E3 Round-Up: Shadow of the Colossus to get a big old PS4 remake
Yep, that's about as retro as Sony got in their E3 conference, really -- announcing that Fumito Ueda's legendary Shadow of the Colossus, originally released in 2005, is to get a full remake for the PS4 in 2018 courtesy of Bluepoint Games (previously responsible for HD remasters of Metal Gear Solid, God of War, and...oh - Shadow of the Colossus, all of which appeared on PS3). Looking back, the fact that Shadow of the Colossus ever managed to make it on to the PlayStation 2 is kind of amazing even if it did mostly run at around 20 frames per second -- it's a game that was certainly far ahead of its time when it was originally released, and this remake won't have too much difficulty making SOTC feel modern and relevant. And hey, as you can see from the trailer below, it looks beautiful.
Still, Sony's conference showed that, for now, they're more interested in looking forward -- compared to some of the reveals of years past such as Shenmue 3 and the Final Fantasy VII remake, Sony almost completely concentrated on brand new IP's. Sure, Kratos did get a chance to strut his stuff once again and he's got a son now, and we'll be seeing another undoubtedly polarising game from the now positively grizzled David Cage of Fahrenheit and Beyond: Two Souls fame, but...well, yes - from a retro perspective, there's not a whole lot to say about Sony's conference. It was all about virtual reality and such. Conversely, Hyperkin have just announced that the arrival of Original Xbox games on the Xbox One will be met with a remake of their own -- that of the Xbox's legendary "Duke" controller, which as far as remakes go is probably not the first thing that anyone tipped to come back. And yes, it will actually be compatible with the XB1 to boot.
There are of course, some other more major retro tidbits of interest that have happened at E3 this year -- Bethesda's conference saw everyone getting excited about a new Colossus! Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, to be precise -- another promising new entry in one of the oldest series going that has, recently, broken new grounds through retro values and design, as it did with the excellent New Order. And Ubisoft brought out Michel Ancel and finally delivered the trailer that people have requested of them for years, that being a certain Beyond Good and Evil 2 -- news that will certainly excite fans of the original. Both of these tidbits are certainly worthy of a more in-depth look that goes over more of the respective series histories, which should hopefully come soon. In the meantime, Nintendo and Square Enix's E3 programmes start today, so perhaps there'll be some more tidbits to look at tomorrow! Or even, y'know, something meatier.
