The Future of PlayStation

THE POWER OF TALKING TOGETHER

A few weeks ago, Sony announced that there will be a major conference concerning the future of PlayStation. Throughout this time, it has been suggested that it will reveal the PlayStation 4. Well, that time has come, and it's now all about the future of Sony, and it's biggest brand the PlayStation.

The conference starts off with a video showing off some of their biggest games in PlayStation brand with a remix of Metric's Monster Hospital in the back ground. Then one of the heads of Sony came up and started to talk about the future of PlayStation and what to expect. As expected, the briefly talked about the Vita, but promised that more will be revealed during E3 this June. During the early days of the PlayStation 3's life cycle developers was complaining how difficult it was to make games for the PlayStation 3 with it's brand new Cell Processor. Taking to heart, the designers of the new PlayStation 4, which were developers themselves, asked other developers what they would like to see in the new system. It was apparent that they wanted the system to be easier to develop for. With this in mind, started to develop the PlayStation 4. I'm not technical wizard, but from the sound of it, the future of PlayStation looks bright. With colors coming at you at all sides. 

With the sudden rise of Social Media in the past couple of years, it's obvious that Sony, along with Microsoft and Nintendo, would try to embrace it. Nintendo sort of have it, in its own way. Microsoft has it, but it's not fully fleshed out. Sony, on the other hand, seems to get it right, if you like that sort of thing. The whole thing feels like YouTube. You can play the game while streaming and observers will comment on your play style. It's OK, but I can't see myself using it that much. What I will use, however, is the share button. The Share button on the new PlayStation 4 controller will allow you to share your gameplay to your friends, and possibly YouTube. You can even stream games via Ustream. I doubt it, but it would be awesome if they let us have the ability to edit our own videos. There's a lot of promise shown during this portion of the conference, but I need to see it in action to get my own opinion of it. Out of all that was shown, they didn't answer my biggest question of all; will you need a constant internet connection?

COLORS, PUZZLES, AND GUNS OH MY!

It took an hour for Sony to talk about the social aspect and the ease of access for the developers on the PlayStation 4. What really matters are the games. The first game they showed off was Knack. In Knack, you play this robot that can control certain objects in the world. It has the Kameo: Elements of Power feel to it. It's too soon to tell if this will be any good or not, but I'm glad that the first they Sony showed off was a platformer. With the success of The Walking Dead, Journey, and the Unfinished Swan, Sony continues to show support for the Indie gaming scene. Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid, came up to announce his new game, The Witness. The Witness is a beautiful, colorful game that has elements of Journey and Myst. It's an open world puzzle game, and Jonathan Blow claims that it will have twenty-five hours of gameplay in it. The whole game feels lavish and unique. The Witness could be the first game to use the new touchpad on the new Dual Shock 4 controller, and use it well. Sony also announced that Self publishing will be for PlayStation 4. This could be a big game changer for the Indie game developers.

The second game they announced was Killzone: Shadow Fall. Knowing that Killzone always had great graphics, it should come to no surprise that the tradition is still here. Unlike 2005 Killzone 2 video, this seems to be in real time with someone playing. The game is more colorful than any of the past Killzone games, and to me that is awesome. Other than that, it's your typical First Person Shooter affair. It's Killzone being Killzone, and some would say that's a good thing.  

DRIVE PAST THE HACK

The next game they announced was Drive Club. I'm not a racing nor a car person, but what I have seen is highly impressive. Each car in the game is so detailed that it could be possible to put Gran Turismo to shame.  The game also has the online ability like Need for Speed: Most Wanted, being that you can race anyone, anywhere in the game and set up challenges. The depth of Gran Turismo, and the fun of Need for Speed. Car simulator fans could have a lot of fun with this new game. If done well, I can see this over taking Gran Turismo. 

Private Security seems to be a theme in these next two games. One is Infamous: Second Son. In Second Son, not much is shown other than there are cameras everywhere and the police seems to be like fascists. The grim introduction by the guy at Sucker Punch told a real life story about how he got pepper sprayed a few years ago, it kind of lost its power by the mention of superpowers. It was just a trailer of the game and nothing else, not even proper gameplay. I thought the first two games was good enough, so I'm keeping my eye on this one. The other game takes the private security a bit more seriously and stole the whole show. Watch Dogs tells a story of a man that can hack into everything in Chicago. We saw new gameplay footage and the game looks like a classic in the making. You can hack nearly everything in the game, including a tobacco executive's bank account. What really did it for me was the chance to stop a crime. You can follow someone that has a high rate of chance to be a victim. When the bar reaches 100 percent, it seems you can save them, or let the crime happen. The demo showed what happens if you stop the crime. I hope that you don't even have to fire the gun to complete missions. The whole thing was exciting and refreshing to see. Instead of doing the crime, you can help end it. Watch Dogs will not only be coming to the PlayStation 4 but for the Wii-U also.

THIS IS WHAT COULD HAPPEN.

Capcom and Square Enix showed videos of games they are making. In Capcom, they have a game called Deep Down. The game looks to be a cross between Dark Souls and Monster Hunter. The game they showed off looks promising of showing off what the PlayStation 4 can do. Square Enix, on the other hand, showed off the same trailer they showed off last year, but as great as it is, it wasn't new. We've seen this before. Then the brand director of Final Fantasy came up. When I saw this happening, I thought that they would say that Final Fantasy VII would finally get the remake fans have been wanting since 2005. This was not to be, all he said that later this year, the PlayStation 4 will show off a new Final Fantasy game. To me, this is as obvious as to say it was cold outside to day. Yes, it is cold outside today, and yes, we are getting a PlayStation 4 Final Fantasy game. 

The rest of the presentation was just small stuff that showed some of what the developers are doing. Blizzard is releasing Diablo III to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Quantic Dream showed off their new game engine, Bungie's Destiny is going to have exclusive content, Media Molecule is making a game for the Move on the PlayStation 4, and Unreal Engine 4 was shown off. 

Overall, the whole thing was solid. They obviously didn't want to show off too much, or risk running out of steam for E3, but what was shown was enough to get me excited. Is this what the final games will look like? I doubt it, but what was shown is a bright and colorful, and too me that is more exciting than brown and black. There was a few missing in action that I would have liked to see. The Phantom Pain, The Last Guardian, and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. The PlayStation 4 is releasing this holiday season. It's unknown what the price, what the it looks like, but expect all that come this E3 in June. This is the part where I say "The future is here!" but I'm not. Damn.