Sony announces PlayStation 5 release date and price – as it happened

One last quick reveal before we go: it’s a teaser for a new God of War, basically a logo and that’s it. Ragnarok is coming, we are informed – 2021. Not much, but something to look forward to.

Sony is now introducing the PlayStation Plus Collection – a benefit for Plus subscribers. We’re seeing a selection of PS4 greatest hits – Monster Hunter World, God of War, Infamous Second Son, Batman Arkham Knight, The Last Guardian, The Last of Us Remastered, Persona 5, Bloodborne, Uncharted 5, loads more. If you buy a PS5 then you get access to all of them, day one, to download. Not bad.

Demon’s Souls here looking as beautiful as it does in my memory. Can we just talk for a minute about how extraordinary this game truly was – so mysterious, so gothic, so THRILLING. I’ll never forget the feeling I got seeing those blue glowing eyes down the end of a corridor about ten seconds before getting absolutely ended by a blue-eye knight for the first time. The demo ends, fittingly, ten seconds into a boss fight.

Why am I seeing a Five Nights at Freddy’s game in a PlayStation 5 showcase in the year 2020!? This was unexpected. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security breach is distinctly less lo-fi than the cult horror playground sensations from a few years ago.

Another quick look now at Oddworld Soulstorm, an unlikely new entry in the disconcerting series of expectation-defying platformers.

Ultimate early-00s emo demon-killing series Devil May Cry 5 is getting a special-edition PS5 re-release. That soundtrack. CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG KILL ALL THE DEMONS CHUG CHUG *solo*

That’ll be available digitally at launch.

Arkane’s stylish shooter Deathloop features two assassins with supernatural powers caught in an endless time loop. I’d describe its aesthetic as 70s James Bond but in the future, or blaxploitation but sci-fi.

Chris Redfield is in Resident Evil 8 (also known as Village). It looks frankly hideous and terrifying, with a small-town setting (think Resident Evil 4 revisited), which surely will delight horror fans.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War looks very much like a Call of Duty game in the next short demo. We’re scouting out an airfield through binoculars in search of an assassination target before witnessing a bunch of murder, replete with slow-motion sniper bullets and a bomb-detonating RC car. The multiplayer alpha is exclusive to PlayStation.

An extended look now at Spider-Man: Miles Morales, whose events pick up a year after the events of the last game. The villain is a gender-swapped Tinkerer (dead ringer for Mass Effect’s Tali imo), it’s set in Harlem, and there is a new array of high-tech enemies. The demo takes us through a pretty spectacular rescue on a blown-apart bridge.

I’d tell you what my dream announcements would be, but honestly my dream announcement was a Demon’s Souls remake and that’s already happened. The return of Parappa the Rapper in 4K!?

Of course, since June, Microsoft has announced plenty more info about its rival console(s), the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X. The whole of Twitter has been arguing about whether or not the marketing is confusing – which, to me, is a fairly good indication that it IS confusing – but here’s the basic info:

-The Xbox Series S is an entry-level version of the new Xbox that will cost GBP249. It has no disc drive and cannot play games in 4K.

-The Xbox Series X will cost GBP449 and outputs in 4K, and has a disc drive

It’s a super aggressive price point from Microsoft – and coupled with Xbox Game Pass, which offers access to every new game from Microsoft’s studios, every new EA game and hundreds more for just over GBP10 a month, it’s really turned some heads. Xbox is even offering interest-free payment plans that can get you into the next generation of consoles for GBP20.99 a month. That’s very attractive, and cheaper in real terms than a cutting-edge games console has ever been before.

Let’s quickly recap some of the games we’ve seen so far on this futuristic-looking black and white monolith of a console:

-Spider-Man: Miles Morales, an updated and enhanced Spider-Man game

-Horizon: Forbidden West, a sequel to Zero Dawn, the spectacular robo-dinosaur open-world adventure

-Grand Theft Auto V, YET AGAIN

-Gran Turismo 7, featuring the World’s Prettiest Cars

-Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, a stupendously good-looking cartoonish romp

-Returnal, a sci-fi thriller from Housemarque

-Sackboy: A Big Adventure, a friendly platformer starring LittleBigPlanet’s mascot

-Hitman 3, the puzzle game disguised as a game about murder

-Bugsnax, the Internet’s favourite, a game that so far defies explanation

-A REMAKE OF DEMON’S SOULS!!! (ahem)

-And who could forget Stray, the cyberpunk game about cats?