEASE DATE: October 2016
PLATFORM: TBA

 LEGO STAR WARS: FORCE UNLEASED

RELEASE DATE: 2 weeks away – Demo available right now.
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4 | Xbox One

Complete with the slapstick humour we have come to love from the series, LEGO Force Unleased continues the trend in the Star Wars universe. Playing movie scenes that have been adapted for the game environment will allow players to shed a new light on that experience.

DEATH STRANDING

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: Playstation 4

As Hideo Kojima entered you could hear to volume slowly rise through the theatre. The confusing yet intriguing trailer put on display shows Norman Reedus (and his butt) in a new IP from Kojima Productions.

SPIDER MAN

RELEASE DATE: TBA
PLATFORM: Playstation 4

A new Spider man game developed by Insomniac Games shows some fast paced action combat and multiple explosive scenes. Let’s hope the high flying hero doesn’t go all emo this time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sony has let their games do the talking and barely had a speaking presence on stage during the hour presentation. While it might be considered to be a little on the short side, the amount of content that Sony mashed into that hour was amazing. I could barely keep up with my feelings of one release before the next one was already going through its splash screens.

Unfortunately there were some notable misses from presentation. There were no PlayStation Hardware or PS+ service announcements like there was in 2015. No mention of the Final Fantasy7 Remake, Shenmue 3, No Man’s Sky, Persona 5 or any indie games really at all. I honestly think the presentation should have ended on Kojima’s Dead Stranding game. While it would leave fans confused and intrigued, it would have been better than finishing on Days Gone which ended up kind of being a bit anticlimactic.


That’s it for Day 2 of E3 2016! Did you like Sony’s way of presenting with game after game? The final showcase of E3 will be the Nintendo Treehouse Live broadcast which goes live at 2:00AM AEST (1:30AM ACST, 12:00AM AWST). For all the conference times, be sure to check out our E3 2016 portal.