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‘Days Gone’ looks to take post-apocalyptic survival to the backwoods

The post-apocalyptic survival genre isn’t exactly new, but with Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us having shown what could be done within the space, it was only a matter of time before other developers followed suit. Take Sony Bend, for example. The company’s forthcoming title, Days Gone, almost looks like a spiritual successor to the former — only it revolves around a grizzled biker who’s holed up in the scarred deserts of the Pacific Northwest opposed to the mean streets of Pittsburgh and Boston.

Unveiled during Sony’s press conference at E3 2016, the open-world Days Gone sees players players taking on the role of Deacon St. John, a “drifter” who prefers to forgo the protected wilderness encampments to fend for himself on the open road.

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According to a recent post on the PlayStation Blog, the title takes place two years after a global pandemic has wiped out nearly everyone, leaving the story’s protagonist to fend for himself amid a onslaught of mindless, zombified creatures known as Freakers. The recently showcased demo features both the aforementioned Freakers and a collective monstrosity known as a Horde, which is made of hundreds of Freakers who prefer to eat, move, and attack like a single unit hell-bent on eating you alive.

For a title that revolves around a never-ending sea of undead, Days Gone does look appetizing — at least visually. The developers have clearly taken their home in the Northwest to heart, and as such, the gameplay footage showcases a lush setting that’s heavily rooted in the trees, mountains, and rural vastness that surrounds Oregon, Washington, and other parts of the West.

Sony also plans to showcase other aspects of the game’s sandbox mechanics — including crafting, traps, and the game’s alternative paths — during an extended gameplay demo at this year’s E3, but for now, you’ll just have to settle for 10 minutes of bullet-laden gameplay and a sweet-ass embroidered jacket that looks like it was culled directly from Sons of Anarchy.

Days Gone is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 at an undisclosed date.

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Brandon Widder
Brandon Widder is a multimedia journalist and a staff writer for Digital Trends where he covers technology news, how-to…
With E3 2023 gone, other gaming events need to step up
A purple E3 logo floats in the air.

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don't currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
Why we lost E3
I’m lucky enough to have the experience of attending three E3 shows across 2017, 2018, and 2019 and many publisher-run events focused on specific games or tighter game lineups. In its final years, E3 felt like the perfect middle ground to the gamer-focused PAX and industry-focused GDC, where people from all walks and sides of the video game industry could come together, see what’s coming in the future, and share their love for games.

It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis blamed E3 2023’s cancellation on the Covid-19 pandemic, “economic headwinds” due to the current recession that impacted marketing budgets, and the fact that “companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
The first two are understandable and have impacted a lot of physical events over the past couple of years. Still, the last reason speaks to a bit more worrying of a shift for those looking to network, get attention from the press, get a broader look at the industry’s future, or even pitch a game.
What we lose
Events are a great way for indies to get unexpected and much-needed attention from players and the press; look at the chance encounter that got one of our team’s freelancers hooked on Homeseek at PAX East. Now, indies will have to hope to gain attention at those more indie-focused events like PAX or be cherry-picked to be featured in a more prominent company’s showcasing. There’s also the networking and pitch factor to it.

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PlayStation Plus just set a new first-party precedent with Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon: Forbidden West

Sony revealed the games coming to PlayStation Plus Premium and PlayStation Plus Extra this month on February 21, and it's the best month that the service has had since it launched in the summer of 2022. Not only are some great PS1 classics like The Legend of Dragoon and Wild Arms 2 coming to the service, but Horizon Forbbiden West is getting added as well.
Horizon Forbidden West coming to the service one year after launch is a big deal because Sony has been resistant to putting recent first-party PS5 games on its subscription service. While it's still not adding first-party titles on day one like Xbox Game Pass does, this is possibly our first indication of how Sony will handle adding its own games to the subscription. It's not the only PS4 and PS5 title coming to the service this month either, as the following strong lineup of games was also confirmed to be coming on February 21.

The Quarry (PS4, PS5)
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Outriders (PS4, PS5)
Scarlet Nexus (PS4, PS5)
Borderlands 3 (PS4, PS5) 
Tekken 7 (PS4, PS5)
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4)
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Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft
Playstation character wall at E3 2018

Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimed the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

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