The PlayStation weekly wrap-up – E3 special

What a week! Did you stay up for the PlayStation show? Or catch up with the action at a more civilised hour?

As the dust settles on Los Angeles, the E3 circus rolls out of town for another year and our heads slowly stop spinning from all of the announcements, it’s time to look back and take stock of E3 2016 – as well as all the rest of the PlayStation news from this week.

The big reveals

1. God of War
   Kratos! With a beard! And a son! Excuse the excitement, but this one was big in more ways than one, and a breath-taking way to open the show, accompanied by a full live orchestra. God of War is returning to PlayStation, and we can’t wait.
    
   
2. Days Gone
   Bend Studio’s brutal, post-apocalyptic PS4 debut took us to the mountainous terrain of the Pacific North-West, where a terrible pandemic has transformed ordinary people into relentless “Freakers”. Watch the trailer below, then check out 10 minutes of gameplay HERE.
    
   
3. Spider-Man PS4 (working title)
   Hot on the heels of this year’s Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac games revealed their next project – a PS4-exclusive take on Marvel’s iconic wall crawler. It’s early days, but this acrobatic, web-slinging collaboration is sure to be a whole lot of fun.
    
   

For a run-down of all the announcements from E3 2016, who better to guide you through them than the show’s host, President and CEO of SCEA, Shawn Layden.

PlayStation VR round-up

The PlayStation VR hype train picked up even more speed with a jaw-dropping array of games – as well as having a release date finally pinned down. You’ll be able to get your headset on 13 October – and can start looking forward to these games now…

• Interstellar experiences are heading to PS VR with Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR, Eve Valkyrie, Super Stardust VR and the lonely, lost-in-space thrill of Farpoint.
   
  
• If having the bejesus scared out of you is more your thing, then PS VR has definitely got you covered. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was announced with full PS VR support (and a demo available right away from PlayStation Store), alongside the creepy Here They Lie and previously announced Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.

  Check out some of the fun we had on the show floor by terrifying the E3 faithful in this jump-scare video:

And this only scratches the surface. There’s the small matter of a certain caped crusader swooping forth in Batman: Arkham VR, as well as the insane 100ft Robot Golf, Battlezone, Final Fantasy XV and loads more. Stay tuned to PlayStation Blog for our round up of everything PS VR next week.

Tweets of the week

It's not the quickest way to travel to #E32016 but Aloy's spear to the back was motivating him to bike faster. pic.twitter.com/bYN5ZOWxGZ

— hermen (@hermenhulst) June 16, 2016

@yosp @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN @Kojima_Hideo pic.twitter.com/fcYHsYYS2N

— DavideSpagocciTA360 (@ITA360COM) June 16, 2016

#OHNORSEYOUDIDN'T! pic.twitter.com/bntGgtKMXq

— Santa Monica Studio (@SonySantaMonica) June 15, 2016

@SonySantaMonica pic.twitter.com/D5DaNfoNs6

— Boz (@BozTheKing) June 15, 2016

Around the world of PlayStation

• Our old buddies at Kotaku have delved deeper in the Norse mythology of the freshly revealed God of War and indulged in a little speculation as to what it could all mean for Kratos’ return.
• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare unveiled a new, explosive trailer at E3 that moved so fast, you could be forgiven for missing some of the details. Fortunately, Gamesradar slowed it down and picked out eight things you might have missed.

PlayStation Store leftfield pick of the week

When it comes to gaming mash-ups, the high-octane stunt biking of Trials Fusion and the neon 80’s flair of Far Cry: Blood Dragon may seem an unlikely partnership. But in Trials of the Blood Dragon, that’s exactly what you get; part throwback action movie, part skilful physics-based gameplay, you’ll control bikes, runaway mine carts, jet packs and more in a trial to save the world from the Blood Dragons.

• Buy Trials of the Blood Dragon on PlayStation Store
• All of this week’s new releases

Our E3 favourites from the show floor

With no time for playing games this week, here’s what the team got a glimpse of in between the complimentary hot dogs and accidental sunburn of Los Angeles:

• Matt: “Having supped a complimentary beer before pulling on the PSVR headset (don’t try this at home, kids) I was a bit worried I might have let myself in for an upset tummy. I needn’t have worried: Battlezone is so smooth it feels like your Cobra tank is gliding on butter – great art direction and rogue-like mechanics as well – this is very much my jam.”
• Corey: “Hauntingly beautiful and wonderfully endearing, The Last Guardian has managed to be everything it should be – a delicate and well told narrative blended with a focused and captivating gameplay. Worth the wait? You betcha.”
• Fred: “Frank admission: I was always a little agnostic on the God of War series. However, Santa Monica Studios big reveal really grabbed me by the collar and showed me the back of its hand. It looks phenomenal – I can’t wait to explore that world.”
• Rhys: “Despite holding the fort back in rainy London town while the rest of them “worked” over in LA (I’m not bitter, honest), the style, impact and full-on action of Days Gone jolted me back to life at 2.30am as the show went out live. Oh, and I’m super-hyped for Farpoint too – it looks like exactly what I want from PS VR.”