E3 Day 2: All The News That's Fit To Print

24 HOURS OF NEWS, ALL AT ONCE, ALL FOR YOU

E3 is now in full swing, and thus, we are up to our eyeballs in news. luckily, we've combed the internet to separate the wheat from chaff so you don't have to. Here we go.

'Beyond Two Souls'/'Heavy Rain' Are Getting Remastered

This was actually a quiet little drop from Europe's Playstation Blog after their conference, but yep, David Cage's Playstation epics are headed to PS4, as both separate digital downloads, and a bundle pack. Its kind of a preliminary announcement, so there's no screenshots or anything, but there's no reason to believe that both games, which look pretty spectacular already, won't get a decent spitshine. Also, don't let the Europe thing fool you: Quantic Dream confirmed it's coming to America too, "in one form or another".

Source: Sony, Quantic Dream

No, Sony's Still Not Doing Backward Compatibility

In the wake of Microsoft announcing the Xbox One will be backward compatible, Sony's head of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida was asked in a Polygon interview if he planned to respond in kind for the PS4. Short answer? Nope.

"I don't think we will change our approach. The PlayStation 4 doesn't have backward compatibility. Backward compatibility is hard. "I won't say we'll never do it, but it's not an easy thing to do. If it was easy we would have done that."

Boo all you want, but for those with short memories, friendly reminder that Microsoft had to spend YEARS after launch patching software compatibility for OG Xbox games into the 360, only for about half the library to be compatible, and Sony's solution was to build a PS2 into every PS3, which bloated the launch price up by an extra $100. Ask a software engineer: It's NOT easy. Still, kudos to MS if they can get the job done.

Source: Polygon

'Uncharted 4' Is Indeed Nathan Drake's Last Ride

During a livestream with Gamespot, Kurt Margenau, lead designer for 'Uncharted 4', confirmed that yes, at bare minimum, this is the end of the road for Nate.

"[Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley], our directors, they have a vision [for 'Uncharted 4']. We are fulfilling that vision and it's going to be awesome. It's Nathan Drake's final chapter, so I think fans are going to be happy."

This echoes the sentiment put forth by Druckmann himself earlier in the week: "The first three games were the set-up, and if we were to do one more, how would we top it all off? How would we bring Nathan Drake's journey to a close? Everything we're doing [with 'Uncharted 4'] is constructed towards that: bringing closure to a very long journey."

Source: Gamespot

We're Pretty Sure The 'Final Fantasy VII' Remake's A Timed Exclusive

In an interview with Gamespot, Playstation Europe, Jim Ryan, was pressed on the matter of the remake's exclusivity, and after a couple of PR rep interjections, he added, simply "What we're not doing is saying it's an outright exclusive, which I think is a subtle difference [compared] to what happened last year." Considering the trailer says "First on Playstation", and not only, we can pretty much gather this is a 'Rise of the Tomb Raider' situation'

Source: Gamespot

ICYMI: The PS4 Has A Media Player Now

If you haven't gotten a chance to pull up your PS4 in the last 24 hours or so, you might wanna check that out. Sony quietly dropped the Media Player app on everyone's XMB while everyone was all giddy during their conference.

Why is that a big deal? Because unlike virtually every other console's attempt at such an app in the past, the PS4's Media Player happens to support just about every major codec under the sun.

So all those TV shows, movies, and anime you may have obtained through, shall we say, extraordinary means? Yeah. You can play 'em on PS4. Of course, there's slightly less gray market reasons to use it, like the fact that it also plays downloaded music pretty well, and can run in the background while you do other stuff, which is a pretty snazzy augment to what Spotify can do on it now. You're welcome.

Source: Sony

Want 'Dragon Quest' Games In America? You Best Throw Down for 'Dragon Quest Heroes'

'Dragon Quest Heroes', which is essentially 'Dynasty Warriors' for 'Dragon Quest',  only got a brief shout out during Square Enix's conference, but make no mistake, if you want the real goods, as in, maybe the ones that skipped the West entirely, you better show this one some love.

The game's producer, Ryota Aomi, told Gamespot "We really are looking to expand on the series in a number of different ways, and we're not just looking to expand into North American but more in Asia as well. Using the PlayStation platform is one big way of doing that. So we'll look at how the game does and how that's working, and then maybe use that to think seriously about which of the previous 'Dragon Quest' titles we want to bring out to other regions."

Source: Gamespot

Don't Hold Your Breath For A Remastered 'Mass Effect Trilogy'

Game Informer had a talk with EA's Patrick Soderlund Tuesday, and the subject of getting 'Mass Effect' on current gen came up. The news isn't good, but the guy's reasoning is sound: "I won't lie and say we haven't looked at it. But for us, it's about weighing where we spend our resources. Is it better for them to be working on a completely new IP, which you know BioWare is, or should they be remastering a 'Mass Effect'?"

Basically "new game", versus spending time and money giving three older,intricate, 40-hour games a graphical overhaul. Good point. Keeping in mind, though, the first and sole  title Microsoft decided to show off to demo backward compatibility during their conference was the first 'Mass Effect'. So, there's that at least.

Source: Game Informer

'Halo 5''s Multiplayer Has Microtransactions. And God Wept.

Because clearly, 343 Industries didn't learn from the 'Master Chief Collection' that folks don't like when you make multiplayer any harder than it has to be, we discovered that 'Halo 5''s multiplayer has perks called REQ packs that you can buy with--you guessed it--real world money.

Granted, any fancy weaponry you glean out of the packs will be balanced out in Warzone--their new Horde mode--to avoid any pay-to-win stupidity, and their Arena mode will only allow cosmetic items. But still. Sigh.

Source: Eurogamer

'Kerbal Space Program' Is Coming To PS4!

The tweet speaks for itself, kids. 'KSP''s one of the best space sims ever crafted. Console folks, prepare to lose DAYS of sleep.

Devnote Tuesday: #Kerbal Space Program is coming to #PlayStation4! pic.twitter.com/rBFnIqZjf8

— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) June 17, 2015

You can also read a wonderfully passionate post from the game's creator, introducing the game to us lowly console peasants right here.

Source: Squad, Playstation Blog

In Case You Were Wondering, Yes, 'Mirror's Edge Catalyst' is Ditching The Guns

For those who needed an answer as to whether new 'Mirror's Edge' would address the original's biggest complaint, here you go, courtesy the game's senior producer, Sara Janssen:

"You won't be using any guns at all. We've completely removed that aspect of the game. You can't even pick them up."

"Faith will fight, but she doesn't kill. Now the fighting is more of an extension of the movement. It builds on the flow. It fits a lot better with the game mechanics. When Faith is in flow, when she stitches together move after move without failing and keeps her momentum going, she's actually invulnerable to bullets. That can keep her out of harm's way. It's only when she stops that she can get hurt."

Insert 'Matrix' "You won't have to" scene here.

Source: Polygon

Sony And Nintendo Have E3 Sales Going On

If you can tear yourself away from the news stream long enough, might wanna take a gander at the Nintendo eShop and the Playstation Store. There are sales galore on both services on some of their superstars from previous E3s. The Nintendo one's the bigger deal, though, since they NEVER put their heavy hitters on sale, and yet, there's 'Wind Waker' HD, 'Mario 3D World', and 'Hyrule Warriors' for about $20 off. Sorry, Xbox folks: Microsoft apparently doesn't love you as much.

Source: Sony, Nintendo

And now you know.....about 15% of the rest of the story?

We'll keep on top of things and bring you the best from round 3 tomorrow. Watch this space, as always.