Opening Salvo:
The E3 Expo Press Conference event was opened by SCE President Kaz Hirai, who started off by talking about what the PlayStation 3 means to developers and consumers. Hirai pointed out that the PlayStation 3 wasn't just a mere upgrade to the PlayStation 2 platform, but their vision of the next-generation of home console and entertainment systems. Hirai pointed out the great risk and expense the entire Sony group has put into this console, but also pointed out the success of previous platforms. But the PS3 he described as "the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the company.
While pointing to the next generation, Hirai promised continued support of the PS2 for "several years" and said that in the fiscal year they expect to ship 10 million units into the worldwide market. The PS2 software installed base, according to Hirai, is one billion units worldwide in six years. SCE will be showcasing newer titles for the PS2, and mentioned new titles like Guitar Hero II, Sega's Yakuza and God of War II as leading examples - over 200 new games for PS2 will ship to retail by the year's end.
PSP:
Harai talked about the PSP, calling it the culmination of the best that Sony has to offer.
To date 17.03 million units have shipped worldwide, with software sales of 50 million for Sony's hand-held to date. For the Fiscal Year Sony expects 12 million units in the worldwide market and an additional 155 titles in stores as well.
This part of the speech was followed by a video montage of new PSP games including Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, Ape Academy 2, Killzone Liberation, Planet PSP,
B-Boy (dance battle game), the cute platformer puzzler LocoRoco,
World Tour Soccer 2, TalkMan and Gangs of London. Harai then announced a Greatest Hits program for the PSP with five titles to be launched including ATV Offroad Fury, Ape Escape and Hot Shots Golf.
Hirai talked a little bit about the new file formats supported by the latest PSP firmware upgrade and promised RSS video support, VOIP functionality and camera and GPS peripherals later this year.
Harai also announced that PSP owners will soon be able to buy PSOne games by downloading them to a memory stick, and demo'd Namco Bandai's classic PSOne racing game Ridge Racer.
Blu-Ray Support:
Next up was a video vignette with testimonials about playing PlayStation and anticipation on the PS3 from around the world. Hirai then talked about the global impact of the PS3 and the mission to create products that inspire and entertain the world. He outlined briefly the PS3's specs including light details on the Cell chip that powers it (created in cooperation with IBM and Toshiba) and why Blu-Ray as a storage medium is integral to SCE's strategy for the PS3. The Blu-Ray format with the PS3's included peripherals like the removable hard drive and Gigabit Ethernet port and support for high definition gaming are very important for consumers and content creators. Harai said that Blu-Ray means giving power to content creators to create cutting edge products and give gamers realistic and compelling gameplay.
Harai also divulged that the PS3 will support PS2 games, the DVD format and Blu-Ray out of the box, and will also be able to interact with the PSP to exchange data wirelessly or though a memory stick.
The PS3 will be available in Clear Black worldwide and will ship with support for all kinds of media support and connectivity (more on that below).
Gran Turismo HD, Eye of Judgment
Next up, SCEA worldwide Studio president Phil Harrison took the floor to talk about the most important aspect of the platform: games! Harrison pointed out that many of the games shown during the press conference will be playable on the floor of E3.
Harrison showed off a montage of impressive game footage before introducing Gran Turismo creator
Kazunori Yamauchi. Yamauchi showed off a prototype of Gran Turismo running on the PS3 platform in
1920 1080 P resolution and running at 60 frames a second. The prototype uses assets from Gran Turismo 4 within a prototype designed specifically for the PS3. The protype is being called Gran Turismo HD.
The menus were created with HD gaming in mind and in this prototype you can select
a range of vehicles from racing to commercial all the way down to scooters. Yamauchi
showed off the Tokyo track driving at blazingly high speeds, pointing out that the resolution of this prototype is 12 times that of GT4. Pretty impressive. Load times are also drastically different - GT4 took 10 15 seconds to load, while this prototype would have you playing in 2 -3 seconds.
Yamauchi closed his presentation by saying that this next-generation GT title would be released "not too far from the launch of the PS3."
Harrison reclaimed the stage to show off Eye of Judgment with the help of Eyetoy creator Richard Marx. The game, which will debut formally at E3, mixes card-based battles with ease of use interaction and the power of the PS3. In the demonstration three cards were dropped on a field, which then turned into 3D monsters which can be manipulated and moved in various ways. Players will apparently have 100's of cards to choose from including powerful boss cards. Eye of Judgment looks to be a different kind of title for the system that merits paying attention to...
Online and Upward:
Harai return to the stage to talk more about the PS3's network capabilities. Harai noted that this new generation of consoles needs to have broadband support - comparing broadband and hard drive to air conditioning in car - it will become a standard started with the network adapter for PS2. SCE says that it is creating more than just a place to play games and wants to create an experience similar to the phenomenon that is MySpace. This means a social network where gamers can not only play games but heavily interact with each other using text, voice and video chat.
Network play will continue to be free of charge, says Harai.
Taking a page from Xbox Live Marketplace, SCE has plans to offer virtual goods and services to consumers. A connected console gives Sony a distribution channel for content for all kinds including
games, game extras, music, movies, and more. Through a new e-distribution which will be supported by
game cards at leading retailers or via credit cards players will be able to purchase products via Sony's network or even within "in-game shops." Then the PS3 marketplace was shown off, listing various game extras and the content you can buy within the store system found in the next iteration of Singstar. A quick tour of music and video content was shown which was then purchased and delivered to the PS3 hard drive.
First Party PS3 Titles:
Next up was a presentation of some of SCE's first-party PS3 games, starting with Genji 2. Genji 2 is an action game based on Japanese history. Each
stage of the game is based loosely on famous battles that took place in Japan's history, though some of the characters in the game are obviously embellished (giant crab anyone?). The demo showed
hundreds of warriors battling on an open battlefield. The game promises lots of interesting features like fighting on horseback, massive sea battles, real-time weapon changing, real-time character changing, and a system players can use to create their own unique combos.
Next up was a presentation of SCE's latest Formula One game. The presentation did a decent job of showing off the game's AI, physics, graphics and more. The point of this particular presentation was more about PSP to PS3 connectivity. In the presentation the PSP was used as a wing mirror, which SCE says is rendered in real-time. The point being that the PSP can freely and wirelessly download content from the PS3 and use it to enhance gameplay much like Nintendo's GBA does for the GameCube.
A pretty slick presentation of Heavenly Sword from Ninja Theory was shown to the crowd. The presentation offered some great fast paced arena / gladiator style combat with slick animation, style,
great physics, great sound and nice character representations and ultra destructible environments. Beat 'em up fans will want to keep a close ye on this game.
Harai then showed a video montage featuring games that were far down the production pipeline including an action dragon riding game called L.A.I.R.; an action game offering film noir atmosphere
and highly destructive environments with big gun battles and incredibly destructive physics; and a game showing off African themed world with various animals
hanging around a watering hole called AFRIKA; a dark fantasy action game called Master Kingdom, and a new Hot Shots golf game.
A presentation of two new titles debuting this year at E3 were then shown:
A slick action title called Eight Days from SCE London. The demo showed driving and shooting sequences with great crash physics. The game showed
third-person scenes with lots of shooting and a dramatic scene with a crash trough a window
and a big rig slamming into a Diner and destroying it completely. This could be one of the best games on the floor of E3, but perhaps I am easily impressed.
The second title was a new game from Naughty Dog (missed the title) offering slick photo realistic world
The game showed a jungle scenes, followed by a bit of Lara Croft style platforming combined with
shooting, hiding behind objects
hand-to-hand fighting and more from the third-person perspective.
Ted Price president of Insomniac, then took the stage to showcase
Resistance: Fall of Man, an alternate history action game where World War II never happened and mankind was defeated by unknown species. Players take on the role of a freedom fighter
trying to save England, the last human stronghold in the world. Price ended the presentation by promising great multiplayer support for up to 32 players online.
Third-Party Titles:
Harai returned to the stage to showcase very briefly some of the third-party games in the pipeline for the PS3 including the impressive Final Fantasy XIII, Assassin's Creed from UbiSoft,
a new Gundam game, CodedArms Assault, a new Ridge Racer game called Ridge Racer New Beginning, Ubisoft's Brother in arms: Hell's Highway, Tekken 6, Sonic The Hedgehog, Virtua Tennis 3,
Virtua Fighter 5, Midway's Stranglehold, Armored Core 4 and (shown later on after EA's presentation) the ultra impressive Metal Gear Solid 4. New Devil May Cry and Resident Evil titles from Capcom are also promised in the future, but nothing was shown at the press conference.
Electronic Arts front man Larry Probst took the stage, talking about EA's and SCE's special partnership, built on trust ,cooperation and two generations of success on SCE platforms.
EA then showed off NBA Live 07 utilizing foot-planting, fluid movement and better control.
EA then gave a presentation of U-cap technology featuring Tiger Woods. This special motion capture technology allows for more emotion in gaming including facial animation and tone. EA controlled Tiger as he went through the gamut of emotions, mannerisms and more. Ea closed its presentation by showing off clips of some of its games including Madden NFL 07, Medal of Honor Airborne, Tiger Woods, NBA Live 07,
and more. EA promises 10 titles for the system at launch.
PS3 Controller Details:
Ken Kutaragi, known as the father of PlayStation and SCE group CEO took the stage to reveal the one secret SCE managed to keep about the PS3: its controller. Surprisingly the controller retains the basic design that the PS family is known for, with a few slight differences. For one the controller is wireless allowing for wire-free gaming at reasonable distances. But the real innovation of the PS2 controller is that it can be used much like Nintendo Wii's controller: the PS3 uses motion to manipulate objects on the screens. For example, when playing a racing game players can turn it like a wheel to steer left or right, or when playing a flying game players can move the controller up and down or side to side to move seamlessly on the screen. It's a definite innovation that offers freeform movement possibilities for a lot of different action orientated gameplay.
Global Launch Dates, Pricing:
Finally, SCE closed out the press conference by revealing global launch details for the PlayStation 3. The PS3 will come in two flavors: A unit with a 20 Gig drive and a pricier unit with a 40 Gig drive. Both systems will be released in Japan on November 11th of this year. The 20Gig PS3 will retail for 59,800 yen, while retailers will set the price for the 60 Gig PS3.
The PS3 will be released in North America on November 17th for a retail price of 499 USD and 599 USD respectively. Finally Europe and Australia will see the PS3 released on November 16th for retail prices of 499 Euros and 599 Euros, respectively. Worldwide shipments at launch will be 2 million, with an additional 2 million shipped by December 31st. By Q1 of 2007 SCE hopes to have 2 million additional units shipped worldwide for a grand total of 6 million by March 2007.
Final Thoughts:
Sony has certainly presented some interesting options for the PS3 in terms of innovation, and the controller was certainly a pleasant surprise. The real power, though lies in the impressive first and third-party titles being offered at launch, but the Achilles' heel may be a low number of units at retail and the rather hefty retail price. With Wii expected to be priced a hundred dollars less than the PS3 and Microsoft's rumored hundred dollar price cut at Christmas, Sony certainly has a real challenge gaining market share. But Sony is certainly no stranger to fighting the console fight.. and winning. We'll have more on the PS3 this week as E3 inches towards a grand opening on Wednesday. Stay tuned.
- James Fudge, Gameshark.com.
