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PlayStation Meeting 2013: The PlayStation 4, new InFAMOUS, Killzone, and more

cgottowhite
February 21, 2013

Last night, Sony, as expected, announced the PlayStation 4 (PS4). No price was mentioned, and no hardware was shown, but what we do know is that the PS4 will be released this holiday season.

The meeting was over two hours long; let me provide you with the highlights:

Games

Hint: Click the title to open the announcement trailer in a new window!

The trailer for Knack begins with these two lines: "War has come to our peaceful land. We must send our best to neutralize this threat."
We don't know much about Knack, but we know that it is the first game coming to the PS4. It is being developed by Japan Studio under the direction of Mark Cerny, the PlayStation 4's lead system architect. The game has Pixar-ish, cartoony graphics, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a "kiddy" game. It appears to have a similar aesthetic as the Ratchet and Clank series.

Why it isn't called "Killzone 4" is beyond me. It would make much more sense from a marketing standpoint. Anyway, Killzone: Shadow Fall will be a launch title for the PS4. The graphics are amazing, as to be expected from Guerrilla Games.

From the makers of the MotorStorm comes Driveclub (yes, it's one word), Matt Southern, head of Evolution Studios, said the idea for the game has been floating around for the past 10 years, but hardware could never do it justice. The PS4 contains networking technology that makes this game possible.
Driveclub will focus on competing against other racing clubs completing challenges. Matt Southern, head of Evolution Studios, said "the gameplay isn't specifically about races; it's about challenges. The game rewards you for playing in groups even if you're not on top of the leaderboard, much like squad-based first-person shooters do."

Set seven years after the events of InFAMOUS 2, Second Son follows Deslin Rowe, a young man who possesses the power to manipulate and become smoke. He acquires these powers after rescuing someone from a bus crash.

To be perfectly honest, this is the only trailer I saw at the PlayStation Meeting that really impressed me with its graphics. Deep Down (working title) is being developed by Capcom and is running on their brand new Panta Rhei engine. Some say that "Deep Down" may really be Dragon's Dogma 2. We shall see. No matter what it is, it looks pretty amazing.

While Watch Dogs was announced back at E3 2012, we now know that it will be released on the PlayStation 4, as well as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC. I will be posting a preview of Watch Dogs later this week.

This one was a bit of a surprise. Diablo III will be released on the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4. PS3/future PS4 owners who can't run Diablo III on their PCs will get the chance to experience it for the first time, and that's pretty cool.

Destiny is Bungie's new "shared-world shooter" that was announced last week. At the PlayStation Meeting, it was announced that Destiny will be available on the PlayStation 4, in addition to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid, announced that his upcoming game, The Witness, will be available on the PS4 as a timed exclusive. The Witness was announced back in 2009. The game is, according to its website, "an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island."

Tech demos

Media Molecule's tech demo blew my mind. They are finally taking the PlayStation Move, an incredibly accurate motion-sensing device that always held a lot of potential, and using it to creative something that allows you to "record your dreams." They showed how you can sculpt anything your heart desires, and how you live out your fantasy of becoming a rock star. It's really kind of hard to explain. If you watch any of these videos all the way through, make sure it's this one.

If you know me at all, you know that I love everything Quantic Dream does. Heavy Rain is one of my all-time favorite games. In March of last year, David Cage of Quantic Dream showed us "Kara," a tech demo that showed the future of the PlayStation 3. Now, the "Old Man" tech demo, for lack of an official name, shows us the future of the PlayStation 4. Quantic Dream's upcoming game "Beyond: Two Souls" may very well be a PlayStation 4 title. More information on that should be announced in the coming weeks and months.

Square Enix debuted its tech demo of what appears to be a new Final Fantasy title.

Controller

The DualShock 4 is a drastic change from the DualShock we're all used to. It features a touch pad (not a touchscreen), "Share" and "Options" buttons instead of the classic "Start" and "Select," and a built-in LED tracker. While these are all big changes, the overall shape and size of the controller isn't that different. The big changes are the concave analog sticks, the straight triggers, and grips on the handles. Scroll down for photos.


Other notable features

  • Free demo of every game
  • "Share" button on controller allows players to instantly share videos of what they're playing to Facebook and Ustream.
  • New dashboard, looks a lot like the newly redesigned PS Store.
  • Use Vita as a second screen, just like the Wii U uses the GamePad.
  • Play games as they download

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