The zenith of this phenomenon – and the zenith of the series as a whole as a result – was Gran Turismo 4. Beyond this point, the franchise would cede the top spot to Microsoft and Turn10’s Forza games, and struggle with the HD transition, and its own inability to deliver on its own standards for a few entries. But Gran Turismo 4, this game was in so many ways the ultimate racing sim when it launched. On almost every possible level, it was a total triumph and delivered on what it set out to do. Automobile enthusiasts, outlets, and media personalities notably praised the game for its stunning authenticity and attention to even the smallest possible details in terms of recreating these cars in the game – while, of course, they noted some deficiencies, on the whole there was widespread praise and recognition lavished on the degree of accuracy in the game.

This can be attributed to a lot of things – the game’s graphics were top notch (notably, this was one of the few PS2 games that supported progressive scan resolution output), the models were incredibly well realized and high fidelity, the environments were convincing and accurately recreated the locales you were driving the cars on, and just the general attention to graphical techniques in service of creating stunning visuals and aesthetics (a sensibility that carries over into Sony games across the board to this day) all contributed to this.

But it wasn’t just the graphics, either – the game’s engine sounds were great, and while this is an area that future games in the series would garner criticism for, Gran Turismo 4 at the time was about as good as things got on this front. And the controls and handling – this was paramount, you see, the cars you drove in the game had to actually feel like the cars they were emulating. From their heft, their steering, their traction, handling, drag, all of the many, many, many attributes that go into each car having such a distinct feeling from every other car, had to be replicated for the seven hundred cars that were in Gran Turismo 4. And Polyphony Digital, by golly, did it! Again, there were a handful of shortcomings, but they were single digit in a game with over 700 cars, and more permutations and combinations thrown in by way of customization, terrain, tracks, and so much more. This authenticity wasn’t even limited to just the cars either – events and courses were stunningly recreated as well, including the Le Maans endurance event, known to be a 24 hour driving event in the real world, which also took a whole 24 hours in GT4.

Gran Turismo 4 wasn’t just great at being an automobile sim, however, it was just all around a well designed game. It had an almost excessive amount of modes – apart from the classic A-Spec racing mode and the License Test modes, there were Driving Missions, as well as the B-Spec mode, which saw you go a bit more hands-off and use a management style overview mode to direct and navigate the driver through races and courses rather than doing the driving yourself. Progression was incredibly well balanced, and the game’s sophisticated physics, paired with its alarmingly accurate and authentic handling models, made it a joy to play, especially for players who liked a more sedate and yet exacting experience even from their driving games. The progression system was compelling, and also designed to encourage replays and experimentation, with players standing the most chance of earning credits and points if they replayed events and courses with different cars. This is the kind of thing that kept people playing the game for hundreds of hours, the kind of thing that endeared it to 11.76 million people worldwide – you don’t sell that many copies just by being a great racing sim, to sell that much (especially back in the PS2 era, when sales at this level were still unusual), you need to have general mainstream appeal. And a racing game only has that kind of appeal by being as good at the game part as anything else – if not more.

It was a combination of so many factors that made Gran Turismo 4 stand out to this extent – it got to build on everything that had come before, it came at the zenith of the PS2, and before the HD transition with the PS3 would decimate so many development pipelines and cause so much trouble around the world, it was as accomplished at being a great game as it was at being a great racing sim. All of this made Gran Turismo 4 a hell of a game, and one of the few breakthroughs Sony’s first party had at the time. Of course, very soon, Sony’s first party profile would gain a huge lift; this, combined with Polyphony’s struggles with HD development, and the rise of Forza, means that no Gran Turismo game since 4 managed to recreate that lightning in a bottle moment that all the games in the series through to this point had. But that would come later. In 2004-05, when Gran Turismo 4 originally came out, it was the peak of its kind of game, and Polyphony’s star was flying very, very high indeed.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Spider-Man has brought together the largest production team for a single game at the studio in their entire history.

The title was first revealed at Sony’s E3 2016 stage, and while VP/Executive editor at Marvel Digital Media would confirm the original 2017 release in April of that year, when the gameplay demo of Spider-Man capped off Sony’s E3 2017 the title would be delayed until the sometime during the first half of 2018.

The origins of the game go back to 2014, when Marvel Games would first approach Sony interactive Entertainment, and propose that they publish a Marvel title to be treated as a major first party title for PlayStation. This would mark the beginning of a new direction for Marvel Games, as their head Jay Ing would say to Gamesindustry.biz following the reveal of the game that the company would look toward selectively partnering with proven studios to build great games fans would look forward to, taking cues from how the larger company has built the cinematic universe. Their partnership with Sony and Insomniac for Spider-Man is said to be ongoing.

Sony would go about contracting Insomniac Games for the job, coming off a handful of smaller titles for the Oculus Rift and the multi-platform Song of the Deep, it marks the first time in the companies 22 year history that they would work on a series they didn’t create. Spider-Man would be created on top of a modified version of the Sunset Overdrive game engine.

Some key members of the team working on Spider-Man include Bryan Intihar, who produced Sunset Overdrive, and is in the role of creative director for the first time on Spider-Man. Ryan Smith is the game director, having held various programming related positions with Insomniac for over 10 years.

Story

Thankfully ditching the whole origin story thing that every Spider-Man reboot seems to keep retreading, Insomniac is telling the story of a more established, 23 year old Peter Parker on the cusp of graduating college while having filled his role as Spider-Man for the past eight years. Taking down one of his major enemies, Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk near the outset of the story has the unintended consequence of leaving room for a new gang to move on his territory.

The “Inner Demons” begin making their move on New York, and while Spider-Man is caught up between Fisk’s men and the Inner Demons at one of Fisk’s construction sites, Peter learns that one of New York’s best known business leaders and philanthropists, Martin Li, is actually leading the Inner Demons under his alias “Mister Negative”. While nobody on the team has stated this, it’s possible that inspiration was taken from the “Brand New Day” arc of The Amazing Spider-Man comics.

Throughout the story, players will have to balance the responsibility of Spider-Man, and the daily life as Peter Parker as the two intertwine inevitably, with relationships becoming muddy in the process. For example, Aunt May works at one of the many shelters owned by Li.

Gameplay

Much like previous games based on the license, Spider-Man will be a third-person, open world action adventure title, set in a representation of modern day New York. Gameplay demos such as those shown off at E3 2017 show a free-flowing combat system reminiscent of, but not identical to, the one popularized by the Rocksteady Batman Arkham series.

In addition to normal strikes, contextual cues will allow Spider-Man to leverage his special abilities in combat, such as super strength, web slinging and wall crawling to his advantage, for example using his webbing to toss a concrete block at a heavy foe. Stealth systems will allow Peter to get the drop on his enemies, making full use of his wall crawling abilities and there will be the occasional quick time event.

During key segments and missions, Peter will have to deal with problems outside of the suit, helping tie in the dual identity angle to the hero and his problems.

Characters

While Spider-Man may introduce or include cameos from a wide variety of his cast of Marvel rouges, there are only a handful confirmed to appear, which we will outline below.

Peter Benjamin Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man was only a teenager when he went on a field trip to a science exhibit that would change his life forever. Bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter developed the innate strength, senses and agility of a spider, as well as the ability to scale walls with nothing but his bare hands. Peter was a scientific prodigy in and of himself before the introduction of his powers, and through that he develops his mechanized, wrist mounted web-slingers which he uses to do whatever a spider can. His first thought with his powers wasn’t to become a superhero, though what he does try varies based on who’s telling the story, the part where Peter allows a thief to get away for his own revenge always ironically swings back on Peter as the thief goes on to rob and murder his Uncle Ben, cementing a point in the mind of the young hero – With great power comes great responsibility.

Mary Jane Watson is set to appear in the 2018 game, though what her exact role will be is unknown. Throughout the comics and movies, Mary Jane has served as confidant, friend, love interest and even wife. The one consistent is that she’s a classic “Girl next door” archetype who Peter cares about and is one of the conflicts between his life as Peter and his life as Spider-Man.

Another woman important to Peter is his Aunt May, who also has appeared in many different incarnations and roles depending on the media in which she appears. One of her most recent depictions is within the Marvel Cinematic universe, where Aunt May is far younger than previous incarnations, perhaps in her 30s. Here she seems somewhere in the middle, just a decade or so on from her Cinematic counterpart. She works with Li’s F.E.A.S.T. shelters, showing her philanthropic nature.

Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk might look like a husky gentleman, but his patented white suit jacket hides a physique which is more in line with a highly trained Sumo wrestler, with muscles on his muscles. He has no particular superhuman powers beyond his strength, he knows how to use both that strength and his usually diamond tipped walking stick to his advantage in combat. While he is physically intimidating, his skills in leadership are his true power, usually commanding the New York criminal underworld in a way that earns him his title of “Kingpin”.

Martin Li is a Chinese immigrant who has gone on to establish himself as one of the top businessmen in New York, and a philanthropist to boot, funding almost exclusively a series of soup kitchen shelters known as F.E.A.S.T. Li hides a sinister alternate persona, Mister Negative, who commands the Inner Demons gang, is the polar opposite of the generous Li and cares only for commanding as much territory as a crime boss as possible.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Supermassive Games began development of The Inpatient following their previous game, Tumble VR. Continuing with work on Sony’s VR platform from Tumble VR and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, The Inpatient is being developed using the Unreal Engine 4.

Several key writers and directors from Until Dawn returned to their roles with The Inpatient, including Nik Bowen, Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick.

Announced as one of the headlining titles for Sony’s PlayStation VR Platform for the near future, The Inpatient was announced at their E3 show in 2017. Taking place within the Blackwood Sanatorium, the player character, who can be a man or woman by the players’ choosing, seeks to regain their memories. The game takes place 60 years before 2015’s Until Dawn, acting as a prequel to that game.

Making full use of the immersion of VR, Supermassive went to great lengths to make sure what the player felt within the world of the game, including details like seeing the player’s body when they look down, voice interaction with NPCs and subtler elements like binaural audio to draw the player in. The game was originally intended to launch on PlayStation VR on November 21, 2017 and November 22, 2017 in North America and Europe respectively, before being pushed back for January 23 and 24, 2018 for unknown reasons.

Story

Taking place within the Until Dawn universe, 60 years prior to the events of that game, the player is a mental patient within the Blackwood Sanatorium. The player’s gender is selectable, allowing them to be either a male or female, and they are interned within the facility suffering from amnesia. The player can interact with NPCs via voice commands, as they traverse and endure the facility, determined to get their memory back. Beyond the scares, the memories you retrieve are supposed to tell of some shadowy conspiracy. It’s really for the best that we don’t spoil the finer details and outcome of the story, since it is the large point of the game, but it is known that much like Until Dawn, the story will alter itself due to the choices of the player.

Gameplay

The entirety of The Inpatient is played from a first person perspective, which follows as a VR title. Players follow the story of their protagonist, sex and skin colour of their choosing, as they try to recover their lost memories and survive their time in the Sanatorium.

Players can interact with the game through the PSVR Headset, either a Dualshock 4 or two PlayStation Move controllers and their voice. Special voice technology ties the player right to the in game character, allowing the character to say exactly what the player wants. Using two PlayStation Move controllers gives the player finer control over their hands in the game, bringing them deeper into the experience. The experience is highly guided, with the player making decisions about how to proceed as they go and altering the course of the story through those decisions.

The player will regain memories through the game, though the details of them can be influenced by different decisions made throughout the game. You’ll meet and interact with the staff and patients of Blackwood, each with their own reasons for what they do and how you react to them will have significant impact on the story.

Characters

The star of the game is intended to be the player themselves. Supermassive went to great lengths to remain immersive with Sony’s VR technology, choosing to allow the player a choice in being Male or Female, the ability to look down and see their body, which is not something typically done in VR due to all the extra work, and interacting with the game’s NPCs via voice, as well as through audio design all speak to some serious dedication to this as a VR experience. The player is as a result, not very defined within the world of the game.

The player is first greeted within Blackwood Sanatorium by Jefferson Bragg, an older man who is the owner and operator of both Blackwood as well as a nearby hotel and mines. His insistence that he wants to help the player recover their memories seems less than sincere, suggesting that there are deeper motivations at play.

The nurse in charge of the player’s care is Victoria LaBoucher, voiced by Melodie Casta. The young African American woman is an empathetic, caring and calm nurse who fits her profession like a glove. She wears a light blue dress, white apron and cap, always looking collected. Her coworkers hold her in high regard, with Abe calling her a “smart cookie”. She holds some very progressive ideas for her time as well.

Abe White, voiced by Max Lloyd-Jones is the orderly who spends a lot of time moving patients between locations in Blackwood. He’s a young white man with slicked brown hair and a humorous side that he uses to try to keep the patients at ease. Victoria sometimes needs his help to subdue unruly patients. He’s got his eye on another staff member, but it seems like his advances are destined to be rejected.

Suzanne Daniels, Voiced by Alex Paige Fream, is the young Asian American nurse who works at Blackwood and the unreciprocating object of Abe’s affections. She’s a popular woman with an optimistic outlook that brightens the days of those around her.

Suzanne might have her eye on David Miller, voiced by Kevin McHale. The suspicious man isn’t seen too often during the game, but he holds his fellow staff in high regard. He’s not the biggest fan of Mr. Bragg for some reason.

The player will either meet Gordon or Anna Bennet, depending on wether the player is a male or female. The cellmate of the player character, they’re highly mistrusting of the Blackwood staff and prone to outbursts of anger. However, for some reason it seems like there’s more to them.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Bluepoint Games’ remake of Shadow of the Colossus has looked nothing short of remarkable thus far and in a new gameplay video, we get to see just how gorgeous the game looks. Check it out below.

Shadow of the Colossus was originally released for the PlayStation 2 by Team ICO, the same team that brought us the seminal ICO and who would also work on The Last Guardian for PS4. This remake takes advantage of new rendering features and collision systems to offer a more compelling gameplay experience. Sadly, there are no new Colossi that have been added.

And for those who own a PlayStation 4 Pro, Shadow of the Colossus will support a 60 FPS mode for more fluid gameplay. Those with a 4K TV can still expect to run the game in 4K resolution albeit with a 30 FPS frame rate. Look for the game’s release on February 6th 2018 for PS4 and expect more details and footage to arrive in the meantime.

If you’re Sony, the answer seems to be to hire a talented studio to make games specifically for that platform. In this case, that studio is Supermassive Games, the team behind the excellent Until Dawn. Hidden Agenda is a natural extension of what Supermassive accomplished with that game, and a good example of what PlayLink is capable of.

"Players take control of Detective Becky Marney (played by Katie Cassidy) and District Attorney Felicity Graves (Christy Choi) as they try to solve cases involving a serial killer known as The Trapper, who is notable for booby-trapping his victims in the hopes of maiming or killing first responders who arrive to help them."

Hidden Agenda is best described as an extremely streamlined visual novel, and when I say streamlined, I mean cut down to the bone. The game is little more than an interactive film where you occasionally offer input to determine the flow of conversations and control what happens during action set pieces. Players take control of Detective Becky Marney (played by Katie Cassidy) and District Attorney Felicity Graves (Christy Choi) as they try to solve cases involving a serial killer known as The Trapper, who is notable for booby-trapping his victims in the hopes of maiming or killing first responders who arrive to help them. Your decisions and reactions will control the actions your characters take, how well the investigation goes, and who lives and who dies.

The decisions range from how you’ll approach investigating a crime scene to how you interact with other characters, and the choices you make can have a significant impact on the game, reframing entire sequences and affecting the fates of multiple characters. Your choices matter here, and the sense of consequence keeps you engaged and encourages multiple playthroughs. This is good, because Hidden Agenda is a very short game – only a couple hours and change – but it’s compelling, and the high replay value means you’ll want to come back for more.

Playing the game means you’ll have to download a (pretty large) companion app to your phone or tablet, and up to six players can all play together on their devices. In Hidden Agenda, the point is really to offer second screen functionality akin to the Nintendo DS or Wii U. In addition to swiping your finger on your phone to make choices, and complete Quick Time Events that determine how your characters react to certain actions and help them find clues, you’ll also gain access to a logbook that tracks character biographies, major choices (called ripple effects) and a plot summary of current events, all of which are updated in real time as you play and can be accessed at your discretion.

" If you’ve got the Agenda, your best bet is to get what you want by stealth and guile, without it looking like you’re trying to get it by stealth and guile."

You can play the story either two different ways – in Story mode or Competitive mode. Story mode is the more relaxed version of the game, where all of the players work cooperatively and make decisions together. Competitive mode has players actively working against each other, and this is where the game’s Agenda system comes into play. At the start of each chapter, a random player is given an Agenda card, which charges them with carrying out a specific objective in that chapter. Thing is, you have to carry out your Agenda in secret, while the other players have to figure out who has the Agenda and what it is. Because the game operates on majority rule for major decisions, the Agenda has to convince the other players to vote a certain way.

If your persuasion skills aren’t up to the task, you can always play a Takeover card and take total control of the situation. Trouble is, playing a Takeover card looks incredibly suspicious and another player can play another card to take things back. If you’ve got the Agenda, your best bet is to get what you want by stealth and guile, without it looking like you’re trying to get it by stealth and guile. The competition also extends to situations where you’re searching for clues, as finding them earns you Takeover cards. The more you have, the more control you can exert.

The problem with Competitive mode is that it’s very easy to get so focused on completing Agendas or finding the Agenda player that it’s very easy to derail the story. Some of the Agenda objectives don’t make much sense in context, and while the game often handles choice and consequence well, missing certain clues or making certain choices can result in sequences where it feels like pieces are missing. Story mode solves this problem by removing the Agenda system entirely, but at that point, one wonders what the point of the PlayLink system is as a controller would work better. It’s not that the system is bad, but it can be clumsy during timed QTEs, and since some of those decisions matter more than others, and there’s no chapter select system and no way to undo them without restarting the entire game, any added level of frustration is unwelcome, especially if you screw up on a major decision near the end of the game.

"I’m not entirely convinced PlayLink is a necessary system, and I wonder how much staying power it has. But I know this: I’ll be playing Hidden Agenda again, and I’ll probably bring some friends – and their phone chargers – with me."

And then there’s another problem: the system requires a phone that can run the app, a lot of spare space to download it, a Wi-Fi connection that’s the same as the one your PS4 is one, and multiple devices that won’t suddenly lose charge halfway through the game. You can see the logistical problems immediately, especially if your home doesn’t have many power outlets.

The other major issue is that because you control every decision, the main characters feel undefined. You can play Becky as an upright, trusting cop one minute and an angry, vengeful one the next. Simultaneously, Grace can be a hyper-serious district attorney in one scene, and a shameless flirt in another. It’s a problem in all games with choices like this, but it seems more pronounced here because you control two characters instead of one.

Even with these problems, Hidden Agenda is still fun. It’s an engaging crime story with solid writing, good performances, and absolutely gorgeous presentation, all at a budget price. The character models can enter the uncanny valley at times, and the environments occasionally suffer from the contrast with the people, but this is a well-presented, well-done game. I’m not entirely convinced PlayLink is a necessary system, and I wonder how much staying power it has. But I know this: I’ll be playing Hidden Agenda again, and I’ll probably bring some friends – and their phone chargers – with me.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Sony Interactive Entertainment president Andrew House has stepped down from his current role and will be replaced by deputy president John Kodera. Effective immediately, Kodera will function as the president and chief executive officer of the company. House will still remain at SIE till the end of the year but will eventually transition into a director/chairman role.

Andrew House issued a statement on his departure from the role of president, stating that, “I’m tremendously proud of what we’ve built with PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment: entertaining millions globally with the best in games and creating a fully fledged digital entertainment company.

“PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges. I shall always treasure the friendships and people that have made SIE such a wonderful place to work. I’m also grateful to PlayStation fans and gamers around the world for their loyalty and support. John and the team at SIE are world-class and I know the future of PlayStation is very bright.”

House has been working with Sony for quite a long time, first joining the company in the corporate communications department in 1990 before moving to the marketing and communications team for SCE in 1995. He would become president in 2011 and essentially oversaw the launch of the PlayStation 4 and other devices since then including PlayStation VR and the PS4 Pro.

Former president Kaz Hirai, who still works as Sony global CEO, also issued a statement on House stepping down from his current role. He said that he was “extremely grateful to Andy for the great contribution he has made to evolving the PlayStation business, and firmly positioning it as one of the drivers of our future growth.”

I couldn’t blame anyone for being new to anti-gravity racing, since the two major names in the genre have been long dormant. It’s a very different feeling from something like a Forza or a Mario Kart, as Wipeout’s vehicles hover just above the ground and don’t play by your petty physics. You don’t so much drive your vehicle as gently aim it around the twisting, sometimes sideways or upside down tracks, ricocheting like a pinball against a wall and having to maintain your vehicle integrity.

"Omega finally frees 2048 from the confines of the long dead Playstation Vita, and packages it together with the complete Wipeout HD and its Fury expansion all within a singular universal front end menu."

The game slowly asks you to master the distinct maneuvering through a wide variety of events, from straight races, to time trials and speed laps and combat centric brawls. Most of the modes are self explanatory and universal, some are game specific but a universal factor is that they aren’t explained within the game. I was forced to intuit some of the stranger events such as Zones, which asked me to maintain an automatically accelerating vehicle as it continually sped up for as long as I could, or dive into the digital manual. Let’s be real, nobody is going to look for that.

Omega finally frees 2048 from the confines of the long dead Playstation Vita, and packages it together with the complete Wipeout HD and its Fury expansion all within a singular universal front end menu. All three titles are well known for having a lot to do within each, on top of mastering its systems and multiplayer racing. If you’re the gamer who likes to get a lot of gameplay content per dollar, the value here can’t be overstated.

While both ask you to progress in slightly different ways, such as earning EXP and following a career path in 2048 or earning enough gold medals to advance in HD, Smartly sticking to the two immediately previous incarnations of the series means that they largely play identically, and the package is more cohesive than any compilation before as a result.

"Omega hits a rock solid, true 4K at 60FPS, regardless of what’s going on, even in multiplayer."

That’s not to say that there are no differences between the two styles, that would have been unavoidable. The controls and handling work nearly one to one, especially with vehicles that cross over, making darting back and forth between games if a certain event isn’t working out for you super easy. The UI is the single part of the experience that was even a little jarring, as HD and Fury use a different one from the far cleaner looking 2048 and they each place critical information in different places on the screen, such as ship health or your current weapon.

I won’t fault the work that they did pour into the ports to say they should have come up with a more universal UI, because the conversion they put into the visual department is second to none. Omega hits a rock solid, true 4K at 60FPS, regardless of what’s going on, even in multiplayer. The textures from the Vita have all been completely redone, and given bump mapping effects to feel in line with modern console standards.

While there are still a very few examples of strangely simple geometry on background pieces, particularly on 2048 tracks, the updates they did especially with points you’ll see during a race goes beyond a simple level of detail bump. Post processing effects like added shadows and completely new global illumination give even Wipeout HD tracks a completely new lease on life.

"If I had to pick out something that seemed lacking about Omega, I would have to say I was disappointed about the omission of Playstation VR support."

Online, the game performs just as flawlessly as it looks, and I found matches fairly easily and stayed in them with minimum issues. Split screen multiplayer works and looks just as flawlessly as playing solo, and it’s fantastic to see more locally playable games on modern consoles. Completely customizable options for local racing lets you tailor the game no matter if you’ve got a pair of seasoned vets going head to head or want some casual fun.

If I had to pick out something that seemed lacking about Omega, I would have to say I was disappointed about the omission of Playstation VR support. Sony has a previous track record of using their remasters to showcase their current accessory d’jour, and the high speed thrills of a Wipeout game seem almost perfect for it in concept, since there’s no cockpit render to consider in first person view. Not a dealbreaker, as it was never promised to begin with, but disappointing nonetheless. Maybe if they do a new one.

Will Wipeout Omega Collection herald a return from the series with a proper PS4 instalment? I hope so. The visual updates to these beloved and well designed games deliver the cleanest look I’ve seen from the PS4 Pro and hit a rock solid framerate. Lifting the fantastic 2048 from the Vita and bringing it to a standard expected of the PS4 is great already but packaging it with two other content complete Wipeout games lends the game a ton of value, and some small nitpicks with UI and a handful of examples of less than stelar modelling work can’t take that away. The ghost of Liverpool can rest easy, their legacy has been taken good care of.

This game was reviewed on Playstation 4.

Update: We have updated the headline to correctly reflect the quotes. We initially misread the quotes so our deepest apologies for any inconvenience caused to our readers.

Original Story:

Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro has been a decent success even if there are still debates about the quality of its 4K upscaling. However, developers are getting better about taking advantage of the console. Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn is a good example with fairly strong performance from the day of its launch.

However, even with all the graphical fidelity on display, has Guerrilla really utilized the full potential of PS4 Pro? Speaking to The Sixth Axis, producer Samrat Sharma noted that, “The machine has a lot of power, so we understand what it can do, but the game was already in place when we learnt about the Pro and got the dev kit.

“So what we’ve done is taken the power and tried to make the best improvements we think for our existing game. We didn’t design the game from the ground up for the Pro, but we tried to use that processing power to do the best things we could to make the experience look or feel better for you.”

Samrat noted that it’s less of a case of exploiting the Pro’s full potential. “I don’t think it’s fair to say we haven’t used it fully, but I do think it’s fair to say that if we’d designed the game from the ground up for the Pro, we’d have probably used it differently.

“In nitty gritty detail, this is a question for our tech director, but I think my two favourite improvements are the anti-aliasing and supersampling even on 1080p televisions so it just looks smooth and beautiful, and if you’ve got a proper HDR TV, the colours, especially in the lush forest regions, they just pop. Those are my favourite improvements that we’ve been able to squeeze in.”

What are your thoughts on Horizon: Zero Dawn for PS4 Pro? Let us know in the comments.

PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida claims that the PS4’s life cycle will not be impacted by the release of the Playstation 4 Neo. One of the major questions raised about mid-cycle refreshes like the Neo and the Scorpio is whether these would impact console buying patterns by making consoles obsolete much sooner than before.

In response to a question posed to him by Gamesvelt.tv, Yoshida said that “PS4 is PS4.” He further stated–rather ambiguously that “The new high-end PS4 is still PS4.”

For PS4 owners put off by the Neo’s early appearance, this could be read both ways–Yoshida could be saying that, through feature parity in games (i.e. the Neo will not be able to do anything gameplayw-wise that the PS4 can’t), the Neo will somehow not cannibalise PS4 sales and render the older console obsolete.

More worryingly, the comment could be read as implying that the Neo is the PS4, and could completely replace it in Sony’s product stack with the original PS4 being rapidly phased out.

Yoshida also reacted to Microsoft’s Scorpio announcement during the interview, saying that he was “surprised.”

Today is April 1, which means Sony Computer Entertainment, the arm of Sony that has been responsible for the PlayStation since its inception, is no more- instead, it has now been rebranded into Sony Interactive Entertainment. For the end user, not a whole lot has changed (Sony have even opted to keep the same logo)- but Sony themselves see it as a step into a much brighter future for PlayStation.

“What does this day mean for you, the gamer?” PlayStation boss Shawn Layden wrote. “If I’m honest, probably not a whole lot — at least not in the short term. But in the long run, it will mean everything.”

Layden explained that this integration and change will allow PlayStation to deliver on new services at the cutting edge of technology, pointing to PlayStation Now and PlayStation Vue as some examples.

“The formation of SIE will allow us to forge a unified PlayStation organization that can adapt more quickly to meet the needs of the gaming community, innovate with digital services like PlayStation Vue and PlayStation Now, and — above all else — drive consistent and constant innovation in the dynamic medium of videogames. You’re already seeing the early fruits of that effort with PlayStation VR, and the work will continue across a number of fronts.”

It sounds like Sony really plans to make PlayStation their tentpole brand, and be the standard bearer for their return to relevance. Let’s just hope they don’t lose their focus on the games, and the gamer, which has got them so far in the process.