PSX 2015. What does Sony have up its sleeve?
PSX 2015 is just around the corner, and as the hype train continues to build, it’s time as Player2 that we look forward to the event and predict what might be in store for fans of the Playstation family. It’s a busy weekend that gamers are facing, with the Saturday morning Keynote taking centre stage, but expect game debuts, new trailers, important announcements and much much more. Read on to see my preview of PSX 2015, as I predict what might be in store.
Sony Santa Monica are primed and ready for an unveiling. It was at last year’s PSX where one of the heads of studio Cory Barlog revealed that they were indeed hard at work on the next entry in the esteemed God of War franchise. They’ve only days ago put out a small teaser on twitter that hints at something new being underway, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we finally see the next entry in the God of War saga. Rumours and speculation lead me to conclude that maybe we are in fact about to see the franchise move on to Norse gods, given that Kratos has left us with none of the Greek variety left to tackle. Given the recent teases, perhaps PSX will play host to the debut of Kratos’ next bloodbath; or maybe we’ll see a new IP. There’s plenty of intrigue surrounding Santa Monica but it seems the lid is finally about to be lifted this weekend.
See the next fragment https://t.co/b4jE2cpIsf #takeastep pic.twitter.com/5E9WPwRNAQ
— Santa Monica Studio (@SonySantaMonica) November 30, 2015
Another big Sony studio that we’ve seen nothing from in a while is Sony Bend, the geniuses behind Syphon Filter, Resistance: Retribution and of course their most recent work, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The studio has been relegated to the little leagues in recent years having created spin-offs to other established franchises, but after 4 years of silence following the release of Golden Abyss, the studio at last seems primed to return to the big show. Will it by Syphon Filter? Probably not, the franchise has been dormant for quite some time and the fans have moved on – I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony has encouraged Bend to undergo a change similar to what Guerilla has recently gone through. If it pays off as it seems to be with Guerilla (Seriously, I mean look at Horizon: Zero Dawn if you have any doubts) then Sony Bend shouldn’t be too far from entering the upper echelon of developers within Sony’s stable.
We’re also due to hear something from Sucker Punch. After delivering us the excellent inFAMOUS: Second Son and it’s spin-off First Light in August 2014, the studio has been radio silent. There’s speculation from some corners that their next work is not an inFAMOUS game, but should those rumours be wrong, then PSX is surely the stage to unveil the next game in the franchise. With an already stunning engine, and plenty of experience with the platform behind them, it’s not unreasonable to think that having been quiet for nearly 18 months, that it’s time for an unveiling before a holiday 2016 release. Media Molecule will surely be present with Dreams, as will Guerilla with Horizon: Zero Dawn – There’s plenty to look out for on the First Party front, so be sure to tune in for that.
As I wind things up on the first party side, there are two more elephants in the room that I must address; Playstation VR and The Last Guardian. The latter has been in the works for the better part of a decade, was on numerous occasions thought to be dead, but like Lazarus has risen and is finally on the verge of release. I’m dropping my biggest prediction here: The Last Guardian will release on PS4 the week of April 25th 2016, with PSX being where we get the date. As for Playstation VR, it is reportedly targeting a Winter (in the Southern Hemisphere) release window, and it’s not outrageous to think that we’d get pricing and a release date for that too – given that E3 is June, I think you can lock the Playstation VR for July/August with one final push being made at the mid-year event.
Moving right along to Third Parties, and while you can be sure Destiny will be present, Call of Duty will probably debut its first slice of DLC, and we’ll see more Jack the Ripper for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, it’s the unexpected that I’m most anticipating. It’s unlikely that we’ll get any big debuts considering some of the bombs that were dropped last year (Street Fighter V for example) but we’ll probably see some partnerships bare fruit in the form of exclusive or timed DLC. Perhaps something will be unveiled for Mirror’s Edge, Battleborn and a number of others. Don’t be surprised if the Playstation & Square-Enix love in continues with exclusive DLC coming to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Final Fantasy XV, we’re probably a decent chance to see new Star Ocean V and Dragon Quest content too, but speaking of Square-Enix…
Every conference these days seems to need that big “and you can buy it right now” moment. For PSX 2015, I expect that the Final Fantasy VII PS4 port (not the remake) will be that game. It’s not hard to see why after all, the game is a simple port of the Steam version with trophy support, the trophies themselves leaked online last week and the release of the game is already behind schedule. The stars are aligning and with some confidence I can suggest that the Final Fantasy VII port will be available to download the day of PSX.
Not to be forgotten of course are the indies. Independent developers had a massive say in proceedings last PSX. Tim Schafer and Double Fine delivered the goods and countless other independently developed titles were present including Shovel Knight, Axiom Verge, The Forest, Severed and Helldivers. This year expect much more from the indies including, The Witness, Rime, Jenny LeClue and a wide range of others that are all set to land on the PS4 and Vita in the coming 12 months. Look out for Tim Schafer to again return and reveal a release date for Day of the Tentacle Remastered along with unveiling the next classic to get a facelift.
Expect some news from 2nd Party studios including HouseMarque and Quantic Dream, but look out for two big announcements from Playstation about the how the console functions. Expect PS2 Classics to be announced, and, FINALLY, the ability for players to change their PSN names. Following the lead of Microsoft, there have been a few rumblings in recent weeks that PS2 classics are in fact a thing – PSX will be the scene of the formal reveal. Gamers have been demanding that Sony give us the ability to change our names for a while now and I strongly believe that this may finally be the moment that Sony gives us that feature.
It’s hardly the most comprehensive list, but here are just a few things for you to ponder going into PSX this weekend. For those of you tuning in from Australia, you’ll be getting up early as the event is streaming live from 4:00AM AEST, but if you’re not keen on surfacing that early then the event should be available for replay moments after its conclusion. We’re in for a massive show this year as developers both big and small collide in the biggest Playstation event on the planet. Fanboys/girls rejoice, because you’re in for one hell of a weekend.
PS – We’ll get a new Uncharted single player trailer – and it will be glorious!