8 things to know from Sony’s E3 conference
These are the PlayStation 4 and VR announcements to (mostly) get excited about
Sony is so far ahead in the current console race that it didn’t need to go all out for E3 2017. And that’s exactly what happened at its press conference for PlayStation 4 and VR.
Having announced a litany of new games with distant release dates at recent E3s, Sony finally took the chance to give itself a breather and tell us more about its awesome titles that you’ll actually be able to buy in the next 12 months. So while there was nothing as exciting to see as the Xbox One X, the likes of Spider-Man, Days Gone and a Shadow of the Colossus remake all seem set to deliver the goods. And you shouldn’t have to wait too long to play them either.
So without further ado, here are the headlines from a modest E3 for Sony PlayStation.
Days Gone was the star of the show
OK. So it’s probably not the post-apocalyptic zombie game you’re most anticipating, but The Last of Us Part II is still some way off from release. In the meantime, we’ve got Days Gone to sate our appetite for bleak action-adventure and from the look of Sony’s new gameplay trailer it’s shaping up rather nicely indeed. We especially like the ability to unleash a horde of the undead on your unsuspecting foes. With a lot of Sony’s E3 announcements set to arrive in 2018, we’re hoping Days Gone makes it out in time to top our Christmas list. Its release date remains unconfirmed.
Shadow of the Colossus was the big surprise
After 2016’s The Last Guardian met with such a rapturous swell of approval, Sony has decided to mine the legendary Fumito Ueda’s back catalogue for a classic hit of gaming nostalgia. That means Shadow of the Colossus is getting an awesome remake for PlayStation 4 and it’ll be out next year, which is all quite exciting. Still, this kind of surprise announcement probably isn’t on the same level as Sony’s past efforts. Speaking of which…
Several big games were missing
We kind of knew this was the case before E3 started, but to not hear a peep out of The Last of Us Part II, Final Fantasy VII’s remake, Shenmue III and Death Stranding was still disappointing. How did this all happen? Square Enix recently moved its revamped FF VII in-house for the sake of quality control, Shenmue III has been delayed until the second half of 2018 and Hideo Kojima tweeted last week that his first post-Metal Gear project needed more development time before we got a new look at it. As for Naughty Dog’s next game, that’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
The new Uncharted should be ace
It’s only two months now until Chloe Frazer takes up the lead for the first time in an Uncharted game. Although The Lost Legacy started out as DLC for Uncharted 4, the project quickly expanded in ambition to become a standalone title in its own right. Even though we’ve seen a fair bit of this action-packed extravaganza already, Sony’s latest trailer for the game has us even more intrigued to see how Chloe’s seemingly fractious partnership with Nadine Ross plays out. The game itself is out on August 23rd.
PlayStation VR might be in a pickle
Even though it seems mad to write off a games machine less than a year into its existence, Sony’s E3 conference didn’t exactly fill us with confidence for the longevity of its PlayStation VR headset. The most notable new game that got announced for the platform was a VR version of Skyrim, which will be six years old in September.
Elsewhere a Final Fantasy fishing game called Monster of the Deep was unveiled alongside a port of the excellent Superhot VR and a new title in the Until Dawn universe called The Inpatient. There were several other PS VR games announced, but seemingly none with the clout of Resident Evil VII VR, Batman: Arkham VR or even Farpoint. We could be wrong, and hope we are, but this feels like a PlayStation Vita-style scenario.
Spider-Man will be awesome
We had our hearts set on a release this year for Sony’s PS4-exclusive Spider-Man, but alas it’ll be arriving in 2018 instead. If this Miles Morales and Peter Parker-starring game lives up to the trailer that closed Sony’s E3 event, then it’ll prove to be something very special indeed. A manic blend of wisecracks, web-slinging and your friendly neighbourhood superhero, Spider-Man seems to zoom along at an absolutely frantic pace. Can you tell we’re a little bit excited about it?
The PS4 Pro’s price remains the same
A lot of chatter before the show speculated that Sony might drop the price of its 4K PS4 Pro console in order to show up the £450 Xbox One X. For now, the PS4 Pro remains a reasonable £350 but we still wouldn’t be surprised to see it drop before November 7 when the ridiculously powerful One X hits stores. If only because gamers are only going to be able to afford one of these Ultra HD beasts.
Loads more exclusives are coming soon
You probably already know about God of War, Detroit: Become Human and Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite as they’ve been talked about by Sony for a while now. Still, they’re all shaping up nicely and go to show just how many unique games PlayStation 4 can boast to its name. Better still, in addition to these full titles, the stellar Horizon Zero Dawn is getting an intriguing chunk of story DLC called The Frozen Wastes later this year.
Sony’s console is Number 1 with gamers for a reason and this strength in depth is a big part of that dominance. Despite Microsoft’s newfound focus on exclusives, Sony has a clear edge when it comes to must-play first-party titles. That said, we’ll be expecting a little more from the console maker when E3 2018 eventually rolls around.
Robert Leedham
Ex-Editor, Stuff magazine 
