Technology

Hardware Was So Last Year: Sony Focuses On Software In 2017

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Say a lot of things about 2016 (and people have) but we can find a silver lining between the stacked election and endless list of celebrities who croaked it last year. Sony had a phenomenal 12 months, during which they released not one, not two, but three hardware updates. Now, the gaming giant has shifted its focus, with its energies concentrated on putting out as many quality games in 2017 as possible.

Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Don’t get us wrong; many of the hardware updates indicate an exciting shift in gaming. PSVR is the future we’ve all dreamt of. Its totally immersive experience lets you be the character rather than simply control one, and we expect it will one day be as revolutionary to the gaming world as Doom’s FPS was over 20 years ago. The Pro, with 4K Ultra HD gaming and a monster 4.20 teraflop GPU, signifies the switch to even more realistic graphics and smoother physics.

That’s not to say they aren’t without their glitches. As with any trial run at ambitious tech, both the PSVR and the Pro have their downsides. The PSVR is an investment that most casual gamers can’t justify, and there have been reports of the system causing nausea in its players. Meanwhile, the Pro fails to meet our expectations. Ignoring the fact that most of us don’t have TVs capable of displaying 4K, the console scales up lower resolutions instead of outputting games at a full 4K capacity.

And let’s not get started on the Slim, which, for all intents and purposes, is just the original PlayStation on a diet. Even the newly announced option of Glacier White doesn’t do much when you could just buy a PlayStation 4 skin in white leather, white carbon fiber, or any other color you please. A customized PS4 skin certainly costs a lot less than an entire new console.

Sony’s hardware updates are out of reach for the average gamer. We’re not salty, we swear, but we are happy that PlayStation has refocused its attention on the games — something every gamer can experience. It was a relief to learn at last year’s PSX that great games are on the horizon.

Many of these new titles are actually sequels or expansions of existing games. Take, for example, Full Throttle Remastered, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Wipeout: Omega Collection, The Last of Us Part II, Ace Combat 7, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. These titles don’t even scratch the surface of games acting as sequels or remasters of our favorite worlds.

Perhaps the most renowned original game set for release sometime this year is Death Stranding. Hideo Kojima’s creepy pet project has only managed to raise rather than answer questions about its plot, despite two trailers hitting the web. Mads Mikkelsen, star of Star Wars: Rogue One, and Guillermo Del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth, are the most recent A-list additions to the mysterious, oil-slicked game.

Days Gone is another original title set for an undetermined release in 2017. Early accounts of this post-apocalyptic third-person shooter say it’s anything but a tired rehashing of a clichéd genre. Sony Bend has created an open environment action-adventure game that’s reminiscent of other survival horror but it will have a clarity of details we haven’t seen before. (You can actually see stitching in character’s clothing). Gameplay will rely on exploration, puzzle solving, and straight-up combat in order to evade, defeat, and maybe even cure the infected.

The interactive Dreams is set to take advantage of the growing community-driven experience seen in games like Overwatch and platforms like Twitch. Playing as an imp with the ability to manipulate objects and surrounding environments, you’ll be able to customize both gameplay and game setting, and a cooperative multiplayer option will let players create their dreams together.

As you can tell, the upcoming 12 months are set to be an exciting time for fans of PlayStation. We’re looking forward to Death Stranding the most, but there are tons of other titles we can’t wait to get our hands on. Let us know which ones are on your most wanted list.