Sony E3 hangover special

BEYOND: TWO SOULS

Easily the most important game of Sony’s show, Beyond: Two Souls is the latest drama from David “Heavy Rain” Cage and features the mo-cap acting of Ellen Page – which may go some way to explain why the character of Ellie in Sony’s The Last Of Us has been changed to resemble Page less. Though little is known of the gameplay, Beyond is typical Cage stuff, putting narrative into the hands of the player yet again. We can only speculate what the “Two Souls” part means but similarities to the name of Cage’s debut, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, suggests more tinkering with the notion of what death can mean in games.

TOKYO JUNGLE IS COMING TO THE WEST

The crazy side-scrolling RPG, animal… thing from Sony’s PlayStation Camp is one of the most original games in development for PS3 and has been eyed up by games™ since it was announced. If, like us, you associate Sony games with the sort of creativity that permeated Parappa The Rapper, Shadow Of The Colossus or LocoRoco then Tokyo Jungle is your next must-have PS3 exclusive.

PLAYSTATION ALL-STARS: NEW CHARACTERS AND CROSS PLATFORM

Sony’s Super Smash Bros wannabe just got a little more interesting. A PS VIta version was announced, including true cross platform play and save data sharing. Two new characters were shown too – Uncharted’s Nathan Drake and BioShock’s Big Daddy. We’re still waiting for Jumping Flash…

[mpu]

PSONE CLASSICS FINALLY PLAYABLE ON VITA

This is big news, folks. An entire library of classic videogames now playable on the go and on that beautiful screen. And the timing couldn’t be better, given that Monkeypaw Games just negotiated the download release of the incredible RPG platformer Tomba! The reasons to buy a PS Vita just multiplied by a thousand.

CALL OF DUTY STILL VITA-BOUND

Now called Call Of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, this was only shown in logo form and given a “holiday” release date. This is the game that should, in theory, prove whether PS Vita’s controls and networking can really handles a hardcore FPS or not. We can’t help but think that the entire fate of Sony’s portable, at least in the west, rests with this game.

WONDERBOOK

A combination of augmented reality and motion control gaming, this device is a real book that can be used to create a number of virtual experiences in conjunction with PlayStation Move. If used correctly it could be a powerful tool in the casual market and a great competitor to both Kinect and Wii U.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE LAST GUARDIAN?

While Sony’s presentation was a combination of nice surprises and strong demonstrations, it has to be said that the absence of The Last Guardian is extremely disappointing. Is the game doomed to remain in development hell as many have speculated or is it being saved for Tokyo Game Show? We certainly hope it’s the latter.