Sony's Pre-E3 Press Briefing Summarized

Earlier today, Sony's pre-E3 press conference here in Los Angeles announced their PSP handheld console, as we've already covered at Slashdot Games. But there were plenty of other important and interesting announcements in the Sony briefing that we can summarize here, in the same way as we've done for Nintendo's and for Microsoft's pre-E3 press conferences. Read on for info about Gran Turismo 4, Eye Toy, the next Grand Theft Auto, and more..

- all new Playstation 2 consoles sold in the US from June onwards will include a network adaptor. This new bundle will also include an updated version of the console, with DVD-R reading and progressive scan built-in, but will still retail for $199.99. It was later announced that the current PS2 retail box will retail for $179.99, without network adaptor, until they've all been sold.

- this had been coming for a while, especially after EA had expressed their displeasure at Xbox Live, but.. all EA Sports games are only going to be playable online via the PS2. The games will ship for other consoles such as Gamecube or Xbox, but you won't be able to play other people over the Net on those versions. Looks like Sony is upping the ante in the online console war against Microsoft.

- Gran Turismo 4 from Polyphony Digital was extensively previewed. It included some amazing-looking footage, which was often difficult to differentiate from real-life filming. There will be better AI, improved driving, and online capabilities, and the game is looking very, very promising.

- confirmed exclusives for Playstation 2 are both Metal Gear Solid 3:Snake Eater, and the 'next Grand Theft Auto title', although we don't know anything more about the new GTA yet. Any cities want to stand up and volunteer to be the new setting?

- Final Fantasy XI will launch in the US via Sony in early 2004, alongside the PS2 hard disc add-on which will be needed to play it. Interestingly, the PC version will be released by Square Enix in October 2003, significantly ahead of the PS2 version.

- Sony showed the Eye Toy, their digital camera add-on which has been in development for quite some time, and uses clever 'motion capture' style technology to put you in the (often wacky) action. It'll retail for around 40 bucks with mini-games included, and will ship towards Xmas 2003.

If you're looking for screenshots and media info on Sony products, try the usual suspects such as IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamerfeed, or just monitor all the sites with Gametab News.

Slashdot Games will be on the show floor for all 3 days of E3, and will be giving hands-on impressions of the biggest games in all the major booths, including Sony's, so keep checking the page for regular updates.

register has an article too

[spiny]

same quotes but some more insightful comments:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/30688.ht ml

Boring?

[Yorrike]

I'm not trying to troll here, I'm just making an observation, but this announcement seems a little boring compared to Nintendo's, excluding the PSP, of course.

Maybe if there was a new FF anouncement, or if Enix had decided where to put the next Dragon Quest, we'd be talking, but this is "meh".

Re:Boring?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Boring? I disagree - this is very exciting.

First off, the network adapter as part of the package is great news for those of us who already have a network adapter. Sony's online plan has been a bit unfocused and it's good to see that they're starting to get things together.

The commitment made from EA Sports basically means that if you want the best sports games, you need a PS2. Online gameplay is becoming fundamental to sports games and I fully expect this to drive some people to the PS2.

Any time anyone ment

GT4

[nicky_d]

A great online feature for GT4 would be a centrally-stored database of the world's best track/lap records, with ghost car data available to download to the hd or memory card. Instead of simply trying to top the #1 driver, you can then race directly against their best performance, and upload your ghost when you beat them. A good way to pick up on track strategies, too...

Re:GT4

[phaze3000]

Sega's Ferrari F355 Challenge [sega-rd2.com] on the Dreamcast has/had this feature. Some of the times set were simply unbelievable, and it really helps to create a 'community' arround the game.

The REAL question...

[Hadlock]

did they put the 'main' power switch on the front finally? talk about a human usability design disaster....

Re:The REAL question...

[|_uke]

Do you use the real powerswitch on your PC? Odds are no =)

Although I wouldn't mind a more deticated button... the reset button is also the soft poweroff... just like the soft poweroff on the front of your PC. (Except you don't accedently reboot your PC thinking you turned it off.. haha) (Oh yah.. and some cheaper psu's are always on... they have no real power off switch.)

I think they would have done better having the soft power button act in reverse. Hold to reset, tap for power-off. *shrugs*, what can yo

Re:The REAL question...

[Hadlock]

actually, considering that my PC is a bunch of throwaway parts from friend's systems sitting in a cardboard box on the floor, my power switch is pulling the power cable out of the power supply (because, as the hypocrite/bad designer i am, i put the "real power switch" on the wrong side of the box). i don't use the power switch on my mac, though :)

ebay

[hawkbug]

This will also be good for people who don't care about watching dvds on their consoles because I bet you'll find a TON of used ps2s on ebay now before the dvd features got upgraded... I'm guessing you'll be able to pick up a used ps2 for about $140 on ebay soon if you can't already.

Finally!

[May Kasahara]

Good to see some recent news about Final Fantasy IX coming to the US!

As for its coming out for PC before PS2, yeah, that is really interesting... could it be because online games are more of a PC market than a console one (in the US, anyway... not sure about everywhere else)? I know I, for one, had been planning on getting the PC version over the PS2 one, should both ever make their way here to the States, if only because I wouldn't have to buy an adapter for my PS2 :P

Re:Finally!

[May Kasahara]

Oops... I meant Final Fantasy XI ^_^;;;

Re:Finally!

[C0LDFusion]

I was about to wonder why you were excited about what was, quite possibly, the weakest FF in the series.

Games.Slashdot & E3...

[FiloEleven]

Does anybody else find it highly uncoincidental that games.slashdot.org was formed scarce weeks before E3 began? I wonder if it will stay after E3 ends, or if it was just some editors who really wanted to go and found their golden ticket in a URL =)