E3: Sony Press Conference Wrap Up

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Ok, I’ll admit it – I thought this Call of Duty actually looks pretty cool. In those opening moments, I saw a lot of depth in the way ships are launched and piloted, and one couldn’t be blamed for thinking that was a game like EVE or Star Citizen on first viewing [I sure did]. And that zero-g combat, complete with cool zip-lin grappling hook kills, well, that wasn’t too shabby either. I can’t help but expect to be disappointed, but for now, it actually seems like a game of pretty decent quality game.

Crash Bandicoot Remastered & Skylanders: Imaginators

Shawn Layden took to the stage again here, with some very familiar music and a nice island setting. Oh, and his “shadow” was Crash Bandicoot. It was cool, but what was even cooler was that he then went on to announce a partnership between Sony and Activision that has resulted in us getting a remaster of the original three Crash Bandicoot games! Sure, it isn’t a new Crash game per se, but if it follows the recent trend of Sony remasters, a new game won’t be too far behind. But before the remasters release [there was no date or trailer given at the event], he will be appearing in the latest instalment in the popular Skylanders series, Skylanders: Imaginators. Oh, and there was a brand new trailer for that too.

LEGO Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Next up on the big screen was a new trailer for the next installment in the huge series of LEGO based video games, this one belonging to the LEGO Star Wars series specifically. It was full of story beats from the films, as well as the classic goofy charm we’ve come to expect from developer Tt Games in their games based upon the popular building bricks. The trailer also revealed that the demo for the title is available right now (What’re you waiting for?!?) ahead of its official release in two weeks time.

Death Stranding

Finally, it was time for the President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Andrew House to make an appearance, though it was surprisingly short. However, his appearance did segue into one of the most exciting moments of the entire conference – the arrival of none other than Hideo Kojima himself, along with his new game project! Remember when Konami wouldn’t let Kojima go to last year’s The Game Awards? Well, this time he decided to arrive in spectacular fashion, walking down an LED walkway while the logo for Kojima Productions slowly revealed itself in the background, all to an epic beat performed by the orchestra. And finally, we got a first glimpse at his new title – though it certainly brought up more questions than it answered. However, we can confirm that The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus and Kojima are finally getting to realize their dream of working on a project together… hey, is Guillermo del Toro involved in this too?!?

Spider-Man

OK, so this was the part of the conference where this writer flipped out. Like, almost literally. When the trailer first opens and you hear the narration about “people see me and think they’re safer”, over what appears to be a New York skyline, it just felt like a superhero game. And then the Insomniac logo pops up. Off to a great start. Then the youthful narrator says “Knowing everything hinges on a guy from Queens”, and that was the moment of almost certainty. It couldn’t be, could it? And then the goddamn Marvel logo shows up. The crowd cheers and, hey, so do I. Spidey jumps on screen in a nifty new suit, and shit. Gets. Real! Not many details emerged, but judging by what we’ve seen, it really does look like it will be set in a dynamic open world, with players controlling your favourite wallcrawler as you swing, zip, crawl, fight and flip your way through the streets of New York. You can currently pre-order the title, though no official release date has been confirmed yet [Amazon currently has it listed to release at the end of December, 2017, but only time will tell just how accurate this is]. We do know, however, that it is a PS4 exclusive. Sorry Xbox-owning Marvel fans.

Days Gone [Again]

Shawn Layden returned to the stage one last time to praise the Playstation community for being the best gaming community and to thank us all for being a part of it, and to introduce a live gameplay demo of the Zombie survival game Days Gone that was unveiled earlier in the conference. The game looks solid enough, but I’m still weary of having yet another zombie survival game release. Only time will tell if this one sets itself apart from the rest.

The End

The show led straight from the gameplay into a sizzle reel of the upcoming releases that Sony has coming up, reminding you once again how great a time to be a PlayStation owner it is. I really believe Sony truly knocked it out of the park at this year’s E3 – do you agree? And what new releases are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!