Sony's 'Uncharted 4,' 'Last Guardian' Capture E3 Attention
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Nathan Drake is back in action.
Sony capped off its game-filled Electronic Entertainment Expo briefing Monday night with a bullet-riddled demonstration of "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End," the forthcoming action-adventure starring the charismatic treasure hunter.
The preview showed Drake and mentor Victor "Sully" Sullivan engaging in a firefight on foot before evading enemies through city streets in a jeep. However, gamers eager to play the latest installment were told they'll have to wait until 2016.
Sony kept most of the focus of its trade show presentation on games coming to the PlayStation 4 console, demonstrating such titles on stage as the sci-fi exploration game "No Man's Sky" and the impressionistic platformer "The Last Guardian," a title that was originally teased six years ago at E3 2009.
"I could not be happier standing here today," said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. "You don't know how long I have waited for this moment."
Sony spent much of its time in the E3 spotlight promoting exclusive content coming to PS4s for such games as the military shooter sequel "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3," Caped Crusader saga "Batman: Arkham Knight," Victorian-era stealth game "Assassin's Creed: Syndicate" and sci-fi shooter "Destiny."
Alex Evans, co-founder of "LittleBigPlanet" developer Media Molecule, announced his newest creation: "Dreams," a trippy puppeteering game where users three-dimensionally draw characters and props together.
"In 2015, everything is a remix," said Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans.
Other games hyped Monday included a new rendition of "Hitman," quirky first-person exploration game "Firewatch," warrior-versus-robots romp "Horizon: Zero Dawn" and a high-definition remake of "Final Fantasy VII."
Yu Suzuki, the director of the beloved "Shenmue" series, came on stage to petition gamers to crowd-fund a "Shenmue 3" nearly 15 years after open-world "Shenmue 2" was released.
Project Morpheus, Sony's virtual reality headset that works in concert with the PS4, was only briefly mentioned during the presentation. The gaming and electronics giant previously announced the VR system would be out in spring 2016 but hasn't specified a price.
Andrew House, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said a multiplayer arena battle game for Morpheus called "Rigs" would be available for attendees to try this week on the floor of the E3 show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"It's e-sports, Morpheus-style," House said.
Beyond games, Sony declared it was expanding its PlayStation Vue online TV service to Los Angeles and San Francisco on Monday night, broadening availability from when it launched in March in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. The cable alternative, starting at $50 a month, includes local TV stations affiliated with CBS, NBC, Fox, and pay TV channels such as AMC, Bravo, CNN and Comedy Central. The service is available on PS4 and PlayStation 3 consoles.
E3 marked a special occasion for a number of gamers. Gerald North, 50, suffered from spinal meningitis a few years ago, and was advised by his doctor to take up video games to aid in his recovery.
"It helped me get back to where I could use my hands effectively and use my brain," North said. "This is really my first time outside my house, outside the world, trying to get out there, and without video games I really wouldn't have been able to have gone out more."
Another such gamer is R & B singer and TV personality Sisqo, who attended E3 this year.
"I kind of wake up every morning wondering 'is this going to be the morning that I don't want to play video games anymore'," Sisqo said. "I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon."
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