So, I guess I should touch upon something particularly huge that went down yesterday. Basically what gamers saw yesterday was a little presentation if you will, from Sony that told us what we needed to know about the PS3 that we already didn't. It's like the cigarette after sex, you don't necessarily need it, but its just that much better. What exactly was touched upon?
– Whats in the box at launch
– Launch titles
– Peripherals
-PS Network
– PS Store
– Downloadable Content
Lets start with the more important part of that little list, the launch titles. Face it folks, a console is nothing more than an empty shell without its launch titles. Its what makes or breaks a console in the early months of its release. Here is a quick list of Sony's 22, yes 22 launch titles for the PS3.
– Genji: Days of the Blade
– NBA 07
– Resistance: Fall of Man
– Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
– Call of Duty 3
– EA Sports Fight Night Round 3
– The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
– F.E.A.R.
– Full Auto 2 Battlelines
– Madden NFL 07
– Marvel Ultimate Alliance
– Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
– NBA 2K7
– NHL 2K7
– Untold Legends Dark Kingdom
– Ridge Racer 7
– Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
– Sonic the Hedgehog
– Need for Speed Carbon
– Tony Hawk's Project 8
– Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
So what else happened at this expo of sorts? It turns out that they stressed that the only major differences between the two packages was, as most of you know, The hard drive space, and the compact memory flash slot. Another cool bit of information, the movie Talladega Nights will be shipping together, in Blu-Ray format, with one of the the first 500,000 PS3 units. You get to be one of the first that gets the movie on Blu-Ray before the rest of the public. More news included SIXAXIS, and what games would cost what in terms of developers. First Party titles will retail at $59.99, others will most likely vary, the Controller will be set at $49.99, The memory card adapter will be set at $14.99, and the Blu-Ray remote, coming in December will be $24.99
There were game demos that included Resistance: Fall of Man, and Genji: Days of the Blade. The idea of True HD gaming was pushed with the 1080p 60 fps gameplay that is, NBA 07. This little bit of information was taken from ign.com:
"He[Phil Harrison] went to "settings" to change the display settings, sound, security, chat, music, and the Blu-ray settings. He then went to the photo settings and scrolled through date stamped image folders. He then showed 1080p photographs that were incredibly clear. He then showed off the ability to impose pictures on falling post cards that floated to the ground in a 3D slide show."
Sony is really pushing some innovative ideas that until now, have never been done on a game console before. Makes you really think, "This is next gen? Thats…not bad at all..". I mean, you can only imagine the type of technologies will be utilized over the lifetime of this console, and even the Wii and the 360 for that matter. Really exciting time in the gaming world, I can barely keep my hands off of myself.. More news included:
'The networking features was then shown off which is all free and all standard with the console. He went into his icon based friends list and used a predictive text tool to write to someone. You can also use the USB keyboard. This is also where voice chat will be controlled. Harrison then scrolled to the web browser which can display multiple windows. Phil then showed the PS3 E3 Conference in One Minute from YouTube in one of the windows.'
'John then showed off the PlayStation Store. The interface included featured items, demos, downloadable games, top downloads, and what's new. The system has integrated X-Fire which allows current users on the PC to see who's online with PS3.'
'David Jaffe was then brought to the stage to show off his new game. It will be a Feb or March release for a game called Criminal Crackdown. It is a tribute to old multiplayer games from the 16 bit era. It featured what looked like cell shaded vehicles chasing a criminal around a town. The buildings broke apart as players smashed into them. It sort of looked like a cartoony Twisted Metal and looks like a lot of fun.'
As you can see, some of the technologies integrated into the PS3 are
really some innovative steps in terms of console gaming. The chat
tools, the web browser, The fact that X-fire will be integrated.
X-fire, lets anyone you know, see if you are on the PS3 before they
turn it on. So, if you don't like playing alone, wait until a friend
signs on, and head in there with them. This is in fact what we've all
been waiting for since Sony took the stage for their conference before
E3. This basically lets the public in on all that is up Sony's sleeves.
All that is left, is the release.
