Learn what there is to know about Sony’s media event at the Cologne, Germany games show.
Tuesday saw Sony taking the big stage for Gamescom 2014, almost two months removed from their E3 showing. Two months is a pretty short time in between from when the company promoted their upcoming wares, but Sony came prepared big time.
Sales talk? Check. New games? Check. Exclusive DLC? Check. Yes, Sony’s media briefing sampled a ton of important stuff, which totally calls for a “five things you need to know about Sony @ Gamescom” post from yours truly.
1. PlayStation 4: 10 Million Sold Worldwide
At the top of the show, Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, made the announcement that the PlayStation 4 had officially sold 10 million PlayStation 4 units sold worldwide. Not as in shipped either, but as in directly to customers, which is a huge distinction and a mighty achievement for the first-year console.
2. Diversity On The PS4
Front and center at Sony’s GamesCom media event on Tuesday was an impressive offering of unique titles that sampled almost every gaming genre you could think of, an obvious trend from last year’s Gamescom that Sony had no problem in proudly claiming.
The salute to gaming diversity began with Q Games’ Dylan Cuthbert taking the stage to announce The Tomorrow Children, an exclusive PlayStation 4 title seeped with amazing visual style that invokes Soviet Russia. And from the other side of the gaming spectrum, Bohemia Interactive sharing the news that Day Z would be coming soon to the PS4.
On the indie scene, Thomas Was Alone creator, Mike Bithell, presented his next Robin Hood meets Tron project Volume (coming first to PS4 and Vita); the Lovecraftian first-person experience of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter from The Astronauts!; and to topped it all off, more incredible footage from Tequila Work’s adventurous epic, Rime.
Here’s the full list of new games (or games new to the PlayStation platform) that are coming exclusive or first to the PlayStation 4 (the latter of which is noted by *) that were shown during Sony’s Gamescom presser:
Alienation – Housemarque
Day Z – Bohemia Interactive*
Ether One – White Paper Games*
Hellblade – Ninja Theory*
Hollowpoint – Ruffian Games*
In Space We Brawl – Forge Reply
Papers, Please – Lucas Pope (PS Vita only)
Q.U.B.E 2. – Toxic Games*
Rime – Tequila Works
Runemaster – Paradox Interactive*
The Tomorrow Children – Q Games
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – The Astronauts!*
Volume – Mike Bithell* (PS4 & PS Vita)
Wild – Michel Ancel (creator of Rayman)
3. Exclusive Content – Destiny & Far Cry 4
Not shockingly, time was devoted to two of the biggest gaming releases coming out this fall, Bungie’s Destiny & Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4, and the fancy exclusive content each title will receive with their respective PlayStation 4 and PS3 launches.
With Destiny, coming out September 9, PS4 and PS3 owners will get their first crack at the online multiplayer shooter’s The Dark Below expansion before anyone else. They’ll also get early access to a Strike mission, Dust Palace, and the competitive multiplayer map Exodus Blue.
Turning to the first-person wilderness action of Far Cry 4 (November 18 PS4/PS3), PlayStation 4 owners get their own exclusive content in the form of a free-trial experience, where users can be able to invite up to ten PlayStation Network players to join them in coop missions, regardless if their buddy owns the game or not.
4. System Software 2.0 Introducing SharePlay Feature
Coming this fall Sony plans to roll out the next system software, 2.0, for the PlayStation 4, and to lead the charge in the features department is a new one called Share Play, which like all of the PS4′s experience sharing tools, like the Share button, delivers one more option to do so.
Share play will allow players to invite a friend to join their game remotely, basically, without the need of the other person owning a copy of it. Share Play can also let users invite their friends to take over the controls directly, and help them out during a particular rough patch of game.
Sony promises that Share Play, YouTube dedicated app support and the uploading of gameplay footage to the popular video site, and other yet to be known updates to the PlayStation 4 will all be apart of the fall system update.
5. Tearaway PS4 & The Rest of the First-Party Fray
Establishing their first-party dominance was also a part of Sony’s themes to their Gamescom presser. And while it’s sad to see much of it quietly passing the PlayStation Vita, to which there was no stage presence at all, the PlayStation 4 is ripe of first-party content coming in the fall and beyond.
Trailers for Driveclub, The Order: 1886, inFamous First Light, and LittleBigPlanet 3 were shown – mainstays of the fall season on the PS4 – but delightful surprises were also announced, such as Tearaway Unfolded, a PS4 edition of the adorable 3D platformer on the PlayStation Vita from Sony in-house developer Media Molecule.
The transition from handheld to console will lose some of what made Tearaway on the Vita so special when it originally debuted, but Media Molecule is planning to repurpose that whimsy using the many talents of the Dualshock 4.
It will also get a nice 1080p boost in graphics, along with a steady 60 frames-per-second cap, which should only make the final product more awe inspiring – and the game was already awe inspiring in the first place!
For a more in-depth discovery of all of Sony’s announcements during Gamescom, I recommend checking out the PlayStation Blog, where tons of images and videos from the show are being updated regularly.
