Category: PlayStation

Season of Dawn is nearly here, and everyone at Bungie is excited to share this next chapter of the ongoing Destiny story with the world. I’m fortunate to work with tons of passionate and creative people — a few of whom you saw on our Season announcement live stream this week who shared a bunch of awesome info (and this action-packed trailer). Today, I’m here to share a few new looks of what you can expect to see this season.

Our story picks up where the last Season ended. Tomorrow, we’ll join Guardians all over the world as we travel through time in an attempt to rescue the legendary hero, Saint-14.

The story in Season of Dawn is told through new quests, bounties, and a six-player encounter we’re calling The Sundial. In that encounter, the Cabal are attempting to change the events of the Red War by rewriting history. We’ll enter the fractured timeline and stop them before they succeed.

A new Season of Dawn Artifact is ready to be powered up. As you level your Artifact throughout the Season, you’ll unlock new mods that you can slot into brand new weapons and armor to customize the way you play.

At Bungie, when we talk about the game we want Destiny 2 to be, we’re having conversations about exploring a living world that changes with every Season. We want there to be a through line that connects each of us to a unique moment in time with hopefully less Cabal meddling. It also gives way to new adventures on the horizon.

The Sundial’s conceptual origin was: “What would Osiris do with his vast knowledge of Vex technology?” “How would he repurpose it?” It’s taking that knowledge from the Vex, smelting the technology down, and repurposing it to create a machine that can manipulate time. One that he built through countless simulations, but now it exists in reality. Our reference material covered a multitude of things including astrolabes, typewriters, ancient cartography, compasses, and of course, sundials.

Bringing Saint back was something that we have always wanted to do. And luckily, since we’re able to play with time, we had a unique opportunity to give you a peek into an earlier moment before he was the legend we all know.

Rusted lands has been a team favorite for some time. This map was our primary test bed for PVP and it was the one where we honed in PVP as a whole within the studio. It has been exciting to bring it back to both new and old Destiny players.

This image illustrates the players being pulled through time within The Sundial. Conceptually we wanted to take fragments of The Sundial itself and stretch, tear, and warp them throughout the experience to show the echoes of its existence throughout the space between realities.

From the very beginning, we explored themes, conflicts, and moods that would connect the Seasons. This early work guided many of our design decisions and I’m always glad for the opportunity to share some of the more iconic elements that end up in the game.

Thanks for stopping by and taking an early look at Season of Dawn. See you in the Tower tomorrow.

Bedrock is coming to PlayStation 4 tomorrow! “Kelsey,” you gasp in horror, “you’ve given away the whole article in the first sentence.” Don’t worry, beloved reader of PlayStation Blog, there is always more!

“So how is this different from the version of Minecraft I can already play on my PS4?” The difference is that the Bedrock version of Minecraft is the unified version of the game that offers the same experience across all consoles. All that glorious, unified code means that you’ll be playing the same game as your pals on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, and mobile!* So, yes – that means you get cross-play between those different consoles. Not just that, PS4 players now also have access to the Minecraft Marketplace — a source for worlds, skins, mini-games, and mash up packs! So you’re going to have not just a better Minecraft experience than ever before, but more Minecraft than ever.

“What if I already own Minecraft on PS4, do I need to buy the game again to get the Bedrock version?” Short answer: No! The next time you start Minecraft, the new update will install automatically and free of charge. This update will never expire, and all game purchases after today for PS4 will always be for this new version.

We call this update ‘Buzzy Bees’ (or 1.14) and it’ll be arriving on PS4 tomorrow at 8am PST. Hope to see you in the Overworld soon!

*Cross-Play requires other platforms of Minecraft to be running update 1.14, including PS4 systems.

Email us at blogcast@sony.com!

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On this week’s Blogcast, we interview Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games about Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown! Then, we we dig into some hard-hitting listener letters that send at least one of us spiraling into an existential crisis. Enjoy!

Stuff We Talked About

• Next week’s big Shovel Knight update!
• Our big #25YearOfPlay celebration
• Death Stranding
• Gris
• Life is Strange Episode 5
• Best game pairings?
• Freezing time vs. not sleeping

The Cast

Justin Massongill – Social Media Manager, SIEA
Kristen Zitani – Social Media Specialist, SIEA
Tim Turi – Senior Social Media Specialist, SIEA

Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

Venture into the foreboding world of Ashen, a new RPG from A44 and Annapurna Interactive where you’ll fight to restore light to a shadow-drenched world. Band together with other players — or don’t — and plumb the depths of treacherous dungeons set across an expansive open world.

Other highlights this week include Avicii Invector, Shuttle Commander for PS VR, and Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace.

For a full list of new games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy The Drop!

PlayStation 25

Hideo Kojima Select

Camila Cabella Pop and Play

It: Chapter Two

In Fabric

Monos

The information above is subject to change without notice.

This week PlayStation celebrates 25 incredible years! We asked you to pull out your memories from over the years and share your favorite consoles, games, and show off your collections. We were blown away by the response, and are highlighting just a handful of the amazing submissions:

gamers_strike displays an impressive gaming setup, complete with a homemade TV frame to resemble the PSP.

frollein.herzlich shows off her love of the original PlayStation.

AmericanPrinceX shows off his impressive collection of consoles and handhelds.

Homer2k shows off his impressive collection, but the real treat is clicking through to hear the relationships he’s forged through PlayStation (including proposing to his fiance at PSX and their upcoming PlayStation-themed wedding!).

museo_gamer shows off their set up and many collectables.

Vicky890_ has a flair for limited editions and DS4s.

This is just a taste of the love we saw submitted. Make sure to peek at the #25YearsOfPlay tag on Twitter and Instagram to see more incredible memories celebrating this week’s theme. Want to be featured in next week’s Share of the Week?

Theme: Snowing
Share by: 9am Pacific on Wednesday, December 11

Next week, it’s time to bundle up for the winter. Share snowy scenes from the game of your choice using #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

It has now been 10 years since I have shipped a game on PlayStation. Back then, it was on the PS3. Can you imagine! Needless to say, I am extremely proud today to bring Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey to PS4 players around the world.

When I decided to start my own indie studio, Panache Digital Games, back in 2014, we were a mere handful of people and one thing was clear to me: I wanted to do things differently and to be bold. I wanted to do things with panache! Fast-forward five years later and this is exactly what my clan of now thirty-something game developers and I have accomplished with Ancestors. It is unique, refreshing, and most of all ambitious.

With this open-world survival game, I wanted to put players in the shoes of our early ancestors in Africa 10 million years ago. We have come so far as a species over the millions of years of evolution that we are now somewhat disconnected from our roots. This game brings you back to your primal instincts and what makes us all human.

To do so, I couldn’t make a game that was about chasing green dots on a map. I had to create systems that would let you write your own story; forge your own path to evolution. The original story of how you survived and came to evolve as a pre-human in a dangerous and menacing environment. Your survival as a lineage depends on the decisions you make. The four core systems of the game (senses, intelligence, communication and motricity) were built to support exploration so that you can develop your clan and your species through generations. That is how Ancestors lets you make surprising discoveries and be much more than a player. In Ancestors, you become your character and evolve along with your clan.

Eureka moments in games usually come in the form of a story, a clever twist in the narrative that amazes us at the end of a playthrough. This time, my team and I tried something drastically different. With no narrative, eureka moments in Ancestors are sprinkled through your journey and occur as you experiment with known skills to attain new and novel results as you explore, expand and evolve. These skills and knowledge will be transmitted to your fellow tribe members, to your little ones, to your whole lineage. Yes, something as simple as cracking open a coconut, crafting a tool or finding an ointment to heal your wounds can result in an eureka moment in Ancestors. Because we don’t tell you how to do it, you have to figure it out on your own. So be curious, be creative, be adventurous. The game will notice your out of-the-box playstyle and will respond to it by granting you new ways to progress.

Every one of us here at Panache hope you will lose yourself in the game, letting your instinct guide you. At the beginning, we warn you that we won’t help you much, and we don’t; we’d rather see how your ingenuity leads you through the uncharted territory and helps you conquer your fear of the unknown. You, Homo sapiens, can you survive like our ancestors did before us? How are you measuring compared to science? Are you better than our ancestors?

With that said, good luck on your journey to evolution. Take your time. Be patient. Follow your instincts.

As we wind down our week of #25YearsOfPlay celebrations, we wanted to leave you with a special treat. We reached out to a few of the biggest names across SIE’s Worldwide Studios to ask a simple question: “What’s your favorite PlayStation game of all time?”

Read on to get a peek inside the mind of creators from Santa Monica Studio, Sucker Punch, Guerrilla Games, and more — even the new head of WWS, Hermen Hulst, spared a moment to share his pick!

Now that we’ve gotten answers from these 10 creators, it’s your turn: after you’ve read through these selections, hit the comments and tell us: What’s your favorite PlayStation game of all time?

Cory Barlog

Creative Director, Santa Monica Studio

Jason Connell

Creative Director, Sucker Punch

Nicolas Doucet

Creative Director & Producer, Japan Studio (Team Asobi)

Hermen Hulst

Head of Worldwide Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment

Bryan Intihar

Creative Director, Insomniac Games

Siobhan Reddy

Studio Director, Media Molecule

Dominic Robilliard

Creative Director, Pixelopus

Jeff Ross

Game Director, Bend Studio

Angie Smets

Studio Director & Executive Producer, Guerrilla

Stuart Whyte

Director of VR Product Development, SIE London Studio

What a lineup! Our thanks to everyone who participated in this story, and to you for reading it.

Finally, thank you for your support over the past quarter-century. In the same way that a console is only as good as the games you can play on it, PlayStation would be nothing without its fans. Happy 25th, everyone.

It Came From Space and Ate Our Brains is a twin-stick arcade shooter coming to PS4 in early 2020. Join up to three others in a beautifully stylized world overrun with snarling, pink, brain-hungry aliens.

Growing up in the late 80’s and 90’s, the favorite weekend pastime of my brothers and I was playing video games. Keep in mind that this was a time before high-speed internet, before 65” flat screens and before wireless controllers even. This meant we used to take turns or play at the same time, but always sitting right next to each other. Our friends came over to play games, and we even took our consoles with us when we went to visit family. Even now, my brothers and I share fond memories of beating difficult levels together, improving lap times, or finally saving the princess.

As time went on, I had a blast playing early online games like Quake and Counter Strike. The best memories from those times were of garage (or attic) LAN-parties at my friends’ houses. During college, we would invite people over to play games before our nights out. Party games, dancing games, fighting games, something for everybody, even those who always said they “didn’t play any games, really.” Those were usually the ones shouting the loudest by the end of each session.

Fast-forward to some fifteen years later. I’ve been running a game development company for the better part of a decade now and am the father of three wonderful kids. When we design and build our games, we aim to re-create that experience of many years ago — sitting side-by-side with your siblings, friends, or kids, enjoying great games.

This co-op experience is at the core of It Came From Space and Ate Our Brains. Make your way through six campaign missions, then challenge your friends to Survival, where you’ll collaborate while battling each other for the highest scores. Choose and upgrade your favorite weapon each round to make sure you’re ready for that final huge wave of aliens.

It Came From Space and Ate Our Brains is a true couch co-op experience that can be enjoyed by everyone and will be available on PS4 early 2020.

Hey! My name’s Jeff Cork, and I’m a senior editor at Game Informer. It’s a great gig; I get to travel around and talk about the hobby I’ve enjoyed since I was a kid. The games are clearly the flashiest part of the job, but I’ve found the most rewarding aspect is talking with the talented men and women behind those games. That’s why this month’s cover story is easily one of the most satisfying that I’ve worked on across my entire career.

As you probably know, today marks the 25th anniversary of the PlayStation’s launch in Japan. That’s a big milestone. We thought we’d blow it out with what seemed at first like an impossible task: Boil down the past 25+ years of PlayStation history into a single magazine feature. Over the past few months, I’ve interviewed more than a dozen people who were instrumental in making PlayStation what it is today – people like Ken Kutaragi, Jim Ryan, Masayasu Ito, Shuhei Yoshida, Mark Cerny, Kazunori Yamauchi, Evan Wells, Ted Price, Angie Smets, Andy House, and many, many others. It’s been a tremendous amount of work (I think I’m good on transcription, at least for a while) but it’s also been an absolute pleasure.

Over the course of 24 pages, SIE employees past and present share their stories about PlayStation. We cover the pre-PlayStation days, when Nintendo and Sony were collaborating on a CD-ROM attachment for the SNES, up to our current era and beyond. There were mistakes made along the way that the company learned from, and people struggled for a variety of reasons. But it’s also hard to look at the trajectory from the original PlayStation to PS4 and not see the amazing successes on that journey.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share my entire interview with sound designer Takafumi Fujisawa. Think of this as the director’s cut of a conversation with one of PlayStation’s unsung heroes. While Fujisawa’s name might not be immediately familiar, you’re undoubtedly acquainted with his work. You know the sound that played when people fired up the PlayStation 1 console 25 years ago? Yep. That was his work. If you want to read the rest of our cover story, head over to gameinformer.com. We’ve posted the feature in its entirety, so set some time aside and enjoy. Thanks!

How were you first approached to design the PlayStation’s startup sound?

Takafumi Fujisawa: I was a part of the PlayStation project even before the team was official, and as the hardware development progressed and the prototype was built in the spring of 1994, I created the startup sound. I received the logo animation (in Japanese we call it motion logo) and added my sound design on it.

What were the parameters that you were given? Were you limited to a specific amount of time?

Fujisawa: There weren’t much time restrictions on the design itself, but being also a part of the sound chip, firmware, development tool team I was aware of the polyphony and ADPCM requirements already, so I tried to make the best out of them. The concept was set to maintain the core image of PlayStation no matter what type of TV speaker it is played on, as there could be countless kinds of TV around the world. The only limitation I experienced was the size of the ROM, so I kept the size as minimal as possible.

Did anyone from Sony give you ideas for what they wanted? Like, did Ken Kutaragi come over to you and hum a few bars?

Fujisawa: No, though I wish he did (laughs). I only got a general brief but the first demo almost already got approved. I had an alternative version with a voice whispering “PlayStation” layered on top of it which I sampled myself, but with the impression being that the game console speaks to you we decided to go with the orthodox (simple) option in the end.

The opening tones remind me of Strauss’ “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” Am I just imagining things, or was that an inspiration?

Fujisawa: I’m so impressed by your amazing taste. I’m very happy if you got that impression. I started off with an orchestra like sound and added an ethnic style tone as the sound progresses. I structured the sound so that the listener starts off stable and then feels a little bit off, so that the sound will create a strong impression by starting with an equal temperament and taking it to an original, pure intonation harmony.

The startup sound almost seems as though it shifts through several phases that tells a story. You have the opening tones, then it has the bells, then the swooshing sound, then an almost ethereal finale. Were you trying to tell a musical story? If so, what was that story, in your mind?

Fujisawa: I expressed the excitement to the game that begins after this sound by starting the music quietly in order not to scare the user when they turn the power on and follow it with the sound quality that sounds original and also welcoming.

My aim is to lead the sense of security when the console is turned on to the excitement after with the C major dominant motion showing the intention for continuing to be on the mainstream, the rich strings kick in and the last part features twinkling tones and setting the perfect 4th chords.

The function of this sound is to tell the user that the hardware is running like it is supposed to, and that the disc has successfully been read.

To add, the swooshing reverse sound is designed so that it can go into loop if the disc couldn’t be read, and we can understand if something went wrong.

Did the sound come to you fairly quickly, or was it something that took a significant number of iterations?

Fujisawa: I thought of the structure, selected the tones, and gathered the instruments in two weeks, and the studio work was done essentially in two days. I kept thinking from the start that I wanted the sound image to be something exciting, like that feeling when you walk into a cinema. I really wanted to communicate and reinforce that something fun is going to happen.

Did you also work on the startup sound for PlayStation 2 or 3? If you did, do you happen to have any stories about them that you can share?

Fujisawa: When we went into PlayStation 2 the Sound Team had grown to a significant size, so I decided to create a concept and we had a team contest.

I finalized the final two options, and made sure that the perfect 4th chords were emphasized as the key feature of the series. Kutaragi-san briefed us with the concept that was beyond our image, like a monolith floating in space with the earth in the background. I used the perfect 4th chords with stable harmony to express simple strength and the image of landing somewhere from space.

I was focusing on my duties as the development manager by PlayStation 3 so the sound was created by my junior staff, but I think that the concept is great that the sound features the orchestra tuning up to express that something is starting.

Sound Design has a never-ending charm of exploring the meaning of homage, superiority and context. In that sense my experience with the startup sound has been extremely valuable and exciting.

Not long ago, we covered the triumphant return of the mighty Zinogre in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and I hope many of you had the chance to face this fearsome beast already. Once you do, and have gotten comfortable with hunting our beloved Thunder Wolf Wyvern, make sure to craft some of those electrifying weapons and armor sets. Then, prepare for a harder variation of that hunt… with some pretty deadly twists!

For starters, Zinogre’s thunder element makes way for Stygian Zinogre’s ability to channel the debilitating dragon element. And since this beast often prowls locales with extreme temperatures—the scorching heat of volcanic areas or freezing cold of icy regions—and low food supply, it becomes exceedingly aggressive; thus earning Stygian Zinogre the moniker “Hell Wolf Wyvern.”

The Guiding Lands Expands: Tundra Region

Your Special Assignment will start with an investigation of a newly discovered area within the Guiding Lands: the Tundra Region. This frigid locale expands the possibilities of monster appearances within that ecosystem: Barioth, Viper Tobi-Kadachi, Shrieking Legiana and Stygian Zinogre will feel right at home… and will fight anyone who steps on their turf.

More monsters means more materials to acquire, and our Smithy will be ready to put those to good use, further increasing the potential for weapon augments. By the way, I heard he might have a wider selection of High Rank Layered Armor to craft too; so bring him some of those new Guiding Lands monster materials and see what he can make.

Good luck braving this new locale, hunters! And keep your eyes open for any new unforeseen dangers this new region may bring…

Defender Weapon Line

Finally, we have an update for the hunters making their way through the main story and new hunters wanting to join the hunt in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. As part of the latest free title update, all hunters (including both Monster Hunter: World and Iceborne owners) will gain access to a new weapon line: the Defender Weapons.

We’ve added a line of Defender Weapons, covering each of the 14 weapon types, so you can choose (or discover) your favorite weapon type and go from fledgling rookie to Master Rank hunter in no time! This weapon line pairs nicely with the Guardian Armor set (also free to all hunters!), so make sure to equip that too if you want to get to the Iceborne part of the game as fast as possible. The weapons can be easily forged at the Smithy and are upgradable, becoming even more valuable for those currently playing World.

All of the contents I’ve covered today are actually available now, as part of a Free Title Update (version 12.00) to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. We have even more content lined up for the future, such as special crossovers with Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, so keep on hunting and stay tuned for more info soon!