PlayStation

- PlayStation 5 is launching October 30th for $500. The price point is set, but many variables including SSD size is liable to change over the next couple of months. They are trying to push to 2TB.

- Launch games planned currently include:

· New Killzone Title from Guerrilla Games (This title has been very much under wraps for years. It seems to be a huge departure / reboot from the rest of the franchise. Also extra focus on multiplayer.)

· Demon’s Souls Remake from Bluepoint Games (It’s a full remake of the game. Despite having Miyazaki’s blessing the game is sure to be a source of debate for fans since Bluepoint are taking artistic liberties and adding their own ideas.)

· SOCOM Reboot from San Diego Studio (Long rumored to be in development at Guerrilla, the game is being developed by ex Zipper Interactive employees and burnt out MLB devs using the Decima Engine. It has almost photo-realistic graphics.)

· Gran Turismo 7 from Polyphony Digital (Huge project that has been in development since 2014. The game is designed to be supported for 10 years and has more employees working on it than any game Sony has ever made.)

· New Ratchet & Clank from Insomniac Games (Start of a new Trilogy and sequel to the Future series the game has been in development since before the 2016 Remake was released. This game sees the return of space exploration, hoverboots and competitive multiplayer which could be free to play. Still being decided.)

· New Multiplayer Title (Project Vanguard) from Remedy Entertainment (Sony is planning to acquire Remedy based on the reception to this game and a few other variables. In terms of this game, think of a cross between Control, Star Trek and the film Gravity.)

· WiLD from Wild Sheep Studio (Back in 2017 the game was a mess and lacked direction with Michel Ancel devoting more time to Beyond Good & Evil 2. He is still on board just in a lesser capacity. The game has switched to Decima Engine and will be on PS4 and PS5.)

· New Action Title from London Studio (Actually inspired by Hellblade, this game is a short, but hopefully satisfying open world Guy Ritchie-like adventure.)

· New Action Title from Japan Studio (From the makers of Forbidden Siren, this game is more of a spiritual successor to Gravity Rush 2.)

All titles are liable to be delayed out of Fall 2020.

- Sony will host an event on February 5th to unveil the system, controller and key aspects of their plan with another event close to E3 2020 in timing, then one last event shortly before release. There will also be 2 or 3 State of Play’s throughout the year to keep fans excited and remind gamers of other big PlayStation releases.

- Other non-launch titles due to be unveiled at these events include:

· New Horizon Title from Guerrilla Games (2021)

· New Uncharted Title from New Unnamed Studio (2021)

· New The Order Title from Ready at Dawn Studios (2021)

· New Motorstorm Title from Codemasters (2021)

· New Spider-Man Title from Insomniac Games (2022)

· New God of War Title from Santa Monica Studio (2022)

· New Fumito Ueda Title from genDesign (2022)

All titles are liable to not be unveiled. Plans change or worse.

- Key features of PlayStation 5 include:

· The ability to have 3 games and multiple media functionalities suspended while you play a 4th game.

· The ability to have different states of the same game running at the same time.

· In the cloud you can have as many games suspended as you like. You can use the cloud to resume a game on your console after months of playing other game exactly where you left off or of course any other platform through the cloud.

· Save data, screenshots and video clips can be offloaded to the cloud to free up hard drive space.

· Rigorous amounts of data and statistics for you to view about your games and platform use.

· Backwards Compatibility for all PlayStation Formats.

- More on Backwards Compatibility

Expect PlayStation 1, 2, 3 and 4 games available to purchase and play on PS5 at launch. The full PS4 catalogue will be available, but libraries will be limited for other platforms to begin with. More games will be added as time goes on in much the same way Microsoft did. You will actually see a lot more old games supporting high frame rates, 4K resolution and HDR (even ray tracing) on PS5 than has been possible on Xbox One. Sony are very much concerned about saving old games from older platforms. They have the first Gran Turismo game running on PlayStation 5 at 120fps with ray tracing enabled. It looks surprisingly great for a 22 year old game. Backwards compatibility for PSP and Vita are also in development with Sony aiming to have both available within 2 years of the system launching.

- Some other tidbits:

Sony and Microsoft are currently both in a business war with one another to secure marketing rights to certain third party titles that are going to be considered major draws to the next generation. Interestingly enough Microsoft has already gotten the marketing for Rocksteady’s new title, but the WB Games Montreal title heavily rumored to be called Batman: Arkham Legacy (not sure about the name) is up for the taking and is said to be an exceedingly and surprisingly impressive game. Right now the developers are having issues porting the game to current generation hardware. Also in contention is 2 different projects from EA Motive, a 4th Mafia game from 2K, an exciting New IP from Sega and Creative Assembly and Ubisoft’s Avatar.

Rumors about either Sony or Microsoft undercutting each other on price is wrong. Both cost very similarly to produce, are almost indistinguishable in terms of specs and can’t afford to launch at any less than $500. The main differences between both systems is the SSD technology which Sony has the slight edge on, but the differences and long term outcomes cannot be predicted.

Xbox Lockhart is in development, but isn’t going to make it out in time for Xbox Series X launch and specs are still being decided.

There is some truth to rumors that Sony is looking to acquiring ZeniMax Media with Herman Hulst leading the charge, however this has actually happened before and if there is no news before the end of March don’t expect it to happen.

Lastly speaking of Herman Hulst, there is a considerable amount of renewed excitement within Sony and Worldwide Studios with the restructuring and appointment of Hulst. Everything is more organized with communication and worker satisfaction being at an all-time high.

Man walks into a dimly lit room, light bleeds across the room from a shoulder mounted communication device. It is the most light in the scene. There is a light mist and sparks spew from a torn electrical wire tossing light and particles around as the man cautiously makes his way across the room. His boots leave prints as he walks across the polished floors the dim light showing his reflection in the floor. The wire behind him cracks and slows as it comes to a stop along with all of the other lights in the room shutting off at the same time. The man covers the device on his shoulder but the light bleeds through his hand. The man pulls a firearm and continues making his way through this large sterile room. A noise behind him and he turns around removing his hand from the device at his shoulder and revealing himself to everyone. The light illuminates the room and a table he had walked past has been knocked over. The table cloth is still slowly settling on the floor along with all of the other things from the table that have been strewn about. Off in the distance a pair of yellow eyes open and fix on the man. (You will know who he is but I cannot say) he raises his fire arm and fires off several shots. The flash from the gun illuminating the darkness as the creature reels then attacks. Another set of eyes opens as it runs across the room at him. You can see the impact of the weapon punching holes in this thing as it makes its way across the room. The man backpedals and falls down (Monster is right on top of him at this point) over something as he is trying to get away. He fires off a few more shots while on his back and scampers to his feet. The monster still chasing he makes his way into the next room and slams the door behind him. You hear a series of clicks and other weird noises coming through the door. The man leans up against it and you hear a deep inhalation come from the other side of the door like the creature is sniffing around for his scent. The man is breathing heavily and removes one hand from the door and clutches his side, blood is running down his side and his pant leg and pooling under the door. Last shot is the creature kneeling on the other side of the door putting one hand to the blood (creature has four arms) then smelling it. "I have found you." He almost sings the words then the title screen shows and that's it.

Lets see if anyone else can get this detailed. It is the best looking anything that I have ever seen and the character models lighting and physics are on another level. The main character is impossible to confuse with anyone else and this game has not been revealed but I have hinted at it several times. This is not a cut scene or a render target it is actual game play and it is very impressive. Well the end is a cut scene but man ..... You literally cannot tell the difference