“Damn you Playstation, take my MONEY!” – Playstation PGW

(please note that this article is from my point of view and that all views and opinions that are expressed are my own. Follow me on twitter @K1NGJ1M and @GeekPressUK - www.geekpress.co.uk) 

This week saw the PlayStation faithful come together and hold hands. On Tuesday Paris Games Week (PGW) officially kicked off to the public, and to begin proceedings… PlayStation – who previously held back at a press announcement at Gamescom, came to the floor to show off some of whats it’s been working on… the real question is, did it deliver?

I’d like to breakdown my thoughts on each of the announcements and to give you an idea as to the type of gamer I actually am – so without further ado…

**side note: there were a number of releases and announcements so please feel free to scroll through to what interests you. Jim**

Intro…

The show started very solidly, the 2 min long montage of new and existing games (both 1st and 3rd party) was well presented and received. It showed that Sony likes to flex its muscles a little and is not afraid to make the conference about games.

Jim Ryan started the show with a brief and nostalgic look back of the past 12 months, as well as paying a mention to the 20th Anniversary. We saw some big named IP’s among the games he mentioned, Batman: Arkham Knight, Tearaway Unfolded, Until Dawn, Assassins Creed and a surprising homage to The Order 1886 – one of my personal favourite new games of this generation! and re-affirming that PlayStation is the best place to play games.

Something I agree with.

Call of Duty – Black Ops 3

The first announcement was regarding Call of Duty and its ever popular Black Ops franchise. A little stumble during the conference may have given the slip to a 4th game in the works – however take that with a pinch of salt

Personally I really couldn’t care. All be it quite a significant partnership with Activision for this game and franchise for PlayStation – to me its just another shooter. To be fair a really good one, but as you may have read from my previous article they churn these out every year and its just not groundbreaking.

Star Wars Battlefront

Next we saw a brand new trailer from EA and DICE for Star Wars Battlefront. This trailer gave us a slightly better look at game-play and a more in depth look at the heroes that are available to play as and there abilities.

An impressive trailer none the less, and is definitely swaying my decision to pre-order the game. I’m not a huge multiplayer fan, but after playing the Beta I may be persuaded. It’s fun and quite casual – however like many competitive shooters you really need to give it a lot of time and patience to be a formidable player; something I’m not sure I can justify to just yet.

And now we start with the exclusives…

Street Fighter V

Street Fighter V is one game that is definitely on my radar. After playing this at EGX I found the game to be extremely fun and can easily see why its been at the forefront of e-sports since day one.

We were introduced to a new challenger… Dhalsim, a firm favourite from the Street Fighter 2 series. Along side this announcement we were introduced to the news that 6 new characters will be added within the first year after release – oh and a release date

Release date, Tuesday 16th February 2016.

Tekken 7

After a superbly awkward and cringe-worthy exchange we also got the trailer and official announcement of Tekken 7.

In my opinion really riding from the hype from Street Fighter. Not much is known about this game as of yet, and n’or did they show you too much game-play from the trailer. However like many Tekken games the focus is mainly on story, and I believe this will be a prequel to the series – although I could be wrong.

Later in the conference it was also announced that Tekken 7 will be coming to PlayStation VR. Confused? you should be.

Battleborn

Next we saw a new trailer from Gearbox Software and Battleborn. I’m unsure as to whether this is the first trailer for the new game, however it was the first time that I’ve actually seen the game – from both a game-play perspective in any way.

Coming from the team that bought us borderlands it is clear that you can see this heritage, especially in the art style. Again I’m still unsure about this as it appears that its yet another multiplayer competitive shooter just with wacky characters and world.

It’s not clear if this game does have single player, or at least story elements as of yet; I hope it does as in my opinion that's what gave Borderlands its charm.

“The next 3 games are console exclusive…”

Boundless – this appeared a very peaceful and tranquil game. At first glance it felt like what it would be like to land on a planet from the upcoming game “No Man Sky” and combined with Minecraft. The soundtrack was lovely to listen to and the characters seemed charming. Not much is known about this yet, however it was weird and strange enough to perk my interest – a PlayStation VR compatible game? who knows.

Vector – A multiplayer music creation game from Swedish electronic music producer Avicii, that appeared to combine Wipeout to Sound-shapes. I’m still not quite sure what this is, and if anyone can explain further I’ll be gratefully appreciated…

… speaking of No Man’s Sky. A new trailer was released, which appeared to be more of an official trailer. Finally we’re getting to hear more about this game – after 2 yrs of just hearing the name.

A release window of June 2016 was announced, which after such a long time of presence in the media is well deserved for fans – that being said I still believe the hype has unfortunately died, and by the time this title hits the stores no one is going to care.

Housemarque 20th Anniversary and Matterfall

This year not only marks the 20th Anniversary of the original PlayStation, but also for Housemarque, the studio behind the critical hit Resogun. Earlier in the year they announced a trailer for a new title called Alienation, which drove on the arcade combat we’ve come to appreciate and expect from this team.

During the conference they released another new title that they have been working on called Matterfall. Not a lot is known from this game, and no game-play was shown from the trailer, but it has the feel and look of a side scrolling shooter with a similar flare of what we have come to know and love from these guys. Looking forward to hear more in the months to come.

Ratchet and Clank

Next year sees the release of the new Ratchet and Clank film, the first true video game film (aside from Wreck it Ralph) that may not be truly terrible. To co-inside with its release Insomniac Games are releasing a “re-imagining” (take that as you will) of the first game in the series, originally released in 2002 on PlayStation 2 and during the conference we got a glimpse of a game-play trailer.

It looks fun, and brings back a number of memories for myself. It’s good to see them back and looking good on the PS4 and we may finally see a decent return to the platforming genre so desperately missed, despite the attempt of Knack.

Release date Q1/Q2 2016

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Herman Hulst (Guerrilla Games) took to the stage to talk about Horizon: Zero Dawn, the newest IP from the Killzone team. Holy crap this game looks epic!

Horizon was first revealed at E3 this year to a grand applause and won many coveted “game of the show” awards.

During his time on stage Herman guided us through a game play demo of the familiar scene originally shown at E3. The game runs and looks beautiful, and you can clearly see the thought and passion from the team to create a game that Playstation is very proud of.

Aside from the 2016 release window (which is kind of obvious) there was nothing new that was announced at the show, but to see a different take on the original game play – as well as a look at the HUD still has me very excited and boarding the hype-train for a few more months.

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters

Bloodborne was one of this years games that blew the critics and gamers away!

From the team that bought you the superbly difficult Dark Souls series comes a faster paced, horrifically themed and just as challenging game that had me ashamingly rage-quitting numerous times.

The Old Hunters is the much anticipated DLC expansion for the game, which adds new weapons, characters and story content.

First impressions, it looks just as beautifully grotesque as its big brother – which is luring me back to play. The new weapons appear to give a new dynamic to the game play which may make the game slightly more inviting for novices who have yet to experience the game. How this DLC is accessed i’m unsure yet, however be warned… you will be pulling your hair out just as much as I was.

Release date 24th November 2015.

Drive Club – Bikes

Available right now, as a DLC and a standalone package.

I’m not entirely sure how this works but ok... This is always a nice little surprise to hear that games are available straight away, and despite its horrendous build up and development, Driveclub appears to be offering its community and players a fun competitive experience – personally i’m still awaiting for the new Grand Turismo.

Gravity Rush 2

Hang on a minute… 2, where’s the first I hear you cry?! Gravity Rush (Gravity Daze in Japan) was a PlayStation Vita title back in 2012. A really cool concept in which you play in an anime type setting for which you control gravity.

GR2 appears to expand on this a further, giving you more play styles within the familiar setting. It will be interesting to see how this works on a sofa-console, as I believe what helped with the charm of its predecessor was that it was only available on the Vita.

GR1 will be coming to the PS4 on 10th December 2015, and I’m sure the a fore-mentioned sequel will follow soon.

Uncharted 4 Multiplayer

Uncharted 4 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of next year, and to give fans a little taste Naughty Dog are allowing players to join in on the multiplayer beta; 4th – 13th December (to participate you need to have purchases the Uncharted Collection).

At first glance I wasn’t too thrilled of the thought of playing a multiplayer Uncharted. I buy Uncharted for its story, its game-play, its characters and there relationships – there’s something about Sully blasting Elena in the face with a shotgun that just doesn’t seem… canon.

However like they did with The Last of Us, Naughty Dog managed to pull it off and it is a lot of fun, all be it challenging – so I’m confident that they will do it justice with Uncharted.

Release date, March 18th 2016.

Dreams

When announced earlier this year Dreams was somewhat a mystery to gamers, journalists, critics and the public alike. At the conference Media Molecule (developers) gave us a live game-play demo of the title.

All be it still confusing as to the aim of the game, Dreams feels like a very ambitious Mario Maker style game – that's my vibe anyway.

Players are able to create little worlds, with goals and puzzles and players can explore and complete these by any means necessary. It looks amazing, and really encapsulates what the PS4 can do.

Compared to other developers Media Molecule really pushes the gamer to use all the functions of the dual shock 4 from the touch-pad to the move sensors – which is very refreshing from just a standard twin stick adventure that is so common.

PlayStation VR 

The much anticipated release of Virtual Reality is just around the corner and at PGW PlayStation appear to be leading the charge with there platform.

I’m a big advocate of VR, having experienced the Oculus at a very early stage. Seeing how far we have come in such a small space of time is incredible – however still no price point or official release date yet.

Shuhei Yoshida came on stage to start the announcements of games in development for PlayStation VR. First up – RIGS, a form of competitive e-sports for the platform. Very reminiscent of Rocket league and looks a lot of fun.

Next we got the announcement of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, a roller-coaster experience being produced by Supermassive games…

… come on?! really?! this is not what anyone wanted from the sequel to one of the best horror games of this generation.

Next came Cevat Yerli, president of Crytek to announce Robinson: The Journey. A VR experience that allowed the player to experience a Jurassic style adventure – in which you are dodging Diplodocus and will probably be running away from a T-Rex. Sounds fantastic, as i’m a huge fan of Jurassic Park

Aside from games Yoshida San introduced us to The Walk, a companion experience to the latest release from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

This allowed the user to experience the reality of walking a tight-rope at a catastrophic height. Just going to show that VR really has caught up to modern entertainment and technology and it will amaze everyone from gamers and non-gamers alike.

Grand Turismo Sport

Jim Ryan came back to the stage to drop a massive bombshell – ladies and gentlemen Grand Turismo Sport.

President of Polyphony Digital, Kazunori Yamauchi came to the stage to talk about the latest title in the Grand Turismo series.

Upon first look at the trailer it looks stunning, the engine generates pictures that the naked eye couldn’t tell were real or not. He mentioned that everything has been improved dramatically to give the best driving experience to date.

Alongside the beauty Yamauchi San explained that the game will also incorporate 2 championship tournaments that will run along side the FIA championships, allowing for the top gamers in the world to receive recognition alongside the drivers of the FIA (incl F1) – bringing e-sports generally on-par with real world sports. A very incredible and ambitious partnership with the FIA.

Beta testing will start early 2016, and they are also looking to integrate PlayStation VR. I must admit I am superbly impressed – Forza just got slammed!

WiLD

The conferences penultimate spot was saved for Michel Ancel of Wild Sheep and their aptly named title WiLD. An open world adventure title in which you are a Shaman that can possess and control animals.

The game looks awesome and has a very cool premise, allowing you to tackle each task in your own way using the animals that populate the land and sky.

I love its mystical setting and game-play and think the world and lore have a lot to play in this upcoming game. No release day just yet, however to see some game-play got me and the crowd itching for more

Detroit: Become Human

(please excuse my french, and the awful pun…)

HOLY SH*T that trailer sent shivers down my spine like no other. Detroit is the newest project from Quantic Dream, the makers of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. David Cage (founder of Quantic Dream) came to the stage and spoke about a tech demo that was released for the PlayStation 3 back in 2012. This tech demo has now evolved and become its own entity, and now with the power of the PlayStation 4 he his ready to tell his story of Kara.

Kara is an android that has feelings, emotions and wants to live. She has been made for one purpose, like many androids in the world to do meaningless tasks – however she’s different…

Not much is known about the project so far, and unfortunately we don’t have a release date of window just yet but with the pedigree of this studio and the talent it possess is, I can see Detroit being one of the biggest releases its generation.

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So firstly I’d like to thank and congratulate you all for getting this far, as I understand this is a hefty-article to say the least.

Those were my thoughts and experiences from PlayStation at PGW, now I want to know yours. Let us know in the comments.

James.

(James is a freelance writer for GeekPress UK. An avid PlayStation gamer, comic book fan and coffee addict – follow him on twitter @K1NGJ1M)