Sony Press Conference Overview - Opinions on the PS3 and more
May 9th, 2006 by Bob Buskirk
The E3 madness has begun today with Sony’s press conference covering all of the latest of Sony’s offerings, including some new details on the PSP and all that you’d want to see and hear about the Playstation 3. Key points included a large collection of PS3 game demos and trailers never-before-seen as well as price points and release dates for the PS3.
The E3 madness has begun today with Sony’s press conference covering all of the latest of Sony’s offerings, including some new details on the PSP and all that you’d want to see and hear about the Playstation 3. Key points included a large collection of PS3 game demos and trailers never-before-seen as well as price points and release dates for the PS3.
Kaz Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America hosted the press conference started off by giving an overview of the success of the Playstation over its history as well as a glimpse of the future of Sony. Some of the key quotes from this introduction were that "the consumers are ready"…"for real change" and "the future becomes reality" and finally the "PS3 is real." In addition he mentioned that although the PS3 will be coming out, they will continue to support the PS2 hardware for "many, many years to come."
The PSP News
The first area they covered was the PSP and the latest games for it. They showed a short video outlining some of the titles coming up for the PSP, including: Killzone Liberation, B-Boy, LocoRoco, Siphon Filter: Dark Mirror, World Tour Soccer 2, Gangs of London, Ape Academy 2.
In addition they introduced the PSP Greatest Hits Program with the first five games in the program: 1) ATV Off Road Fury: Blazin’ Trails, 2) Ape Escape, 3) Hot Shots Golf, 4) Twisted Metal: Head-On, 5) Wipeout Pure.
Playstation 3 Here We Come
Finally what everyone has been waiting for - the Playstation 3! A short intro video about Playstation around the world and it was time to dive into the details. One of the first slides emphasized lots on the hardware again, including the cell processor and some new details. A removable pre-installed harddrive comes standard in every Playstation 3 unit. In addition there is a Gigabit Ethernet port as well as USB ports and Memory Stick, SD, and Compact Flash ports. There was also talk about its backwards compatibility briefly, which just mentioned that it will play all formats (including Playstation 1).
There were some interesting quotes regarding Playstation 3’s very high definition capabilities. Kaz stated that, "true HD gaming is the wave of the future" and that a study showed that Playstation users are more likely to own or buy an HDTV.
Games Showcase
At this point they moved on to showcasing a very large number of PS3 games, including ones with playable demos shown, and some with just trailer video footage. The first was Gran Turismo HD, which was just Gran Turismo 4 with buffed up resolution and graphics being displayed at 1920×1080p in 60FPS on Playstation 3 hardware. It wasn’t too impressive and honestly a bit boring as they raced for about 10 minutes, but they reminded everyone that this was not the true Gran Turismo PS3 version, but rather an upgraded tech demo to show off how detailed high definition really is.
The next demo was one of the coolest interactive demos shown at the press conference. They brought out some table-top gaming cards and placed them on a table where an eye-toy was pointed. The eye-toy identified the card and on the screen it generated a graphical monster to represent the card. This reminded me of the Microsoft demo that Bill Gates showed at the Microsoft CES Keynote with his cellphone on the table. It was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve seen. The monsters could be moved just by dragging the card on the table and could fight each other quite easily.
Sony’s Online Strategy
Here they put the games on pause to discuss the online strategy that they will be using with the Playstation 3. They referenced MySpace when stating that the online interface will be built like a community and have basic features like video chat, messaging, friends lists, etc. all for free. In addition there will be downloadable content, such as Warhawk weapons and levels, which will cost money. In addition they showed the PS3 online interface which looked quite smooth and, as they mentioned, reminded me a lot of MySpace’s layout.
Shopping
Pages: 1 2
Related Posts
GDC Coverage - Little Big Planet
3 PS3 tricks Sony doesn’t tell you
Sony Settles for Rumble Control
Sony Working On Direct to PSP Download Store
Surprisingly the new PS3 titles haven’t been breathtaking for most UK gamers. Sony have let the Uk gamers down with holding back price cuts, not releasing the 20GB version and the latest news was that the PSP Slim + Lite will not have the lead availble on launch date! The big thing about the PSP was the TV connectivity!!!!!!!!!