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PS3 Launch Details Announced
Sony's conference offered up reassurance that a number of their titles will be playable at this year's E3. The controller will sense movement, allowing the player to move an onscreen avatar 'naturally'. They also released the system's launch details. The North American PS3 launch will occur on Nov. 17th, 2006. The 20GB HDD version will retail for $499, and the 60GB HDD version will go for $599. They promise 4 million launch units by December 31st. Update: 05/09 03:57 GMT by Z : Apparently, not only does the $499 system have a smaller harddrive, but it has fewer features as well.
My two cents:
1.) I'm honestly surprised they're this far along with these titles. They may actually make the November launch.
2.) Even through an internet feed, it was obvious the only truly next-gen title there was Heavenly Sword (from the great folks at Ninja Theory). The EyeToy stuff looked cool, but isn't something I'm likely to try out any time soon. Most of the games could have been 360 or even late-lifetime Xbox titles.
3.) I won't be able to review games for this system at the launch price. There's no way I'm dropping $599 for a game console.
4.) The controller orientation thing is ... I don't have the words. Awkward? Cash-in? Cynical? Whatever their intent, it just seems like a bad idea.
PS3 controllers are gyroscopic! Note that this is similar to, but not identical to the Nintendo control system. Nintendo controllers are gyroscopic, but they also have accelorometers, and a complete 3-d positioning system. You can control a plane with the PS3 controller, but it would be difficult or impossible to swing a sword or lob with a tennis racket, like the Nintendo controller is capable of. But Playstation is doing what it does best, coopting parts of the Nintendo controller (the only truly great thing they have offered for controller evolution is dual analog controls)
The pricing! It could work, as long as consumers realize they are getting a Next-Gen DVD player out of the deal. Figure that a Blue-Ray player or HD-DVD player will retail for $300 or more when the PS3 ships. That means for just $200 (or $300) more you get a next-gen console machine that is as fast or faster than the XBox 360. A $200 savings! The risk, of course, is that noone will care that it plays Blue-Ray, Microsoft will drop the 360 price by $50 when it comes out, and the Nintendo system will have been out for a month selling for only $250. That is tough competition.
Meh!
Well, okay, mostly meh. Lots of promo vids were shown, but you can never trust those. There was a very uninsipiring Gran Turismo HD, lots of "Wow, this is 1080p!" It's fine, but ya know, these resolutions have been running on computers for a long time now, and it isn't that much of a wow factor. What was most impressive was the upgrade in lighting and fluid animation on a few titles. Heavenly Sword looked, well, heavenly. and EA had an impressive line up of sports animation, culminating an an eerily realistic Tiger Woods mug shot. If EA can really put this kind of personality into their sports titles, I could be hooked. But realistically, it seems like this stuff could be showing up on the 360 with little problem. Perhaps the Wii could achieve this too, you know, if it wishes really hard upon its cute little heart.
So the E3 PS3 keynote was a solid performance from Sony, but of course there are still 2 more keynotes to come. PS3 dominance is by no means a sure thing.
To recap: Some features of the Nintendo controller ripped off. Games that don't look any better than the XBOX360 versions. Price tag of $500+ just for the system.
I'd like to thank Sony for rinsing the taste of Wii out of our mouthes.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
No MemoryStick/SD/CF support or WiFi either.