Sony E3 conference Finished
Hold onto your hats, ducks, and giant enemy crabs! Tonight is the night that Sony takes a bow at the Culver City Studios in Los Angeles to reveal its future plans to the packed auditorium of slavering videogaming hounds.
This time it's Ellie Gibson who will be on hand to take down every last noteworthy utterance of Phil Harrison and co. as they try and make up for last year's rather regrettable performance.
This year is very much a new era for Sony, being as it is the first post-Kutaragi E3 for the company. At the very least it'll be interesting to see what it has in store after taking an awful lot of flak from certain quarters in recent years.
Having spent the last two pre-E3 conferences talking up what the PlayStation 3 has to offer, now is definitely the time for Sony to deliver on some of its promises.
Of all the three major conferences, this is definitely the one with the biggest weight of expectation upon it. Will Sony buckle under the weight, or come out all guns blazing to answer the doubters?
We'll be there from 19.30 BST to see what the company has in store. Release the hounds...
Our live coverage has now ended. Here's what you missed: Updating...
And so it begins! Or nearly does. Looks like the last few people are taking their seats for Sony's E3 conference.
We're in a giant warehouse, with four huge screens up the front. So far all they're displaying is the swirly wavey thing that you see on the PS3's main interface.
There's music playing, obviously - a bit more dark and dramatic than Nintendo's chirpy selection and not quite as thumping ROCK as Microsoft's. It's all jolly contemporary.
There's just been an announcement - it's all starting in 10 minutes. There's a weird glass table on the stage that looks too short for a podium. Is it going to act as a display stand for something exciting?
If so we predict it probably won't be a Halo-themed PS3.
Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot is here, as he was at the other two conferences. We had a short chat before - he was very impressed by Nintendo's event, particularly Wii Fit.
The conference is starting in five minutes, according to the latest announcement.
Wonder if Phil Harrison will be first on stage? He's probably polishing his nice blue trainers as we type.
The lights are down...
First up, it's PSP - a big montage of swirly images is on the big screen.
Now there's PS2 - but no sign of PS3 yet.
Ah, there we go. Lots of flashing symbols, the shape buttons, pumping music. Sony goes House!
It's Jack Tretton, the president and CEO of Sony America. He's not on stage though - his Home avatar is on the screens.
Home Tretton is wandering out of his apartment and into "Home square".
"Good morning ladies, looking good," he says to some passers by. They look unimpressed.
And here's the real Jack Tretton, looking very smart casual.
"Incredible crowd." He's really pleased to see us!
"I'm more of a Power Point guy, and this is more Kaz's style, to have the wide open style."
"I'm hoping if we get to some exciting news I'll be able to moonwalk across the stage." We hope so too, Jack.
Everyone at Sony is extremely proud of Home - "Over the past 13 years, SCE has strived to deliver not only great innovation but great entertainment."
So today, they're going to show us "games, games and more games".
Along with "a few other surprises..."
He's talking about the 80GB PS3 now - USD 599 with MotorStorm packed in the box.
We'll be seeing almost 50 titles for Sony consoles.
"Once you've seen the scope... You'll understand why we feel we're in a very strong position."
"We're confident we'll continue our industry-leading role in this generation and beyond."
PS2 first. Has it really been seven years?
118 million installed base - that makes it "the most popular console of all time, worldwide".
10 million units in 2007.
God of War II is on the screen - it's on the way to becoming a USD $200 million franchise.
Buzz! and SingStar now. Wonder what he thinks of Scene It?
160 new games are coming to PS2 this fiscal year - in North America, it says.
And now it's PSP. "Our goal is to continue to build on the strong momentum following the recent price move."
Apparently everyone loves the price cut - weekly sales have been up 90 per cent since they did it.
UMD sales are up 35 per cent since 2006. Gosh.
9 million PSPs have now been sold worldwide, and 140 games are coming to the US this fiscal year.
Oops - that 9 million figure is a goal, sorry.
SOCOM PSP - lots of dramatic music and fightiness.
WipEout Pulse now. Zooom.
Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow - there's our Gabe, stealthing it up again.
NBA 08, and now God of War Chains of Olympus. These are all getting very short footage clips and pumping soundtracks.
Silent Hill Origins - good grief that's disgusting.
Patapon - little figures mashing and bashing down structures, it's all a bit LocoRoco.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. Will it feature his new baby?
Sonic Rivals 2 - Tails is going mental! Frame rate interesting.
Sims 2 Castaway, and now SWAT Target Liberty. More top down gunning fun.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Aslan vs. Simba?
Castlevania - Dracula X Chronicles - and that's it. Applause. No whooping.
Home Tretton is back to show us his "tricked out apartment" .
There's a lovely view from his balcony. "Hey Kaz what are you doing here?" Kaz is on the balcony! "Are you playing Riiiiiidge Racer?"
Kaz is ignoring the Ridge Racer jibe and waffling about burgers on the grill.
He wants to talk about PSP. Their avatars are talking without moving their lips, miraculously.
Oh, the real Kaz is here! Bold.
He's here to share some very exciting news about PSP.
Something in his pocket...
"The latest version of PSP will come available worldwide in September."
Doesn't look much different - still has same size screen and UMD.
"But when you have it in your hand the difference is clear."
It's 33 per cent ligher and 19 per cent slimmer.
The battery is more efficient too, and games load faster.
"But the coolest feature is the ability to output high quality video."
So you can use your PSP on the road and also hook it up to your Bravia so everyone can "enjoy the content on your PSP".
He's hooking it up to show us. Really does look very similar to the current PSP - same colours and all.
He's playing a trailer for Spider-Man 2 on his PSP. Now he's going to press the display button - and now it's playing on the big screen.
You can obviously control what you're seeing using the PSP's buttons. Clapping.
"The good thing is, you can do the same thing with all the stuff you have on your PSP" - games, photos.
PS3 and PSP connectivity and remote play now. Isn't it good, says Kaz.
It's all about the ability to do things on Sony platforms you can't do on others, says Kaz.
"The updated PSP comes in piano black, and SCEJ and SCEE will soon be announcing models for their markets."
But for now, Jack's going to show us some of the colours coming to the US.
Go on Kaz, do the Riiiiidge... Oh he's gone.
Tretton again. "It also comes in ice silver". He's holding it up; shiny indeed.
It will come in a PSP entertainment pack in US, including Daxter and a 1GB Memory Stick, and The Family Guy Frickin' Sweet UMD.
Will retail for USD 199.99 from September.
One more colour. Trumpeting! It's Chewbacca!
Whoops! Chewbacca looking well. He's clearly brushed.
It's going to be a Star Wars BattleFront entertainment pack.
It's a white PSP with Darth Vader on the back.
USD 199.99, again. Chewies doing some groans. Now we're seeing Battlefront in action.
Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron will let you customise your character, weapons and abilities.
"This fall - only on the PSP."
Chewbacca's off. Tretton pleased to have been hugged by a wookie.
Time for a PlayStation Network update. He's waffling about remote play, Home, free play etc.
2 million registered users now. 950k in North America.
20 million downloads.
It's Phil Harrison. No trainers!
Phil's going to show off downloadable games. He's talking about how tip top it is having a big hard drive in the PS3.
"Two of the games I am about to show you will be available both on Blu-ray and as a download."
80 first party games in development worldwide.
"Every generation has a defining puzzle game," says Phil. Sony's designed one that has "the least graphics and most gameplay of any title you'll see this week".
It's called "echochrome". Japan Studio have made it.
An artist's wooden figure model is walking up some stairs and round some blocks. It's very simple black on white line drawing.
The figure walks into a hole and falls down, now he's projected into the air.
The blocks he's walking on are getting more complex; it's all a bit Escher.
So black circles make the figure fall down, and white circles project him up. This way he can move between blocks.
"How cool is that?" says Phil. Clapping. "And that's the easy level."
Four more games to come - the first is a PSOne franchise originally. Now coming in "eye-blistering" 1080p with full online multiplayer - WipEout HD.
The second is called Pain. It's about how misfortunes can be amusing.
Next there's the two on Blu-ray and PSN - WarHawk and SOCOM US Navy Seals Confrontation.
WipeEout HD footage - looks very sharp indeed, but the tracks and ships seem to be still in the traditional style.
As you'd expect it's very fast. Has anyone got any plasters for our eyes?
Pain footage. Looks a bit Jackass - a man is being catapulted off a rooftop and into a plate glass window, onto a bus, crashing into a bicycle.
RoSPA is going to have fun with that.
A bloke's talking about WarHawk now. Shots of the flying bit and the driving around bit.
Footage of David Seymour talking about SOCOM. "The game runs completely of PS3's hard drive."
Says fans spotted Crossroads when the game was first unveiled - this was to show the comparison with the PS2 graphics.
It's not being developed by Zipper, but by Slant 6 Games.
Hello again, Phil. Plenty more amazing things to come, he says. But for now he's going to talk about Home. The beta is "progressing exactly as planned for our fall rollout".
They've made some important new additions he's going to share. "We now have the Home client running on a mobile phone."
He's showing us his Sony Ericsson. "The ultimate 3D experience is only on PS3... but the touch features are extending sideways". Or something.
He's taking a photo of the audience, just like he did at GDC.
Now we're going to Home Square - which will replace the current lounge lobby. It's an open air space that looks like a town square.
"We'll be launching new spaces all the time."
In the Home Square there are lots of casual gaming elements. Also some nice trees and a fountain.
Montage now of Home stuff - a city balcony at night, a Japanese style water garden, people dancing outside an apartment.
Here's Phil's avatar, at a ski lodge in Norway, wearing a red MotorStorm racing suit.
He's got SingStar set up in there. More than 10 million units and 300 million songs have now been delivered.
SingStar on PS3 will push PSN "to new heights". It will ship on Blu-ray, but of course you'll be able to download songs.
BOZEK! Not in the flesh, though.
"It really is like iTunes meets MySpace."
You forgot to mention YouTube, Bozek.
She's gone, Phil's back in his Home, and the photo of the audience is displayed in a frame on his wall. So you can take pics on your phone and send them straight there.
Phil's taking a digital photograph inside Home and pushing it out to a PC website. It's the social networking site for Home, shown for the first time.
Key goal to "an integrated and cohesive space for gamers to meet, socialise, talk about games and play them".
You will be able to launch any PS3 game from inside Home.
So Phil and his Home mates are going to have a go at MotorStorm. Someone's bringing him a controller.
11 people around the world - "one of whom is rubbish at the game" - are going to play.
Straight into the multiplayer lobby. It's a brand new track, Eagle's Nest, which will be available for download next month.
And we're off. Phil's in 6th place.
Track looks like what you'd expect - rocks, ramps, all a familiar style.
Any games can be launched from Home, not just multiplayer. When you're finished you quit and you'll go straight back to Home, "Delivering on our promise to deliver a fully integrated platform."
You'll be able to visit specific lounges for your favourite games.
Bye bye Phil, and hello again Jack.
PS3 update - they want to broaden the installed base and "deliver a very wide selection of game services that offer something for everyone".
The 80GB model is part of this plan. He's talking about the price and the date again...
Yes, the price cut, we do remember that...
"Since Monday, sales of the 60GB PS3 have doubled at our top five retailers."
11 million units of PS3 to be shipped worldwide this year.
"We never wavered in our belief that Blu-ray was absolutely the way to go."
It's all about massive capacity. Not damage, then?
"PS3 success has contributed greatly to Blu-ray success, to the tune of 2 to 1 sales margin over HD-DVD."
Over 200 Blu-ray disc games due this year, as Kaz said.
"Support from game publishers is nothing short of outstanding."
So we're on to the third parties now.
"NCsoft will be joining the PlayStation camp," announces Tretton.
NCsoft will create "online games for our platforms accessible through the PS Network that will be found nowhere else".
Based on current intellectual properties and new IPs.
He's going to talk Ubisoft now. This autumn...
Haze.
"If you want to play it this holiday, you'll only be able to do so exclusively on PlayStation 3." Time for a trailer.
"The name is Shane Carpenter. I was trained to handle anything."
He's blasting away and strangling enemies.
Shot of man walking through the rain. Looks like video footage?
Now back to the game, exploding oil barrels, a jeep leaping over a ramp.
Melee attacks, getting on board a helicopter.
"That looks great," says Jack. "Thank you, Ubisoft."
Unreal now. "Sony has signed a multi-stage deal with Midway and Epic." "The full optimisation of the Unreal engine for PS3 development."
It's to help developers speed up game creation.
Nearly 100 games in the works and more to come. "Epic's Unreal Tournament 3 is confirmed as a PS3 exclusive this year."
You'll be able to bring mods from the PC version you've created to the PS Network.
A trailer - "This November, the tournament for the next generation". Looks like the same one we saw at the Microsoft conference earlier.
Time for other exclusive "hardware driving games" for PS3 - Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.
Night vision looks like fun.
Assassin's Creed. No sign of Jade, though. More shots of the combat in slow motion, and there Altair goes jumping off the roof again.
Kane & Lynch Dead Men - it's a bank heist, now a rooftop shooting on a helicopter pad.
Resident Evil 5 - looks like the same trailer we saw at the Microsoft conference earlier today. These all look very similar.
Burnout Paradise. Not so much with the crashing, just the zooming, it seems.
NFL 08 - some sort of rugby inspired title presumably.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Five out of ten says Eurogamer.
The Simpsons Game. Marge is running around beating up the police it looks like.
Guitar Hero III. It's all pretty familiar stuff.
Medal of Honor Airborne.
Rock Band. And that's it - back to Tretton.
Time for a new third-party exclusive. It's MGS 4 and here comes Hideo Kojima.
He's on stage with a translator. "I safely made it again on-stage to this E3."
"Well the game, Metal Gear, known as a stealth game is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this July."
"This Metal Gear Solid 4 is the finale."
"It will be a stealth game but with new elements. Stealth in the battlefield."
"I promise you all my skills are going into Metal Gear Solid 4." He's got some real-time footage to show us, the first we've seen.
We're in the battlefield learning about the mission no one can know about. War is the pillar supporting global economy, apparently. But no one wants to do anything about it.
It's a hired hit Snake is needed for.
Looks very atmospheric. Same desert-like battlefield. Trailer wasn't far off before. No HUD so far looks like a cut scene.
The soldiers are coughing and collapsing. Something's in the air.
The soldiers are going mental now, beating each other up.
Snake's coughing and falling to the ground.
A solider grabs him - he pushes him off.
He's pointing a gun at Liquid, who's trying to escape on a helicopter
"Snake, if you won't be a prisoner to fate, then go, fulfill your destiny."
"I just don't fear death."
Cyborg chopping off limbs in ninja fashion.
He's pulled a spike right through his chest and out the other side! Now there's lots of snipping in the air and flying about.
This is an epic battle. Cyborg pushes his own sword through his stomach and then that of his rival, who has grabbed him from behind.
"Could you be the one to finally finish me?"
Simultaneous worldwide launch, spring 2008.
"Exclusively on PS3", Tretton says again.
Kojima asks how it was. Everyone claps and cheers.
"This is real-time footage and you'll be able to play in this quality," says Kojima.
"Sorry, because of time we only have the trailer, but next week in Tokyo I will play a demo."
There he'll show more about how to operate on the battlefield. "It will look a little crazy and I think you'll like it, and I hope that everyone can come to Tokyo next week." 17th July at PlayStation premiere event.
Kojima's off, and Tretton's handing over to Phil Harrison again, who's also back in Home wearing a Ratchet costume.
Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction now. Where's Afrika?
Footage of an Insomniac chap talking. Ratchet sees the destruction of a city and encounters a new villain who wants to destroy his entire race.
"This is where some questions about Ratchet's history come up," he says. "Something we've never explored before in the series."
Ratchet is grinding on rails, lobbing grenades, avoiding giant blades.
It all looks very Bladerunner and frantic.
Phil's going to give us a sneak peek at Folklore now, which he describes as "a stunning work of art" - from Game Republic and Japan Studios.
More developer talk. "It's got a good mix of a lot of different genres, whether it's action, fantasy, or RPG."
Nice laser whip, sexy lady with shiny bottom, bloke going all evil.
Heavenly Sword now. They've built a special Home theatre for it - a bit stone pagoda type structure.
Tameem Antoniades of Ninja Theory is on screen. "It aims to emulate the experience of the big summer blockbuster."
"It's very story driven and really tries to raise the bar in terms of dramatic performance."
Everything looks sharp, fluid and super fast. Millions of enemies on a battlefield - "Without Blu-ray, we wouldn't have been able to create Heavenly Sword."
NBA 08 now. "The first sports game ever to achieve 1080p visuals at 60fps," says Phil. A lot of very tall men jumping around.
You'll get to go online and challenge people, including one on one matches. "You're only going to be able to do that on PlayStation 3," says man on screen.
Ahh, LittleBigPlanet! A new version of Sackboy with a chintzy pattern.
"The essence of LittleBigPlanet is play, create, share," says Phil.
Alex Evans of Media Molecule is on. Characters building wooden structures - oh, it's a tree - now a cardboard tank, which is rolling down a ramp.
Bowls of chillies used to create obstacles.
Building steps now, and then cutting holes out like the shape buttons. "Play, create and share" mentioned again.
Oh, is that all? Oh well, it's Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune now.
"The Cell processor is allowing us to do things we were never able to do on PS2," says Evan Wells from Naughty Dog.
That includes realistic facial animations. "Uncharted is going to be the best game Naughty Dog's ever made."
The footage is of Drake running round temples, gunning and jumping. Back to Phil. Six of the 15 games Sony is bringing exclusively to PS3 this year.
Now Harrison's announcing a game from Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch. "An organic and open city" where you choose to be a villain or superhero.
It's called Infamous. We're seeing a US city at night.
Helicopters flying over a bridge, again at night. The camera swoops down into the street and on to one man.
"Some would call him an anomaly," says a women in a voice over.
Now the action. Our hero is leaping over cars, blowing stuff up, fighting some kind of robot.
Due 2008. And that's it. Interesting - and clearly nothing like Sly Raccoon.
On to Gran Turismo 5 Prologue now. Trailer up and it looks shiny. Look at the reflections on that.
A shot of a silver car in London to end on. "Truly a beautiful game," says Phil.
That's the last we'll see of Phil, it seems.
Oh dear. He's talking to Tretton's Home avatar. "Hey Phil, didn't you forget one thing?"
He did. "Everything you're about to see is real time." It's Killzone 2.
A hellghast's eyes stare down from the big screen.
A group of soldiers loading their weapons on a flying vehicle. Wonder if this is the same footage Tom saw last night?
They're swooping over an industrial landscape now. There's an explosion and the ship seems to be going down.
They've landed and are leaping into the action. There's a close up of the hands of the guy demoing the game.
There are explosions and gunfire sounding everywhere. The player is taking out enemy after enemy. Nice blood splatters on the floor, smoke and fire all over the place.
Snippets of gameplay. All very busy and cinematic. Very immersive. Moving into a building now, again very dingy and run down.
The general consensus of those who were at the Killzone 2 event last night seems to be that it's looking better than they expected. This trailer is backing that up. Using sights on gun to zoom in and splatter enemies.
The trailer's over, and Phil's back and thanking the Killzone 2 director for the demonstration. And now we're truly going back to Tretton to wrap it up.
He's banging on about being dedicated to new entertainment experiences and consumers.
Summing up - the new PS3 price, the new PSPs, 500 games for PS2, PSP, PS3 and PSN over the next few months.
"We look forward to a bright future together. Thank you very much."
And that's it. So, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have all done their conferences now... FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
Comments (714)
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By simultaneous worldwide release, they mean it's going to be released at the same time in Japan, US, Australia and Europe. And exclusive means it's exclusive to the PS3.
A game that comes out on ONE CONSOLE /and/ the PC is not an exclusive.
Bioshock is not a true exclusive, for example.
Now, consider:
A significant number of the 360's supposed exclusives are also on PC, albeit not PS3.
The majority of PS3 exclusives are PS3 only - no PC.
So, personally, I think people like myself are in the best position:
PS3+PC
I get everything I want, bar Halo, and that's questionable given the number of good PC shooters (for reference, I don't like shooters on consoles as a rule)
That said, I won't deny it cost me a pretty penny, but I save on a HDTV because I use my nice widescreen monitor.
*spoilers, do not read above*
However, I am not sure if PS3 will outsell Wii anytime soon. Maybe after couple of years.
@old skool
Definitely a question of lost in translation. My native language is not English.
Erm, my bad, I guess it was lost in translation ? :-o
Anyway, the Wii won't shift more hardware units than the ps3, but I guess that wouldn't matter to Nintendo as they'll probably still make more money than Sony at the end of the day.
I'm not sure about the west... but it was announced last week in Japan that the Wii has the highest software attach rate of any console since 1996.
Midway PR seem under the impression that it will launch on the pc. Guess the where last to know.
Your internet suck man.
Buy a new one.
How are you disagreeing with me? You are basically repeating what I just said, which is that Wii is currently selling like hotcakes, but the software sales are bad. The thing you're wrong about is the claim that the so called hardcore gamers are the core customers of Wii at the moment. That's not right. That might have been correct for the first few weeks but currently Wii is selling best to families, kids and young audiences. Sure, hardcore gamers are there as well, but they don't make the figures Nintendo has managed to come up with Wii or DS.
I also stated that people who are looking for casual gaming experience (say, Wii Play or Wii Fit) will be the ones who don't buy that many other games. So, even there our views were the same from the get go. From my first-hand personal experience many families with kids buy games consoles (say PS2) and a few games (maybe Buzz or SingStar) and the kids treat them as any other toy. They play with them for a while, go back to them every once in a while, but they're not so keen on collecting 100 games that rack up great scores on Metacritic.com. This is why Wii sells. It's the ultimate, cheap family console gaming toy solution. You get a few minigame collections for the kids and you're golden. It's easy to understand and it's lots of fun.
I think Sony announced all their titles that are coming in this fiscal year i.e till March 2008, such as the ommision of a few titles, like 8 days, Getaway, Afrika, Socom 4, Wipeout next gen and a bunch of others.
Although saying that i missed a chunk of the conference because my internet crashed. :'(
I think Socom Confrontation got announced as did Wipeout HD, man i need trailers for these quick.
You took my statement completely out of context. Good job.
I was making a comment on top of someone elses comment that the ps3 has so much to look forward to next year and the xbox doesn't.
Well , I disagree because:
1)The Wii is initially selling well because of its low price, the people buying it NOW mostly are the HARDCORE
2) Eventually interest will fade because of its lack of processing power and small library of games
3)I hate to say it and I'll probably be labeled anti-Nintendo for this but fitness games are a fad, just like cooking games, you get tired of it and you won't want another
4)Because of point number one it will saturate the hardcore market very quickly
5)There isn't much 3rd party support
6)the 3rd party games are mostly multi-format and looks a bit crap
8)The casual gamers are playing , guess what, the ps2!
As for Microsoft they shot themselves in the foot with their hardware failures. The fencesitters will wait until the revised hardware comes out, so from now till whenever that happens they won't shift alot of consoles. They'll come 2nd in North America but everywhere else they'll end up 3rd.
/response to post 701
So, let's not underestimate their power of bribing people to do exclusives for them. And by the looks of it Halo Wars, Alan Wake and few others are going to be released in 2008.
Sony needs to concentrate on what they did best on PS2 and what eventually led to their dominance on that generation: diversity. They had basically the best titles (except FPS, which went to MS) on all fronts. They had quirky, weird titles. Experimental titles. RPG, sports, driving. Games with gimmicky controllers. They were bold and developers loved that.
If they try to outplay Microsoft in their game of "games for big boys" they will fail. They should have a go at that, but not try to make it their new motto. Microsoft has carved a rather nice marketplace for themselves, something along the lines of "male PC gamers who converted to consoles". They are playing their field extremely well, even if it's getting boring from a gamer's side. Well, from a gamer's who likes some variety.
Nintendo is too arrogant after inventing the perfect casual gaming hardware (both home and handheld) and they can't be bothered with diversifying their software line-up. They just blindly believe (and probably rightly so) that they have their own marketplace, just like MS has theirs with X360, and they just need to concentrate on few safe franchises to keep investors and stockholders happy.
All in all, Sony is the only company that can really make a difference and also make many gamers with more varied gaming taste happy. It's just up to them to play their cards right. Currently they're trying too much and shooting in all directions at the same time instead of keeping things more simple in some areas and concentrating on things that really count. New PSP that's lighter and has video output? That's rubbish and waste of time. Home? Looks way too cumbersome.
'Its all about the games, stupid!'
Consumers will be mainly not so aware of E3, it is the hardcore who analyse the news, vid and screenshots but these are not what win the console superority. Wii will do very well, if X360 continue to edge PS3 in USA for sales up to next year then it will be tough for PS3 to really dominate as it have for PS2. But Blu-ray as observed by many others was the millstone is now the holy grail for PS3, in that when Blu-Ray wins the format war then it will be seen more as cheap next gen player.
This gen you really can't miss one platform at your peril!
@ Varsity Nah it would be more realistic to believe that they did not mention it because it has not been modified. Its like saying that 'increasing battery life' implies that current battery life is crap.
I said Sony's was the best, but that none of them were that impressive overall... especially when you think back to past E3's.
@ Penguin - please stop gushing over the ps3. MS only showed 1 game they had slated for 2008... that doesn't mean there aren't a million more on the way. MS concentrated on '07 only. Plus, half of the so-called "exclusives" for the PS3 are only timed exclusives... mostly because they would run up against games like Halo and GTA4 on the XBOX.
Let's at least stick to the facts here.
PS3 will be dominant in 2008, for the simple fact that there are a ton of system sellers scheduled for the beginning of the year.
Nintendo needs to get a move on also.
Over the next 9 months. Sony has all the major franchises - FF XIII, MGS4 and GT5, while MS only has Halo. Plus Sony also has more first-party games in development. Personally, I'm interested in Hard Rain, Wipeout, The Getaway, Afrika and SOCOM.
I think the PS3 is expensive if you just want a games machine but amazing value of you want a hi-def DVD player as well. Hopefully, tomorrow's price drop will go some way to fixing this. I already have a PS3 so need no convincing.
If that was Sony "not saying much" then Microsoft whispered and Nintendo said nothing !
I sort of agree with you. I do think the Wii will be the biggest seller because of its mainstream appeal. I also agree that game sales for it will be low as the mainstream audience are not as likely to buy a new game every month like hardcore gamers. Many are more than happy with 2-3 games.
But I don't agree that the 360 will dominate for a few years before the PS3 overtakes it. I think the PS3 will overtake 360 sales by Christmas 2008. Microsoft are pinning a lot on Halo 3 this year but what do they have next year? At least the PS3 has Killzone 2 and FFXIII and there will be others.
Who says they haven't been improved? It's not like Sony would admit that the current version is bad.
I don't think the PS3 is too expensive. It's a lot of money for a gaming console, yes.
But if you look at the whole package it reallt is kida cheap. At least I think so.
There is so much that is standard on the PS3 that are add-ons on other consoles.
But, ofc if you don't need the PS3 standards you're paying for stuff you don't use.
Anyway, in 2-5 years time people will be happy the PS3 standards are included.
Anyway, conference wasn't bad... best of the 3, but that's not saying much. I'm still a bit disturbed about all of the rubbish "exclusive" talk, but I'm guessing that will all be sorted out shortly.
I think out of all the games shown, CoD4 stood out the most for me.
And what is with the PSP redesign? Lighter and smaller is good. Faster loading and better battery life is awesome. But I would have much rather seen a vast improvement in the controls (especially that ghastly thumb stick) rather than all the other fluff such as TV out (which should have been there since day one).
Best analysis ever, well done.
There was plenty of good stuff on show.
GT5 will melt peoples eyes, just like GT3 did. All the FUD in the world can't stop PS3s flying off shelves when that shows up. Wipeout HD will tickle my tits. Warhawk and SOCOM can be launched from the HD without even needing to put a disc in the machine. Heavenly Sword looks every bit as good as I hoped. MGS4 isn't going anywhere in a hurry, if it ever goes anywhere at all (and let's not forget the XBox version of MGS2 suffered serious slowdown at times, on hardware with twice the power of the PS2, which ran it flawlessly) LBP still looks great. Apart from rather too much multi-platform stuff shoved in the middle there's nowt to complain about there
And, come September it's a new PSP for me, as well.
Wii will outsell or has outsold all the competitors with their hardware. They can't compete with the software because it's so lackluster at the moment. X360 rules currently the software game. PS3 will eventually play catch up, Wii will do what it can with the inevitable franchise instalments (Mario, Metroid, Zelda) and then it's back to the third place for them (with software sales)
Wii might win this generation by hardware sales because it's a direct-to-tv family-fun-fitness-multi-toy. It won't shift too many games though because most people are satisfied with the few gimmicky games Nintendo puts out (one of them shipped with the console itself, mind you).
Second place will go to PS3 if Blu-Ray wins the HD format war, but that will take a few years. In the meanwhile X360 will dominate the second place of hardware sales and completely dominate the software sales.
PS3 might either do a PS2 eventually and with great exclusives and good conversions (plus the added benefit of Blu-Ray) will claim the second place in hardware sales and the number one position in software sales. Or if all fails, it'll become the PSP of home consoles and sell reasonably well, but will never become what it was supposed to.
End of analyst transmission.
The fact is that the PS3 has a great line-up this Christmas. It's still too expensive but the new price bracket will help it a lot. One of Sony's strength is that it has a lot of brand loyal customers and if it can convert even a fraction of the huge numbers who buy PS2s than it's going to continue to be a success.
PS3 seems to have the strongest line-up in terms of exclusives over the next 9 months.
Unreal Tournament aswell as Haze exclusive this year? Great news for PS3 owners.
I was talking about their accidental suggestion that the entire games reel was exclusive.
Internet imploded at about that time so i missed a good chunk.
They're waiting for the public reaction on the other announcements. If the games (of which 99% we all already heard about anyway) aren't enough, then they'll have to drop.
They even said they showed 7 of the 15 titles, in the conference.
The way they were demonstrating the games one by one, thank god for that, otherwise the conference would have stretched to 2 and a half hours.
1) He criticized one system and praised the other without making any arguments to substantiate his claims.
2) He used agressive words like 'vengeance' and 'beat'
3) He used the word 'fanboys' to refer to those who do not agree with what he is claiming.
4) He did a statement which heralds itself as the absolute truth while describing his opinion as fact.
GT5!!!
It certainly back, but it's still got a long way to go to catch up MS and Ninty.
True, and no trailers on the EU PSN!
PSN USA is filled with trailers!!!!
Gonna check the EU PSN now!
/excited little me
Fair enough. That's still less than half of what was claimed though...
"That Killzone bit was running through the level, the trailer hours ago was chopped off into tiny bits showing different parts of the gameplay."
I don't know what you saw, but I saw video with totally out of sync audio from another KZ2 session entirely. One of them was pre-recorded.
Kojima did say twice that all was real time. Even if it wasn't ostensibly so, at least part of the trailer must be actual gameplay (the fight, I guess)
New PSP sounds ok but what's the betting they shaft europe on the price. 199 dollars should see us getting it at 100-120 pounds. I bet it clocks in at nearer 200 for some stupid reason or is 199 euro.
Kotaku guy raving about GT (thats Gran Tourismo not Grand theft) so presumably he hasn't heard of Forza then! The two are equal in quality so why rave one over the other. I'm starting to think Sony paid them off or something. Earlier they had the killzone story deliberately miss labled so that it stayed top of their site for hours even after newer stories came in.
Ok then disapointed by all three press conferences
You're going into my ignore list for that blasphemy!!
Just kidding
MGS4 did look good, but for how long will it be a PS3 exclusive. Konami have already hinted at the fact that with the current PS3 userbase they're going to struggle to make back their developments costs with a PS3 exclusive.
Wait wut?
That Killzone bit was running through the level, the trailer hours ago was chopped off into tiny bits showing different parts of the gameplay.
Come on dude, give some credit.
Heavenly Sword, MGS, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted, Warhawk, GT5, that SuckerPunch gaem, and some I can't remeber now. Plus the timed exclusives like Haze, Unreal Tournament, etc..
In my opinion they should have left the news on the PS3 price cut for E3. That would have made one kick ass key note. But I guess they had to divulge the news earlier than planned after news of the price cut leaked.
They should have expanded more on how Home will have trophies and achievements. Having Kojima reaffirm his loyalty towards Sony was a good move but it would have been nice to see some actual gameplay instead of another trailer for MGS4. Will have to wait for the demo in Tokyo next week.
No way that's happened. PC MMO is too strong in Asia for them to give that goldmine up, as they'd inevitably have to.
Oh and have they actually bought the developer NCSoft or is it just a publishing deal?
Don't be fooled. Most of them are only exclusives in a very stretched sense of the word.
I got fed up of the hosts using Home all the time, not funny at all.
Main issue a lot of people will complain about: No rumble in sixaxis.
But, MGS4 confirmed as exclusive, and with the guarantee of worldwide release as a good excuse for the delay was good.
KZ2 looked very good, almost as good as the infamous 2005 trailer.
Infamous sounds like the PS3s answer to Crackdown.
For the most part, hardly any surprises, and I'm shocked that they even bothered to show (shitty) third party games that are already out. WTF?
If anything, the only surprise was the confirmation that MGS4 is a PS3 exclusive.
And yes, Hideo, it looks fab
as an owner of all 3 systems I'm chuffed as f'ck about all these games.
ah fair enough i thought it was the same.
I'm getting a PS3 tomorrow!!!
Oh, I already got one!!! Lucky me!!!
Happy to have one, Sony are awesome!
Lot's of great exclusives there. Good times for sure!
No, Microsoft just wanted to make sure they nailed this Xmas.
I expect to see new games at X07.
Sony's conference was the best, but they missed a bit of an open goal. Most of their good stuff's out in 2008. Very few live demos of games. Terribly gameplay-free MGS trailer. GT5 nowhere near coming out. Not good.
My take on the whole Sony conference
Negative: Too bad there was no rumble Sixaxis talk, nothing resembling ICO on PS3 and most of the games we had already seen in a form or other. No talk of the new pricing policy in Europe, if there is any.
Positive: Presentation itself was slick (nice music, too). Jack Tretton was proficient and didn't come feel like a infomercial spin doctor like some of the rival PR people. Liked the announcer voice for the games. Infamous and that PSP/PS3 puzzle game looked great. UT3 timed exclusive deal might ship some units. NCSoft deal sounds brilliant.
Neutral: Killzone 2 trailer was long overdue, but fine. Home is still uninteresting and feels like too much work to get into.
Im sure they do have things but they never showed them, so im basing this purely on the 3 shows.
Killzone 2 looks technically impressive, shooting and AI is gonna need a serious upgrade though. Still more impressive than the Halo 3 footage though.
I'd say Microsoft and Sony pretty much had equal conferences. Neither were amazing and both had their boring bits, but at least they had games to show even if very few of them were actually new.
Oh well nothing great but some nice things all the same. All three neck and neck for me with the fact that I can play all of the games for MS this year perhaps just shading it for me.
Well, a bit better than MS, and much better than Nintendo... but still lackluster. Oh well, I suppose this is the new E3. Only thing left is that Konami surprise tomorrow.
Killzone 2... I just don't know who different it's going to be from countless other FPS games I've played.
Here comes Killzone...
Edit: OK, this bit looks real.
Yah - PSN first - then BR.
"m0thr4
Thats what is happening. BR disc will apparently come with the best user levels from PSN."
How will that work then? the game surely has tto be released before the user levels can be created?
It's a business event. What do you expect ?
that's obviously why my feed has just improved!
I hate how right you are.
Thats what is happening. BR disc will apparently come with the best user levels from PSN.
I'm not saying that PS3 and Xbox 360 are no fun, I like playing all three of them, but Wii really is so much fun.
can't wait for LBP ^_^
Shut up, send them developers to sort it.
There is nothing wrong with me, there is plenty wrong with Nintendo and it's Wii fitness /cooking/ brain training. dog training bollocks.
...as I don't own a single product by Microsoft, whatsoever.
I wonder how many PS3 fanboys can say the same?
Its true...
#ifndef PS3
#error
#endif
that's pretty hypocritical mocking others for being fanboys no?
spongebob: I don't know, I never really cared for any kind of story in any kind of game. Except graphical adventures.
Stories and the dialogue were what made Jak & Daxter games so much fun. Same with Ratchet & Clank.
Of course, if you're into old men in rubber stealth suits, then knock yourself out.
What's wrong with you?
* slits wrists *
Xbot?
Oh, that's priceless! I'm sitting here at an Apple iMac watching the live press conference... and the only games consoles I own are a PS3 and a PSP.
I fucking hate Microsoft with a passion. I hate the MGS games only slightly less.
edit: what's with the dancing ?!
"I just don't fear death"
Where do they come up with this nonsense. And they spend millions developing games like this.
Seriously, there are far better games to look forward to on the PS3 this year.
This is 3rd party stuff, 1st party still to come
So where are the new exclusives? Anything for 2008? Interesting to see if Hideo will say when its out...
LBP, MGS4, KZ2....megatonnage
Looks like the PS4 is in trouble. If it's true.
That looks like snake behind the word gear though
EDIT: Think its metalgearsolid 1 word
We're still waiting for that mysteryous announcement tomorrow...
edit: screw FFXIII
edit: screw the poster below me
Well, like I said over an hour ago, it was all a bit predictable wasn't it?
But jack said all these games were exclusives?!
That's the charitable explanation...
The timed exclusives could be a good move though, if they've actually got Haze and UT exclusively until next year. Doubly so if UT has mod support on PS3 but not on 360 - that'll be an interesting one to see.
Also interesting to see Resi 5 in the trailer reel, there'd been talk of that going 360 exclusive a while back.
Unless they are saving it all for the very end...
lol better start saving up for this onslaught of good games!!!
Differentiation?
I'm guessing pretty much all of these timed exclusives.
I don't give a rats ass if I have to wait 1 week longer for Haze.
"Only the Playstation Network can support the type of game play that NCsoft is known for"
Er really? Because their games have been running just great without the Playstation Network.
Also, some VERY misleading comments about games like Call of Duty 4, Haze, Assassin's Creed, and Unreal Tournament and their "exclusivity". They are all coming out on 360.
YAWN........another effing bog standard shooter
Ok that's one for Sony
Unreal Tournament 3...PS3 exclusive (this year). Show us some real exclusives.
I thought it was a year and 7 days?
Wait, mods? That's actually a good announcement.
oooo...
Thanks for clearing that.
Oi!!!
Yes...
You can launch games on your console with it (HD + BR). I think in future you can download from home too tho.
?1 = $2.03
Thats just perverts with multiple accounts and teenage girls
Oi!
I'm a facebook addict
/Stands up and bows
*chuckle*
I'm afraid plenty of pp on MySpace Facebook etc beg to differ.
So far MS' conference was the most cohesive of the lot, even if the games are all so similar on that platform.
And it's pretty usefull being able to send photos from my mobile to a wall in my Home. Again, when i'm playing on my console i want to be just "hanging out" in my VR home.
Just...gimme...games.
edit - and im sure the quickest way for me to play a game is to join it from my PS3 Home space somewhere. Whats the point?
How will they be able to milk you dry like that?
The criticism at MS was ''There were no surprises or excitement''
This sounds like a whole lot more of the same.
We all guessed a big focus on Home, and here it is.
Surely this is only appealing to girls and emos right
I'll remember to stay clear of it, then.
Man, this is getting stale.
* rolls eyes *
PS: thats ingame music
Pain and Warhawk we already knew about.
No one is surprised.
Is it worth 400 squid tho?
I know what a wookie is...
hugged by a wuuki indeed.
Straight in with the bitching twat!
You are joking right?
*slap*
this needs to pick up ...
(ps. I am sure the new model is unhackable
Im hearing a lot of PS eh P, PS eh 3. They donno what they're talking about, is it?
*twitch*
But have MR&MRS Joe Bloggs wanted it?
It doesn't really have mass appeal does it?
Quite the change of heart...
EDIT: or whatever res PSP is...
Can we not have a console that plays games!
This new PSP thing is amazing. Being able to play your PSP on your TV at home. I've always wanted that from a Playstation Portable.
Personal spaces are invite only, so no he wouldn't be in there just waiting...
Oh hey new psp.
... yes.
Nintendo, MS, Sony don't even bother next year for real.
Ditto the likelyhood of "3 hot chicks" hanging around together with their avatars stood in a nice line.
Bring out the big guns you buggers, not Home again.
Of course not. No new games in there.
* If it's not shit.
No single other movie made me want to strangle Tom Hanks more...
lesson learned for the ps3 then...
...or not
no-one cares
G4
http://www.g4tv.com/e32007/spotl
ight.html
quick!!!!!
I was under the impression he was saying they were going to ship 10 mill next year. Considering you can buy em for about 70 quid it wouldn't surprise me tho...
And the Playstation website is sponsored by Gamespot Fuckin hell.
Make it some new ones, though.
Don't get your hopes up.
With the PSP, uh? I hoped for the PS3 first.
GIANT CRAB!
I found this one most reliable vid feed:
http://www.g4tv.com/e32007/spotl
ight.html
@Calgon
Back to your bridge you
but seriously, folks... let's see what they got. i hope they announce some surprises for the PS3, it still doesn't have enough "killer apps" for me yet...
hello everybody are you as excited as me
http://www.g4tv.com/e32007/spotl
ight.html
Hope it goes right after lackluster MS and just plain horrible Nintendo one!
Wouldn't be the same without him!
''Don't wory guys, THIS is all behind us now''
It'll be a good start huh?
/hopes for dazzlement
I sincerely think this is where it all comes right for them
Let's see if they gonna cut the Euro PS3 price. If they do, I might actually start saving money.
So lets see if they can impress.
What's this Konami BIG news I hear about?
So Sony should have this in the bag yeah?
I hope they do blow us away actually, they're due some praise as they've had it particulary tough over the last few months.
Killzone 2 looked sweet, a couple more like that, maybe some surprises, and they'd have 'owned' E3.
45 minutes yacking about Home and LBP isn't going to cut it for me though.
you know you want too
Ninty once again showed us nothing particularly new and spent 75% of the time patting themselves on the back. Gamers concerned that they're moving their focus away from traditional games and into non games.
I didn't think the MS one was too bad, could have done with a few surprise announcements sure (That Green monstrosity doesn't count) but I thought they pretty much focussed on what people wanted to hear, which is the remainding big games left this year :/
they cant change their plans this late
F*ck off back to your cave you sad wankers.
Because Sony's got no games this holiday season rite?
So leave the puppies where they are.
Cookies go to Capcom for RE5, Bioware for Mass effect, Infinity ward for COD4, Guerilla for Killzone 2,
The biggest flop of the show goes to Nintendo and the underwhelmiing Halo 3. I want Sony to be amazing just to keep me from feeling utterly depressed about the road Nintendo has taken this gen. It's like losing a old friend...
Ninty suckage
Sony GOGOGOGO!
Giant Enemy Crab
Massive Damage
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Raaaaceeeeeer
These pearls of conference humour shall never be surpassed
To think that was a bad conference, from the MS and Nintendo ones we don't have anything we can take from the conferences at least Sony's ones you get at least one meme be it:
the real next gen
or
4D
PSP lite
all the known games
Home
8 days
afrika
getaway
MGS4
controller with rumble
EU price drop
and lots more
Giant Enemy Crab
Massive Damage
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Raaaaceeeeeer
These pearls of conference humour shall never be surpassed
- and ive linked my TV to the computer so i can surf and watch at the same time
Sony is the biggest manufacturer publisher out of the 3 and they will have totally lost it if they cling onto past success (ala Nintendo) or re-iterate what we already know (MS).
Sony showed glimpses at GDC so take this sucker all the way Sony... for my sake please.
/begs
It would take some beating but I have the utmost faith in Sony
If they go and do anything as bad as last year's, yes it can.
Would be cool if they showed us a glimpse of what Team ICO are doing next as well.
Release demos for Lair and HS on the PSN Store immediately!