Grave Gamer News & Views — ps4

Capcom Goes Deep Down on TGS

It’s doubtful I could be more proud of a headline. Thank you, Capcom, for enriching my day.

The questionably named role-playing action game, Deep Down, first unveiled all the way back in February has resurfaced at Sony’s pre-Tokyo Game Show presentation (doing pre-shows is the new black in industry eyes, dontchaknow?).

We were served new gameplay footage, hosted by the one and only Ono – I hope you understand Japanese because the translation overlayed in the video is the kind of gibberish you’d expect from smashing keyboards together, except spoken aloud – along with our first concrete details on the game.

Deep Down, developed on Capcom’s new Panta Rhei engine, is first and foremost a PS4 exclusive. Unlike Dragon’s Dogma – which is unrelated despite also being a Capcom developed role-playing game with the initials D.D. (thems the makings for a conspiracy) – Deep Down is an online RPG. A brief segment at the end of the stage demo shows two knights on separate screens duking it out with a dragon.

The most curious fact about the game comes in its setting which depicts New York circa 2094. Before you Reign of Fire fans both combust with excitement and start existing (not in that order), the game’s trailer alludes to a character being able to relive others’ memories, meaning the medieval action could be period-specific instead of evidence of a post-apocalyptic drag-geddon.

With generation-hopping storytelling, online multiplayer, particle effects beautiful enough to warrant a next-gen, and screen-filling, fire-belching dragons, Deep Down, only two public showings in, is already making a name for itself. Even if that name is depraved.

Xbox One Release Date Locked In

Microsoft’s next home console will launch globally November 22nd. The $499 next-gen successor to both the Xbox (1) and the Xbox 360 will invade 13 territories in late November including the United Kingdom, Canada, and the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Having been confirmed to have gone into mass production yesterday, the One’s CPU horsepower was also revealed to have been increased from 1.6 GHz to 1.75 GHz (a further upgrade to 1.21 gigawatts will be required in order to play games from the distant year of 2015).

The Xbox One’s late November launch date gives Sony’s own next-gen construct, the PlayStation 4, a week jump on Microsoft, their system already in place for the 15th. Seven days shouldn’t seriously impact your buying decision but I understand gamers can sometimes be – dare I say it? – impatient.

Either way, the Holiday slugfest is set and a new console war has been ignited. Will the Dualshock out-rumble the One’s gamepad? Will the Kinect’s cold gaze see farther than the Eye? Will Sony’s system out-ventilate Microsoft’s ventilati– I’m getting carried away. But I want to know; with both consoles’ release dates announced, which one might you be getting?

PlayStation 4 Release Date Finally Announced

Sony’s Gamescom conference today brought much in the way of news for just about everything slapped with the PlayStation logo today.  I’ll get to the notables in a tic, but I wanted to get it out of the way since Sony’s hour and a half conference was an hour and fifteen minutes of too much foreplay:

The PlayStation 4 is launching November 15th in North America and November 29th in Europe.

We were already treated to the revelation that a PS Plus subscription is the new requirement for online play (but, gracefully, little else, meaning services like Netflix won’t be barred from use without Plus).  With your PS4 purchase, however, Sony is throwing in a 14-day trial of the service at no cost.

Additionally, Music Unlimited – the PS3’s, uh, unlimited music service – is back in a modified form where you can easily access it by pressing the DualShock 4’s PS Button, allowing you to play music in the background of any and all games.  As someone who is swayed by a custom tracks option even if the PS3 version of a game is technically superior, this is a triumph (I’m sorry Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, I cannot listen to your bullshit loop indefinitely in my eardrums).

Also, those looking for style in their accessories will be pleased as a plum to see the Magma Red and Wave Blue DualShock controllers (above) releasing alongside the console, priced at $59.99.  You’re gonna earn yourself a hard, squinted look from me if you ask which one I’m springing for.

PS Vita’s Price Dropkicked

The thing that needed to happen, thankfully, went and happened.  Sony’s impressive yet struggling handheld, the PlayStation Vita, has taken a $50 price cut, dropping its tag to $200.  Additionally, Sony promised the bloated pricing found on the system’s proprietary memory cards will see a significant reduction in the future.

Remote Play functionality, in which PS4 games can be remotely streamed via WiFi to the handheld turning the Vita into a second-screen controller, will be found on “almost every” title according to the company.

Increased affordability and unique compatibility with PlayStation’s next household device, along with an up-spike in third-party support – yes, Borderlands 2 on the system is a humongous win –  may just surge some life into the Vita (it’s a pun if you know Italian; it’s also a bad pun if you know humor).

I want to show you so, so much more.  Phone’s funny about posting photosets, however — funny as in “doesn’t do it at all" — but soon I will share sights untold with you, friends.  Soon.