Slashdot Mirror

Much talk yesterday in Austin centered around Rob Pardo's keynote, but there were several other events you might be interested in. Dell Chairman Michael Dell talked about that company's gaming plans in a 'fireside' chat. Movie producer Jon Landau spoke on the role of gaming in the entertainment industry. Gamasutra has several pieces from smaller talks, with titles like The Death of Cinematics, New Models for Game Stories, and Writing for Digital Actors. Finally, Raph Koster offers an ultimatum to the games business: evolve or die. From that article: "The end result, according to Koster, is the current hit-driven state of the game industry, which focus on the top 20 percent of games. 'The particular adaptation that we've made to this is to not bother making or stocking or selling the other 80 percent,' Koster said. 'So when you walk into your friendly neighborhood GameStop, you won't find the game that is 21 on the charts. Because of limited shelf space, they just don't want it around. It's just not worth having it compared to game number 20 twice, or better yet, The Sims and all of its expansions.'"

simoniker writes "IBM has announced that the 'Broadway' CPUs created for the Nintendo Wii have been shipping from the company's East Fishkill, N.Y., fabrication facility since earlier this year. Nintendo, it would seem, is ramping up for the launch of their next-gen console in a month or two." Joystiq and Kotaku have the news as well. From the article: "Nintendo has also confirmed their reception of IBM's chip: 'The first chips are in our possession,' said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director/General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. 'Today's milestone marks the final stage of our drive to reach both core and nontraditional gamers with an inviting, inclusive and remarkable gaming experience.'"

Joystiq reports that Sony is still promising 1 Million PS3 units in North America for this year. This, despite much lower estimates as released yesterday. From the article: "basically, these numbers don't mean anything. Despite what appears to be gross incompetence to much of the gaming press and the hardcore industry watchers (that's you guys), the mainstream gamer is blissfully unaware of reductions in shipping estimates. To him, it will appear that the PS3 is the hottest thing this holiday -- just like the Xbox 360 appeared to be last year and the PlayStation 2 back in '00 -- and may have no problem waiting for the demand and/or price to go down. People are still buying PS2s today, remember? Just a reality check before the hype consumes us all." For more on this, 1up has analyst reaction to the release news, and comments from GTA creator Dave Jones on his reaction to the news.

SiliconJesus writes "Rob Pardo, VP of Design at Blizzard, gave an interesting keynote at the Austin Game Conference outlining the Blizzard philosophy on designing game content, core and casual players, and why story should always drive the game." From Raph's writeup: "If you extend the leveling curve too far, it becomes a barrier. You hit a leveling wall. Our walls are shorter and there are less of them. The short leveling curve also encourages people to reroll and start over. We had some hardcore testers who would level to 60 in a week. There was much concern within the company. But I would tell them that we cannot design to that guy. You have to let him go. He probably won't unsubscribe, he's going to hit your endgame content or he'll have multiple level 60s. In games with tough leveling curves, it discourages you from starting over." More is available from the conference, with Gamasutra having a rundown on Mark Terrano's writer's keynote, and Gamespot's piece on the MMOG Rant session. Paneled by the likes of Matt Firor, Lum, Rich Vogel, and Jessica Mulligan, that must have been entertaining to see live. One more thing - WoW has 7 Million subscribers now.

Some interesting news for a few upcoming game titles. Firstly (to no one's surprise), Assassin's Creed is coming to the 360. It will also be available for the PC. Secondly, Valve and Ubisoft have announced that Dark Messiah is coming to Steam when it releases in October. Chris Grant's commentary: "Ubisoft is acknowledging the demand for digitally distributed AAA content and using the largest platform they can find to promote it. We're still waiting on government-distributed protein pills and personal submarines, but the third pillar of our future vision is now realized." Finally, Rockstar appears to have partially bowed to public pressure over their 'Bully' title. In Europe, at least, Bully is now known as Canis Canem Edit, which means 'Dog Eat Dog' in Latin. To which I respond: Semper Ubi Sub Ubi.

Via Joystiq, an article at the GameInformer site generally about Valve's upcoming plans for Half-Life, Team Fortress, and Portal. In that article, they mention that some of the writing for Portal is being handled by veterans from the Old Man Murray site. From the article: "When you have that style of game it could just be very stale and very dry. It's just puzzle solving and you could put in a little techno music in the background and leave it at that. But we thought it would be much more interesting if we introduced this idea of the narrator. The original idea came from the training room in Half-Life 1 where you had that voice that was talking to you and whatnot. She was a little bit cynical, but not nearly as so as the voice in Portal. The writing for that is being done by Chet [Faliszek] and Erik [Wolpaw] who used to be Old Man Murray. They're at Valve now and one of their first projects they've been tasked with is to do the writing for Portal. So if you were a fan of Old Man Murray you're going to be a fan of that voice in Portal because it's the same wry cynicism."

Above and beyond the announcement of their videogame last Friday, PAX apparently passed pleasantly for the PA fans who made it to Bellvue, WA this past weekend. Various news organs have a look at what transpired. eToyChest has a journal of each day, with firsthand accounts and lots of pictures. Gamasutra covers the Penny Arcade Scholarship announced at the event; $10k towards an education to get yourself into the games industry. Kotaku was there to liveblog the keynote, while Joystiq covers the making a comic panel. For wrap-up, we have an IGN report, and the ever exhaustive 1up minisite for everything you'd want to know.

Via Joystiq, a preview for Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam at IGN. Such a thing isn't really news, of course, but down at the bottom of the article there is some distressing information. According to IGN, third party online support for the Wii will have to wait until next year. Joystiq points out that this could mean launch titles like Monkey Ball, Blazing Angels, and Call of Duty 3 may be offline-only.

Blizzard has announced their intention to follow up this year's Burning Crusade expansion with a new World of Warcraft add-on every year. While not terribly surprising, they have also announced that they're working on a major announcement for next year. Consensus seems to be that it will likely be another Starcraft game, given comments by Blizzard COO Paul Sams. "StarCraft is my absolutely favorite game of all time. As you probably already know, there is no doubt that we will continue the StarCraft and Diablo franchise, and trust me, I will be the happiest person in the world when we announce StarCraft 2."

MaryAlan writes "I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but About.com's Aaron Stanton is in the middle of a back and forth firefight with Dr. Thompson, a Harvard researcher who recently testified before the U.S. Congress about violent video games. She published a study that listed Pac-Man as being 62% violent. Stanton attacked in an article criticizing her research. Then, Joystiq.com contacted Dr. Thompson and got an interview and a response, published her rebuttal, in which she defends the Pac-Man rating and the study. So today, Stanton attempted to tear the study apart, detailing why it's flawed even though Thompson claims otherwise. On one hand we have an established Harvard Phd, who has testified before the U.S. congress, against a game journalist with a bachelors degree in Psychology. Hmmm..."

Via Joystiq, an article on the InCrysis site about the multiplayer modes of the Crysis PC game. The jawdropping title seems to mostly be offering the same-old same-old ... except when it comes to the 'Power Struggle' mode. From the Joystiq post: "To successfully destroy the other team's HQ, you'll have to harness the power of alien technology. Randomly generated throughout each map are various crash sites where players can scavenge for alien cores. These energy sources can be used to transform your team's arsenal into weapons capable of achieving victory. However, you'll first have to build up that arsenal by capturing structures that manufacture basic weapons and vehicles -- and you'll also have to provide the manufacturing materials. Apparently, it can take up to 10 hours to launch an attack capable of winning a Power Struggle match. In-game, this feels like days, as one full day/night cycle is completed in two hours. Which means, yes, Crysis' multiplayer will feature dynamic light cycles as the icing on the cake."

Joystiq is running a new column by Dennis McCauley (who you may recognize from the Game Politics blog). This week, he's got a post up looking at the history of gaming legislation. Starting in the 90s with the creation of the ESRB, McCauley walks us through some of the more notable skirmishes gaming and the body politic have had with each other. From the article: "In 2002 the city of St. Louis took the Indianapolis law one step further, prohibiting not only coin-op play, but retail sale or rental of violent games to minors. Different approach, similar fate. The 8th Circuit Court tossed the law for much the same reasons that doomed Indy's. A city attorney expressed bitter disappointment, called the Federal Court ruling 'a blow to the parents of St. Louis County and the kids.' That was three years ago, and, last time we checked, St. Louis hadn't been overwhelmed by a GTA-like wave of youth violence. As a matter of fact, youth crime levels have been trending downward for years."

Despite assurances that we'd seen the last of new NWN modules, Joystiq is reporting that Darkness over Daggerford is now available for download, thanks to the folks at Ossian Studios. From the article: "Ossian Studios is comprised of BioWare veterans and RPG enthusiasts, and while they had originally planned Darkness over Daggerford as a premium module release, this lengthy single-player campaign is now available as a free download at the Neverwinter Nights Vault. Check out BioWare's interview with Ossian co-founder Alan Miranda, and let us know what you think of Daggerford."

eldavojohn writes "The Yankee Group (a Boston Technology firm) recently announced that it predicts Sony's PS3 to lead the market with a 44% share through 2011. Most interesting is their prediction that the Wii will maintain only 16% of the market share. From the article: 'The analyst group believes Sony will lead in next-gen market share by 44% in 2011, with Xbox 360 taking a close 40% share, followed by Wii with a wee little bitty 16% share.'"

Via Joystiq comes a long list of the launch-day titles for the Nintendo Wii, posted at Nwizard. I was aware that they had quite a few coming out around launch, but 27 is pretty impressive. Selections include highly anticipated titles like Red Steel and Twilight Princess, as well as several titles that I personally am looking forward too, such as Metroid Corruption, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

Via Joystiq, a post on the JumpButton blog talking with a PR manager at Ubisoft about the title Beyond Good and Evil. Despite critical acclaim and crackerjack gameplay, the title just didn't do very well commercially. The rep explains why it did so badly in the stores, and what that means for future quality game titles. From the article: "When BG&E was released in 2003, it was competing against some of the strongest franchises in gaming. Like a weak wolf cub in a litter, it was forced to fight its siblings for attention and nurturing. Strong brands such as Tom Clancy and the reinvented Prince of Persia were the favourite sons that year. While XIII, a stylish FPS based on an obscure Belgian graphic novel, almost suffered a similar fate to BG&E, but sales in European territories still managed to qualify that game for Sony's best-seller Platinum label. It was only late in the piece that IGN.com managed to arm us with a majestic and summarizing quote for the difficult BG&E: 'Zelda for grown-ups.'"

Via Joystiq, an IGN story giving some background on the Portal project, the interesting FPS/Puzzler that Valve has planned to go out with Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The article interviews the team behind the technology, and gives some insight on what it must be like to have the best senior year of college ever: "Along with the other members of the Portal team, we were students at DigiPen Institute of Technology located in Redmond, WA, next to the Nintendo of America campus. During our senior year, the seven of us created a game called Narbacular Drop, which was an early test of our ideas about portal-based gameplay. Every year, DigiPen puts on an expo for graduating seniors to show their game projects to prospective employers. A couple of Valve people attended, and they asked us to come to the Valve offices and show it to Gabe Newell. Gabe watched our demo and basically hired us on the spot. It was kind of shocking. We stood around in the parking lot afterwards gibbering to ourselves for about 20 minutes."

Nathan Smart writes "A writer for satire site The Game Rag watches 24 hours of G4TV and lives to tell about it." From the article: "'Cheat' had to evolve into a broader format, which coincidentally no longer involves actual cheating, and became a show about walkthroughs and tips. So right off the bat there's an immediate problem, and it ties back into that internet-thing I said earlier. There is nothing, seriously nothing, you can get from this show that you couldn't find with a simple trip to your local neighborhood Gamefaqs.com. Nothing. And Strike two is the disgustingly cheerful host, Kristin Holt. My assumption is that G4 wanted to hire some attractive women, as that falls under the category of 'things nerds like to look at', but Miss Holt, in my professional opinion, has NEVER SEEN A VIDEO GAME IN HER LIFE." He's already posted the second part of his outing, and G4 has a response to his project on their website.

Joystiq had the chance to exchange a few words with Sony's Phil Harrison at the UK Develop Conference. They asked him some hard questions about the crazy comments that have been coming out of the company since E3. From the article: "There's always going to be a risk when you are market leader for ten years that we start to lose perspective; and we have to make sure that we don't lose perspective. But I don't think we're arrogant, I think we have to recognize that we're in a highly competitive industry and that anything that we say will be eternally editorialized by professionals and consumers alike. So we're always in the spotlight." After the tape was off he snarked that he hadn't been asked very nice questions. Poor guy, having to answer questions that aren't 'How awesome is the PS3 going to be?'

WedgeTalon writes "Joystiq reports that GTAIV will be using the engine that powered Rockstar's Table Tennis — Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE)." From the article: "I contacted MTV News' Stephen Totilo to see just how definite this was, and he returned, I met with Rockstar publicists and producers for Table Tennis twice prior to the game's release. Both times they volunteered that RAGE would serve as the engine for all next-gen Rockstar games. Including GTA? I asked both times. Including GTA they said both times."

Via Joystiq and Kyle Orland comes the news that National Public Radio is going to be hosting a gaming-related podcast. The show will be hosted by Kyle (of VGMWatch), stand-up artist Ralph Cooper, and All Things Considered games reviewer Robert Holt. From the article: "Kyle - 'You really need to know what art is before you can determine whether video games are art.' Ralph - 'I feel like a lot of video games, at least right now, they're not really trying to make statements.' Rob - 'When I was in Grand Theft Auto ... I was driving through the city and listening to the radio and I drove over a hill and I saw ... this huge moon rise over the horizon, I was just in it at that point. I just knew that this was not your normal game. Of course, I could have just been beating up hookers...'"

The_Toad08 writes "Apparently June 11th didn't mean a thing to the Big Box retailers, as the Nintendo DS Lite has been spotted for sale in several of these stores." From Ars Technica's coverage: "After some digging through all the blogs running the story, I discovered it originated from Cheap Ass Gamer, where one of their mods was able to grab a system from Target. There's even a picture of the system next to its US packaging, so this looks legit. Until finding them gets a little bit more widespread though, I wouldn't get your hopes up. Even though I'm lovingly cradling my Enamel Blue DS Liite that I imported, I'm going to hit the streets in a few hours to see if I can't track one down and confirm this, so look for an update to this story." Anybody lucky enough to pick one up yet?

Joystiq has up an interesting article today, gathering together information from a couple of places to discuss why the PlayStation 3 is so expensive. From the article: "Kutaragi was demoted after being passed over for the role of CEO and, when former Sony Pictures head Howard Stringer assumed the position, the relationship between the content and technology divisions of Sony became even more intimate. Stringer "quickly dubbed the PlayStation 3 as one of the company's 'champion' products." Kutaragi's desire to stratify the console market with Cell technology in effect wed Sony to the unpalatable prospect of charging an unprecedented price. Coupled with Sony's desire to not only push their own content on HD discs, but to control that medium with their proprietary Blu-ray format, the final price was escalated by two very advanced (and very expensive) pieces of Sony technology."

GameDaily reports on the first major Xbox Live update since the launch of the Xbox 360. From the article: "The forthcoming update will bring with it a number of additions designed to enhance the user experience, with perhaps the most notable function being the download manager. Currently, when downloading demos, trailers or other items from Marketplace users are tied to the download screen. The update will enable users to queue up and prioritize up to six downloads and users will be allowed to play music, games or do other things on the dashboard while downloads are in progress. If an online game is started, the current download in progress will be paused so as to avoid lag." For the visual among us, Joystiq has a number of screenshots showing off some of the new features.

Joystiq sat down with Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski and talked about the much anticipated Gears of War, the news that Epic is in talks with Nintendo to do games for their new console, and his impressions of Sony's showing at E3. From the article: "We're currently talking with Nintendo. It's not really my department to pontificate on other people's system and comments that the wonderful Mark Rein will make occasionally to upset the fans. Again, I reserve judgment of the Wii until I get hands on with it. I was very judgmental about the DS until I actually got to play hands-on with it and I love Trauma Center and stuff like that. You know what, Nintendo is zigging while everyone else is zagging and they'll be just for it. I give them props for doing something different." For more on Gears, MTV Overdrive has the 'Road to E3' special they aired on MTV2 last week available for viewing. IE is the preferred viewer, of course.

The folks at Red Octane (now owned by Activision), are in the process of making a sequel to the hit PS2 title Guitar Hero. From the IGN hands-on: "Today we checked out 'John the Fisherman' on bass and 'War Pigs' on guitar. Being that you have Les Claypool on bass for 'John the Fisherman', it's not going to be the easiest bass line in the game by a long shot. But on the other hand, there isn't any sort of bass solo in the song so once you get down the main two or three licks, then you've got the song nailed. But it's seriously awesome - Claypool's playing in that song is heavy and pounding so playing his part is rad."

Microsoft has been able to put a very attractive foot forward this E3, with the second generation of their next-gen titles on display. Joystiq has a quick list of new Live Arcade titles we can expect to see soon. Gamespot talks about the big guns, the AAA titles coming for the 360, including LucasArts headliner: Indiana Jones. It's about what you'd expect: "LucasArts has announced that Indiana Jones 2007 will head its E3 line-up this year. The name is provisional at this stage, but it will launch on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and features an original story written under the direction of George Lucas. The game is also a technological collaboration with Industrial Light & Magic, which is based under the same roof as LucasArts. The new adventure will feature locations from around the globe, and Indy will be able to use his fists, whip, and revolver against enemies."

oneils writes "Chris Morris of CNN.com outlines some interesting gameplay impressions of Nintendo's Wii. He explains that the new controller works well with first person shooter games like Metroid Prime, but, currently, falls short in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Morris' impression is that this setback can be rectified by 'optimization.'" From the article: "Imagine holding your TV remote control by its ends and pretending it's a steering wheel. Substitute the Wii controller and you've got an idea of how to control 'Excite Truck'. Driving's pretty easy. The real fun comes when you hit a hill and go sailing into the air. The object is to land with all four wheels on the ground. To do that you'll have to tilt the controller back and forth away from you to stabilize the truck. It's frenetic and fast-paced - and seemed to be everyone's favorite game. I agreed." Several readers also wrote in to mention that Resident Evil will be coming to the Wii. No word on if it's RE5, or a spin-off/remake. Lots of related links below, please Read More. Update: 05/10 20:41 GMT by Z : Joystiq has pictures of a Zapper attachment for the Wiimote.

Despite expectations that this would be the least eventful of the E3 pre-conferences, Microsoft's Peter Moore drops the news that Grand Theft Auto IV will be on Xbox 360. Rockstar and Microsoft have teamed up to do exclusive episodic content in the GTA gameworld for the 360. Slated to release October 16, 2007 in North America, October 19 in Europe. Other details include lots of support for Live Arcade titles (Sonic, Galaga, Street Fighter II), the official unveiling of Shadowrun for the 360 and PC, the airing of the Halo 3 Teaser Trailer (which is already on Xbox Live), and much discussion of 'Live Anywhere'. This last is an expansion of Xbox Live to PC and cell platforms in addition to the Xbox arena.

-pms-mistletoe writes "Just in time for E3, Joystiq is taking a look at all the MMORPGs currently in development, giving a rundown of each one and an overview. From the article: 'Massively multiplayer online games, known by a series of acronyms beginning with MMO, are a rising trend among developers. With monthly fees meaning regular income, and a player base too addicted to stop, developers trip over themselves to enter this lucrative market."

Conradq writes "Effective immediately, consumers can purchase the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $129.99. Previously the console was priced at $149. The company opted for a subtle reduction in price ahead of this years E3, instead of a more dramatic $99 drop."

Conradq writes "Effective immediately, consumers can purchase the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $129.99. Previously the console was priced at $149. The company opted for a subtle reduction in price ahead of this years E3, instead of a more dramatic $99 drop."

GamePolitics brings up a topic well worth discussion, the ad for Hitman currently making the rounds in gaming magazines. Their question is: Sexy or Sexist? From the article: "Her well-kept body lies on a bed of gold satin sheets; her pose is deliberately enticing -- until you realize there is a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. Then you notice the pool of blood spreading around her pillow. At at first glance, however, the blood seems to be just more accessorizing; it matches her lingerie and high heels. Regardless of your reaction to the photo, one thing is abundantly clear. The ad itself has nothing to do with the game its pimping. Nada. Zippo. Just visit the site for Hitman: Blood Money, and you'll see what I mean." What do you think?

Joystiq reports that, as revealed on a recent VGM podcast, GoldenEye is not likely coming to Xbox Live anytime soon. From the article: "I would say is that as far as I know we don't have plans to bring those types of games on Xbox Live Arcade ... Some of the games that were ... on the N64, those games were pretty large and are still gonna be pretty hard to distribute digitally depending on the title."

Joystiq has a post up taking a look at the extremely out-of-character title coming up from Rockstar. For better or worse, Rockstar's Table Tennis is the real deal. From the article: "If you're a ping pong addict, this is another opportunity for you to deepen your involvement with a hobby you already love. This game will satisfy you because -- at least to this ping pong amateur and the two legit ping pong players I brought along with me -- it feels authentic. That authenticity comes from Rockstar choice to embrace realism rather than a stylized or simplified arcade style. The company calling Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis the "first true sports simulation title" that they've ever done. "

DesertBlade writes "Forrester Research examined the trust that American households place in PC and consumer electronics. Sony, Dell and Bose all recieved a ranking of A+ while Microsoft recieved a C (I know most of you would say it is closer to a F). "Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk. One measure of consumers' dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that give it a brand trust score of 1 [distrust a lot] or 2 [distrust a bit]. Compared with all Microsoft users, these at-risk users have higher income, are much more likely to be male, and are bigger online spenders.(see endnote 7) These households know they run Microsoft software but would be just as happy to leave it behind -- if they could." Does Microsoft face that big of a risk?"

In San Jose, the first big keynote finished up delivery about twenty minutes ago. Phil Harrison from Sony laid out some of the future plans the company has for the games industry on the whole. The PS3 featured heavily, of course, but new announcements centered on the PlayStation Network and online functionality. Read on for my take on Sony's chance on the big stage, here at the Game Developer's Conference 2006. Update: 03/22 21:57 GMT by Z : Fixed some typos. I was typing fast and was already late for the Ron Moore Keynote. Additional views on the event can be seen at the Wonderland blog and Joystiq, with Kotaku offering impressions from the Q&A that followed. Sitting in the Civic Auditorium before the event starts, it's a blur of noise (Weezer, etc.) and lights. The standup at the front with PS3, PS2, and PSP shells is getting a lot of photo attention from and endless stream of journalists. There seems to be some sort of dress code that I'm unaware of, seeing the number of bald black shirt-wearers out there. I'm flanked by the Joystiq and Kotaku editors, and despite the bad feelings you might expect there has so far been no bloodshed. There's no WiFi connection in here, though, so at the moment we're fairly useless as far as commentators go.

To be honest, I'm not really anticipating anything all that exciting being announced here. The big announcement (the delay) is already out there. There are no plans to have a playable version of the PS3 on the show floor. If there are any meaty announcements made, they're likely to revolve around games for the console. Even then, my hopes aren't that high.

Jamil was just introduced, and offers up the idea that the keynote will 'demystify the next generation of consoles'. Phil Harrison walks out, and offers up the idea of 'going beyond the box'.

The PS2 Report Card:

• 1m units hardware
• 1b units software
• 632 titles
• overall market, 60% ownership
• some markets over 85%

PS1 as a hardware format has had a twelve year lifecycle, going far beyond the five year lifespan analysts predicted. PS2 will continue to be a significant force well into 2010. They're committed to supporting their current-gen system for some time to come.

David Jaffe is introduced. The PS2 is nice, but it's 'Incapable of rendering 3-way sex scenes in realtime.' They're going to be doing AAA games on the PS2 for some time to come. God of War 2 will be available for play at E3. They show a clip from the game, which features a ton of the super-violent finishing moves we saw in the last game. At one point Kratos walks up a cyclops' chest with his blades, and then reaches into his eye socket to wrench his seeing organ free. Another clip shows the God of War slicing the wings from a griffon before leaping into the sky. Promises of more to come at E3.

PSP is their fastest growing format. They're lowering the prices on PSP dev tools, having shipped over thousands worldwide. Internet browser will be a focus, with a Flash functionality. A video camera is also upcoming, for a VOIP videophone/Wifi videophone. He hopes 'communication-based games' also becomes a powerful part of the PSP story. GPS receiver is also upcoming. He's hoping for some geocaching-style games, along with the more obvious uses. The camera and GPS are both going to be coming out in the fall, around late Sept/Early Oct.

E-Distribution. Going to be a download from a content server onto a MemoryStick. They're going to be offering PS1 content from an archive server, in addition to new games. The PS3 will also be interoperable with the PSP. PSP can be used as a media browser for content on the PS3 via wifi and USB.

Another new PSP Game, Loco Roco. Wow. Crack-addled. Some sort of blue balloon guy that rolls around...sort of like Gish? It stretches shape and moves around, sometimes budding off into multiple creatures in a side-scrolling format. Coming out this Summer.

PS3! An Apology with Ducks. A new 'duck' demo. This one is is underwater, with thousands of fish simulated in realtime (procedural animation). Lots of schooling behaivor. It looks nice, I guess. He goes on to talk about basic features.

They include:

• Full PS2 backwards compatibily
• Full Blu-Ray Support
• Legacy SD to full HD support
• Latest HDMI
• Broadband Network Connection
• Wireless Connection
• HDD Standard

They claim a November 2006 launch again. Production capacity is supposed to ramp up faster than previous. 1M/month at start. Lots of middleware companies already onboard, from Alias to Havok to Epic to IGN/Gamespy. He discusses some of the additional compiler tech coming up, much of which will be out by June. Hardware for devs will be around in time for E3, with more afterwards.

He introduces some work from Ninja to show off ragdoll physics in a soldier man demo. They drop in a ton of soldier guys (over 1000), and then set off an explosion. Bodies fly, and bounce off of each other with appropriate screams. Laughs from the crowd.

Simon Hobbs from SCEE london, to show off a vehicle demo. Lots of shiny shaders and such. Still looks kinda jaggy to me, but then it's a demo. They shoot up the car, to show off the destruction of the model. It convincingly deconstructs, the hood popping open to show us the engine. It's not all that attractive, but speaks well to the physics of the console.

Blue-Ray. Some discussion of the ratio of content on the disc to memory in the system. A lot of discussion on the need for more space, given the amount of content going into new games. (graphics, performace, sounds, localizations). Can offer the publisher the chance to make one disc for all markets. They show a demo of the London from Getaway Future, a demo from back at the last E3. They 'need' Blu-Ray' in order to get all the sound and content onto the disc.

Another demo. This one's actually a game, but they want to focus on the tech. Dylan Jobe, producer of the Warhawk title. A hovering jet, an aircraft shooter title. They're using the term 'ambient warfare' to describe the general chaos and background fighting in the middle of a battlefield. Not only do they have that, but they render the clouds, waves, and light in realtime. Software rendering and Hardware rendering combine to offer up the shiny. Everything is anti-aliased and displayed in HD. Nothing is written in assembly, everything is done via higher level access to the PS3 chip. He promises that there will be a playable demo at E3 of the title. So...at least one then.

PlayStation Network Platform (not the final name). It's going to focus on Content, Communication, Community, and Commerce. Going to start with PS3 launch, basic service free. 'Open internet' business philosophy. Worldwide network and launch, co-designed by SOE. They'll provide all the basics. 3rd party servers can be made and connected to the network (MMOGs) if they're so inclined. Basic community services - account creation, lobby and matching, score/ranking, video/voice chat/text chat, friends lists and avatars. Shops to sell online content, both in and out of games. PS3 HDD can hold this downloaded material, and games can be launched directly. No Discs! Subscriptions, micropayments, etc. are all available. Next week, the SDK is heading to devs. End of June, the complete server-side will be available to devs, with September offering the final environment.

Formula 1 offering, another Demo. Video chat window overlaid over the game. Smack talk your friends while you play, with gestures, I guess. Email and friends can be accessed in the game. Invites to other games from within another game. The shop is also available in games, purchasing new cars/new tracks. The style of the shop can be adapted to the game, for a more integrated experience.

Yet another demo, for the title Motor Storm. Some folks from the developers, driving the car around kicking up dirt and making trails in the ground as it goes. Lots of complex geometry, along with stuff like visible welds on the vehicle frame. Persistent deformation of the gameworld, presenting gameplay challenges depending on the game involved. They'll be offering up a lot more at E3.

Another demo, CEO of Insomniac Ted Price. An internal demo of Resistance: Call of Man. Typical console FPS, with headcrabs and whatnot. They offer up more AI at a time, lots of cute physics stuff (nailbombs, black hole generator). Another title that will be shown in more depth at E3. 'Why they're working on the PS3'. Superior firepower, he sez. Blue Ray and the SPUs have been the most exciting things they've had to work with. Lots of room for content, lots of processing power, lots of room for stuff they've never been able to do before. The seven SPUs allow for a lot of extra stuff load balanced to the other processors. All that parallel processing and content == better games.

A 'sneak peak', a noninteractive demo for ooo something shiny. A future-tech world, lots of stuff going on in the background. Fifth element's flying car city. Has an art-deco looks almost like the buildings of Myst. Moving through the city high above, and then diving down into the misty depths of the city. Robots walking past, one some mission or other. Ratchet and Clank. This is the new Ratchet game. Looks pretty good.

Today. We make content for discs in stores. It's what the industry has done for 25 years. Creating network and communities of gamers. Fundamental shift in the planning, creation, production, and management of games. Future GDCs will be focused on network-based business as opposed to disc-based businesses. Revenue streams will be more complicated. Besides prepackaged media, there's also downloadable content, episodic content, in-game advertising (booo!), SOCOM 3 (39 Million hours of online play). Lots of commercial opportunity for the industry. Subcriptions also a source of income. (WoW bigger than Ireland) Mobile gaming as a possible addition to the network. Game object auctions (no comment on that), but yeah. Merchandising. Gotta sell those T-shirts. The Wheel of Fortune.

Building direct relationships with the consumer is their new big things. They're introducing an initiative for online content creation. e-Distribution is the key. www.playstation.com/beyond/
Live now, a place where devs and content creators can connect with Sony to do online stuff for the PlayStation Network.

Innovation grows the market -

• SingStar 4 million units in 2 years
• Eyetoy, 9 million in 3 years
• Buzz, 2 million in six months.

Over 4 million units of SingStar in EU. Ultra-localization of the game for new users, with regionally appropriate songs and language. What they're doing with Singstar to move to the next level. downloading a song, video/photos of singing parties, all online. That's the impressions right off. I'm off to the Ron Moore keynote, more on this event in the day's synopsis.

A new chapter in the Halo story was announced this past week, and it's not going to be a videogame this time. Marvel comics will be working with Bungie studios on a Halo graphic novel. The tome will include four short stories and a bevy of art from concept artists. Joystiq has overall impressions and some artwork, while Gamespot has details on the deal with Marvel. From the Gamespot article: "Marvel has said they will feature signature characters and weapons and be set against a backdrop involving the alien races of the Covenant and the Flood. Perhaps more interesting to comic fans is the roster of talent secured to put words and images on the page. Beyond renowned French comics artist Moebius, the Halo graphic novel will also feature the talents of Phil Hale, Ed Lee, Tsutomo Nihei, Jay Faerber, Andrew Robinson, Simon Bisley, and Lee Hammock."

Joystiq has drawn some interesting tidbits out of an in-depth Forrester report on the current state of the games industry. The report's conclusions? The PC Game market is healthy. For example, "39% of all households use PCs for playing video games - this group makes up the vast majority of the 48% of households that have any sort of video games hardware." The report details what Microsoft and Sony has to do to dominate the U.S. market. The report details tactics for each side of that competition. Finally, the report finds that overall consumer interest in games is falling. "In the mindset of consumers games are still too expensive. According to 48% of gamers games still fail to offer good value for money. The report finds this surprising when considering a comparison to movies (games typically offer 30 hours of gameplay compared to a 3-5 hour movie with extra features) but we suspect the problem is more a matter of quality rather than quantity."

Joystiq has drawn some interesting tidbits out of an in-depth Forrester report on the current state of the games industry. The report's conclusions? The PC Game market is healthy. For example, "39% of all households use PCs for playing video games - this group makes up the vast majority of the 48% of households that have any sort of video games hardware." The report details what Microsoft and Sony has to do to dominate the U.S. market. The report details tactics for each side of that competition. Finally, the report finds that overall consumer interest in games is falling. "In the mindset of consumers games are still too expensive. According to 48% of gamers games still fail to offer good value for money. The report finds this surprising when considering a comparison to movies (games typically offer 30 hours of gameplay compared to a 3-5 hour movie with extra features) but we suspect the problem is more a matter of quality rather than quantity."

Joystiq has drawn some interesting tidbits out of an in-depth Forrester report on the current state of the games industry. The report's conclusions? The PC Game market is healthy. For example, "39% of all households use PCs for playing video games - this group makes up the vast majority of the 48% of households that have any sort of video games hardware." The report details what Microsoft and Sony has to do to dominate the U.S. market. The report details tactics for each side of that competition. Finally, the report finds that overall consumer interest in games is falling. "In the mindset of consumers games are still too expensive. According to 48% of gamers games still fail to offer good value for money. The report finds this surprising when considering a comparison to movies (games typically offer 30 hours of gameplay compared to a 3-5 hour movie with extra features) but we suspect the problem is more a matter of quality rather than quantity."

The Cyberathlete Proffessional League, the organization founded by Angel Munoz, has partnered with the World Series of Gaming. The CPL World Championship will become the second event in the World Series circuit. From the article: "The event, which currently has over 3,000 gamers registered from 58 countries, will be expanded to occupy 150,000 square feet of convention space, and is now expected to attract over 15,000 attendees from across the globe. Prizing for the two tournaments previously announced by the CPL will be adjusted to fit into the $1,000,000 World Series of Video Games format." No word yet on whether Snoop Dog's gaming tournament will be a part of the World Series.

The year is finally picking up some steam, with new game announcements, ship dates confirmed, and delays expected. Besides the already announced Zelda delay, Nintendo actually has good news to offer. New Super Mario Bros. is slated for a May 7th release here in the states. Fallout 3 will not be at E3 this year, despite the highly anticipated nature of the game. Oblivion, Bethesda's upcoming RPG, doesn't quite have a release date yet. It should be coming out 'soon', though. NCSoft is apparently working on a dungeon crawler themselves, with the City of Heroes publisher announcing Dungeon Runners at the Taipei game show. For those of you who (like me) loved the title, there are sequels to F.E.A.R. on the way. They won't be carrying the stupid name, thankfully. There will also be a sequel to God of War, slated for release next February. Finally, for classic gaming fans, the GameTap service will be offering the Ultima series of games for play in the near future, probably around the same time that Street Fighter 2 will be on the Xbox 360 Arcade. Looks like we've got a 2006 worth looking forward to. Update: 02/22 20:18 GMT by Z : Changed the God of War information link to Gamasutra; Eurogamer pulled the info after legal threats from Sony.

A Joystiq post has some commentary on the popularity of Alternate Reality Games. Specifically, they reference some statistics gathered to give quantifiable metrics to game popularity. From the post: "Based on official numbers, the volume of forum posting and the number of hits on Google, these figures are pretty impressive. Two of the better-known ARGs -- The Beast and I Love Bees -- attracted upwards of two million players, according to their designers." For folks who play: What is your sense of their popularity? How many people do you know who play?

Via a Joystiq post, a story on the site Kikizo which claims to have hands-on experience with the PS3. From the article: "Firstly however, the box. The stylish PlayStation 3 casing design that SCEI boss Ken Kutaragi revealed last year is, and always has been, empty - and no signs of a final, tangible casing solution appear to be in sight. 'I think to fit everything that Sony wants in there AND leave space for a 2.5 inch hard drive,' explains one senior developer working on a final kit, who will be our guide for much of this report, 'the machine would have to grow. The models they're showing off are way too small for what they want.'" Please view this with the appropriate amount of skepticism.

Via Joystiq, an MTV Games story about a MMOG that attempts to encompass Africa in a game. From the article: "Less reserved, Adam Ghetti, the teenage creative director at Rapid Reality, the company actually creating the game, said he hopes the game will right some wrongs. 'The white American board developers of the large MMO development companies out there right now don't honestly have the right background and knowledge on the continent of Africa and its lore, mythology and rich history, and quite honestly neither did I,' said Ghetti, who is white. 'They just don't teach it over here.' The game is designed, in part, to change that."

MBCook writes "Joystiq has posted lists of 86 Xbox 360 and 45 PS3 games that are expected to be released in 2006. They contain expected games (Halo 3, Killzone), ports (Burnout Revenge, Half-Life 2), sequels (SSX 4, Armored Core 4), and more. As for the Revolution? From the third link: 'For those who are wondering: the Nintendo Revolution list is just 8 titles long right now. Nintendo is being characteristically tight-lipped about their plans for the Revolution.'" The word seems to be that some of the mystery around the Revolution will be revealed at this year's GDC.

MBCook writes "Joystiq has posted lists of 86 Xbox 360 and 45 PS3 games that are expected to be released in 2006. They contain expected games (Halo 3, Killzone), ports (Burnout Revenge, Half-Life 2), sequels (SSX 4, Armored Core 4), and more. As for the Revolution? From the third link: 'For those who are wondering: the Nintendo Revolution list is just 8 titles long right now. Nintendo is being characteristically tight-lipped about their plans for the Revolution.'" The word seems to be that some of the mystery around the Revolution will be revealed at this year's GDC.

Joystiq has a post which caused thousands of people to raise their eyes heavenward in thanks. Uwe Boll will never direct a Metal Gear Solid film. From the article, which relays information from Kojima's ongoing podcast series: "Host Ryan Payton delivers a message from Kojima-san dispelling recent 'nasty rumors' that Uwe Boll is being considered to direct an upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie. Says Kojima: 'Absolutely not! I don't know why Uwe Boll is even talking about this kind of thing. We've never talked to him. It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him.'"

An anonymous reader writes "Like that fungus under your keyboard, Duke Nukem Forever never really seems to go away. Well in the latest installment in unsubstantiated DNF rumors it appears that the game is finally in production. Via Joystiq "everyone's favorite vaporware is "in full production" according to George Broussard, co-founder of 3D Realms. In an interview with 1up, towards the end, Broussard chats about the status of Duke Nukem Forever, the unfortunately-apt title to the game over a decade in development."