I’ll let you decide what you think of 2017 in general. It’s been quite the year no matter where you stand. But from a gaming perspective, it’s been absolutely bonkers. The number of critically-acclaimed games that hit the scene is utterly unprecedented. It would be impossible to play them all and hold down the job that lets you afford them. And some of them, games like Persona 5,...
E3 is just a few days away. I’m already losing sleep over it. That’s as much from excitement as it is from stress, though. E3 is always an exciting time for gamers, and there’s going to be so much to see it threatens to turn our brains to mush. We couldn’t possibly fit everything we expect to see from Sony’s show into one place and keep it readable. We’re pretty sure we’re going to...
The two biggest open world games of the year find themselves clashing across ancient battle lines. Nintendo fans have The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sony fans have Horizon Zero Dawn, and I have my bucket of popcorn while I sit back and watch what looks like a rerun of 1998 when Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time were the chief foes of the gaming world. Both games have...
Tackling an entirely new genre of game is a huge task, especially when it’s something like an open world game. The scale on one of those games is unlike anything else in gaming, and it’s a massive undertaking. Somehow, though, Guerrilla managed to jump from linear shooters to a huge open-world game and not just make a good game, but a great game. Guerrilla Games has taken many of the...
The announcement of Horizon Zero Dawn came as a huge surprise. Its developer, Guerrilla Games, has been known for the Killzone series of games for years, and while the series had a reputation for being a graphical showcase, it wasn’t much else. The series has its fans, but it’s never been the wide success that Sony wanted and it never garnered the critical acclaim people hoped for. Then...
Between downloads and retail, Horizon: Zero Dawn has officially sold more than 2.6 million copies globally. The word comes from a press release from PlayStation. It released on February 28, 2017, and it’s become the fastest-selling new IP launch on the PlayStation 4. The release included some boilerplate quotes from execs, but Guerrilla Managing Director Hermen Hulst tosses in...
Sony’s newest IP, Horizon Zero Dawn, might have a banner year ahead of itself. Word from SuperData, a sales research and analytics company, has it that the new game will sell extremely well in 2017. They mark that Horizon Zero Dawn is likely to sell 4-6 million units in 2017, and its lifetime sales should be close to 6-8 million. SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen spoke with MCV...
I like Horizon Zero Dawn much more than anything else Guerrilla Games has done. This game, for me, is miles better than the Killzone franchise. Sony's trying hard to push Aloy, the hero of Horizon, to the forefront as their next big character. They should. This game has its misgivings, but the massive product it becomes towers over these issues. Horizon Zero Dawn is a fun, challenging...
Sony would love it if Horizon Zero Dawn turned into an ongoing series. That might sound obvious, but words from a Sony executive show how high the company’s hopes are for protagonist Aloy and her mysterious world. Aloy is “a PlayStation icon of the future,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment UK product manager Jon Edwards, speaking to MVC UK. So, does that mean she’s going to get a...
I’m so glad Guerrilla Games is taking a break from Killzone and trying out Horizon Zero Dawn. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Killzone was a fine franchise. I enjoyed Shadow Fall for what it was at the PlayStation 4’s launch, and the series has always been exceptional for benchmarking Sony’s latest hardware. Guerrilla Games makes awesome tech. I’ve just never...