Sony Interactive Entertainment has launched its own production studio with the intention of adapting its gaming titles into films and television series.
PlayStation Productions will operate out of the Sony Pictures lot, and will be headed up by Asad Qizilbash while overseen by Worldwide Studios chairman, Shawn Layden.
"We’ve got 25 years of game development experience and that’s created 25 years of great games, franchises and stories," Layden told The Hollywood Reporter. "We feel that now is a good time to look at other media opportunities across streaming or film or television to give our worlds life in another spectrum."
SIE already boasts over 100 original IP to draw from, including God of War, inFamous, Shadow of the Colossus, and more.
The studio will take inspiration from the likes of Marvel Studios, which has successfully turned its comic book IPs into Hollywood blockbusters.
Square Enix has announced the next DLC expansion coming to Just Cause 4.
Titled "Los Demonios", the upcoming DLC will see Rico coming face to face with "the demonic forces from an ancient past" and will include new missions, tools and skills.
Among the new gear at Ricos disposal is the "Demon Crossbow" and the return of the liberation system from Just Cause 3. Check out the trailer for the "Los Demonios" expansion below.
A new report from Kotaku indicates that Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software will no longer be the lead developers on 2020's Call of Duty title.
The 2020 release will now be headed up by Treyarch Studios, which just released Black Ops 4 last year.
Activision's decision to put Treyarch is, according to Kotaku, due to tensions between Sledgehammer and Raven, whose staff have been in constant arguments during the past year of development.
Microsoft and Sony have announced a strategic partnership for technology and information sharing.
The two companies will explore joint development of "future cloud solutions" in Microsoft Azure with the goal of supporting their respective gaming and content-streaming services.
"For many years, Microsoft has been a key business partner for us, though of course the two companies have also been competing in some areas," said Sony president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.
If you own PSVR, it's highly likely that you've checked out The Persistence(you really should give it a go if not). For those not lucky enough to own the rather expensive VR setup, an upcoming free update will open up the option to play the game on a standard screen setup.
Firespite Studio's game director Stuart Tiley announced the news in a post on the PlayStation Blog, stating "The Complete Edition is going to be the next free update for everyone that already owns the game, and for the first time ever, this update will make The Persistence playable on what we now fondly call ‘flat screen TVs.’ Bringing The Persistence to non-VR displays will allow even more people to discover the terror of space in this unique blend of roguelike and sci-fi horror."
Tiley further stated "as well as a whole host of gameplay tuning, the Complete Edition will include significant graphical improvements" and that the update will feature "4K at 60 frames per second on the PS4 Pro, and 1080p at 60 frames per second on PS4." The stuido is also adding "brand new camera animations to ensure a natural sense of movement around the ship."
Blizzard has confirmed the release date for WoW Classic, with ANZ servers rolling out at 8am AEST on August 27, 2019.
First announced at Blizzcon 2017, the retro servers are in-part a response to many unlicensed servers that popped up over the years – scratching the itch for those looking to relive the glory days.
From May 15, select players will be invited to a small-scale closed beta, while three larger stress-tests will be running from May through to July.
Those eagerly awaiting another foray into the pirate life will have to wait another year. During its recent earnings report, Ubisoft has announced that its upcoming pirate adventure Skull and Bones has been delayed to its next fiscal year. This means we likely won't be sailing the high seas until after the end of March 2020.
As for the reasoning behind the delay, Ubisoft hasn't elaborated. Considering how much we've already seen of the game, and how far along development appeared, a year-long delay could mean some significant changes for the game.
Also of note, the company announced that it has four triple-A games set to release this fiscal year. One of those is the recently announced Ghost Recon Breakpoint, with the remaining three titles being anyone's guess. My money is on the rumoured Watch Dogs set in London.
In a surprising move, Netflix has announced that it will host a panel at the E3 Coliseum this year.
The news comes via a tweet by Geoff Keighly, in which he confirmed that the Netflix panel will include "updates and news about its plans in the gaming space".
The panel, dubbed "Bringing Your Favorite Shows To Life: Developing Netflix Originals Into Video Games", looks to shed light on the streaming giants plans to turn some of it's most popular originals into video games.
In what is possibly some of the best news to hit my inbox this year, Oddworld Inhabitants have announced Oddworld Soulstorm, which is set to continue the journey many of us started some twenty years ago in Abe's Odysee.
Abe's story was always intended to be a quintology, and after the massive success of the New and Tasty Remake, the team can finally carry out their lofty plans. Soulstorm will pick things up just after the end of Abe's Odysee and will see Abe trying to save the 300 Mudokons he rescued in the first game. This time around, your followers will play a much more active role as they help Abe when he comes up against enemies.
Looking at the newly released trailer, Oddworld Soulstorm is immediately impressive and looks to continue the 2.5D gameplay (although the team is calling it 2.9D now) while adding some new mechanics to the mix.
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