PREVIEW – That time of the year has come again, when the video game industry showers us with new games, ideas, and plans in such speed that you can barely keep track of it. This time however PS4Pro will help you to see all the relevant news from the all the sea of announcements. Let us begin with Sony’s press conference first.

After watching the show I can safely say Sony did not fail one bit. They announced multiple in-house projects, got some hardware news, and even third-party developers were present at their show, so that no fan would be feel left out. Naturally the show was led by the in-house projects, and so we got a quick sneak peak as to what is happening on the development front, and what can we expect in the future. What we saw ladies and gentlemen was spectacular, and beautiful.

Fresh off the prints

The first announcement was for Bloodborne which was released back in March. A new DLC called The Old Hunter has been revealed with the release date of 24th of November. This expansion will focus on the main game’s old hunters, and their story. This is a great move from Sony as the main game provided very little information about them. We only got to know who were they, and what are they, and even then it was done rather quickly. Now we will get to know them in a more detailed manner.

Of course Sony is also providing an opportunity for those who have not descended into the world of Yharnam by releasing an ultimate edition called The Old Hunter Edition, which includes the base game plus the DLC. So there is no need to pay twice for those who do not own Bloodborne.

Once the grim introduction has ended, Yoshida Shuhei pulled a rabbit out of a hat in the form of a golf game. Minna No Golf is a cute little golf game that reminded us of Nintendo Land’s. Although golf games are not too popular, still Sony is trying to pull it out of the mud by adding social feature, to make it more fun for the casual gamers. The game looks sweet, and will get to try it out next year, it will probably be a fun party game.

The returners

Only after this did Sony went off the deep end. Finally we got a PS4 version of Gravity Rush which was a PS VITA only game back in the day. Currently the only thing we know is that the controls have been revamped for the PS4 controller, and all of the content will be available, plus the graphics are better than ever, and there are hints of new content being added to the PS4 version. We are still hoping that new content will be added. Those who already preordered the game will get a figurine of the main character with the game

After showing off the PS4 version of the first game, Sony decided to spill the beans real quickly about the sequel, Gravity Rush 2. It will be released for the PS4 in 2016. The new game will have more emphasis on the gameplay and of course on the graphics, so that the developers can provide a more complex experience for the fans. The trailer for the sequel showed how much the game will change, in terms of speed, but that will probably be the advantage for Gravity Rush.

All Star Steve

This is what all we had from Sony, and after Gravity Rush’s reveal we are welcomed back by Steve Miller from Ubisoft. At first For Honor was shown, more specifically the Samurai class. We finally get to see their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Samurais will be much lighter than the other two factions, so their movement will also be faster. They will not only be good at short range combat however, as they will have bows and throwing knives at their disposal, which will be really useful later.

We can put down the Katana after this, and Ubisoft switched to their other hot topic, which was Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s first DLC. In the first DLC we’ll get to meet the „great” Jack The Ripper.

Although in the base game we will probably hear his name, however the DLC will focus on him. The question remains however that whether we have to hunt down The Ripper, or we will be playing as him.
As nothing has been confirmed other than the above checkout the trailer. The atmosphere and the setting makes it definitely worth checking it out.

Epic Meal Time

After the Samurais and the Ripper, Sega takes the stage, who shocked the audience with two headshots (in a good way). Not only that the first Yakuza game will have a remake (with extended content) for PS3 and PS4, but will also release a new game that will be released in 2016 Autumn.
The information left us paralyzed for a quick moment, but the shock effect among the fans and audience was stuck in their heads for a long time.

Furthermore Sega announced a new The King of Fighters XIV, a game that was in development hell for five years. The fighting game was loved by many, but did not bring enough of a profit for Sega to warrant a sequel. Yet finally here we are, however the game will only be released for the PlayStation 4 this time.

Input-input-input

After SNK Playmore, Bandai Namco took the stage, and announced One Piece: Burning Blood which will be a game probably similar to Pirate Warriors, for the Play Station 4, and the Vita handled. Not much was shown in terms of gameplay, but the trailer is really good and I recommend it to everyone to check it out. Hopefully Burning Blood will be released in western territories, as the trailer showed we can expect some really awesome stuff.

Koei Tecmo announced the sequel to its 2014 action-rpg’s sequel Toukiden 2, which will be released in 2016 for the PS4, and the VITA (the game will be also released for the previous generation of PlayStation). The game is very reminiscent of the Monster Hunter series and it is not a problem since there is a shortage of the genre. Koei Tecmo’s sequel will have a huge open world compared to the secluded zones of the previous games. Open world games are making a huge sweep around the world, and it seems finally Japan is surrendering to this design decision.

Besides the studio’s action-rpg the biggest news just came after Toukiden’s sequel. A game that was announced in 2005. Yep since 2005 the game was delayed, trashed, revived, and then trashed again until finally it has been re-announced in Tokyo Game Show as Ni-Oh. If the planets align and gods will the game will be released next year on the PS4. In the game we play as a Samurai that looks a lot like the main protagonist Witcher, so I’m a little worried as to what Ni-Oh will be, a new IP or a simple Witcher clone.

Where do I even look!?

For those who still have the will power to read further, we would like to inform you that Square Enix shocked the audience. It was not enough to release a new trailer for the upcoming World Of Final Fantasy, but two other games were also mentioned. The first game was none-other than Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final chapter which is basically three games in one: Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD, Kingdom Hearts Chi: Back Cover, and Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage.

The Fragmentary Passage will be a prequel to Kingdom Hearts III. The second game announced was Dragon Quest Builders, which also got a new trailer for the conference. The game is still pretty much Square Enix’s answer to Minecraft, so there is not much to talk about. It is a good looking game, with the usual mechanics of a Minecraft clone. Dragon Quest Builders will be released in 2016 of January in the Japanese regions, there is no release date for Western regions.

Call Of Raccoon City

If the above was not enough of an info, well then there is still some worth note announcements to cover. For starters Capcom decided to reveal a new Resident Evil title called Umbrella Corps, which will be a multiplayer focused TPS game.

The zombies and some of the scare factor will be present in the game, but this title will be a competitive multiplayer game, where Umberalla Cops’ soldiers fight against other soldiers in dark and scary places. We will be able to use zombies as shields, which looks kinda funny, but after seeing the concept not a lot of people have the power to laugh at the game. Umbrella Crops will be released in 2016 for the Play Station 4, and later other platforms will also receive Capcom’s new „Call of Raccon City”.

Off-gaming

After all this we got to see a few new trailers for such game as Call of Duty Black Ops II, and a few words were mentioned about the Play Station Now which is finally heading to Europe ( Sadly only to the UK currently). After all the software news we finally got some hardware announcements such as a PS4 controller that is transparent, swappable HDDs, and a wireless headset. That’s enough for the accessories, now let us get to the meat of things. The VR headset has finally received a final product name, and sadly it will not be Morpheus. It will be simply titled as PlayStation VR.

Sony has also decided that even though their console is killing it on the market, it will receive a price drop and will only be 34980 YEN… well at least in Japan. We do not know if we will receive the price drop, but for us that means something around 50 dollars max. However I do not think that Sony will drop the price too much for a console that was only released two years ago.

Superb as ever

That was the Tokyo Game Show’s Sony conference, a lot of „input” that we have to process, and look more into it, to see the full picture of 2015 / 2016 game releases. A lot of new IPs, and games are being announced by the developers, so we will probably not have a game drought. We could have imagined a few other games on the conference. However what was a real surprise was seeing the call of dutyfied Resident Evil game. Hopefully I am wrong about this and Capcom will release a quality title, and release a great new game. A bit of shake up for the brand is needed at this point.

-Kese-