PlayStation 4

Does Sony See High-end PCs as More of a Threat Than Xbox?

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 29, 2016 | 1 comment

It’s fairly obvious that unless something drastic takes place in the gaming landscape, PlayStation 4 will be the runaway winner as Nintendo for all intents and purposes is no longer able to compete on any meaningful scale and Xbox One is doing nearly half the numbers PS4 is posting.

Prior to E3, the rumor mill was abuzz with the potential announcement of PS4 4K. While the console didn’t make an appearance at the show, Sony did confirm its existence. Till now, we all assumed that the upgraded PS4 was to be created in part to push gaming forward with new capabilities and to combat future upgraded versions of Xbox like the Scorpio. However there is likely another angle to all of this.

Why Horizon: Zero Dawn Was Delayed

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 23, 2016 | 0 comments

I’ve always been firmly in the camp that the decision to delay a game is a good thing. After all, as a developer, you only get once chance to impress audiences for the first time. Sure, all games, no matter how bad or good they are, come with patches, but if you’ve released a game with problems, people are going to know. Case in point, Uncharted 4 was delayed twice but nobody is talking about that now. Instead, the conversation is always around how amazing it turned out and that ‘Naughty Dog did it again.’

Speaking with GameSpot, game director Mathijs de Jonge on why they decided to delay Horizon: Zero Dawn till February 2017:

First PlayStation 4 Commercial Airs in China

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 23, 2016 | 0 comments

Sony and other console makers till recently had been barred from China, a country which imposes a ton of regulations on foreign companies. Despite all that, seeing how massive their population is, with a middle class that’s larger than the number of people who reside in the US, it’s no wonder that companies like Sony and Apple would be willing to do what they must in order to be able to do business there.

Now with the PS4 finally cleared for sale in the country, Sony has begun their marketing blitz with their first TV ad.

PlayStation VR Pre-Orders Draw Crowds in Japan

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 22, 2016 | 1 comment

With the US becoming PlayStation’s most important and largest market, it’s no surprise that it was first on Sony’s list to receive VR pre-orders. Now with a solid E3 behind it, Sony has turned its attention towards Japan where PS VR became available for pre-order for the first time on Saturday and boy are things looking good.

God of War Will Begin Differently Than E3 Demo

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 21, 2016 | 0 comments

God of War - Kratos and Son - E3 Demo

When game demos arrive for download or are shown off at media events like E3, they tend to be cherry picked from a specific part of the game. Either the developer decides on content from somewhere in the middle of the game to show some juicy action or something more towards the beginning in order to not spoil too much. However despite the demo shown at E3 2016 being at the very beginning of the game, what gamers will actually experience whenever God of War arrives will be vastly different.

Battlezone on PlayStation VR – A Brief Take

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 20, 2016 | 0 comments

Battlezone is a launch title that I plan on getting for PlayStation VR come October 13th and coincidentally, the first PS VR game that I also tried. Having had a chance to play it after the PlayStation keynote on Monday night, I was quickly shown the wonders VR can deliver. But perhaps more so than anything that was directly offered to me as a player, Battlezone tapped into my imagination of being transported to the Grid. Once there, within minutes I was maneuvering around tanks, strafe shooting, and taking down incoming flying enemies. Not bad for somebody who has never played the game, let alone strapped on a VR headset.

This is perhaps the closest I’ve ever been to the world of TRON (a place I’d live if I could) and damn was it a joy. After some hands on time, both Allegra and I stuck around to talk to the gang at Rebellion about their PS VR exclusive title.

Bound VR – Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 18, 2016 | 0 comments

PS4 - Bound

Though Steve Jobs was not the first person to say it, it’s inherently clear that when the Polish indie team at Plastic Demo sought out to make their next game, his motto was in some way at the core of their vision. Seeing how well it’s served Apple, it’s not hard to see why you’d want that mentality at the center of your creation, but achieving it is something entirely different.

Creating a game that’s simplistic purely to be simple can come off as unambitious and visually dull. Is it just a low budget game? Are the developers not experienced enough to piece together something more captivating? Those are all perhaps fair questions that come to mind when the word ‘simple’ is tossed at a game.

But what if the opposite is true? What if simplicity was chosen on purpose to drive the imagination? What if that simplicity was put in place in order to explore more mature themes and paved the way for a world that’s driven by music and dance? And not just any dance, but ballet. Add to all of this a virtual environment and we now have the recipe for something truly unique.

Sony Confirms PS4 4K – Here’s Why That’s Smart

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 10, 2016 | 10 comments

President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Andrew House, spoke earlier this morning with the Financial Times and confirmed the long rumored PS4.5, PS4K, PS4 Neo. In short, everything we’ve learned about PS4 4K over the past several weeks has been true in broad strokes – that it will be a more powerful version of PS4 with 4K capabilities that will be sold alongside the PS4. Andrew House:

We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle

Horizon: Zero Dawn Officially Delayed to February 2017

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 6, 2016 | 0 comments

Horizon: Event Zero

This is something that I brought to your attention in late April. Horizon: Zero Dawn, the PS4 exclusive from Guerrilla Games (Killzone) has officially been delayed to early next year. Hermen Hulst, Managing Director at Guerrilla Games:

It wasn’t an easy choice to make; we know many of you have been anxious to play the game since we first announced it. However, we also want to ensure that Horizon Zero Dawn lives up to the visuals and gameplay quality that our games are known for. The new date affords us the extra time required to deliver fully on our ambitious vision for Horizon Zero Dawn.

Gran Turismo Sport Will Be Able to Output Photos in 4K

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 3, 2016 | 0 comments

Gran_Turismo_Sport_Dirt

Ironically, Sony didn’t release any 4K photos from the game, opting to instead deliver photos that barely pass for 720p

I’m not saying there is going to be a PS4 4K announced this year but I’m also not saying California is experiencing a drought – and you know what? It is. At a press event in London, series creator Kazunori Yamaguchi took to stage to announce a plethora of new information in regards to the PS4 exclusive. The curious of all the features? The ability to output photos in 4K.

Another Reason Why PlayStation VR Will Outpace Oculus Rift & HTC Vive

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 3, 2016 | 0 comments

Official_PlayStation_VR_9

Let’s see, a far lower entry price and a 40 million install base? As it stands, there is no way Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are going to compete with PlayStation VR when it launches this October. All Sony has to do is keep the momentum going and fully empower their developers to produce some unique games and experiences. After all, content is king and the true selling point of VR.

So far the number of VR capable PC’s is less than 20m and so these GPU’s are being positioned as a low cost entry point to premium VR.

— ZhugeEX (@ZhugeEX) June 1, 2016

Oculus Rift Favoring Retail Over Pre-order And In Turn, Screwing Over Its Loyal Base

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 2, 2016 | 0 comments

Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR

It’s hard to know the future of VR. Is it going to be a product that brings with it a deep impact onto the tech community as well as our culture like the smartphone? Or is it something more of a fad, perhaps due to technology that wasn’t quite yet ready for primetime like 3D? In retrospect, it’s not hard to look back and think that the adoption of 3D in the consumer landscape would have been vastly different if televisions for example could produce the extra dimension without a need for glasses. In some ways, VR is also a technology that’s also been seemingly coming for the past two decades though this time around, there is far greater support behind the format – yet like 3D, its fortunes are still up in the air.

One thing that is for certain is that VR is in its infancy and needs to be nurtured correctly to ensure a thriving future. Well, perhaps two things are certain, with the second being that Oculus Rift is screwing over its most loyal user base. What can Sony learn with PlayStation VR? A lot.

Why the Gran Turismo Sport Trailer Fails to Thrill

by Sohrab Osati | May 25, 2016 | 2 comments

Gran_Turismo_Sport_BMW_M4

I’m not sure if at this point it’s me or there is something seriously lackluster taking place with the creative team behind Gran Turismo Sport. For those unaware, Sony finally announced a November 15th release date for the long time PlayStation-exclusive franchise. The one caveat from all this is that in order to meet the deadline, the game is skipping out on their initially-announced public beta – which seems like a terrible idea to me. That aside, when Gran Turismo Sport was first revealed, I had written how fairly generic the trailer was.

Sadly, from what should have been an easy trailer to nail, we’re left with an awkward piece that fails to thrill and opts to show us a parked Mazda Miata and its interior.

Giving the creative team the benefit of the doubt, I’d hoped for the official trailer to enlist more emotion and excitement. After all, I’m a bit of a petrol head and have played all games (excluding GT6) in the series. Unfortunately I walked away from the trailer wanting to fire up DriveClub instead.

Uncharted 4 First Week Sales Surpass 2.7 Million

by Sohrab Osati | May 23, 2016 | 0 comments

Uncharted_4_Drake_Sully

A game that’s worthy of selling 10 million copies – or more, frankly. Asad Qizilbash, Senior Director, First Party Games, SIEA:

Millions of fans around the world have already joined Nathan Drake on his final treasure hunt. In the first week alone, I’m happy to report that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End exceeded 2.7 million units in global sales. For the North American region, Uncharted 4 is the fastest-selling PS4 first party title to-date.

Of course as I wrote about here, there will always be a fairly short ceiling for what a game on PlayStation can sell unless Sony redefines PlayStation with PS5. With that, hats off to Naughty Dog for creating such a masterpiece series. It’s worth noting that the 2.7 million copies includes both digital and Blu-ray sales.

Gran Turismo Sport Beta Canceled, Probably a Bad Idea

by Sohrab Osati | May 20, 2016 | 0 comments

Let’s play good news, bad news. First the good news – you can finally rejoice, Gran Turismo Sport has a ship date of November 15th. This means the PS4 is finally getting a very in-depth racer in what’s sure to be a gorgeous game with no shortage of cars, tracks, and customizable options. Now on to the bad news. Because of its ship date, the Gran Turismo Sport beta has been canceled, a move that flirts with disaster. Let me explain.