The PlayStation 4 is now available in the United States. Sony streamed its lavish New York launch event live, using the hour prior to midnight to divert attention away from the console's slim launch line-up and focus on big names and exclusives to come. Gametrailers' Geoff Keighley presided as new game details were announced, trailers were debuted, and developers were interviewed onstage about their upcoming games.
By far the weightiest of these announcements came from The Last of Us developers Naughty Dog, who used part of their time to reveal the existence of a new Uncharted game. The PlayStation-exclusive series is a large draw to the console, but the short teaser video showed no game footage, suggesting it's a long way from release.
Naughty Dog announced a new Uncharted game on stage
Smaller announcements filled the remainder of the time. Hideo Kojima appeared on video to show PlayStation-exclusive DLC for his upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes that will allow the player to play as the blocky, pixelated Snake from the original Metal Gear Solid. Open-world superhero game Infamous: Second Son received a concrete launch date: March 21st, 2014.
Bungie also showed more footage from the impressive Destiny. The developers — who created flagship Xbox series Halo before severing first-party ties with Microsoft — promised that PlayStation owners would be able to play the beta version of its upcoming multiplayer shooter on PS4 and PS3 first. The announcement was a small but tangible victory over Microsoft's looming Xbox One, but also highlighted the event's focus on the future: very little of Keighley and crew's time was spent discussing the new console's small slate of launch titles, suggesting Sony is relying on the promise of future greatness to shift machines to early adopters.