Engadget Daily: an interview with Shuhei Yoshida, a social guide to the World Cup and more!
Today, we sit down with Shuhei Yoshida to discuss PlayStation Now, watch SwiftKey lose its price tag, go hands-on with Mario Maker and explore how to keep up with the World Cup on Facebook, Twitter and Google! Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
PlayStation at E3 2014: an interview with Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida
Today at E3, our own Ben Gilbert sat down with Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida to discuss PlayStation Now. Launching as an open beta later this summer, the game-streaming service is just the beginning of Sony’s initiative to bring PlayStation games to many devices.
SwiftKey’s Android keyboard is now available for free
If you like SwiftKey, but couldn’t pony up $4 for predictive typing, you’re in luck. Thanks to today’s update, the popular Android keyboard app is completely free to download. And don’t worry iPhone users, SwiftKey for iOS 8 is on its way.
A quick guide to following World Cup 2014 on Google, Facebook and Twitter
It’s time to get your game faces on: The World Cup is tomorrow, and most everyone in the world will be watching. Here’s our guide to following every bit of the action on Google, Facebook and Twitter. Let the games begin!
Making your own Mario level is incredibly fun, but difficult to master
Want to build you own level of Super Mario Bros.? It might be a bit harder than you’d think. Read on as Brad Molen goes hands-on with Nintendo’s new game called Mario Maker.
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Getting sweaty with the future of Sony’s virtual reality
The private room, elevated above the crazed throngs of E3 attendees, was dark and oppressively stuffy. Inside, Conan O’Brien lay on a beanbag in front of Sony’s newest virtual reality demo for its Project Morpheus headset: Street Luge. And he was surrounded by two Nintendo booth babes — an awkward collision of rival gaming worlds that wasn’t lost on Sony PR. Conan was finishing up a shoot for a spoof segment on Morpheus and I had to wait for the celebrity fanfare to stop.
I mention Conan not to drop a bold-faced name, but because his interest and involvement in Sony’s Project Morpheus at E3 represents a visible tipping point for VR. The technology is about to go mainstream; it’s very nearly ready for prime time. Soon, non-gamers will be donning VR helmets and exploring simulated worlds. It’s the reason why Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion and also why movie studios are currently in talks with Sony to create VR experiences. A cultural shift is coming and Sony wants to be right out in front riding that wave. It just won’t be doing that in 2014.
“We’re still just at this point able to say it’s not this year,” said Richard Marks, Sony’s senior director of research and development. “We don’t have quite the number of experiences that we feel would be a good value for people to buy some special hardware for it.” That may be true, but it’s not for a lack of effort on Sony’s part. Marks said that a number of studios, both third-party and internal, are hard at work on titles or demos for Morpheus. So far, though, Sony’s only opted to show demos — the aforementioned Street Luge simulator and Castle — created by its London Studio since “they’ve been working with [Morpheus] the most.”
For E3, Sony made slight tweaks to the Castle demo it debuted alongside Morpheus at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year. Anton Mikhailov, one of the principle engineers working on Morpheus, said slight improvements to the graphics, like antialiasing, were made, along with the inclusion of a new weapon: the mace. Castle is by far the most comfortable Morpheus experience to demo as there’s not much movement required on the player’s part. The experience centers mostly on manipulating and damaging a suit of armor with your hands, a control scheme made possible by a pair of the PlayStation’s Move controllers. It’s impressive stuff, especially when a dragon pops in to tower over and terrify you. I may have even let out a small squeal in excitement when it happened.
But it was Street Luge, Sony’s new racing sim, that really drove home the physical effects Morpheus can have on players. I was sweaty and slightly nauseous when the demo had come to end; an aftereffect I found to be partly thrilling and partly alarming. But first, let me explain how I got to that point.
“We don’t have quite the number of experiences that we feel would be a good value for people to buy some special hardware for it.”
To play Street Luge, I lay down on the very same beanbag that Conan had nestled into earlier and strapped on Morpheus. Steering controls were handled only by the left and right movements of my head and nothing more. I couldn’t stop or slow my luge as it plummeted down a road through winding cliffs and tunnels and straight into oncoming traffic. And all of it was fine, really, thanks to improvements made to Morpheus’ tracking. The speed was brisk enough so that I could admire the fleeting scenery, but not quite fast enough to make me want to break contact with the virtual world. That is, until I hit a steep downhill drop that caused my stomach to lurch and that indescribable butterfly nausea to creep into my chest. It was exactly as exhilarating as plunging down an actual hill in a car or on a roller coaster, except this was VR; this wasn’t real. But as Mikhailov pointed out, it was definitely done on purpose.
Mikhailov elaborated on that particular element of the demo, saying that its inclusion and the resulting discomfort was intentional. The Morpheus team is using these E3 demos as a sort of real-world lab and the press and general public attendees as guinea pigs. Mikhailov’s aware that this kind of visceral experience could diminish over repeated playtime, especially as gamers become acclimated to VR. But what he’s most interested in is whether or not gamers want that nervous sensation to stick around with each playthrough. Does VR become less real when we can no longer physically feel it? That’s the question Mikhailov is seeking to answer with Street Luge — the question of standards. It’s something Sony plans to address not only as a cooperative effort with other VR firms, but also for its own Morpheus gaming platform.
Street Luge doesn’t require any physical controller, just the headset and PlayStation Camera. Which makes it the exact type of VR experience Sony wants to lead with when it eventually launches a consumer model of Morpheus. As Marks explained, “Actually, Street Luge is great because you just put [the headset] on and there’s no controller or anything … I don’t think it’ll be that complicated for those first experiences. But then when you really want to get fully immersed and do things with the controller, Move or two Moves — that probably won’t be the first thing you try. But Street Luge is actually a great one to be first.”
The speed was brisk enough so that I could admire the fleeting scenery, but not quite fast enough to make me want to break contact with the virtual world. That is, until I hit a steep downhill drop that caused my stomach to lurch.
The Morpheus of today likely won’t resemble the Morpheus that launches at retail. Marks said Sony’s consumer electronics division is working to refine its design and form factor for better ergonomics and weight. It’ll even ship with “very short headphones” packed in the box, although Sony wants gamers to have the option to use the headset of their choice. But one thing that’s sure to remain consistent from now until the release of the first consumer model is its wired connection. “Wireless is challenging,” Marks said. “There’s a lot of data. All of the visual data that’s being transmitted to the displays — sending that wirelessly is challenging. It’s something we’re looking at, but it’s a very tricky engineering problem.”
As for hands-free gesture input, Marks said that it’s something his team is “looking at for the long-term future,” but that teaching a gesture language presents problems for ease of use. But there’s also another issue holding up development on that end: the PlayStation Camera. “It has the ability to create a depth map and then analyze the depth map,” he said, adding that, “It’s tricky to do that at the same time as you’re tracking the colored lights because we have specialized exposure settings and things in the camera to match the lights. And so then the rest of the image gets a little bit dark.” Because of that, the Move controllers are Sony’s preferable input choice.
Right now, there’s no magic bullet for Morpheus or VR in general. “No one’s really found the killer genre yet,” said Jeff Stafford, Sony’s other lead engineer working on Morpheus. “It’s too early. There’s not enough development yet.” To that end, Stafford explained that Sony is encouraging developers to “go crazy and explore all different things” and not restricting dev time to any particular genre.
One genre that Sony is actively avoiding for Morpheus game development, though, is the first-person shooter. Stafford elaborated: “Everyone assumes the most natural genre is the first-person shooter. Actually, we find that first-person shooter, because of the TV screen and the way that they’ve evolved; you’re running around at very unnatural speeds — that’s not so great for VR.”
“No one’s really found the killer genre yet. It’s too early. There’s not enough development yet.”
Genres for VR may, mostly, be wide open for studios to experiment with, but that also goes hand in hand with the amount of time gamers spend immersed in VR. None of the current Morpheus demos extend beyond five minutes, but that’s not because Sony thinks extended sessions are harmful to gamers. In fact, Stafford, who spends countless hours hooked up to Morpheus each day, said that he “could see people playing in VR for maybe two hours” at a time, realistically.
Though Sony acknowledges Morpheus will eventually branch out beyond gaming, for now its efforts are focused squarely on the PlayStation 4. Marks said this is because the PS4 is a known quantity for developers and consumers, and also because of its rapidly growing install base. “We have a known box, which has very known graphical capabilities … We have known controllers … So that’s our focus; to have this really known experience that we can share with people. And it could be shared across all those millions of PlayStation 4s.”
Sony also has one other focus for Morpheus, or whatever it ends up calling the headset when it’s released, and that’s on approachability and ease of use. It’s the key to making VR a mainstream product and a profit driver for the company. As Marks explained, Sony’s vision for the consumer model is simple: “[You] just basically hook it up, plug it in, put it on and you’re able to get into VR. We really want to make it this an easy experience for people.”
PlayStation at E3 2014: an interview with Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida
Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida wants his company’s new game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, to be the Netflix of gaming. When it launches later this summer, it won’t be. In fact, it’s launching in open beta. “We have to walk before we run,” Yoshida told us in an interview this week at E3, the game industry’s big annual show in Los Angeles. He sees the service as a long-term plan, part of Sony’s ongoing initiative to bring PlayStation games to many devices. And that plan is just kicking off.
Beyond taking our questions, we also asked you fine folks for your questions. Yoshida, gregarious as ever, took the time to answer each; you’ll find that video below.
These are the biggest PlayStation games at E3 2014
The launch window is over. The PlayStation 4 is, for now, leading the sales charts and the best way for Sony to keep driving that momentum this generation is with — what else? — compelling games. This year’s showing at Sony’s E3 booth is no different than the last: You’ve got your smattering of indies, AAA titles and downloadable content. So what should you expect to add to your growing collection in 2014? We took a tour of Sony’s booth to find out.
The Order: 1886
Developer Ready at Dawn’s third-person shooter is set in an atmospheric London during the Second Industrial Revolution and pits the knights of the order against half-breeds — supernatural-like figures. You play as the quasi-immortal knight Galahad in an attempt to strike down the rebels trying to overtake the monarchy, as well as creatures like the lycans (that’s fancy for “werewolves”).
The playable demo on the show floor focused mostly on the game’s rote shooting mechanics, and stayed far away from The Order‘s promised supernatural element. But Sony also let us into a closed-door session that teased a protracted fight between Galahad and an impressively detailed lycan that shifted seamlessly between in-game cinematics, (dreaded) quick-time events and good ‘ol shooting. If there’s anything to praise The Order for, it’s that dynamic shift between real-time events and cut scenes. Sure the studio spent a fair amount of time researching London to get the surrounding landscape and in-game objects just right, but it’s still just another shooter, no matter how pretty it’s been dressed up.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Sackboy is back and, thankfully, much easier to control in this PS4 debut for the LittleBigPlanet franchise. For LittleBigPlanet 3, Media Molecule paid attention to fan feedback and made sure to tighten up Sackboy’s platforming controls, making his movements more precise and less slippery. The title also adds in three new helpers: Toggle for heavy lifting/speed, Swoop for flight and Oddsock for agility. Each of these new characters offers players unique abilities to tackle the multi-layered world’s many puzzle elements in the single player story mode or during level creation. And speaking of layers, the studio’s bumped the game’s level of depth to 16 layers, a massive increase from the previous title’s three. LittleBigPlanet 3 is absolutely gorgeous on the PS4 and with a vast library of user-generated levels available for download, it should make for an enticing, if not familiar addition to your PS4 library.
Entwined
If you’ve ever played Rez on the PS2, you’ll feel right at home with Pixelopus’ Entwined. There are no bad guys to take out, but the core flying mechanic through a trippy visual space is much the same. Players take on the role of two separated lovers — a frog and a bird — trying to reunite (into dragon form) as they fly through color-coordinated goals and gain power-ups. Entwined moves along on a rail and forces the player to control each character (and each side of their brain) simultaneously using the left and right analog sticks. The graphics are simple, yet brilliant and the game’s intoxicating score lends to its Zen vibe. And it’s already available on PSN. So gamers looking for an alternative to the kill kill kill mechanic we see so often shouldn’t hesitate to pick this relaxing title up.
CounterSpy
The two superpowers of the world are in a race to blow up the moon (yes — “blow up”) in CounterSpy and it’s up to you to foil their plans. This Cold War-inspired effort — the first from Dynamighty — adheres closely to the stealth genre with some first-person shooter twists that keep the 2.5D side-scrolling action from wearing thin. It’s not only a fun romp through a Bond-esque world, but it’s also beautifully designed. Which isn’t all that surprising considering the studio’s creative director is a former Pixar employee. CounterSpy will be available across PlayStation platforms, so you’ll have your pick when it hits this summer.
Driveclub
You might remember this one from last year’s E3. Driveclub was supposed to be a PS4 launch title, but developer Evolution Studios wasn’t quite happy with the game’s social framework. And with the blessing of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, the game got pushed back to a release this fall.
So what’s new? Well, for one thing, that longer development time means the game’s graphics are that much prettier, though it still runs at 1080p30. Small details like the deep draw distance, lighting effects, car damage and the ability to see into the driver’s dash in bright sunlight ensure the game’s status as a true next-gen title. But don’t go thinking this is a driving sim; controls for the various cars may be realistic, but Evolution Studios has layered on mini-challenges to keep you immersed in the fun even if you’re racing in dead last place. That said, the game really shines when you’re engaged in a friendly club vs. club networked multiplayer.
Helldivers
Swedish developer Arrowhead Games’ top-down shooter is the type of game that’s made for local multiplayer. Helldivers lets up to four players control delinquent space cops as they explore procedurally generated worlds and mercilessly slaughter hordes of alien enemies. The game leans heavily on co-op play, but there’s an interesting mechanic baked in that gives Helldivers added tension and difficulty: Players can wield a rich arsenal of weapons and exosuits to help clear out a level, but accessing each of them involves frantic sequenced button pushes (e.g., ‘down, down, down, down’ gets you a rifle). It’s maddening in practice, but we mean that in the best way possible.
[Image credit: Sony PlayStation]
PlayStation TV coming to the UK this autumn for £85
You may have heard that Sony is finally launching the PlayStation TV (or Vita TV as it was previously known) outside of Japan. We know that the mini-console will be priced at $99/€99 in North America and Europe respectively, but we were left in the dark over how much it would cost in the UK. Until now. Eurogamer reports that when it arrives in the autumn, the PlayStation TV will retail for £84.99. That’s a significant bump over the £60 (plus taxes) it would set you back if you went out to the US and bought one direct. To make matters worse, Sony won’t offer UK customers the PS3 DualShock controller bundle like it does in the US and Asia. That said, it’ll still mirror your PlayStation 4 screen and you’ll still be able to play lots of Vita games, PlayStation games and stream video content, as well as music and video from Sony’s own store.
Source: Eurogamer
Here’s what made Grim Fandango a legendary adventure game
When Double Fine said that it was reviving Grim Fandango for PlayStation systems, you may have been left scratching your head. Why remake a nearly 16 year old adventure game that many of today’s players would have never seen? Well, some of the original developers are more than happy to explain through a new mini documentary. They argue that the title was full of creative and technological breakthroughs. The setting was a unique fusion of Mexican folklore with film noir, and it was one of the first adventure games to embrace the possibilities of 3D. Rather than rely on an obvious point-and-click interface, it included then-novel concepts like using head tracking to point out interesting objects.
The company also had some practical reasons to push for a remake. Simply put, older disc-based games like this are increasingly unplayable; you may have to bootleg a copy and hack it just to play at all. Disney (which got the Grim Fandango license after buying Lucasfilm) wasn’t using the property, either, so there was nothing to lose by modernizing it. The retrospective may not get you to fork over cash for the PlayStation port, but it might give you a sense of why the Double Fine crew would resurrect a title that could easily have faded into history.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog
All the games from Sony’s PlayStation event at E3 2014
Sony’s E3 event didn’t end until 11PM ET last night. So, just as we did with the Xbox titles revealed at E3, we’re going to round up all the future games heading to Sony’s various consoles. It’ll basically be a condensed version of our Sony liveblog, with an extra helping of trailers and without the excitable prose of Ben Gilbert, who was up way past his bedtime.
Grim Fandango
That’s right. Tim Schafer’s 16-year-old PC classic is now an active and exclusive Sony title, in the hands of Double Fine Productions. It’ll be coming to the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita at an undisclosed date, and we can particularly imagine the morbid adventure getting a new lease on life (death?) on the handheld’s touchscreen. Alas, no trailer at this point.
Far Cry 4
We already knew Far Cry 4 was coming to all major platforms in November, but E3 has exposed a Sony-exclusive feature. In what sounds like a pretty smart approach to promoting game downloads, we’re told that Far Cry 4‘s multiplayer mode will be open to groups of PSN friends, even if only one of them owns the title — possibly through Sony’s PlayStation Now streaming service.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Sackboy’s creators have learned some new stitches, resulting in some new characters like the quadrupedal “Oddsock.” In turn, these characters will bring new abilities and dynamics into the game — including flying! — that should make your homemade levels (which will still be playable, with enhanced graphics) a whole lot easier to complete. Expect to see LittleBigPlanet 3 on the PlayStation 4 in time for the holiday season.
Destiny Beta
If you’ve been waiting to experience this title, you only need to be patient for five more weeks. PS3, PS4 and Xbox owners can get early access to the beta on July 17th when they pre-order. It’s probably the closest you’re going to get to a playing Halo game on a Sony console. Oh, and bundle shoppers will find the game packaged with a matching “glacier white” PS4, out with the final release on September 9th.
Rainbow 6: Siege
The Division isn’t the only new title inspired by the late Tom Clancy. Rainbow 6: Siege is a strategic multiplayer shooter in which destructible environments seem to play a big role — at least judging from the heavily rehearsed match shown in the video.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity
Arno Dorian’s upcoming adventure sees him add even more blood to the spillage of the French Revolution. As well as a peek at in-game footage, E3 also gave us a release date: October 28th on the PS4 (as well as Xbox One and PC).
The Order: 1886
Almost a century later than the fall of the French monarchy, a group of four knights resurrected the myth of King Arthur on the streets of London. Or did they? Either way, this spooky, pseudo-historical third-person shooter won’t arrive until 2015, and it only got a fleeting appearance during Sony’s E3 event.
Entwined
A colorful twin-stick action game that sort of reminds us of Flower. You can play it for yourself right now on PS4 via the PlayStation Store, while PS3 and PS Vita versions will arrive at a later date.
Let It Die
Gosh, this one looks gruesome. A PS4 exclusive consisting of hatchets, spiky balls on chains, wooden clubs with nails poking out of them and extra points for being nasty. Alas, no straight-up gameplay footage in the E3 trailer.
Dead Island 2
Again, no gameplay footage was on show here, but E3 revealed that the zombie franchise is making its way to the PS4, with a few platform-exclusive features (including 30-day early beta access) and with the help of the same studio that brought us Spec Ops: The Line. Headed for release in spring 2015.
Bloodborne
If you’re going to be playing a dark fantasy game in 2015, it may as well be one made by Hidetaka Miyazaki. The director and his team at From Software brought us Dark Souls, and now they’re working on a grisly action-RPG for the PS4 that was previously code-named Project Beast.
Abzu
A very calm, underwater version of Journey. Made by some of the same people who made Journey. Fancy that! It’s coming to the PS4, but we don’t know when.
Battlefield: Hardline
Ben Gilbert can’t bear the look of it, and the gameplay certainly seems chaotic — almost ridiculously so. If you’re a Battlefield fan, however, you might appreciate this new use of the game’s mechanics. Plus, you can try the beta free right now from inside the PS4 version of Battlefield 4.
No Man’s Sky
A deep, procedurally generated space-faring sim that will come first to the PS4. This was probably Tim Seppala’s top game of the night.
The Last Of Us
We already knew a remastered edition was coming to the PS4, but you’ve got to watch the new trailer to feel the vibe.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
With probably the best soundtrack of the night (“Nuclear,” by Mike Oldfield), the trailer is full of big men with tiny weapons.
Grand Theft Auto V
Another definite contender for your wish list: GTA V is finally headed to next-gen consoles and the PC this fall. Expect weather, damage, wildlife and all-round better graphics to bring this game to life.
Batman: Arkham Knight
The new Batman game looks to heavily feature the Batmobile… and don’t forget Scarecrow. Fortunately, Gotham City doesn’t appear to contain any pedestrians.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
More Nathan. More Sully. More heavily directed gameplay that still somehow manages to create a sense of place and character. The newly named Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End should arrive in 2015.
Engadget Daily: the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Tesla opens Supercharger patents and more!
Today, we dive into day one of the Electronic Entertainment Expo and pore over a load of new games like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Forza Horizon 2, learn about Tesla’s plan to expand the EV market and ponder the applications of an Arduino-equipped hoodie that can send text messages. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
What you need to know about the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)
Earlier today, we joined thousands of developers, publishers and video game fanatics in Los Angeles, California for one of the biggest industry trade shows in the world: the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Read on for everything you need to know about this gigantic three-day event.
All the games from Microsoft’s E3 event
Xbox’s Graeme Boyd told us to expect plenty of games during day one of E3, and that’s just what we got. Continue reading for a complete rundown of the announced titles, including new additions to the Call of Duty, Forza and Halo franchises.
Tesla will open up its Supercharger patents to boost electric car adoption
We knew Elon Musk was up to something, but now we know exactly what the hints were about. In a bold effort to set an industry standard and boost electric car adoption, Tesla Motors will share designs for its Supercharger system with other EV manufacturers.
This smart hoodie lets you message friends on the sly
What you’re looking at is the combination of a cellular-equipped Arduino board and a regular ole’ hoodie. What does it do? This garment let’s the wearer send messages by simply rolling up a sleeve.
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Filed under: Misc
The adventure game classic Grim Fandango is coming to PS4
Just because LucasArts as an active game studio is no more doesn’t mean that some of its original franchises are going the way of the dodo — far from it. Double Fine’s Tim Schafer has revealed at Sony’s E3 event that the classic 1998 adventure game Grim Fandango will be re-released on the PlayStation 4. Details of the remake aren’t available just yet, but it’s safe to presume that some visual upgrades are coming to Manny’s journey through the Mexican Land of the Dead.
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