Sony We Don’t Want Another Boomerang Controller

Recently rumors have come up saying that Sony is going to throw out the Dualshock controller in favor of a new design. The rumors say that the controller will have some kind of touch sensitive section or touch screen where the start and select button are. I’m not buying it. I don’t think Sony wants another Boomerang controller case on their hands. The dualshock controller has been synonymous with the Playstation brand ever since the playstation 1. It’s pretty much impossible to just throw away the controller that playstation gamers love. I’m not saying that I think Sony won’t make improvements to the controller like changing the triggers or con-caving the analog sticks. But my point is that Sony won’t just throw out the dualshock design completely.

What I think Sony will do with the PS4’s controller is take the current dualshock design and make slight improvements to the controller based on consumer feedback. They could put a touch-pad in between the d-pad and face buttons (I’ll put a picture of what I mean), but I feel like that would make the controller way more expensive. That’s my biggest problem with this whole touch-pad idea. A regular dualshock controller currently costs fifty dollars, I can only imagine how much a controller with a touch-screen or touch-pad costs.

Come on Sony We Know What’s Going On

It’s been awhile since we've gotten any games from many of Sony’s first party studios, so what are they working on. I have a few educated guesses on what all these studios are doing. Let’s take a look.


Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Games is well known for the Killzone series. We known that they currently have a group of people working on Killzone: Mercenary, but I also know that they have a team working on something else. Back in 2010 at a press briefing at Gamescom Guerrilla said that the managing director of the studio said that their next title would be a new IP. Since then Killzone 3 has come out, but I think that their next game will be that new IP. What that IP is I don’t know. If I had to guess I’d say that new IP is a sci-fi, open world first person shooter for the PS4.

Media Molecule
Media Molecule is the studio behind the critically acclaimed LittleBigPlanet series. Recently they passed the torch onto another studio for LittleBigPlanet Vita. Media Molecule has said that they’re stepping away from the series, but I don’t think the studio will really do that, or that Sony would let them. I think they’re working on LittleBigPlanet 3 for PS4.

Sony Bend
Sony Bend is an interesting studio because they’re definitely working on a Vita title, but I can’t put my finger on one title they could be doing. I’ll just give you two titles and tell you that they are either working on Uncharted Vita 2 or Syphon Filter Vita. The more probable one is Uncharted Vita 2. Golden Abyss was too popular to not get a sequel.

Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch is my favorite Sony first party studio. So I have to differentiate between what I want Sucker Punch to be working on and what, in reality, they are most likely working on. I’d love for Sucker Punch to be working on Infamous 3, but, based on their track records with new consoles, they are probably working on something new. What that new thing is, I don’t know. My guess is that it’s a third person stealth game for PS4.

Sony Santa Monica
Sony Santa Monica has got to be working on God of War 4. Obviously they have got to be working on that game. Everyone thought that Ascension was going to be God of War 4, so 4 has got to be in production for PS4. I suspect that Santa Monica started working on God of War 4 for PS3 and Sony stopped them and told them to make God of War 4 for PS4. Which on Sony’s part is a good decision, because do you know what God of War 4 as a launch title does? It sells consoles that’s what it does.

Studio Japan
Studio Japan’s last game was Gravity Rush for the vita, so I suspect the studio is working on Gravity Rush 2 for Vita. It’s either that or a new Patapon for Vita. Gravity and Patapon are extremely popular series and I don’t see Sony letting either one not have other installments in each series in production right now. Studio Japan is definitely working on one of those two games, but the other has got to be in production too.

Sony San Diego
Sony San Diego is studio known for MLB: The Show. I suspect they have a team of people working on another MLB: The Show for both Vita and PS4 and the rest of the studio is working on ModNation Racers Vita 2. ModNation on Vita had some great ideas, but some bad decisions, like not having online races. Fixing these issues would definitely make ModNation Racers Vita 2 a big seller.

Sony Cambridge
Sony Cambridge is the small team working on Killzone: Mercenary at Guerrilla. So I think after they’re done with that game they’ll start working on MediEvil for PS4. It’s obvious that Sony Cambridge will work on MediEvil because the main character in that series is Sir Dan and Sir Dan was in Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale, which points to a potential reboot.

Sony London
If Sony London is known for any games, that game is SingStar. SingStar didn’t really sell well here in the states, but over in Europe SingStar was insanely popular. Meaning that a PS4 sequel has got to be in the works.

Polyphony Digital
Polyphony Digital is developer of the game with highest attachment rate of any game ever made Gran Turismo 5. That’s all that Polyphony Digital works on Gran Turismo games. So no matter what you say they’re working on Gran Turismo 6 for PS4. No Doubt.

Evolution Studios
MotorStorm is Evolution's crown jewel. They've got to be working on another entry in the series, but that entry won’t only be on consoles. That game will be on both PS4 and Vita.

Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog is Sony’s best first party studio. They are the makers of the Jak and Daxter and Uncharted series and most recently The Last of Us. What I want for Naughty Dog to be making is Jak 4 and that’s what I’m going to believe they’re making. Before Naughty Dog started The Last of US they wanted to make Jak 4. So I think the studio split up into teams one went to work on The Last of US and another went to work on Jak 4 for PS4. It’s either Jak 4 or Uncharted 4, which to me is highly unlikely.

Sony Teased The Future of Playstation and I Think We All Know What That Means.

Earlier Today on Twitter, Facebook, and a blog message went up saying that “the future of playstation” will be revealed on February twentieth. I think that we all know that the future of playstation is the PS4. I really don’t know more than that when it comes to this announcement, but I do know that the future of playstation has got to be the PS4. The official posts are the following.




I did reach out to Sony asking them whether or not this announcement had anything to do with the PS4. They said “ Sony does not comment on rumors or speculation,. You will just have to wait until the twentieth to find out.” I will be watching on the twentieth of February for the potential PS4 announcement.

How It Should Be Done

We've heard a lot about a so called “Steam Box” in the last couple of months. The Steam Box is Valve’s rumored PC console. The latest news with the steam box is the Piston, Xi3’s Steam approved PC. But should steam just approve PC’s instead of making their own hardware?



I say yes, because Valve is a software manufacturer rather than a hardware manufacturer it’s probably best that Valve just approves premade PCs. If Valve made a console, that console most likely wouldn't be the best made PC ever. I’d rather have Valve work with a big name gaming PC manufacturer to make PC’s for consumers. The problem with Valve just approving premade PC’s is that premade PCs are expensive. No one wants to spend over a thousand dollars for a steam approved console. I certainly wouldn't pay that much for one.

To sum up what steam needs to do in order to make the so called “Steam Box” work is to partner with Alienware, Falcon, or Xi3, then they need to have that partner manufacture a PC that runs a custom version of Steam made specifically for this PC model. But what is really needed is for Steam to put the console in the four hundred to five hundred dollar price range.

Console Gaming is Here to Stay

Some say that console gaming is dying and that mobile gaming is the future, but I say no. Console gaming can’t possibly dye because mobile games just aren't the experience people want to sit down and play at home. At home people want to play shooters, action games, indie games, and many other triple A titles. I see mobile gaming growing in the next few years and I see it coming to the point where you’ll be able to play those games on your console. But what I don’t see is the traditional console experience going away. Eventually I believe that console’s won’t exist, but I think that your TV will be able to play games.

Can’t I Just Have Three More Hours of Campaign

Recently online multiplayer has become something of a standard thing with many games coming out this generation. Frankly I’m not a fan of online multiplayer. I’m just not one of those people who likes to play with other people. But I really don’t like it when developers add on multiplayer where the resources used on the multiplayer could be used on the campaign. So I declare that developers just stop what they’re doing and stop adding multiplayer where it isn't needed. Just look at the Tomb Raider reboot, recently Square Enix announced that there was going to be multiplayer in the game. This announcement caused an uproar by fans saying they don’t want multiplayer. I know why studios add multiplayer, they do it to keep people playing their game and give consumers incentive not to trade-in the game.

See there are two sides of the coin here. There are games like Call of Duty and Halo that are made specifically for multiplayer, but the team still makes a campaign. Even though the campaigns in Call of Duty and Halo aren't bad, they still feel tacked on. But on the other side of that coin you've got games like Uncharted and Mass Effect where the campaign is the main focus, but for some reason multiplayer is added to the game. Again these tacked on things aren't bad, only because the ones I listed had great studios working on them, but games made by less experienced studios usually have mediocre campaign and multiplayer, which makes me wonder if these studios just focused on the campaign then maybe you’d have a game with a great story but no multiplayer. Now which one would you rather have.