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GDC - Sony Keynote
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%
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
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.
Might want to edit that copy to show that the total number of PS2s sold is 100M and not 1M.
For a standard keynote summary, this is missing important details. A few questions:
- What colour was his turteneck?
- What colour were his jeans?
- What was the "one more thing?"
everyone else has had more secks than me....
OOOOH OOOOH OOOOOOOOOH!!
How am I a nintendo fanboy. All it was was showing off graphics and things that other sites reported on days ago. Nothing new . How does that make me a fanboy.
David Jaffe is introduced. The PS2 is nice, but it's 'Incapable of rendering 3-way sex scenes in realtime.'
You would think that the "hot coffee" scandal would have taught people a lesson. That congressmen like to take notice of such statements because it easy fodder for them to use to please their red-state supporters.
Joke or not, I am surprised that Sony would allow such a statement be made that represents their future product/gaming platform.
That way I can plan my budget and buy instant noddles in bulk.
Course, I know some fanboys who'd be willing to sign over a blank check to Sony Corp.
I really want to see what the demo videos from the keynote looked like. I want to know whether Warhawk looks as good in real time as the CGI mockups last year did. But none of the gaming sites seem to have the shots from the new demo reel yet.
Games playable at E3... this should be interesting...
"Innovation grows the market"
It does no such thing!
I'm not sure if this is on topic, but the article above mentioned the life expectancy of the PS1 ans being 12 years, and I have heard in the past that Sony wants PS2 to last at least as long, and for the PS3 to have somewhere around 15 year lifespan. This is interesting when you consider the Microsoft strategy of actually shortening the linfespan of their hardware. Now granted, Microsoft is trying to leapfrog Sony by having shorter life-cycles on the hardware, but that brings up an interesting question. Is the sony strategy of continuing support for the older hardwarte and making all their hardware backward compatable a better strategy then the mocrosoft strategy of killing a console after 4 years and releasing new hardware thats not fully backwards compatable? Could the low sales of xbox360 in japan be indicative of people's apprehension of the prospect of having hardware that costs $400 and has support for only 4 years?
Fool me once...shame on you, fool me twice...won't be fooled again (our president)
Low-polygon models have, um, nice personalities. But I'm pretty sure a PS2 can render a couple of paper bags in realtime.
This sig intentionally left blank.
We are not going to show you anything, but trust us, it does everything.
It is odd to think that it has been 6 months since the first playable Revolution demos.
Heh all I want to hear about from GDC is if there was a Spore update and when I can buy it :)
How about lowering the price on the frickin' PSP? I might consider getting one if it wasn't still two-thirds the price of an Xbox 360 in the UK! Get it down to the price of a DS and they might have another buyer...
You must think in Russian.
The PS2 is nice, but it's 'Incapable of rendering 3-way sex scenes in realtime.'
So... what? Uh, yeah, does that mean we can look forward to Hot Coffee: Prostitutes of Rockstar?
You'd run a coffee store as a front for a brothel. Your purpose in the game is to lure in customers who are looking for "Hot Coffee". You tell them "We only sell lattes up here, you have to go to the back for Hot Coffee". You are also responsible for keeping the girls STD free, recruiting more whores, and making sure they don't run away to the cops. You must also budget money, for actually keeping up the coffee store front (making sure to keep prices artificially high so as to starve off a large crowd) and paying off any detectives who might come your way (or hiring goons to scare them off if they don't like cash.)
You win the game when you have control over all brothels in the game and your coffee store also turns a profit. Once you reach a certain point, you can start up a porn creation company, and use that as another front by letting people buy their way into porn shoot.
...please don't turn that into a game.
Hmm, it doesn't look like there's really any new information, other than confirming a bunch of rumors that have already surfaced. Yes, there's a delay. Yes, they're working on an online service. Yes, more dev kits should be coming out. Yes, there are a lot of developers on board.
I think what most people are really interested in now is the price. I would imagine that will be announced at E3.
-- jchenx
How the heck is this a troll? Slightly harshly worded? Yes. Troll? No.
Other than the "we are going to copy x-box live, except that we are doing it with SOE so it will be MMORPGtastic is some way", the only thing I found of value in those announcements concerning the PS3 was about the harddrive. Although they did not talk about "units" or "sku's" or show anything in real terms out there, the topics they went over leaned heavily on downloaded content. I was personally afraid that they were going the way the 360 did with the 2 product debacle. If I preorder a PS3, I want the damn system. I do not want some crimpled gimp that requires future upgrades to act as the actual product I bought. It was about 5 months before the 360's release that they started talking about having a "core/premium" setup. Hopefully Sony avoids this misstep. If they want my money, they better not try and thrust a memory card on me again...
I am and always will be a stereotype, because who in their right mind prefers mono?
They 'need' Blu-Ray' in order to get all the sound and content onto the disc.
uhh...so someone called Sony hasn't heard of compression?
now I know that huge compression can bog down a console, but if the PS3 is SOOO powerful it should be fine with 9GB of space!
Come on, sony's just making all these excuses about next-gen games as to why they need power overkill, DRMed blu-ray, and all the other junk that customers "demand."
"Lots of schooling behaivor." Yeah, this guy could use some schooling behaivor himself.
Not to be confused with being an optimist (I'm not one) but I suspect that the 'Mature' gaming craze is on its way out. I'm not saying that we won't see 'Mature' games anymore but that games that are 'Mature' as a ploy to sell more copies have not been selling well lately; they've pushed the envelope so many times that most gamers have been completely desensitized and at the same time have failed to develop games that are anything except for generic copies of copies of clones of original software. Doom 3 and Quake 4 should be wake-up calls to the industry, the same game made slightly more 'Hard-Core' with slightly more (and better looking) graphic violence isn't going to sell anymore.
Essentially, you can think of it like the Mortal Kombat clones of yester-year; how often do you see a 2d or 3d fighter where you can cut off arms (or have graphic finishing moves) anymore? The games that remain are the more technical (soul calibur) or the simpler yet fun fighters (super smash bros.)
If they want to give tech, not game, then how come there is no discussion on Linux...eg, what kernel, will they update the kernel over its life, how will sony contribute to kernel development etc. Those aren't good examples, but us /.ers want to hear this stuff. Its possible I'm out of the loop, so flame tastefully if I am!
The video.
I agree with you. Mortal Kombat was a great game, but it's a one-off. It was interesting because it was new and different in addition to being gory. Then everyone got on the bandwagon and the wheels fell off. The same thing has happened with FPS's of late. It'll all cycle as people only buy the games they actually like.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
I didn't have the link because I had a copy of it on my HDD.
Was it just me, or did the two demos from Insomniac seem a little ... underwhelming? I don't know, but I was expecting something more than a standard FPS and the speaker just seemed a little too geeked out about being able to shoot different types of weapons...
Anyway, I thought the keynote was pretty good - it shows where Sony expects to expand its revenue streams, and the ideas behind Sony Networking platform seem like a good idea to me, though there were no details on how third party game servers will be able to offer their services (i.e. will they have to pay some type of monthly fee to be on the "Sony open internet" ?
Something Witty Goes Here
New? What about Street Fighter 2? Pretty much the same game aside from the blood, and not being so cartoony.
Wow. Just wow. You know, we're all aware that Sony's marketing really wants us to believe that tripe, but it just seems so cynical to see it written out so openly.
Did they really say those words? Out loud, in front of a live audience?
Parallel processing and content == potentially better graphics, sound, animation, physics, etc. Sure. We like all that.
But it takes good ideas to make good games. Nothing more, nothing less.
Pseudo-interactive sequences where psychotic he-men gouge the eyes and wings off of mythologic creatures? Nailbombs? Please. These are icing (flavoured to taste - or lack thereof). What new ideas do you guys have?
D.
Were any of the demos controlled in real-time with an actual controller by the individual on stage or were they all just scripted fly-throughs(3dmark style)?
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
from http://www.linuxgames.com/news/feedback.php?ident
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
It's enough that it has a cell processor, blu-ray drive, HDMI out, HD capable video, 60G hard drive and comes with Linux to be worth $500 - $600 to me.
/ 22/1554210
... Standards and Practices !
Damn cheap VDR platform.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03
PenGun
Do What Now ???
YHBT YHL HAND
but speaks well to the physics of the console
What, like how heavy it is, how it bounces when you drop it? How does a physics demo show anything about the 'physics of the console'... it's just using processing power to drive its own physics system... it's not the physics of the system it's the physics of the coders...
Sure, the processing power of the system allows more physics to be used without a performance hit, but I'm sure the same could be shown on the XBOX 360... or maybe even the revolution.
# 1b units software
Doesn't equate to 1,000 titles sold per PS2 sold? Or am I reading that wrong? 'Cause with less than 1,000 titles for sale and most of those titles not worth buying I can't imagine the average PS2 owner has 100 titles to their name, let a lone 1,000.
- I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
Darn it, I already own 2-4 of Karaoke Revolution. Disc 1 seems to be out of print (why?) with insane ebay prices.
What isn't Sony release SingStar in the US?
"PlayStation Network Platform (not the final name). It's going to focus on Content, Communication, Community, and Commerce." ... So, Sony is relying on C4 to blow away the competition?
God of War was excellent! How dare you dis it!
Microsoft and Sony keep talking about this but I honestly still don't think it's going to be possible for at least another five years.
The reason is not storage or ability to do that but more the restrictions imposed by ISPs, etc. Take a typical ISP in the UK - I'm with one that claims "unlimited" bandwidth. Rubbish. There are clauses that state that if I am extremely bullish over downloading then my connection speeds will be crippled.
Some are even worse. Take BT for example - They claim a fast 2MB connection but only allow 1GB of download per month. That's a pathetic amount of data for a month. Imagine downloading a few albums from iTunes, a demo of the latest PC game and throw in some random surfing. You'd exhaust it within a couple of weeks if not sooner.
And can I even be bothered to download a game from the internet?! I don't like leaving a computer on when I'm at work or asleep so I would only have a few hours to download it in the evening or on the weekend. At that point I may as well pick up the disc from a store. No fuss and I even have a "backup" copy now!
THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
Well, it was going to be CCCP, Content Communication Community and Portals, but ...
And I prefer DM12 to C4 myself.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
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.
Um.
Ah.
So that's why they built it.
At least they're admitting it.
Any truth to the rumor that MSFT Vista is being held back so that it can support Blu-Ray too? Or is it just the DRM?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Lots of middleware companies already onboard, from Alias to Havok to Epic to IGN/Gamespy. I was wondering how does the cell architecture affect component based development? Will it not get much harder for game studios to develop for the ps3 and the xbox 360? We now have dedicated cell processor that can either distributedly run graphics/ ai etc. Which effectively asks for your COTS developers to create independent subsystems rather than libraries which are included in the game code. Anyone has any ideas on this?
...what matters is what you like, not what you are like...
Come on, isn't this the real question that we want answered?
I predict the same will happen with God of War, You can only milk an existing "concept" so many times before it runs out and gets boring. However there still is money to be made between the sequels.
...what matters is what you like, not what you are like...
That comment was made when Jaffe came out on stage. Having played through 'God of War', I would have to say that the threesome commented about takes place in the first 10 minutes of 'God of War' and not 'GTA:SA'.
Try the game again, and see how many vases you can shake...
So yeah, perhaps two years down the road, you'll notice the difference, 360 is 0.5 generation behind. But then you don't have to worry, just buy a HD-DVD add on and you'll be ready to play those new titles.
What a crock of S**t Sony - pulling the wool over eyes of gamers yet again.
Sony are the master of FUD - Fear Uncertainty and Doubt campaigns. Hype hype hype and the hardware quality and software quality sucks.
1) The HDD has been confirmed to be REQUIRED BY GAMES. WTF does that mean? Here's the inside scoop - it's required for ONLINE GAMES, the HDD will NOT be sold with every PS3. They would be insane to do that. They are THIS close to lying to gamers and trying to just stir up hype.
2) Demos are no where near the quality of E3 demos, proving that they were full of BS back then.
3) Almost every move they are making is simply copying MS, can you say follow the leader?
I don't know, I'm sitting here playing Oblivion and GR:AW and I couldn't really give a crap about Warhawk and Motorstorm. Even Revolution is looking more interesting at this point.
If you were a Sony fanboy - go ahead, continue and let Sony jerk you around. But there is a greener grass if you open your eyes and look across the street.
So they are denying sex exists? They like to keep it secret in the bedroom?
Those red staters really have it wrong, they should promote sex, because the more secret they keep
sex hidden and dirty and taboo, the less people duplicate. If they could have it their way, they would
outlaw sex totally , but that would mean no personal fun, and no families, which having a family would proove
you had sex.
They they could treble their cause and population if they relaxed, made it open, let it all out.
Meanwhile those islams are exploding in population taking over as per 1600 years ago to take over with their
wraith like style and psychotic no-fun-religeon-tm
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Why would you download 3gig of 30 levels, when you start out with a cheaper $10 option of
only 1 level, and pay say $2 for each new level. If each new level is only 30-60meg whats the big
deal.
Besides the big ISPs should get a clue and cache xbox content or partner with the Sony/MS to not
charge users for game downloads that way THOSE isps would be MORE popular, but if they dont have a clue
then some other ISP will and get the 3,000,000 subscribers!!!
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
The sheer apathy of this article, and sarcasm shows Zonks colours again. If this wre and Xbox presentation he would have been lauding every little bit of gfx he saw. I find the commentry around the game demonstrations as the most hilarious I have read - Obviously he wasnt in the same room as the Kokatu and Digg editors as he claimed, they posted quite different overviews.
Get off your anti Sony spooge box Zonk.. its pretty sad.
According to the Q&A session, covered on IGN, etc, Phil Harrison could NOT confirm that a 60G HD would be standard.
Harrison answered that it will undoubtedly be a key component of the system and that developers should program titles assuming that the drive is there, but being that his role is more software-oriented than hardware, he couldn't give a definitive answer as to whether or not it will be in the box. He says that we, and even he, should know for sure at this year's E3.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/697/697725p1.html
Sony also confirmed that the controller dubbed 'the boomerang' will not be the final version of the controller. Phew - thank goodness for that!
I never apologise, I'm sorry but that's just the way I am - Homer
http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/25/news/ps3-w ill-have-hard-drive-as-standard-3c0925.html
here another report that states that it will. he did not confirm or deny anything, so i guess youre assuming that means it absolutely wont? who knows? sounds like sony has all the cards and it playing them close to their chest. we all shall know soon enough, eh?
I've always been a fan of Japanese and have stuck with the playstations for the last two rounds and haven't even batted the xboxen an eye till i found out Hironobu Sakaguchi(left square/enix and formed mistwalker) would be making games for the xbox360.
:( (one awesome game alone may not convince the japanese public to buy xbox360's en masse), although I must say he and square were pretty damn helpful for the original psx's success.
I hope this doesn't end up being his downfall
Hmmm... Pie...