Final PS3 controller, launch line-up at E3 - Harrison News
PlayStation 3 News by Games Industry.biz
The PlayStation 3's final controller design and the console's line-up of launch software will be unveiled at E3, Sony Worldwide Studios head Phil Harrison said yesterday.
Speaking at a press luncheon, Harrison also said that Blu-ray disc "will be the primary distribution method for the triple-A games that you will see on the PS3," but that the "eventual shift" to digital distribution would be at a pace set by the consumer.
Sony wants to deliver episodic content - "whether it's game, music, television - or perhaps some combination of those" - through downloads for PS3, Harrison said, as part of a move to "push beyond the traditional gameplay we see in retail".
He also dismissed suggestions that the one-year gap between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3's respective launches was a disadvantage, reminding those assembled that Sony has reached a market-leading position without ever being the first platform to market during a generation shift.
Having outlined Sony's plans for PlayStation 3 online and digital distribution, and demonstrated several real-time game demos before lunch, Harrison was meeting with the press to answer questions relating to the particulars of his presentation.
Asked if it would be fair to assume the games demonstrated during his keynote (see our previous coverage for more details) are launch titles, he said, "All of that will be answered at E3," but was reluctant to speculate further, other than to say, "I think it's fair to assume that the ones we showed you are going to be more advanced."
Another topic raised was the PlayStation 3's controller. The design of the prototype shown at last year's E3 has proven controversial, and Harrison reminded everyone of its prototype status in response to question about the impact of the Immersion lawsuit, which had "no impact" on the decision not to show the controller at GDC. "The controller will be revealed at E3," he stated - something later reaffirmed by Sony a spokesperson.
The Worldwide Studios boss would not be drawn on hardware issues, protesting, "I'm in charge of the software studios, not the manufacturing plant." Although he did say that Sony's production rate of one million units per month "is the fastest we've ever had."
Sections of the press have reacted with concern to Harrison's reluctance to comment directly on recent reports that the PlayStation 3 hard disk will be bundled with the console - following Sony boss Ken Kutaragi's revelation last week that it will be required. However Harrison has always chosen his words very carefully, and this reluctance is more likely out of a desire not to tread on his colleagues' toes than to create confusion or contradict previous statements. He did say, however, that, "Every single game will support a hard drive."
For more on the contents of Harrison's GDC keynote, http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63536 and commentary.
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Comments: 1-50 of 50 in total
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SeesThroughAll
23/03/06 @ 12:16
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A controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, as well as with the D-pad and left stick switched. :P
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kangarootoo
23/03/06 @ 12:33
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@SeesThroughAll
"A controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, as well as with the D-pad and left stick switched" I'll see that and raise you a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use and a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit. |
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kangarootoo
23/03/06 @ 12:34
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@bivith
"look. another PS3 article!" Isn't that like going onto the Gardeners World website and saying "look, another effective management and recovery from greenfly damage article"? |
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BartonFink
23/03/06 @ 12:47
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On the controller all they really need to do is .... errr
Aw screw it just copy the 360 controller and make it black. Sorted. |
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BartonFink
23/03/06 @ 12:50
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No they posted 3 late yesterday and 1 today :)
EG wove Sony ... we all knew this what's the problem?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 23/03/06 @ 12:51
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Flying_Pig
23/03/06 @ 12:52
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He did say, however, that, "Every single game will support a hard drive."
Doesn't mean that everygame would require a hard drive though.... My money would be on a HDD as standard, as how else would you get developers to support it. It would also be essential for delivery of online content etc which Sony seems so keen on |
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SeesThroughAll
23/03/06 @ 12:54
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I'll see that and raise you a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use and a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit.
I'll top that with a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use, a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit, and a small screen on the area between the pad and the face buttons, along with a compact UMD deck underneath, for watching UMD movies in your controller ;). |
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groovychainsaw
23/03/06 @ 13:07
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The joysticks on the dual shock are AWFUL though - they ought to at least 'borrow' microsoft's for that...
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if games require blue ray discs surely 20gb, 30gb , 40gb is just too big for a single downloadable game? even with super fast connections even a hd of 200gb would be small
sony mangement need to talk to each other is the HDD required or not, every game suports it means if its there the game will use it, if harrision doesnt know noone will hes the head of the software group |
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"Dualshock 2 with the d-pad and left-stick switched over. That's all you need to do."
So, Blerk, I guess MS managed to do something right in the first place after all :) Joking aside, don't you think that such a change would upset loyal PS users too much? Being accustomed to the Xbox (and less the GC) controler myself, I'm really not confortable with the DualShock design. I'd assume the same would apply to DS-addicted fellows. |
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The 360 pad is brill, Microsoft didn't just get it right they got it spot on.
As a long-time DS user I can honestly say that I don't get confused and/or annoyed when I play Cube or Xbox games. With 99% of games using the left analogue stick for movement it really needs to be where the d-pad is these days. |
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@Cabelo: unless I'm mistaken, the confirmations you talk about has been made by Sony spokesmen anonymously (at least the ones I've read). Unless I hear it straight from the horse's mouth (purdon the expression) I remain sceptical.
I am quite sure that they need to keep their options open and have the luxury to release two SKU's, if the logistics point to that direction. They started to ship the 'core' PSP without any storage device, after all; what makes you confident the PS3 will be different? |
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Stormflood_UK
23/03/06 @ 13:26
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Maybe the controller will be a bowl of liquid and a rubber duck. Beat that Nintendo!
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On the topic of two triggers instead of L2 and R2 - I was convinced it was the way to go, until I tried PES5 on the X360. I thought that now that the "black and white" buttons are made into shoulderbuttons, I reckon it would be even better to play PES with the X360 controller than the PS2 button. I was wrong, I gave it a lot of time but using a trigger instead of normal should button to run just felt plain wrong.
So I'm not sure the triggers are the way to go afterall, it certainly makes it less of an allround controller, and while they may be perfect for racing games, they just feel awkward for most everything else. |
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Well after reading what everyone prefers, D-pad, or without, Xbox or Duel-Shock sylte.
I am convinced no matter what they release, loads of people are going to complain. Hell I can't stand the Xbox Sticks, but like le GC one and Duel-Shock D-pad. D-Pad FoReVeR
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 23/03/06 @ 13:36
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kangarootoo
23/03/06 @ 13:43
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@bivith
LOL, fair point. But then there is a lot going on in Sony land right now. |
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They're switching the left stick and D-Pad around?
Oh no, Sony don't steal ideas, it's just the format that everyone else uses... pure coincidence that Sony thought that one up... OK, sarcasm aside, I am glad to hear the pad is changing... the "boomerang" looked awful, uncomfortable and reminded me of those cheap Time and Tiny PC controllers you could get for next to no money and lasted about two weeks. |
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I'm a bit curious about all this talk about digital distribution of games. I understand that smaller games like the Live Aracde games on the 360 fit well for download ... but complete PS3 games? Wouldn't it take way to long to download them even over a fast broadband-connection?
Although come to think of it, you can already get Oblivion from D2D (Fileplanet) for the PC and that is 4 Gb. But I would expect a proper PS3 game to be larger ...? |
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BartonFink
23/03/06 @ 14:36
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Why the heck would you expect a 'proper' PS3 game to be larger than a PC game?
PC games have been doing high definition content for many a year now. |
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ManicDrunkMonk
23/03/06 @ 15:16
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I agree that they just need to:
1. Switch the D-pad and left-stick around 2. Make the Analog sticks a bit less 'cheap' feeling. i.e not spongy! 3. Change the R1 button to being a trigger, although I see this as being unlikely it would improve the feel of FPS games on Playstation. |
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YourMessageHere
23/03/06 @ 20:04
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They better still be doing the "supports generic USB mice & keyboards natively in all games" like they originally said or I'm not getting one. Hell, I'm probably not getting one anyway, but still, the one thing that most prevents me from liking consoles is that you have to use a pad. I hate pads. This would be so easy to do and it makes so much sense.
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don' forget guys and gals that the xbox controller template was copied from the Dreamcast. dreamcast had twin analogue triggers, an analogue stick and a memory card slot X2. All MS did with it was change the size and added an extra analogue stick and make all the buttons analogue/pressure sensitive. And they made the actual size of the controller smaller (well the controller 's') is smaller. did anyone forget the size of the original controller. it baffled me as to why they created such a big controller even though they said that 5000 people playtested it.
something to do with the size of american hands. my view is that it was 5000 microsoft employees! and the weird thing with the original DC controller was considering how the japanese have small hands, it was absolutely HUGE!! the thing to remember is that any controller has to feel as though it is an extension of your own hand(s). and to a greater or lesser extent all console manufacturers fill this criteria. but in some ways, for racing games, the xbox wins it outright (because of the triggers, they allow accurate acceleration and/or deceleration simultaneously) and in other games like pro evo (where all the buttons are in close proximity of each other and allow complex moves to be used) the Dual shock wins it outright because the gamer does not have to think about where the buttons are. haven't had a go on the gamecube yet so forgive me if i have not raised the pro's of that controller . Another point before i forget is Tekken franchise. perfect button layout if you are using all 4 shoulder buttons. would tekken be the same with any other controller? i do not think so! |
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SeesThroughAll
24/03/06 @ 08:18
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chromnom4n, forget it. A lot of the people who post in PS3 articles are MS fans who like to accuse Sony of copying everything from MS, and also like to believe that MS invented everything IT related - if it wasn't for Microsoft, we would still be staring at text terminals, etc. Silly, I know.
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seethroughall, are you trying to say that i am an sony fanboy? all i am trying to get across is that SEGA managed to create an quality controller and all ms did was to tweak it and fine tune it. And.. definitely if it wasn't for MS, i agree with you we would not have an online community, things to look forward to and for me i have a balance in gaming. So I TOTALLY AGREE that if it wasn't for MS creating the LIVE infrastructure than i would have been out of gaming a long time ago. And they have set the benchmark for others to follow. Would i consider buying a PS3 if it did not have any on-line capabilities? HELL NO WAY ON GODS EARTH WOULD I CONSIDER BUYING ONE! I do not get it why people are so addicted to one console. for me i have to state this again. Xbox has done for me is to create a BALANCE in gaming. I have met some good and bad types of gamer and have shared my thougths and advice to people around the world. best example i could give was after an F1 race i go on to find my friends on LIVE who share the same interests so we can chat while gaming. i suppose i am saying that companies need each other so they can have ideas bounce off of each other.
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SeesThroughAll
24/03/06 @ 13:48
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chronom4n, you got me wrong mate. I really was criticising the MS fanboys and their claims. Pointing out that everything nowadays is, in fact, always copied from somewhere to those people will prove unfruitful. That was my point.
Sure thing, competition is what keeps things moving, no question about it.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/03/06 @ 13:49
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seethroughall, muchos gracias. i actually do agree with you on the fact that there are many MS fanboys out there. take for example some of the gamers out there on LIVE. it amazes me that some of them have not bothered to have a go on the PS2 and yet the PS2 offers some of the most varied tastes in games. e.g. god of war, katmari damacy, ico, gt, and the list goes on. So yes even though i did not pick it up earlier on about your criticism on the MS fanboys, i do agree with you. anyone out there who thinks that 'their' company creates the best thing since sliced bread needs to seriously rethink the way they judge things.
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Comments: 1-50 of 50 in total
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