Sony – EUvita! OXCGN’s Gamescom Report

Posted on 15 August, 2012 by dkpatriarch

Sony – EUvita!

OXCGN’s Gamescom Report

by Chris Fox

© 2012 Chris Fox

 OXCGN staff writer Chris Fox files his reports on Gamescon starting with Sony’s offerings.

Montage videos are exciting, aren’t they?

Sony’s kick off to their Gamescom-ference was no different. Jim Ryan (President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment) took to the stage feeling ‘great’ to be back in Cologne amongst so many friends (this was followed by silence and a single cough in the auditorium, no joke).

Jim talked about facilitating modern gamers’ needs with “innovation and surprises with their hardware and software”.

Sony then began with…

Playstation Vita

YES.

This is exactly how Sony needed to tackle this press conference after so little attention was given to the Vita at E3.

Like any smart company, Sony have really learned from their E3 mistakes and have focused heavily on Vita this time around.

LittleBig Planet Vita

LBPV is a “game (that) plays more naturally then any of it’s previous iterations” thanks to the Vita’s features like touch, rear-touch and tilt (all of these were playable in the Beta).

Real speech from in-game characters for the first time were heard in a new trailer.

The 19th of September is when we’ll meet LBPV as well as a WiFi Vita bundle for 249 Euros.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

Immediately following this, Sackboy was confirmed for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale along with (new DmC) Dante, Ratchet & Clank and Spike (from Ape Escape).

Cross-Play for PABR was confirmed, meaning both the PS3 and Vita versions will be compatible with each other.

But the real dynamite announcement concerning this game was the Cross-Buy feature, which basically means that we will get BOTH VERSIONS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

Also included in the Cross-Buy promotion are Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank: QForce. Good on ya, Sony.

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation

We were treated to a brand new, though not very long look at the handheld cousin of Ubisoft’s upcoming title.

Touch to Kill functionality was shown off; tapping multiple enemies on screen to dispatch of them in game.

Along with this, Rear Touch was used for boat controls.

Call Of Duty Black Ops: Declassified

Team deathmatch and kill confirmed modes with brand new maps built “from the ground up” for Vita were promised from Activision.

Also, it was confirmed that the plot will bridge the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2.

In-game gadgets will use Vita specific functionality as well, including Near features.

Another bundle was then announced which will contain a special WiFi Vita with a customised back panel and carry pouch.

Whatever you feel about the COD franchise, Declassified will shift a hell of a lot more Vitas which can only be a good thing. Look for the game and bundle in November 2012.

Tearaway

Alex Evans (co founder of Media Molecule), clearly very over whelmed from all the love for LBP, took to the stage to tell us that the inspiration for their new IP came from paper.

That’s right, another new IP!

Tearaway, it’s called. The game’s star, Iota, is a paper messenger from another dimension. He has a unique message that he wants to share with you.

The in-game world is a 3D universe entirely made out of paper and wow, what a visual style. Vivid colours fill the screen, unique characters introduce themselves and paper landscapes build themselves around Iota.

Rear Touch can be used to beat drum platforms to send Iota flying into the air. You can tear through the floor with your fingers, also using the Rear Touch, and “your actual fingers” will actually punch through the world!

This is unmistakable Media Molecule innovation. MM have clearly created another incredibly unique and beautiful world and everyone needs to get interested in this title now.

Killzone Mercenary

A short Killzone Mercenary trailer was shown, also for Vita, and featured more really cool looking touch based kills on Vita’s screen.

Follow the arrows on screen to violently end your enemies.

Yes, please.

Playstation Mobile

Playstation Mobile allows “snack sized” Playstation experiences to be had on Android platforms as well as other certified Playstation devices.

Smaller indie games, which Playstation has desperately needed, as wells as major developments, will come to this cross platform service.

Buy the game once and then access it on your Android phone, Vita and PS3.

An App store rival? Most definitely. PSM gives Android exactly what it has been needing; a gaming service worth talking about.

Two more partners (ASUS and WIKIPAD) were also revealed to feature the upcoming service. No mention of it coming to iDevices. This, along with the lack of Google Maps and YouTube app in iOS 6, makes myself (as an iPhone owner) nervous for the first time.

Essentials – PS3

Next, Jim wanted to talk about PS3.

Firstly, we were told of a new value range entitled ‘essentials’ for the PS3 at around 19 euros each featuring Uncharted, Infamous and LBP.

So it’s a budget range announcement. Hooray.

Cross-Controller

Cross-Controller allows you to play LittleBig Planet 2 on your PS3 with your Vita.

It will deliver a true dual screen experience (i.e the Wii-U experience before it’s even released).

Also, you can make Cross-Control levels and games in LBP2. A live demo of controlling Sackboy on the big screen with the Vita as well as using the Vita’s screen for maps and marking out deadly pits etc. impressed a lot.

The Vita touch screen can be used to move blocks on screen and solve puzzles. Sackboy then jumped from the big screen to the Vita’s screen. Amazing.

Poor old Nintendo.

PLUS

Five new free games through Playstation Plus over the upcoming months will be revealed, the first one being Red Dead Redemption, which will be September’s game of the month.

A 25% discount for new subscribers for a limited time was announced, as was the arrival of Plus on Vita (again).

Wonderbook

We saw (a lot of) this at E3, but we were re-introduced to Wonderbook as ‘the biggest Playstation release of the holiday season’… may God have mercy on us all.

The kids in the trailer looked positively stupefied (even before they started using Wonderbook) so maybe it will be the number one toy this Christmas… but probably not.

A funny noir/nursery rhyme title called Diggs Nightcrawler was shown off as well as a Wonderbook/BBC team-up bringing us Walking with Dinosaurs.

FIFA 13

Fifa was back again, with Move functionality being demoed live this time. Using Move allows players to paint paths for their team to make runs to, make passes and mark players. Also twisting the move as you shoot puts some spin on it.

Three Brand New Playstation IPs

The first of yet more fresh faced IPs displayed was a Move game entitled Until Dawn.

Set in the teen-horror movie genre, it’s your job to keep the seven teenagers alive until dawn.

A “gripping narrative and seamless Move controls” combine to give us a very interesting new idea. Use the Move to shine torches, fire guns and solve puzzles.

JapanStudio brought us Rain next, an exclusive for the PSN. An invisible boy is made visible through the power of rain whilst trying to find meaning in a mysterious world… it can only be Sony.

God bless you guys.

Gavin Moore from JapanStudio then introduced us to Puppeteer.

The world in Puppeteer moves around you and takes place on a stage in one hell of a psychedelic Punch and Judy-esque production.

It’s “strange and fantastic” and stars a young boy who’s been turned into a puppet.

Puppeteer looks like what LittleBig Planet would look like if it was played after not sleeping for 48 hours. Truly, truly manic.

The Last Of Us

I’m still most looking forward to Beyond and The Last of Us out of everything in the near future.

A new trailer for the latter was shown as our penultimate Sony treat. The more I see of Joel and Ellie’s endearing relationship, the more I fall in love with this game.

More necessary combat was also demoed and it is so seamlessly flowing that it’s hard to believe the game will really play that well. The Last Of Us looks light years ahead of everything else.

I. Can’t. Wait.

The End

The Sony show closed with an exclusive look at Call Of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified gameplay.

It looks like the authentic COD experience on the go, a first, only on Vita.

This said, it didn’t look too hot, graphically. Let’s hope it plays better than it looks.

Gamescom

© 2012 Chris Fox

Filed under: Console gaming, Demo impressions, Events, Game Impressions, Game Industry News, Handhelds, Hardware News, Mobile Gaming, New Game Information, New PS3 Games, Oxcgn Special feature, Press Release, PS3 Game Previews, PS3 News, PSVita, Software News & Updates Tagged: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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