SONY E3 2015 ROUNDUP: Triple-whammy fulfils fans' wet dreams

June 20th, 2015, 23:33 Posted By: wraggster

It’s been said on the internet a lot these last few hours, but Sony’s E3 2015 conference seriously was just a Half-Life 3 short of actually ending the world.
The Last Guardian. Bang. Final Fantasy VII Remake. BANG. Shenmue III. DEFCON 1. Half-Life 3? Actual planetary annihilation.
As the internet reaction to last night’s show will tell you, Sony delivered an almost unimaginable triple-punch in showing off three of these titles. Popular opinion will tell you the PS4 platform holder won the show. Many are even calling it the single greatest E3 event ever held.
Let’s try and keep this in perspective, however. The Last Guardian still won’t be with us until 2016. The Final Fantasy VII Remake may be coming to PS4 first, but it’s still a remake, and its appeal may not be as widespread as people believe. Shenmue III is cool, of course, but what sort of game is actually going to be delivered on $2m? (A goal that it’s certain to hit – the campaign stood at $1.2m when this journalist awoke this morning. Now it stands at $1.7m).
Sony had some great looking new IP on show, however. Zero Dawn from Guerrilla looks fantastic, as does Media Molecule’s Dreams. And it goes without saying that No Man’s Sky looks exceptional – but we STILL don’t have a release date. None of these games, or even the visually gorgeous Uncharted 4, will be out in 2016.
PS4 obviously has a little wriggle room, such is the lead it has over Xbox One. That should carry it over to 2016, you’d think. But it’s dangerous to give Microsoft time to catch its breath and fuel its charge. Xbox One’s press briefing yesterday was fantastic, with great looking exclusive software and an incredible new technology in the form of Hololens.
Microsoft is doing one thing that Sony isn’t, too – evolving its platform. Sony devotees would point to PlayStation Vue but that’s nothing compared to Early Access title and Xbox 360 backwards compatibility. The latter’s importance is still this morning being vastly over-exaggerated (unless it proves to be vastly better implemented than Xbox 360’s wonky original Xbox support, perhaps, but even then) but it still speaks of a company sticking good to its commitment to listen to fans and evolve its platform to suit both them and a wider market. Phil Spencer’s new Xbox division really is doing everything right, as it very well must do.
Sony doesn’t have this urgency pressing against it, so perhaps a slower approach is to be expected. But it has taken steps to cement its position. The theft of Call of Duty’s timed DLC exclusivity may in some regards appear a cheap shot, but COD remains one of the world’s biggest franchises and the deal is at the very least meaningful. You can't blame Activision for following the numbers (and the money). Sony will hope it has a bigger impact on PS4 than it did on Xbox One. The Destiny love-in continues apace, too, and now Disney Infinity 3.0 has joined the love nest.
If there is one categorical conclusion, however, it’s that E3 2015 has absolutely exceeded expectations. What an opening day. With NX strictly off the cards it’s hard to see what Nintendo can bring to the table tonight but even if we only get a handful of new Amiibos and Iwata in a silly hat, this year has already been a big win for gaming.
Here’s a roundup of all the Sony news:

• The Last Guardian still alive, opens PlayStation's conference
• Guerrilla Games' new IP is Horizon: Zero Dawn
• New Hitman game unveiled, simply called Hitman
• Street Fighter V public beta for PS4 announced
• Hello Games shows off No Man's Sky on stage, release date coming 'soon'
• Firewatch makes console debut on PS4
• Dreams is the next game from LittleBigPlanet studio Media Molecule
• Next Destiny DLC is called The Taken King, set for September launch
• Shenmue 3 is happening, Kickstarter launched to fund title
• Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to PS4
• Activision partners with PlayStation for Call of Duty: Black Ops III
• Morpheus will be 'the' platform for multiplayer in virtual reality
• Disney Infinity 3.0 will get an exclusive Star Wars play set on PlayStation
• http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-...dreams/0151256

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