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Sony Displays New PSP, Polished Games At E3
Posted by
Zonk
on Wed Jul 11, 2007 03:48 PM
from the love-to-review-some-of-those-games dept.
from the love-to-review-some-of-those-games dept.
Sony had a lot to prove coming into this event, and kicked off on a high note. The PlayStation 2 is still selling units, and the PSP's numbers are apparently up as well. They followed that with the news of a new version of the PlayStation Portable. It's slimmer, lighter, has a longer battery life, and the ability to connect directly to your television to display video and games. There was a good deal of discussion about upcoming PSP titles, some of which are connected to a PSP bundle. Pushing out the PS3, they show several PlayStation Store titles, included the fascinating-looking Echochrome . Moving onto the Home service they discussed cellphone and website tie-ins to the Home service, as well as the ability to launch games from directly within the Home environment. Referencing the price cut, they reveal sales have already gone up. NCSoft, Epic, and Ubisoft are all referenced as heavy backers of the PlayStation, with a tantalizing statement suggesting that user-created mods for Unreal Tournament will be coming to the console via the Playstation Network. A lengthy Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer and a statement that the game is only for the PS3 (still to be determined), due early in 2008, cap off the third-party section. First-party titles show all of the highlights of Sony's portfolio with the LittleBigPlanet trailer emphasizing creation rather than play, and their Heavenly Sword highlight showcasing the game's story for the first time. A new sandbox title with a morality component was announced, InFamous, as was a new chapter in the Gran Turismo series. The press conference wrapped with a gripping trailer for Killzone 2, completely running in real-time.
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Killzone 2 Back in Action 113 comments
After a bout of radio silence, yesterday Sony unveiled Killzone 2 as it stands today. Those attending the event seem duly impressed. Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell points out that the level of cynicism has been set quite high, after the pre-rendered 2005 trailer prompted a lot of hard feelings among journalists. Just the same, Susan Arendt of Game|Life is of the opinion that the wait was worth it: "Most of the action we saw was basic run-and gun--working your way up and down, through the buildings of the city to reach various checkpoints. We saw a fight with a mini-boss that was relatively unremarkable, but it did at least end with a fairly satisfying 'boom.' The level culminated with the destruction of an arc weapon--basically an antenna that draws electricity from lightning and releases it to destroy troops ... Killzone 2 is loud, dirty, and violently elegant. If you have a PS3, you're going to want this game. If you don't have a PS3 you might have to figure out how you're going to get one." For more details, check out the Killzone 2 trailer Sony has released as well as the quick Q&A on the game at PS3 Fanboy.
Offsite: EuroGamer Coverage
Offsite: Gamespot Coverage
Offsite: 1up Coverage
Offsite: Game|Life Coverage
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Really real-time? (Score:5, Funny)
Did anyone see MGS4 Gameplay? (Score:2)
Everything I've seen has been FMV trailers, and though they DO look great... So did the FMV in Final Fantasy VII...
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It's not farfetched at all; it's good, with excellent particles and depth of field. I like the shaders on the tarps. And it's got all the little flaws I spot with my 7-series card all the time, and overall the graphics quality reminds
Pics of the new PSP (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: NEW PSP has a TV out? (Score:2)
Actually I think it's a great idea, however the link in the parent article does say how they do it. The linked Article says:
"It will also come with the ability to output high-quality video by pressing the display button. This means that movies, games, photos, and all other PSP applications can be ou
Re: (Score:2)
I was expecting something far more radical to be hone
Re:Pics of the new PSP (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
But..... (Score:4, Funny)
Light at the End of the Tunnle (Score:5, Insightful)
What I liked most about their conference is that they focused on showcasing the games coming out on their system instead of talking about sales figures and statistics (After watching the first fifteen minutes of the Nintendo conference, I was about ready for a nap). I suppose most of that stems from not having a lot of good news on that front. I don't mind a little bit of business, but I'm really more interested in seeing the games.
Depending on how things turn out over the next few months and other games that Sony manages to add to the PS3, I might almost consider buying one now that they've dropped the price a little bit. Hopefully I'll get to learn a little more about some of the games being released before the holidays to see if it's worth purchasing one of them. It also seems as though they've done a lot to revitalize the PSP, which is also a lot more appealing.
Overall I think that they should've given me a more compelling reason to puchase one of these during the holiday season or right now, but I think with the recent price drop and some of the good news from E3 that sales should pick up a little in the following weeks. If nothing else at least Sony has managed to pull its head out of its ass and get back on the right track. They still might end up like Nintendo during the GameCube era where they didn't receive a lot of support. They've still got a lot of leg work to prove to the rest of the world that they're a major contender.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Do I think Sony will flop? No, I think that they'll do fine, but there's a pervasive belief in the media and a lot of people that the PS3 is doing horribly and is going to fail. It's almost contagous in that it's causing companies like Konami to debate the exclusivity of the MGS4 and has caused Sony to lose a lot of exclusives. It's a snowball effect, really.
The PS3 might many of the same games that made the PS2 so popular, but guess what, so does Microsoft this
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I don't know what you have been reading, but so far Sony is in a nosedive this generation.
2008 (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean its great they finally showed off some potential but slapping 2008 on it all doesn't give me much confidence to go out and buy the console today or even this holiday season.
About time.. (Score:2)
UMD: Sony's Universe vs Our Discs (Score:2)
heyho (Score:3, Insightful)
I have a PS3, I got it on day one, I love it, Resistance is a fabulous game.
Yes there are not as many games, yes it costs more - but for fucks sake it's a blu-ray player! not some piddly DVD player. At the time I got the PS3 I could not get a blu-ray player for that money. I like the machine, the geek in me admires the Cell technology. And I feel that strongly that Sony are getting a rough ride from a bunch a script kiddies and annoying teenagers. There I said it.
Sony are trying to run a business, not gain a foothold with massive loss making subsidies and oppressive leverage. I'm not saying that what MS is doing is wrong after all they are trying to run a business - but that does not mean I admire them for their business tactics.
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Having said that, in a few months I'll be getting a 360 for Halo 3, which looks to be a fabulous game!
Addendum. The KillZone2 Trailer link... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:heyho (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:heyho (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also awesome that you're happy with Blu-ray, but there's plenty of evidence both in what people saying and what people are buying that shows that most people aren't particularly compelled by it(nor by HD-DVD). I don't know if it's fair to say I'm angry with Sony for pushing it so hard, but as an individual who has no-use for a Blu-ray player right now, I do think it's kind of disappointing that I'd be required to pay for one in order to play PS3 games.
Sony is getting a rough ride from all sorts of people, because they created a product that doesn't fit the market as well as they thought, they priced it well beyond what most of the market considered reasonable for a game console, and in all honesty, their executives were kind of dicks about the whole thing whenever they said anything. They fell into the same complacent trap that Nintendo did back in the day, so sure of their dominance that they could push whatever they wanted onto the consumer.
It took Nintendo a little while to get back on track, but they have, and as a result, we've got some pretty different and interesting gaming systems available. I think that not only has Sony earned some of the ire they've seen, but in the long run it will be good for the gaming industry. Even if the PS3 ends up a failure, I don't think Sony will abandon the industry, they'll hopefully take a fresh look at it, and rebuild their glory days.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
While I agree that the PS3 often gets a hard time from anti-fanboys, I fundamentally disagree with your insinuation that MS has somehow been overly monopolizing in pushing the Xbox and the 360. Let's face it, both Sony and MS have been guilty of making huge subsidies to consumers to try and push their console - this is no secret, so if you're going to string up MS for it, you have to do the same to Sony. As for your accusation of oppressive leverage - where has MS exerted this where no other console manufac
Amazing! (Score:3, Insightful)
So. The real question is this: How much higher will they be a month or so AFTER the price drop?
User generated content (Score:5, Interesting)
In the link that led to talking about user generated content being less certain on the 360, that's because it would have to go through Live and Microsoft still has not worked out what they want to do there. They may yet also allow substantial user content, they just haven't done so to date with the fervor Sony has.
NCsoft? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:NCsoft? (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps all their staff are morbidly obese?
Parent
Re:NCsoft? (Score:4, Insightful)
They want to offer games that require a lot of processing power and have HD. (remaining choices: PS3, 360)
And they want to sell in volume to Asia. (remaining choice: PS3)
Parent
Impressive and unimpressive (Score:3, Interesting)
PS3: Impressive. I'm glad to see they're able to showcase a lot of high class games as well as a number that are reaching out to a broader crowd. Things may take off for this system yet, though I doubt its possible for it to gain enough momentum to dominate this generation. It would at least break previous precidents if it did.
PSP: Unimpressive. I feel like Sony is trying to copy the DS Lite without understanding why the DS Lite did well. The DS Phat's key dimensional problem was its depth. There were a number of pockets incapable of holding one, and to boot it was relatively heavy. The DS Lite improved on all of these, while looking simultaneously much sleeker. The new PSP is hard to distinguish from its predecessor, which was sleek to begin with. I'll be very surprised is this causes any long-term changes in PSP sales.
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The real point of the PSP (Score:3, Interesting)
The movie thing is cool too, I guess... but emulating actually good games makes up for the lack of such titles in UMD format.
Re: (Score:2)
Well Harrison did demo that Echo Chrome thing which looks similar in concept - rotating Escher-esque views around to cover holes and so on.
Re:Crush (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:WOW (Score:5, Interesting)
Of the 3 presentations it was by far the most interesting.
Parent
Re:WOW (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're just muck racking and naysaying, trying to proclaim the death of Sony when you don't have anything of real substance. If you want to suggest that Sony is failing at least offer something more than a shot at the success and continued viability of the PS2 as a platform.
Parent
Re:WOW (Score:5, Insightful)
Bash Sony = Mod Up
Praise Wii = Mod Up
Baseless comments are getting too much attention. People need to stick to the moderator guidelines or stop modding up groupthink style.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I hope you realize the irony of the situation... You were modded up since it's now part of the groupthink to mod up groupthink criticism.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The PS2 continues to sell extremely well and continues to be a major revenue driver.
You don't really want to have the most GFLOPS/polygons/texels per second videogame. What you want is to have the most profitable one.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Last I heard MGS may not be exclusive to the PS3.
Until the games are on the market it is all just hype.
It is still an improvement for Sony.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The utterly insane Killzone footage. The exclusive for PS3 MGS4. The amazing MGS4 trailer with live gameplay coming up soon. Home is looking more and more like the ultimate online system for gamers with the custom spaces for game comapanies, the streaming video, the elegant graphics, the very cool matchmaking and clan stuff. Ratchet and Clank, Lair, Little Big Planet, Folklore, Warhawk, Infamous, SOCOM Absolutely insane lineup. Absolutely insane level of graphics power in the PS3. One of the best E3 conferences ever.
I can't figure out if you're a paid astroturfer by Sony trying to make Sony look good or a paid astroturfer by Microsoft trying to make Sony look bad.
Yes, they had a good show. But keep your frickin' pants on.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The most exciting announcement about the entire conference for me was the new PSP's TV-out feature. I was disappointed that it didn't have TV-out on release several years ago, and I am very excited about it now. It's finally like a portable console, and th
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not trolling or anything, just curious. I have two UMD movies: Spider-man 2, came with my PSP, and Blade was a gift. I love both movies and have them on DVD where I've watched them many times.
I have tried to watch them on my PSP. Never got more than a half-hour into either before I shut it down.
Has anyone ever managed to watch an entire movie on a PSP?
Maybe I'm watching the wrong type of movie for that small screen.
Re:My Thoughts from E3 (Score:5, Interesting)
I've watched hundred of hours of movies and TV shows on my PSP.
Air travel + PSP + movies (on a memory stick) = Heaven.
No need for a laptop in your carryon means you can "sail" through security. The instant on/off is wonderful as well. You can use it while actually standing in line. One 4Gig stick will hold an entire season of a television show plus a movie or two.
You get good battery life (a little under three hours) because it's not hitting the UMD, but for longer flights you can get: a USB battery box [thinkgeek.com] and a USB charging cable. It will suck down batteries (but this setup allows the brightest screen mode) but work like a charm. I went through 16 AA's on a 24 hour flight once.
Oh yeah, I also rest it on the treadmill in front of me while running. I've lost 10 pounds when I never had the patience before. No physical media = no skipping.
I just kick myself for waiting a year to get one. It is by far the best video player available and Sony has marketed it INCREDIBLY poorly.
Never played a UMD though. Those are a waste of money IMO.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I actually used my PSP as an MP3 and movie player more than a game player and it sounds like you're doing the same. The gym was my main use. I never saw Star Trek DS9 so I ripped the episodes to my PSP and watched an episode while at the gym. That's a good 45min workout.
Re:My Thoughts from E3 (Score:5, Interesting)
1. 3 hours is enough for flights 1/2 way across the country (you can't have it on every single second.) I gave a very cheap way to extend battery life (because I'm a cheap ass) but for the price of a laptop I could purchase 2 additional proprietary batteries for 9 hours of battery life and still be at a third the price of a laptop.
2. You ignored the fact that I take it on a treadmill everyday. I also take it with me around town when I have to wait at the Doctors and the like. I would personally not want to take a laptop with me to either place.
3. People complain about it being too big as it is. The screen is the size it's at. That doesn't stop people from enjoying the PSP or the DS for hours at a time.
Parent
Re:My Thoughts from E3 (Score:4, Interesting)
I keep a spare PSP battery for long flights.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at his post history. Nothing but repackaged Sony press releases.
Sony BMG != Sony Computer Entertainment (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:And this is interesting, why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Some people besides you won't let one incident in the past, an incident that maybe didn't even affect them directly, decide their entire future from that day forward. Perhaps you want every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people who work for Sony (and Sony-BMG and presumably Sony-Ericsson) to lose their jobs for one bad decision of a few record company losers. But not everyone does.
Parent
Re:Can Anyone Explain How PS3 Games Look This Good (Score:5, Interesting)
The first and more important fact is that the hardware is powerful enough on both the 360 and the PS3 that you can get more payback for good artistic direction and heavy technical investment than ever before. The 360 and the PS3 will both respond very nicely to extravagantly expensive development budgets, and the skill of the developers and artists working on the average game will probably make much more difference in the quality of the results than any differences between the hardware will.
That said, and while the 360's graphics chip is probably superior to the PS3's, the PS3 was designed to have the Cell and RSX working together in a very close fashion. Killzone 2 is being developed with a deferred renderer, in which the Cell can overlay lighting calculations on top of the rendered polygons, rather than having all of that be always done with the RSX. Lair is using the Cell to do dynamic winnowing down of the in-game geometry to present only the essential data to RSX, while continuing to animate everything with high fidelity. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is using Cell to do very ambitious dynamic animation blending on the main characters.
Between Cell and RSX, you can do awful lot on PS3, but you have to develop the games for it, and the kind of distributed programming required to harness 8 distributed processing cores (1 PPU, 6 SPU, 1 RSX) takes a lot of time and money to do, and straightforward ports from 360-style DirectX games won't necessarily show what the PS3 can really do to best advantage.
The PS3 has another advantage with the Blu-Ray disc, as it has over 5 times more on-disc storage than the 360 has (though at the cost of a reduced maximum transfer speed). That can help allow for more extravagant level budgets, especially in titles that support streaming audio and graphics loading.
The bottom line is, we've not begun to see the best of what either the 360 or the PS3 will be capable of. The good news is that Sony is making a big enough push that they might get enough purchasers of their console that the budgets will have a chance to continue to be there to make these amazing games.
Parent