Early next week, we'll have a ton of new information about all things PlayStation: a new console, a ton of new games, and — if previous years are any indication — a few surprises.
These announcements are coming courtesy of Sony's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo ("E3" for short), a massive annual video game show in Los Angeles where major companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo show off their new games and hardware.
Here's what you can expect Sony to announce during its press conference on June 13:
A flood of video game trailers
The main attraction of E3 isn't hardware — it's the stuff that runs on that hardware: games!
We'll get a lot of information and new trailers from PlayStation's own stable of game developers ("first-party" developers), as well as news from external companies that are releasing games exclusively on the PlayStation 4 (so-called "third-party" developers).
Last year, the biggest (and most surprising) news out of Sony's press conference was the new trailer for "The Last Guardian," an inventive and visually striking adventure game. Its presence at E3 was surprising because it had been stuck in development hell for several years, and last year was the first look we'd gotten at the game in a long time. So long, in fact, that many believed the game had been canceled altogether. Now that "The Last Guardian" is officially scheduled to come out this year, we'll likely get some more information about how it's shaping up.
The other nice surprise out of Sony's 2015 E3 presentation was the reveal of "Horizon: Zero Dawn" which — despite having a painfully generic and non-descriptive name — looks totally awesome. It's being made by Guerrilla Games, which you might recognize as the developers behind the giant first-person shooter franchise "Killzone."
In "Horizon: Zero Dawn," you play as Aloy in a post-apocalyptic setting that actually resembles our early caveman days. Except, instead of fighting woolly mammoths, you go up against giant robot dinosaurs. Of course! A new trailer just dropped a few days ago that sheds more light on the game's story, but we expect to see even more at Sony's press conference.
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One of the most horrifying things to come out of the world of gaming recently was the report that Sean Murray received death threats after announcing the delay of his highly anticipated game "No Man's Sky." The incredibly ambitious space exploration game looks great, but it's a massive undertaking for a relatively small studio — no seriously, it will literally take you 584 billion years to see everything the game has to offer. Given that "No Man's Sky" was originally supposed to be out in just a few short weeks, it may not have a strong presence at E3, but we'll know for sure soon.
"Detroit: Become Human" made serious waves when it was revealed in October 2015 at Paris Games Week, so we'll probably get a bit more information about it during Sony's E3 presentation. It focuses on an android named Kara living amongst humans in a futuristic version of Detroit. "Detroit: Become Human" is being made by Quantic Dream, a studio known for making visually ambitious, cinematic, and emotionally poignant stories, so we can't wait to see how their sci-fi creation is coming together.
Though the hugely popular shooter "Destiny" it not exclusive to the PlayStation 4, the game has often been tied to Sony in its marketing (and through a paid exclusivity deal between the game's maker and Sony), and Sony's E3 presentations have often served as the platform for new "Destiny" announcements. As such, we will likely hear more about the newest "Destiny" expansion, called "Rise of Iron," which was just revealed during a live stream event. "Rise of Iron" will offer players a new strike, raid, all sorts of new gear, and a new social area in some snow-capped mountains.
Other games that might make an appearance include "Dreams" (a sort of surrealist version of "Minecraft"), "Gravity Rush 2," and "Abzû." (We interviewed the creator of "Abzû" recently, and it looks like it will be incredible.)
Some awkward virtual reality demos
Given that E3 press conferences are live events, things are bound to go off the rails every once in awhile. The odds of this happening increase exponentially when companies attempt to show off virtual reality headsets, mostly because it's so incredibly difficult to convey the experience of playing something in virtual reality, make it seem cool for someone watching at home, and also not have crippling technical difficulties bring the whole thing to a grinding halt.
Since PlayStation VR is launching in October, definitely expect to see some more attempts at showing off the tech on stage in an attempt to convince consumers that this is something they'll need in their homes. While we would never wish for something to go awry, if something were to go amiss, it will be at this point in PlayStation's presentation.
Games likely to make an appearance include the so-called "rhythm violence" game "Thumper," the psychedelic "Rez Infinite," and the spin-off to "Psychonauts" — one of the biggest cult hits of the mid-2000s — called "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin."
Probably not a brand new PlayStation 4 (though one is coming!)
The rumors are true! The head of PlayStation just confirmed that an upgraded PlayStation 4 is indeed coming, but that it won't have a presence at E3.
The new PlayStation, reportedly codenamed "Neo" will supposedly support ultra-high 4K resolution output. Currently, people who have a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One plugged into a 4K television are having their games "upscaled" to 4K, which isn't taking full advantage of the potential of those displays.
Additionally, the "Neo" will likely boast more storage space than the current PlayStation 4, and have upgraded hardware to increase loading times and performance overall.
Since PlayStation VR — the virtual reality headset that works with PlayStation 4 — is launching later this year, the performance upgrades offered by the PlayStation "Neo" will help those games run at their best.
We might not be getting our first look at the "Neo" at E3, but it is coming!
A few surprises (we hope!)
Since game development takes several years from start to finish, we usually know what games are being worked on by most companies years ahead of when the game actually comes out — so when a genuine surprise is revealed, it's a pretty big deal!
Last year, as previously mentioned, was the new reveal of "The Last Guardian." Since that reveal was so well-received, PlayStation will likely try to recreate that moment.
Likely candidates for a surprise reveal include sequels or reboots to long-beloved franchises, like PlayStation icon "Crash Bandicoot," a sequel to the bloody action series "God of War," or the highly-anticipated sequel to "Red Dead Redemption," the open-world Western-themed game created by "Grand Theft Auto" developer Rockstar. Personally, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a new "Jak and Daxter" (though that's highly unlikely).
PlayStation's E3 press conference is on June 13, so we won't have to wonder for much longer.
