Sony Reveals New IPs at Gamescom

Several new IPs and sequels to existing franchises were revealed during Sony’s Gamescom press conference, which was held the day before the yearly consumer show in Cologne, Germany kicked off.

A lot of attention went to Sony’s line-up for the Playstation Vita. Alongside several new games, a Sony announced that it would soon be launching a Playstation Plus subscription service on the handheld, which will boost the available cloud storage up to 1 GB, from 150 MB. Though few details regarding the service were revealed, it is likely that subscribers will be given access to free games in a similar fashion as on the Playstation 3. In additional Playstation Plus news, Sony confirmed that Red Dead Redemption will be available to all Plus subscribers next month, and that all active subscribers will be given access to the multiplayer beta of the upcoming God of War: Ascension.

Another service that was made its debut at the event was “Cross-Buy”, which will give owners of specific titles on Playstation 3 access to the same game on the Playstation Vita, and vice-versa. Only three first-party titles have been confirmed to be available for Cross-Buy for now, though more are expected to follow. These titles are PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, Ratchet and Clank: Q-Force, and the Sly Cooper Collection.

Several new titles were announced for the Playstation Vita, including a new installment in the Killzone franchise: Killzone: Mercenary. Slated for launch some time in 2013, Killzone: Mercenary will run on the same engine as Killzone 3, and will allow players more freedom in both playstyle and story. Players will take on the role of a mercenary who can decide to work for either the ISA or the Helghast, or even for both sides, throughout the story. Another first-person shooter lined up for the handheld, Call of Duty: Blacks Ops  – Declassified was confirmed for a release in November this year.

A new IP from Littlebigplanet-developer Media Molecule, known as Tearaway, was also revealed during the show. Exclusive for the Playstation Vita, Tearaway will heavily feature touch controls, allowing players to directly influence the papery world in-game. In addition to controlling the main character with  the regular controls of the handheld, the touchpad on the back of the Vita will allow users to manipulate the world itself. No release window was revealed for the game.

In a move sure to delight many long-time Playstation fans, Sony has also confirmed that with the next software update for the Playstation Vita, Playstation One classics will be made available on the console. Whether this means all of the classics available on the Playstation 3 will be available immediately on the handheld wasn’t specified.

Several new Playstation 3 titles were also announced, including Rain, a top-down title developed by Sony’s own Japan studio. The game revolves around a boy who is trapped in an alternate universe where he is invisible. Even the player is unable to see the character, until he steps out into the rain or otherwise comes into contact with water. It’s not known whether Rain will be released as a downloadable title on Playstation Network, or if it will be a boxed title, nor was a release window for the game announced. In addition to this title, two more artful Playstation 3-exclusives were announced: The Unfinished Swan and Puppeteer.

Sony also revealed a new horror game for the Playstation Move, known as Until Dawn, set for a release some time next year. Finally, a new trailer for The Last of Us made it’s debut, showing all-new footage of the game mixed with some of content that was already showcased during E3.