Polygon - PlayStation at E3 2013: From PS4 to Vita and everything in betweenhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/42931/favicon.ico2013-06-21T22:30:05-04:00http://www.polygon.com/rss/stream/41811752013-06-21T22:30:05-04:002013-06-21T22:30:05-04:00PlayStation C.A.M.P. puzzle game Open Me! brings two Vitas together for puzzle box magic
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<p>Thank PlayStation C.A.M.P. for some of PlayStation's most interesting and offbeat titles. The program has spawned creative video game works like <i>echochrome</i>, <i>Tokyo Jungle</i> and the upcoming <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/30/4376692/rain-keeping-track-of-an-invisible-character">invisible adventure <i>Rain</i></a>. It's also spawned <i>Open Me!</i>, a unique augmented reality puzzle game coming to PlayStation Vita later this year in North America.</p>
<p><i style="line-height: 1.5;">Open Me!</i><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> for </span><a style="line-height: 1.5;" class="sbn-auto-link" href="/vita">PlayStation Vita</a><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> didn't garner much attention at Sony's E3 booth this year, but we became enamored with the quirky multiplayer puzzle game after <a href="http://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/20/3361632/box-open-me-playstation-vita-tokyo-game-show">stumbling into it at last year's Tokyo Game Show</a> (where it was known as <i>Box! Open Me</i>). The premise is simple — you open a series of puzzle boxes — but its use of the PS Vita's camera, gyroscope and touchscreen makes for a dazzling experience. <i>Open...</i></span></p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/21/4453384/playstation-vita-ar-puzzle-game-open-me-previewMichael McWhertor2013-06-19T10:30:04-04:002013-06-19T10:30:04-04:00Outlast is a stealth horror game designed to make the player suffer
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<p>The scariest thing about <i>Outlast </i>isn't its mountain asylum setting, or even the thing stalking you through the bloodied building, it's that the game features a hide button.</p>
<p>The ability to hide isn't always there and it's not the only thing you can do in the game. Sometimes you can run, crouch, climb. What you can't do, no matter how desperate things get, is fight back.</p>
<p>"<span style="line-height: 1.5;">The core gameplay experience is about no combat," Red Barrels' co-founder Philippe Morin tells me before I have a chance to play the PC and PlayStation 4 game. "It's about having the player suffer."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><i>Outlast </i>tells the story of a reporter who gets a tip from an anonymous informant that something fishy is going on at a mountain asylum. The reporter goes there to...</span></p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/19/4444548/outlast-is-a-stealth-horror-game-designed-to-make-the-player-sufferBrian Crecente2013-06-18T20:30:02-04:002013-06-18T20:30:02-04:001001 Spikes and the masocore thrill of a thousand deaths
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<p>There's an attractive cruelty to <i>1001 Spikes</i>, 8bits Fanatics' retro-styled side-scrolling platformer. Every step you take forward as protagonist Aban Hawkins is a step closer to death — death by spike, by scorpion, by poisonous blowdart, by collapsing platform, by fireball. Hawkins dies over and over and over again, which is both the most masochistically fun and frustrating part of <i>1001 Spikes</i>.</p>
<p>Nicalis says the game draws inspiration from 8-bit games <i>Spelunker</i> and <i>Challenger</i>, influences apparent in <i>1001 Spikes</i>' difficulty and retro aesthetic.</p>
<p>At E3 last week, we played <i>1001 Spikes</i> on a PlayStation Vita. (The game is also coming to other PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, via Nicalis.) It's controls are simple. Two jump buttons, one...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/18/4431906/1001-spikes-playstation-vita-nicalisMichael McWhertor2013-06-14T17:00:05-04:002013-06-14T17:00:05-04:00Publishers bringing Xbox One-like limitations to PS4 would be 'surprising,' Sony exec says
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<p>PlayStation exec Scott Rohde, senior VP of World Wide Studios America, told Polygon that it would be "surprising" if third-party publishers brought the kinds of access limitations present on the Xbox One to the PlayStation 4, that Sony's patents in the area of used games aren't indicative of policy and that while trading or selling physical discs should be easy, the world of digital sales is anything but. </p>
<p>During Sony's PlayStation press conference on Monday, <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/10/4417158/playstation-4-used-games">Jack Tretton said</a>, "When a gamer buys a PS4 disc, they have the rights to use that disc, resell it, lend it to a friend or keep it forever." The next day, he added that third-party publishers will retain the right to <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/11/4419476/playstation-4-third-party-publishers-can-dictate-their-own-drm-terms">dictate their own DRM terms</a> on the platform, with regards to...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/14/4426656/publishers-bringing-xbox-one-like-limitations-to-ps4-would-be">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/14/4426656/publishers-bringing-xbox-one-like-limitations-to-ps4-would-beChristopher Grant2013-06-14T08:00:03-04:002013-06-14T08:00:03-04:00The PlayRoom for PS4 unlocks the fun and future of the DualShock 4
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<p>After playing with Sony's <i>The PlayRoom</i> at E3, what is essentially a collection of slick tech demos and mini-games, I wish the PlayStation 4 had included the PlayStation Camera in the box. The camera, when paired with the DualShock 4's lightbar and the gamepad's motion sensing tech, is capable of some amazing tricks.</p>
<p>Created by a team of 10, <i>The PlayRoom</i> is not planned as a retail product at this point, but it's a promising peek at new control schemes that could come to PS4.</p>
<p>Nicolas <span style="line-height: 1.5;">Doucet, a producer at Sony Computer Entertainment who works in</span><span><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> Sony Japan Studio's internal development department, walked me through some of </span><i style="line-height: 1.5;">The </i><i>PlayRoom</i><span style="line-height: 1.5;">'s demos at E3. He started with an introduction to the character </span></span><span style="line-height: 16px;">A5081, a floating robotic orb.</span></p>
<p>Doucet...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/14/4428190/the-playroom-ps4-dualshock-4Michael McWhertor2013-06-13T19:30:04-04:002013-06-13T19:30:04-04:00Mark Cerny talks Knack and PlayStation 4
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<p>Mark Cerny is system architect for PlayStation 4, lead designer on launch title <a href="/game/knack/10069" class="sbn-auto-link"><em>Knack</em></a> and the man who introduced Sony's new platform to the world <a target="_blank" href="http://www.polygon.com/ps4" style="line-height: 16px;">last February.</a></p>
<p>Polygon caught up with Cerny at Sony's E3 booth to take a look at <em>Knack</em>, his newest character-based game. The PS4 title is the latest in a series of games he has created that stretches back through Sony lore, including <em>Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank; Spyro the Dragon </em>and <em>Crash Bandicoot.</em></p>
<p>"Every time you make a game you need to have a core concept for it," said Cerny. "In this case I thought it would be very interesting to make a game about a character who had a skill, a knack, that would allow him to grow and transform." This skill is an ability to incorporate physical elements...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/13/4428022/mark-cerny-talks-knack-and-playstation-4Colin Campbell2013-06-13T18:00:01-04:002013-06-13T18:00:01-04:00The Witness is an adventure-puzzle game about non-verbal communication
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<p>On the spectrum of influences, <i>The Witness</i>, developer Jonathan Blow's upcoming game, lies somewhere between <i>Myst</i>, <i>Snake </i>and the TV show <i>Lost</i>. He admits that's both "weird" and "unconventional," but he's clearly happy that Sony is bringing it to the PlayStation 4. </p>
<p>At a closed-door event at E3 2013, Blow started the game from its beginning and gave live commentary about his intentions, hopes and goals for the game that will <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/20/4010968/the-witness-playstation-4-jon-blow">make its console debut on PlayStation 4</a>, the platform on which he played through the game.</p>
<p>Some of <i>The Witness</i>' influence may be esoteric — like <i>Myst</i>, for example, it drops you onto an island without any explanation — but Blow and a team of 15 others are designing the game to appeal to a mass audience. </p>
<p><q class="center">'It cuts...</q></p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/13/4427660/the-witness-preview-e3-2013Dave Tach2013-06-13T17:55:34-04:002013-06-13T17:55:34-04:00Wireframe: Day 3 - Battlefield 4, Infamous: Second Son, The Division
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<p>On the third and final Wireframe, we talk with developers behind <em><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="/game/battlefield-4/10364">Battlefield 4</a></em>, <em>Infamous: Second Son</em>, and <em><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="/game/tom-clancy-s-the-division/13667">Tom Clancy's The Division</a></em>.</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/13/4428028/wireframe-live-from-e3-day-3-battlefield-4-infamous-the-division">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/13/4428028/wireframe-live-from-e3-day-3-battlefield-4-infamous-the-divisionJohn Funk