There’s no denying that Sony started 2011 incredibly strongly. They’ve had a consistent stream of fantastic first party exclusives since the end of 2010 and they’ve gathered some impressive momentum as we head into the summer season and the big show looms on the horizon. That’s right, E3 is mere months away and with Sony’s end of year looking a little less impressive than the first few months, what might they have in store for the future?
Well, with the exception of the assumed announcement and unveiling of Warhawk 2, there’s not a lot that we know about. We can assume that Uncharted 3 and The Last Guardian will get an airing, probably both playable. Resistance 3 should be there in a big way too. Those are what we know about from Sony for the end of this year but that leaves options for the start of next year a little thin.
It’s also reasonable to assume that we’ll see something of the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD remakes. Which brings us to something which might be a major concern: Will HD remakes take the place of new announcements?
Sure, we all love to see old favourites spruced up a bit and put out as collections. We’ve had or are expecting God of War, Sly, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell as well as the Ico games. We’d love to see GTA III Trilogy or a Jak and Daxter collection too. Everyone is clamouring for Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII. We like them. It’s nice to have the option to replay some old favourites and it’s nice to have the opportunity for new players to enjoy them. But we don’t want them to take over.
Apparently, PSM3 has spoken about a rumour that Sony might have a big announcement up its sleeve for E3. That’s nice but we’d like Sony’s big E3 announcements to be about new games, blockbusters and massive franchise continuations. As much as we like an HD remake, it’s not something we’d like to see replace the traditional big news from a show like E3.
Sony have already spoken about their willingness to do more and the trend spreading to Ubisoft and Eidos (Square Enix now) is demonstrative of the popularity that HD rereleases have. It would be a shame if that distracted companies into thinking they can put big new releases on the back burner.
Sony have started this year strongly but with a less impressive back end to the year and virtually nothing hinted at for next year yet, will the recent buzz around these HD collections mean that those are all we’re given? We hope not but when the pre-E3 rumour mill starts firing up with rehashes of older games, we start to worry a little bit about the future for brand new games.
xPREDICTIONx
SOCOM gets no love? Multi-Millions in sales… Heart wrenching multiplayer…
Aimless
Given that the HD collections are all outsourced they’re very much additive releases. Their existence doesn’t take away anything, it’s merely another revenue stream.
As for 2012: Agent, Versus XIII and maybe TLG. Beyond that I can’t really say, but then I wouldn’t expect to be able to prior to E3.
Burgess_101
wasnt agent scrapped ?
Burgess_101
maybe not my badd
Forrest_01
I had the same thought to be fair, but i suspect that you are thinking of the MMO ‘The Agency’, like i was.
halbpro
Yeah The Agency was finally put out of its misery a month or so ago.
jimmy-google
Q1 killzone 3, dc universe, lbp 2, playstation move heroes. Q4 uncharted 3, resistance 3, ratchet and clank, last guardian. Q4 wins. I’m still expecting a new sky game to be announced, don’t forget about Agent and Final fantasy 13 verses. There’s still plenty more to come
ssorc_bro
Honestly, second half is looks just as impressive, if not better than the first half, we’ve got RATCHET & CLANK: ALL 4 ONE, RESISTANCE 3, TWISTED METAL, UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION, THE LAST GUARDIAN ? WHITE KNIGHT CHRONICLES II ? The HD remake of ICO & SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, and not to mention the NGP (PSP2) and it’s launch line-up that’s rumoured to release at the end of the year.
So yeah, looking great to me. :D
hazelam
once we’ve seen what they announce at e3 we can judge whether sony seem to have run out of ideas, it’s a little early to say right now.
i’m sure the big three will have new games to announce at e3.
paulleeper2430
I am hoping for a huge network update with PARTY CHAT, i don’t need to worry about the games because sony usually have strong line-ups
E8_BALL_
still waiting for a space strategy shooter like elite, a genre that hasn’t been approached for a long time.
starhawk perhaps, but something less arcadey also would be most welcomed.
socom 2 hd, would fly of the shelves, perhaps even more so the s4
deadwelsh
For me I want to see a new franchise based on utilising the move more than anything, and if not that then some cool apps to use it for.
1 big game a month is enough for most people i think, and considering in the 2nd paragraph you have mentioned 4 big titles expected to be announced, it really only leaves 2 months left to fill.
No doubt EA will release their latest generic sports update and i am sure someone like Activision will do the same, so for me thats at least 1 big game each month.
A truly original new idea is so difficult to come up with that its not surprising that so many games are remade into HD versions, especially considering the revenues they will bring in (based on the hundreds of comments like ‘please remake X’ on almost every gaming website.
Imagine if you only just got a ps3 next week – there are such an immense list of games to play that it would probably take until the fall of 2012 before you needed to buy a new game anyway!
Gamoc
I don’t understand the ‘or’ mentality? Why do we have to choose between these? It seems to be like Sony are working with the idea ‘new games and HD remakes’ rather than picking one over the other. There isn’t anything at all hinting at them running out of ideas.
Oh and HD re-makes are a cash-grab, but one of the ones we don’t mind. I fully intend to get both the MGS and the Team Ico remakes, though I know they’re doing it because it’s quite an easy way for them to make money. I can’t play any of those games on my PS3 (except the first MGS) because they removed backwards compatibility. Suspicious, eh?
Deathbrin
Well didn’t SONY always say they thought out the tech for their 10-year plan? ;) HD remakes fit in.
dude90
I’m sure Sony haven’t run out of ideas, they must have some trick up thier sleeve for E3 2011 though.