Here’s What Happened At PSX 2017’s Opening Night

PlayStation Experience was organized a little differently this year with its game showcase taking place last night rather than today and no real keynote speech. Announcements were a little light as well. Regular games are still getting new VR capability added and hey, MediEvil is getting remastered.

This piece originally appeared 12/9/17.

Instead of standing speeches and and intermittent trailers the PSX 2017 opening ceremony consisted mostly of people sitting on a couch onstage giggling about games that already released like Horizon Zero Dawn or imminent releases like God of War as people in the audience shouted random stuff in excitement. As one person in the Twitch chat put it, the night was more of a laid back podcast than blockbuster affair. Sony executive Shawn Layden didn’t have too many bombshell announcements. Or any really. In fact it was a pretty quiet night over all. We’ve collected some of the more notable highlights below.

WipEout Omega Collection is getting a VR mod.

It’s a sensible addition to the game given that VR tends to work best when someone’s occupying a fixed space like a cockpit. Although as Layden joked you’ll have to supply your own sickness bags. The mod doesn’t bring any new content outside of the VR capability and is due out in early 2018.

The new God of War will be long.

There weren’t any new trailers or confirmation of a release date but creative director Cory Barlog did note the game will be around 35-40 hours long. Previous God of War games have been closer to 10 hours, but in 2017 and 2018 even games that aren’t open world are still overwhelming chuck full of stuff to do.

Detroit: Become Human lets you press circle to ask about emotional shocks.

Quantic Dream’s philosophical reflection on robots and humanity was demoed live on stage as a “fun game to play with friends.” In case you were wondering if David Cage’s new game would involve hyper emotional over the top moments, rest assured it will. There will also be plenty of walking around while game prompts flood the screen.

Donut County still looks beautifully chill.

Ben Esposito’s game about being a hole in the ground that sucks up everything around it was originally prototyped back in 2012. I’ve been following it ever since and am glad to see it’s shaping up so well. The latest trailer also does the best job of explaining what the game is so you should really just watch that. Currently it’s scheduled to arrive on PS4 (and smartphones and PC) next year.

MediEvil is getting remastered for PS4.

There’s this thing where Layden wears t-shirts to PSX repping his favorite old game series and then fans salivate over the prospect of them getting revived. Since Rachet and Clank and Crash Bandicoot were such a success, the ritual continued this year. I loved MediEvil. I have fond memories of playing it early in the morning before school and while Sir Daniel Fortesque made terrible jokes. And even I don’t quite know how it Sony chose it of all possible games to get a PS4 remaster (with 4K capabilities). Layden’s shirt did look pretty cool though.

You’ll soon be able to have an adorable bird dog fill your entire field of vision.

The Last Guardian is getting its own VR capability with a demo available starting on December 12. Where VR makes perfect sense for something like WipEout it’s a little more foreboding in a game with cameras and movement that can be as wonky as Last Guardian’s, so if you’re going to need puke bags for the former, you might need a bucket for this one.

Mega Man will be in Monster Hunter: World

He won’t be playable though, instead the blue bomber will be one of your palico buddies should you choose him. In addition to eating sausages with you he’ll also let you listen to chiptunes while you spend countless hours poaching enormous beasts for their hides and whatnot. It’s the clearest evidence yet that Capcom intends on making 2018 the year of Mega Man.

You’ll probably be able to change your PSN name in the future, maybe.

Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller asked Layden during a short interview at the end of the night when players would finally be able to change their PSN profile names, some of which are decades old and were created when people thought blAze_it_420 was the epitome of funny. “Let me put it this way: I hope we’ll see events occur so that you don’t have to ask me that question next PSX,” he said. Make of that what you will.

And there you have it. Overall it was a pretty chill if uneventful night. If you’re interested in listening to some of the developers that were on stage talk about their games and what it’s been like working on them you can catch the entire PSX opening night below.