Our top picks from the PlayStation Family Showcase

This afternoon we spent a lovely few hours at the PlayStation Family Showcase at the Perseverance Works in London. Big Brother and Dad went last year and they had such a good time that we all decided to go this year. We had been ice skating in the morning at a Baby born event, more of that another day.

PlayStation Family Showcase

The PlayStation Family Showcase is a brilliant way to see all the upcoming family-friendly PlayStation games. My son and husband are huge gamers on our PS4 so couldn’t wait to see what they could try out. It took place in an amazing warehouse called Perseverance Works. We made our way upstairs and everything was set out in an amazing room. There were loads of screens with PlayStations all set up ready to try out the latest games, as well as amazing food and some crafts for the kids if they got bored.

Let’s just say my kids didn’t get bored once. They loved every second. They explored the rooms, played crazy golf, decorated cupcakes and tried every game they could get their hands on.

The games available included Knowledge is Power, Frantics, Knack, NBA, Gran Turismo Sport, Crash Bandicoon, The Lego Ninjago Movie videogame, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, Everybody’s Golf. There were so many to choose from.

Now I have to be honest and admit I’m not a huge gamer. I’m a little scared that it will be a new thing to get sucked into and blogging takes up most of my free time. Big Brother (aged 7) and his Dad love to play Minecraft together on the PS4. Although it’s an expensive console it gets used a lot (especially if homework has been done!) and it works out a lot cheaper than a family trip to the cinema.

We already pay for PlayStation Plus but in case you haven’t heard of it, for just £49.99 a year you can get two titles every month. This is pretty good value as we’ve tried a few games that we might not have otherwise, such as That’s You.

We played it again today. We all grabbed a phone and some headphones and set up our profiles. It’s quite a funny game, especially as I won! I’m happy to play anything again if I’ve won it once 🙂

Gaming has moved on, and I clearly need to move with it. The kids love to play games on the PS4 when their friends come round but I’d never heard of social gaming, until today. Apparently this is another name for friends coming round and playing computer games, but I like it! And it’s something we can do as a family too.

Today we tried Knowledge is Power and Frantics, both games which can be played as a family via your smartphone (also known as PlayLink!). These PlayStation exclusive games are controlled by a smartphone or tablet, connected to your PS4. Just download the free app and have fun together. I think my son has added Frantics to his birthday list as it’s unfortunately not out until March 2018! They tried most of the games they could.

The other thing to tell you about is the parental controls, which is so important. I really worry about my children, especially as my son loves being online as much as I do. Have you heard about PS4’s parental control settings? Each family on the PlayStation Network has a Family Manager, which means the parent can customise parental controls for each individual account. All PlayStation games are age rated and I love that you can set the PS4 to play only games which are rated below a certain age limit.

We had a great time, got to see some new games which will be out soon and maybe, just maybe, I am coming round to the idea of joining in with gaming at home too.

A huge thanks to PlayStation for inviting us along to the PlayStation Family Showcase today.