Death Stranding will launch November 8th for PS4

Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima’s new game project after leaving Konami, is finally being released. It was showcased three years ago with mass wonder on what the game would be about and the gameplay. Despite small trailers released, many fans of Kojima were unclear on what the game’s story and gameplay would be. Lack of announcement also caused concerns. However, Kojima Productions has finally shown everything you need to know about Death Stranding.

The gameplay focuses on building connections with people and the environment.

People have created “Walls” and become accustomed to living in isolation.

“Death Stranding” is a completely new type of action game, where the goal of the player is to reconnect isolated cities and a fragmented society. It is created so that all elements, including the story and gameplay, are bound together by the theme of the “Strand” or connection. As Sam Porter Bridges, you will attempt to bridge the divides in society, and in doing create new bonds or “Strands” with other players around the globe. Through your experience playing the game, I hope you’ll come to understand the true importance of forging connections with others. – Hideo Kojima

The game stars many famous movie celebrities such as Norman Reedus who plays Sam Bridges (Last name is a bit on the nose). He must traverse the world that has been corrupted by the Death Stranding and must reunite the world. Death Stranding also stars Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Troy Baker, and Guillermo del Toro.

Death Stranding Collector’s Edition

If you pre-order the game, it comes with a  variety of goodies such as golden costumes which will help you stand out amongst the dark environment in the game. If you get the Collector’s Edition, it comes with a Baby statue and a backpack which will be very confusing to explain to your friends who come over. I think the gameplay trailer and story being explained is recreating the excitement fans felt three years ago. The trailer was released yesterday and is almost received 5 million views.

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EA Access is Coming to PlayStation

Electronic Arts Access subscription service is coming to PlayStation starting in July. It cost $4.99 a month or $29.99 for the whole year. If you pay for the subscription, you’ll have access to various EA title, 10% off new digital purchases, and early access to their demos. It was only on Xbox and PC because PlayStation didn’t want other gaming subscription services on their devices that weren’t PlayStation provided.

Why is this important?

EA Access coming to PlayStation are signs that Sony is relaxing on their isolation policies. Many players are familiar with PlayStation not having cross-platforming capabilities for a majority of the games. Many players complained at Sony, especially after Nintendo and Microsoft announced cross-play between the platforms for Fortnite but Sony had not. Sony has since announced crossplay for Fortnite in September. With Sony lessening their restrictions, this may lead to the PlayStation having different subscription services or more open crossplay games.

Sources

Gameindustry.biz

Neowin

EA Games

Sony pushes for a bigger focus on PlayStation Network with Exec changes

Yesterday, Sony announced a change in their executive management for PlayStation. Starting on April 1st, Jim Ryan will become the President and Chief Executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). John Kodera, the previous President, will become deputy President. 1

CEO and president Kenichiro Yoshida stated the move will “ensure sustainable evolution of the PlayStation platform and further growth of the network area.” Yoshida believes the change will help PlayStation Network grow as it has 90 million users. With so many users, Sony is looking to add more content for users to access.

Who is Jim Ryan?

Jim Ryan has been with Sony since 1994 and has been overseeing the Europe PlayStation market. He has helped established PlayStation as the dominant console in Europe and was promoted to deputy President for his successes. He is also known for his statement against backwards compatibility for the PlayStation 4 back in 2017.

“When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much,” says Ryan. “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”

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Future Changes for Sony

While Ryan hasn’t announced any upcoming changes, Sony will not be attending E3 this year. People are predicting Sony will announce the PlayStation 5 this year and will save it for their own event PlayStation Experience (Which was not held in 2018). Sony may move towards a digital subscription service similar to the Xbox Game Pass which gives players access to the entire Xbox One and 360 libraries for a monthly fee. Subscription services are becoming more popular as it helps bring consistent revenue across the year rather than huge spikes at quarter ends.

Sources:

Polygon

Eurogamer

Times

Stanford Business

PlayStation Classic’s 20 Games

The PlayStation Classic was announced a month ago and they have finally announced the 20 games.

  1. Battle Arena Toshinden
  2. Cool Boarders 2
  3. Destruction Derby
  4. Final Fantasy VII
  5. Grand Theft Auto
  6. Intelligent Qube
  7. Jumping Flash
  8. Metal Gear Solid
  9. Mr Driller
  10. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
  11. Rayman
  12. Resident Evil 1: Directors Cut
  13. Revelations: Persona 
  14. Ridge Racer Type 4
  15. Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
  16. Syphon Filter
  17. Tekken 3
  18. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
  19. Twisted Metal
  20. Wild Arms

I was wrong about the console not having unique games. Many of them have not been re-released on PlayStation 3 or 4 such as Battle Arena Toshinden and Wild Arms. The original Persona is very difficult to acquire. While I am not interested in the console, old-school fans of the PlayStation will love it.

It will release in the US and Canada for $99.99 USD (MSRP) / $129.99 CAN (MSRP) on December 3, 2018. It’ll have two controllers and everything below.

PlayStation Classic