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Sony Keynote Offers Hope For PlayStation 3 Fans
Once again, the stage was set for Sony to try to get some good will directed towards its next-gen console. Recent weeks especially have seen PR frustrations and setbacks for the company. Today was Sony's day to deliver: and in my opinion they did with flying colours. By the end of the keynote attendees were laughing and clapping with glee at the goodies that the company is going to be bringing to the PlayStation 3. Finally, finally, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for the console. Read on for my notes on the keynote, as well as links to other coverage of the event. Note the first: There may finally be a great reason to buy a PlayStation.
Taking a page from the PAX playbook, the first notable event of the Sony Keynote was the introduction of the huge soccer balls into the audience by gleeful PR wags. Front row attendees seemed to delight in targeting photographers, beaning several unobservant cameramen with the huge inflatable spheres.
Jamil Moledina introduced Sony's Harrison, saying that this was a 'great year' for the conference. With all three console out and the tools in place, GDC is focused on 'taking control' and charting the future of gaming. With words about SCEA's future being linked to the developers here, Jamil hands the keynote off to Phil.
Opening with talk of 'audience participation' (ala the big soccer balls), Phil launches into a discussion of Games 3.0. The Time magazine 'person of the year' last year was referenced, as was the Web 2.0 philosophy. The reality is that the concepts are worthless without actual products. So, Sony is now moving in the direction of a new '3.0 philosophy'.
Games 1.0 = disconnected consoles. 2.0 games are connected, but with static content on the disc. 3.0 games are all about social interactions, community, customization, emergent entertainment, with the audience members at the center of the entertainment experience. Open standards are mentioned as a definite possibility.
PlayStation Home will be launching from Sony later this year. (video clip) There's just a new icon on the media bar, allowing access to the new content. Phil introduces Scott Walgerman, producer of the service to do a demo. The service begins with the words 'entering the online world'. When you enter the service, you are in the central lounge. Your avatar is customizable, and extremely detailed. These is *not* Miis, these are better than Second Life quality digital characters. A virtual PSP allows you to teleport around and customize your character. Clothes are added to your wardrobe by buying games. Heavenly Sword being played on the console means you have a Sword t-shirt in your bag.
Dynamic advertising is pushed into the space via banners around the world, and in billboards. HD-quality video is running on the billboards. Users are communicating around the demonstrator, with chat, voice, and emotes.
Other public spaces exist to allow opportunities for social interaction. There's a games lounge with easy games like pool, bowling, and arcade titles. The pool and bowling titles are physics based in the world. The arcade games are customizable, and ... perhaps this is the venue for indie games?
Every avatar has a private apartment, an opportunity to make a statement in the world and a place to hang out with friends. Everything is customizable, and more furniture/wallpaper is downloadable. Unsurprisingly, some will be for-purchase. More interestingly, everything is physics based. Picture frames can be pinned to the wall, and any content on the PS3 is postable up there. Phil demonstrates the ability to do 'user created content' by taking a photo of the crowd, slotting the memory stick into the PS3, and then loading the picture into the picture frame.
Moving to another apartment, which can be purchased and is quite a bit larger. Premium items like the pool tables, arcades, can be put into place. Video can be put into place as well via televisions. Scott demonstrates by putting the Casino Royale trailer onto the display.
We teleport again, to the Home Movie Theater. There's a trailer running in the foyer, and dynamic posters on the walls. The avatar moves up to 'user customized spaces', where they introduce grouper content. By walking into theaters, you can watch the content and chat with friends. Not only Sony brands and big named movies, then, but YouTube like user-created content in this world.
Porting again, we head out to locations based around game publishers. We zoom to a 'sports lounge' with information and views of minigames. Harrison says it's very simple to make these spaces, and thinks that many developers will be happy to make such areas.
The final area they go to, the hall of fame, shows off Trophies that you'll earn through play. You can place them in cases, completely 3d and physics based. It's also possible to show off defining moments from your gaming experience on video screens. The avatar then walks out onto a balcony, revealing a Star Wars senate hall style area with hundreds of other user spaces and displaying hundreds of other trophies.
The whole thing is free. There's a large-scale Beta trial beginning in April of this year, with the service launching in Fall of this year.
Phil then moves on to Singstar. Sold 7 million units on PS2, and they're now looking forward to taking it to the PlayStation Network. He demonstrates the online capabilities of the game, showing recent song additions and what your friends have been singing lately. The store is also very easy, adding songs to a cart with the push of a button. Songs download in the background, which Phil notes is a 'good feature'. If you want to, you can videotape your performance and share it with your friends. They can then be rated. That sounds ominous. May/June release in Europe for the game, with a release 'later' for the states.
The next announcement: PlayStation Edge. A set of core tools and technologies that they've used on first party titles, and will now be shared with PS3 devs. Later today they'll be talking about it in a session. One is a graphics tool, allowing best use of the chipset. The other is an optimization set, allowing 'best of breed' technology use. To be shared via the support network after GDC.
And another announcement. LittleBigPlanet. (video clip) It's the guys who did RagDoll KungFu.. Mark Healy and Alex Evans are brought out, and show off the title, which is all about 'creativity.' Alex beings by saying they'll show how easy it is to make stuff in the game world. With just a few controller elements, they make a block, add a gear, and then set it moving with physics. It looks exactly like the toolset from Second Life, only useable. Everything is very intuitive, and the avatars are adorable. Little brown felt creatures. They then begin adding images to the walls with 'stickers'. There's all sorts of weird little things, and everything is completely customizable. Content on the HDD is addable to your space as well. The two demonstrators collaborate by adding elements to each other's creations. They're even able to add elements to each other's avatars.
They then drop down to show a much more customized area, where Phil and another demonstrator join them. The new demonstrator has a really excellent dragon scarf that flows realistically in the wind behind the character as he leaps through the air. This space is a game. It's a platformer, entirely within the gameworld. They all collect little oranges, knock over blocks, and generally chaos their way from left to right. They can also collaborate to help each other across puzzles by manipulating physical objects. It's amazing. The audience is laughing, clapping, and talking amongst themselves, and the entire thing looks fantastic. There's dynamic lighting, intuitive gameplay ... as interesting as the Home stuff is, if these elements are for real, this is the reason to buy PlayStation 3. The demo gets a huge ovation, and there's a decent amount of cheering. It's just crazy. They then show a quick video showing the way your creations can be shared. It's debuting sometime this year via PSN, on Blu-Ray next year.
"The industry is on the threshold of a new era of communication and innovation." An opportunity for the industry to expand the horizons of gaming. He wraps it up with a wish for good GDC, and the audience response is very positive.
Jamil Moledina introduced Sony's Harrison, saying that this was a 'great year' for the conference. With all three console out and the tools in place, GDC is focused on 'taking control' and charting the future of gaming. With words about SCEA's future being linked to the developers here, Jamil hands the keynote off to Phil.
Opening with talk of 'audience participation' (ala the big soccer balls), Phil launches into a discussion of Games 3.0. The Time magazine 'person of the year' last year was referenced, as was the Web 2.0 philosophy. The reality is that the concepts are worthless without actual products. So, Sony is now moving in the direction of a new '3.0 philosophy'.
Games 1.0 = disconnected consoles. 2.0 games are connected, but with static content on the disc. 3.0 games are all about social interactions, community, customization, emergent entertainment, with the audience members at the center of the entertainment experience. Open standards are mentioned as a definite possibility.
PlayStation Home will be launching from Sony later this year. (video clip) There's just a new icon on the media bar, allowing access to the new content. Phil introduces Scott Walgerman, producer of the service to do a demo. The service begins with the words 'entering the online world'. When you enter the service, you are in the central lounge. Your avatar is customizable, and extremely detailed. These is *not* Miis, these are better than Second Life quality digital characters. A virtual PSP allows you to teleport around and customize your character. Clothes are added to your wardrobe by buying games. Heavenly Sword being played on the console means you have a Sword t-shirt in your bag.
Dynamic advertising is pushed into the space via banners around the world, and in billboards. HD-quality video is running on the billboards. Users are communicating around the demonstrator, with chat, voice, and emotes.
Other public spaces exist to allow opportunities for social interaction. There's a games lounge with easy games like pool, bowling, and arcade titles. The pool and bowling titles are physics based in the world. The arcade games are customizable, and ... perhaps this is the venue for indie games?
Every avatar has a private apartment, an opportunity to make a statement in the world and a place to hang out with friends. Everything is customizable, and more furniture/wallpaper is downloadable. Unsurprisingly, some will be for-purchase. More interestingly, everything is physics based. Picture frames can be pinned to the wall, and any content on the PS3 is postable up there. Phil demonstrates the ability to do 'user created content' by taking a photo of the crowd, slotting the memory stick into the PS3, and then loading the picture into the picture frame.
Moving to another apartment, which can be purchased and is quite a bit larger. Premium items like the pool tables, arcades, can be put into place. Video can be put into place as well via televisions. Scott demonstrates by putting the Casino Royale trailer onto the display.
We teleport again, to the Home Movie Theater. There's a trailer running in the foyer, and dynamic posters on the walls. The avatar moves up to 'user customized spaces', where they introduce grouper content. By walking into theaters, you can watch the content and chat with friends. Not only Sony brands and big named movies, then, but YouTube like user-created content in this world.
Porting again, we head out to locations based around game publishers. We zoom to a 'sports lounge' with information and views of minigames. Harrison says it's very simple to make these spaces, and thinks that many developers will be happy to make such areas.
The final area they go to, the hall of fame, shows off Trophies that you'll earn through play. You can place them in cases, completely 3d and physics based. It's also possible to show off defining moments from your gaming experience on video screens. The avatar then walks out onto a balcony, revealing a Star Wars senate hall style area with hundreds of other user spaces and displaying hundreds of other trophies.
The whole thing is free. There's a large-scale Beta trial beginning in April of this year, with the service launching in Fall of this year.
Phil then moves on to Singstar. Sold 7 million units on PS2, and they're now looking forward to taking it to the PlayStation Network. He demonstrates the online capabilities of the game, showing recent song additions and what your friends have been singing lately. The store is also very easy, adding songs to a cart with the push of a button. Songs download in the background, which Phil notes is a 'good feature'. If you want to, you can videotape your performance and share it with your friends. They can then be rated. That sounds ominous. May/June release in Europe for the game, with a release 'later' for the states.
The next announcement: PlayStation Edge. A set of core tools and technologies that they've used on first party titles, and will now be shared with PS3 devs. Later today they'll be talking about it in a session. One is a graphics tool, allowing best use of the chipset. The other is an optimization set, allowing 'best of breed' technology use. To be shared via the support network after GDC.
And another announcement. LittleBigPlanet. (video clip) It's the guys who did RagDoll KungFu.. Mark Healy and Alex Evans are brought out, and show off the title, which is all about 'creativity.' Alex beings by saying they'll show how easy it is to make stuff in the game world. With just a few controller elements, they make a block, add a gear, and then set it moving with physics. It looks exactly like the toolset from Second Life, only useable. Everything is very intuitive, and the avatars are adorable. Little brown felt creatures. They then begin adding images to the walls with 'stickers'. There's all sorts of weird little things, and everything is completely customizable. Content on the HDD is addable to your space as well. The two demonstrators collaborate by adding elements to each other's creations. They're even able to add elements to each other's avatars.
They then drop down to show a much more customized area, where Phil and another demonstrator join them. The new demonstrator has a really excellent dragon scarf that flows realistically in the wind behind the character as he leaps through the air. This space is a game. It's a platformer, entirely within the gameworld. They all collect little oranges, knock over blocks, and generally chaos their way from left to right. They can also collaborate to help each other across puzzles by manipulating physical objects. It's amazing. The audience is laughing, clapping, and talking amongst themselves, and the entire thing looks fantastic. There's dynamic lighting, intuitive gameplay ... as interesting as the Home stuff is, if these elements are for real, this is the reason to buy PlayStation 3. The demo gets a huge ovation, and there's a decent amount of cheering. It's just crazy. They then show a quick video showing the way your creations can be shared. It's debuting sometime this year via PSN, on Blu-Ray next year.
"The industry is on the threshold of a new era of communication and innovation." An opportunity for the industry to expand the horizons of gaming. He wraps it up with a wish for good GDC, and the audience response is very positive.
So I was on my way out the door when it occurred to me that I hadn't punched anyone in the throat today. I turned around and slammed the first person I could see. OK. Now I can go home.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
The last thing i wanna do is play a crappy 3d game just to play a good 3d game. Online services for consoles should be lean mean and efficient ... not a bloody RPG! This look like a pain in the butt ... bring on the load time complaints!
"Taking a page from the PAX playbook..."
Cool, they're going to offer "Diagnosis Murder" and "Touched by an Angel" for the PS3! I can't wait.
I have to give it up for Sony. Playstation Home seems like something useful and it might even transcend its inherent gimmickry. It's not reason enough to buy a PS3, but it gives me hope that someone inside of SCEA knows what they're doing.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
... than a Sims Online combined with "Mii" ripoff? I can buy the Sims for probably $20 now, PS3's still cost a small fortune.
Clothes, furniture, wallpaper... Is this intended to keep people from buying a Wii just for The Sims Thwii and Animal Crossing Thwii?
I have a few questions about this article.
First question: Why couldn't you mention that this was a keynote at GDC? It doesn't have to be in the title, but it would have been nice for it to be in the first paragraph so it would show up before clicking in.
Second question: did they reveal what kind of bandwidth you're going to need to walk around a virtual world with HD video streaming on billboards? I don't want to have to run a DS3 into my house to see the latest Sony advert. Not that I'm even buying a PS3.
Third Question: Playstation Edge. I assume this is only for licensed developers, yes? Meaning that there's STILL no way for a hobbyist developer to make anything like full use of the hardware?
Finally, regarding LittleBigPlanet, how is this different from, say, half-life 2 with garry's mod? (Besides that it might not crash every couple hours...)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The whole thing is free. There's a large-scale Beta trial beginning in April of this year, with the service launching in Fall of this year.
So is Second Life until you buy shit.
Every avatar has a private apartment, an opportunity to make a statement in the world and a place to hang out with friends. Everything is customizable, and more furniture/wallpaper is downloadable. Unsurprisingly, some will be for-purchase. More interestingly, everything is physics based.
So you will be purchasing stuff in this.
Why do we need a $600 device to play what's already available to anyone that has a computer? It's not like the target audience of the PS3 are computerless individuals. I don't see the point.
I'm a gamer and all of that meant nothing to me.
There are obviously more games and online services for a PC than a Playstation, and these days a PC is cheaper. You can quickly hook up a notebook to an HD TV and a joystick of your choice and have a similar experience to PS3. You can disable net access, uninstall most of built in programs and enable autoplay to run games when a disk is inserted if you are concerned about ease of use.
Game consoles really made sense when they were at least 3 times cheaper than a PC, for people who couldn't afford a regular computer, or a second computer for kids. Perhaps Nintendo Wii is still in that league.
I think that, given the fact that this is a developers' conference, they were more interested in showing new technologies, platforms, and tools, as opposed to actual games. Content at a developers' conference is usually geared more toward the developers, and not the consumer.
These is *not* Miis, these are better than Second Life quality digital characters.
Jar-Jar confirms, PlayStation Home avatars look at least as good as the characters in Wolfenstein 3D.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
...the Playstation 3 has fans? Really? Could have fooled me. Everyone I know is raging on the Atari Jaguar 64-bit system and the Atari Lynx as the end all and be all. But I'm nearly 40, what do I know?
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I don't think people are looking for a bloated pseudo game-network. How about we focus on a functioning MP system even comparable to Live first? Gamers want apples and they're getting Apple Pie.
Home trailer:g dc07_h264.wmv
e bigplanet_gdc07_h264.wmv
2 0&page=8
7 63 /693580/ignweekly_episode38_flvlowwide.flv
h tml
. html
http://download.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_home_
Little Big Planet trailer:
http://download.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_littl
Heavenly Sword:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1450
http://www.playsyde.com/news_4067_en.html
Tekken 5DR:
19.99 1080p Arcade perfect port available to download from the PSN store
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmB2cV-Lz-w
Motorstorm:
12 player dedicated server no lag offroad racing with insane physics and crashes
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1103341
Warhawk:
32 player dedicated server air and ground combat game that will be available for download from PSN store
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1445
http://retromovies.ign.com/games/video/article/69
God of War 2:
Nothing needs to be said about this sequel...
http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/811/811719/imgs_1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwaUIShOM54
Lair:
1080p dragon game with insanely large levels and armies
http://www.gfdata.de/archiv01-2007-gamefront/2689
Seriously, nothing but hype for the PS3, and it totally under delivers. Now, the promise of this awesome online service. The thing is, it takes years to get the usability feed back from users to really make a UI powerful and intuitive. That's years of experience that Sony just doesn't have.
After all, you have to know where the weak point is so that you can hit it for MASSIVE DAMAGE! :-)
Anyhow, looks like they're done copying the Wii (sixaxis), so now they're going to try copying the X-Box (X-Box Live).
On this doll, exactly where did the angel touch you?
Let the record show the victim pointed to THE WALLET!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Particularly telling is the statement that "...if these elements are for real, this is the reason to buy PlayStation 3." Generally, people buy game consoles -- especially $600 ones -- because they intend to play a lot of games on it. If people are going to pay this kind of premium for a PS3, it needs a lot more than a cool interface.
As great as buzzwords like "Games 3.0" (or whatever it was) sound to a conference room full of anticipatory people, the question is not "Is this cool?" but "Will this translate into more sales." The Wii has sold over 5 million consoles worldwide, and I still can't find one. The PS3 has sold 2 million. Let me say that again. The PS3 has sold 2 million units. The PS3 sold more than that in the first month. Sony has sold slightly over 700,000 over the cursed things in Japan. That's only about twice as many as there are Xbox 360's in Japan, which is truly sad. There has only been one game in the top 50 of Japanese sales for weeks -- Virtua Fighter 5 -- and it was at something like number 45, last I checked.
(See http://www.vgcharts.org/ Despite all of this negativity, this is a bright spot for Sony. If nothing else, it's something about which those who have already spent $600 on a PS3 (plus peripherals) can feel good. Let's hope, for Sony's sake, that there is more to come.
Also mentioned was the working title, Sony Original Next-generation Occupations, Friends, and Bartering Online Bazaar.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
Do I really have to read a summary of a PR speech written by some fanboy and posted to Slashdot to force ~$600 out of my hands for a monster that want's to be everything but a reasonably priced video game?
I'll be waiting for the Home version of the PS3.
I tell you, Sony's arrogance is truly something to behold. The irony is that they're competing against MS, which had traditionally been known for stealing ideas. This time, it's Sony who appears to be stealing everything. And they don't even appear to be implementing anything particularly well.
Like MS with the Zune, they know that something is cool. They know how to do a superficial knockoff. But they just DON'T GET IT.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Yeah, because Second Life is the pinnacle of character design. Not.
You'd expect the open-sourcing to make it better, but I haven't heard anything promising.
You know what? Wake me up when they look better than Final Fantasy characters.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
...Sony went on a stage and said "OK everyone! We are going to rip off Nintendo's idea again, but we are going to do you one better...we are going to rip off Second Life AND Microsoft at the same time!!! Get it? See, the avatars are Nintendo, Second Life provides the apartments, and Microsoft supplies the achievement system! But no scrawny little points for our dedicated fanbase, oh no...you get TROPHIES!"
Quit insulting my intelligence and put out a game worth playing for the PS3, cunt scabs.
Living With a Nerd
It's all about buzzword-enabled games now. Interactive! Customizable! Physics Based! Communities, COMMUNITIES, COMMUNITIES!!!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
</snicker>
This is Sony we are talking about. They have messed up every other portion of the PS3 launch, so I'm quite sure this service launch will not go as planned either.
I think this is an attempt to combine the Nintendo Mii aspect of personalizing an online gaming persona with the gaming prestige aspect of the Microsoft Gamer Score.
My biggest problem with Sony's implementation of these new enhancements and roll out of new features is that it's a little late in the game to be doing so. The console has been on the market now for roughly four months, things such as online markets and features like the Sony Playstation Home should have been completed at launch much like the Nintendo Mii and Microsoft XBox Gamer Tags.
Rolling out major features like this after launch makes it seem like Sony just rushed to release the PS3 with a, "we'll add things as they're finished" mentality. Call them 'catch-up features'.
Although Nintendo has had several 'catch up features' added, such as the Wii channels finally being completed months after launch, I have to give it to Microsoft in that the changes to XBox Live and the dashboard have more or less just been an evolution over the last year and a half since the 360 was introduced. Sure, much more content has been added since it's inception, but nothing radically new has been added.
So my hat goes off to Sony for being able to spin these new 'features' in a positive light, but I guess the question should be asked, Why weren't these features released with the console when the competitors already had them in place?
It just sounds like you made everything even more inaccessible by forcing us to play a game to get to your content.
Accessability is probably why the Wii will win the war.
Well, done and scared me off. Next! Video games are quickly becoming as insulting as television and the local AMC; one day not to far from now I'll only have my old books as a proper escape from the capitalist bombardment.
-Buddy of DoQ
The whole thing is free.
With purchase of $700 playstation 3.
I guess this is a good thing but its certainly not enough to get me to buy a playstation at that price
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
God of War 2 is going to be the last game I buy for my PS2, after that, I'm selling it on ebay, forgetting about sony and going xbox 360, the PS3 has lost focus on what makes playstation great. . . the games
So, Sony's big announcement is that they are doing cheesy "Second Life"-type stuff on the PS3?
Jesus. What planet do they live on? NOBODY CARES! We want good games, and good multiplayer. That's it. But no, instead we get some worthless service that is designed to appeal to the "I spend $50 per month on ringtones" market. Fucking ridiculous.
Did he say anything about real, actual games in that keynote, by any chance?
You can almost picture the pathetic little editorial troll sitting under his bridge banging out the writeup for this news with bitter tears streaming down his face...
Love it!
So the big thing you've got in this version of the Playstation seems to be advertising, and branded virtual items ala second life. This is suppose to be the difference between the PS3 being good and it being a steaming pile of dung? Give me and my wallet a break. I don't want any damned ads in my games. I don't want games that require that I be online. All of that should be possible but not required to get the most out of what essentially should be an arcade games machine for the home.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Nah, that would just give people less to moan about. Kinda like when Apple didn't unveil anything mindblowing at their Developers convention, so people felt they had to go on-line and complain about it. ... never mind that THEY weren't the target audience.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
karma from the macintosh?
I lot of observers have commented recently that Sony is bad with software. Even their CEO has acknowledged this. They were able to get by in the last two generations, because their hardware was appealing enough compared to other consoles that developers flocked to their system, but now, with some very competitive hardware from Nintendo and Microsoft, they're in trouble. Sony's software deficiencies lost them the portable music market, and they're in danger of losing the console market as well. It doesn't help that they don't get that the fancies, most expensive hardware is not really all that important to the success of a system.
but is a recreation of the sims/second life really worth 599 us dollas? these are nice additions but are hardly games. The little big world game was nice but as most sony fan boys say, it looks "kiddy" is this the "mature" gameplay sony is all about?
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Having been to GDC, I can say that I am highly surprised that they did not announce any games for their console at their keynote, at least as an aside. In order to keep developers excited, or at least publishers to whom they are accountable, you must keep the gamers excited, and the lack of interesting games is definitely contributing to a lack of excitement.
I mean, there is plenty of excitement around the PS3, but it's pretty much all angry. "What?! Six hundred fucking dollars!? What?! Probably too cheap!?!?" etc.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It sounds like Sony has lost total grasp of the industry they're in, the "videogame" industry. What *I* want to see are the games. I'm stuck in a hard place now. I want to buy an Xbox 360 or a PS3. My knee jerk reaction is to go with Sony because they will probably provide more of the games that I want to play in the long run, but in the short term (next 2 years) it's looking sorta grim. I'm sure this new service by Sony will be great, it sounds like it mixes the social aspects of Wii's with the gamer oriented aspects of Xbox Live. Okay, so Sony waited to see what their competitors did and combined it and made something great. I can understand that, if I was Sony I'd play it safe and wait so I could outdo my competitors too. But instead of using this to support the games, they're using this to supplant the games and sell the system based on what it CAN do but isn't instead of what it IS DOING. And there lies the crux. Sure, I'll eventually get a 360 or a PS3, but not until the smoke settles. It's too much of an investment to get the top end of either system. Besides, I'm having too much fun with my Wii now and it didn't break the bank either. Hopefully the PS3 will be in a better position in a couple years when (if?) the novelty of the Wii runs out.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
I shit my pant!
Later this year, you'll be able to pay $600 to play something that's like Second Life with HD advertising, but without the ability to create your own stuff.
And this is going to sell systems how, exactly?
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Will the new Playstation come with a rootkit?
For ages I've been coming here purely for the discussion. Slashdotters seemed to generally have a more open mind and the average maturity level seemed to be that much higher than the people over within the digg community. So I read the comments of this to find out the Slashdot reaction, and a majority of you are "Wow, way to copy Nintendo, screw off Sony." and "So it's Sims and Second Life? Give me a break", all while being modded up to +5 insightful or +5 interesting. No Slashdot, you give me a break.
/rant, awaiting the "you must be new here" and 360 fanboy flames.
I guess it's obvious that Sony can't win here anymore. They integrate what Nintendo did with the Mii system (which was widely praised) and the community of XBox Live (also widely praised) and put their own personal spin on it and take it that much farther, and all you can say is "Fuck Sony". What if they just made a system that mimics XBox Live? "Looks like all Sony can do is copy Microsoft, fuck Sony." What if they just made a system with Mii's like Nintendo? "Looks like all Sony can do is copy Nintendo, fuck Sony." They put their own spin on what they think next-gen console connectivity should be, but obviously it must still be inferior. Why? They're Sony.
That's not even all they're offering. Is no one excited by LittleBigPlanet other than me? Is that not one of the coolest game concepts ever? Hell, Zonk knows it, and he's the one that's supposedly biased against Sony. But no, screw LittleBigPlanet, let's just make remarks like "this all sucks, where are the games?". Let alone when games coming out for the PS3 ARE mentioned, XBox supporters come out of the woodwork saying "Yeah well online will suck they don't have XBox Live". I guess games only matter when Sony doesn't present a ton of games? This is GDC. You'll see games at E3. Give them a break.
Honestly Slashdot, you've let me down. The Digg community has largely kept an open mind about Sony. Finally some good news, and for the most part, there's some good (but skeptical, understandably) reception. I'm not saying Playstation Home is the savior of the PS3, nor am I saying that LittleBigPlanet is the only game that will matter. I'm saying they've demoed some really cool stuff, and yet still they get blasted. Why? Because it's not the same? Because they're not exactly like the 360 or the Wii? I don't get it guys. I really don't.
This is the 7th console generation. What do they think the NES was 0.5 Beta?
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
Who the hell cares that this virtual world is "Physics Based"? I mean, seriously, that's the biggest pile of astroturfing I've heard in a while. "Physics Based" to do what? Walk around and realistically nail a picture on the wall? Fall down a flight of stairs? Holy shit, sign me up now. I just hope they have the fluid calculations right for the paint-your apartment area. It would be disappointing if the paint didn't drip correctly. (sarcasm)
What a pile of nothing.
Do you want a real reason to buy a Playstation 3? Just make the long-waited remake of Final Fantasy VII with E3 tech demo's graphics. You can bet a lot of people would buy a PS3 just for that, me included.
I misread the headline on the summary. I honestly thought that it first said that the "keynote offers hope for PlayStation's 3 fans." I'm not a gamer, but I figured things must be even worse for Sony than I'd realized. :-)
David
Six Hundred Dollars.
Is there anything here that you can't get for less than $600 elsewhere?
Six. Hundred. Dollars.
Although the lack of games and poor online support and other issues were problems, problem #1 is still there.
Not a frickin' PS3 though. This crap points me straight in the direction of the Xbox360. I hate M$ as much as the next guy, but the original Xbox was done very well and had some very compelling games. I have 2 PS2s a PSP and 3 or more original PSXen, but no more from Sony please. I've got just about every handheld and console ever made, except for most Nintendo ones and the Vectrex, and am glad I've slowed down my console spending these past few years. The PSP was *very* promising, but Sony *blew* it by locking down their system from the homebrew developers. This lame PS3 Second-Life ripoff just proves to me further that Sony is out of touch with gamers and the game industry in general. Too little, too late. They should open the PSP OS to anyone who can code to it. Period. PS3? When it hits the $99 price point I may get one to play Linux on, but so far this is so underwhelming I can't decide whether to yawn or crap. Sony took a very wrong turn during the PSP and they show no signs of circling back to correct it. They used to be the top dog, now their eating Wii and Xbox360 scraps.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
Games 3.0:
Putting the "GAY" back into GAYMES
What are you talking about? The 360 doesn't have any of these features. It most certainly doesn't have any kind of 3d world you interact with. And I've never heard of any plans from MS to add it.
I'm a 360 owner so I'd be interested to know if you are emitting something verifiable, or just the usual random crap slashdot is accustomed to.
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
I think that, given the fact that this is a developers' conference, they were more interested in showing new technologies, platforms, and tools, as opposed to actual games. Content at a developers' conference is usually geared more toward the developers, and not the consumer.
If I were a developer, I'd be worried about where the games are since, while those new technologies are neat and all, my company wouldn't be able to use them if I'm not convinced of a solid userbase and console saturation. No killer games to help move PS3's off the shelf = I'm not going to be so interested in building on PS3 technology. No matter how neat it is: it just doesn't make sense from a business perspective.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Those of us with dial-up are still waiting for a reason to care. I'd still rather have a Wii, not because of the News and Weather channels or online store (which are neat additions), but because the games are actually fun. Apparently Sony doesn't understand why Nintendo has them scared.
You mean they dropped the DRM and reduced the price by 75%?
Cool!
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I realise this is slashdot, and I'm really looking in the wrong place for this.
There seems to be a disproportionate amount of negativity concerning Sony's showing. Sony has said a lot of dumb things, they've done a few dumb things, but this does offer hope for Sony.
That is not to say there aren't criticisms to be brought up, I'm just disappointed at how they have been here. Sony may have obtained the ill-will of gamers, but if we're going to tell them they suck at something we can at least do it intelligently. Calling Zonk a Sony fanboy (oh the irony after all the Nintendo and Xbox related accusations), and dismissing the whole keynote as though it was by default terrible are not effective methods of changing reality. The reality is, Sony and the PS3 have seen the first truly good, even awesome, news for them in a long time. It's not all redeeming, it alone will not outweigh all the crap we've faced. However, if you are truly interested in defending the industry against Sony what I've seen above is not how it is done. This is sticking one's head in the sand.
Point out that Home is needlessly complicated, that it won't appeal to causual gamers, that it makes you unconfortable because it seems designed to overly consumerize online communities. Back up these points with expanded statements, compare them fairly to the counterparts of Live and the Mii Channel, but of all things don't simply pan this without paying attention. If you're intent on keeping Sony your beating horse, you're going to have to put effort into it.
Closing your eyes does not rid the world of light.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
if these elements are for real, this is the reason to buy PlayStation 3.
So, I can finally watch some 3d rendered character watching a DVD? Sweet! You're right, we finally do have a reason to buy PS3!
Eh, sorry. A built-in SecondLife with better graphics is not a reason to buy a PS3. Not for me anyway. Nor is the development stuff. I just don't care. It's a game machine as well as the cheapest Blueray movie player. I don't care about blueray movies right now. As for games, I've got an XB360 and will most likely buy a Wii before I buy a PS3.
As a PS3 owner myself, none of this excites me in the least. I'm not denying there is a market out there for it. But honestly, I only bought a console to get some good single-player games up on a big TV screen in the family room. It's nice to have the ability to play "head to head" against a friend who comes over, once in a while too ... and if the game is designed well enough for it, even Internet play. But wandering around in a 3D virtual world just so I can chat with people and set up multi-player games with them? No thanks. It's a big load of unnecessary extra GUI junk....
I really *wanted* to find something amazing/interesting about "Second Life", for that matter, and it failed to draw me in. If I feel like having conversations with random strangers, good old IRC seems like one of the most straightforward ways to accomplish it online. If I only want to chat with specific people I know, then you can't beat a video conference with a web cam, or alternately, instant messenger. I don't feel any need to express myself through some made-up "avatar", or spend my *real* money to have virtual 3D items to show off to other players. It's a horrible value for my dollar.
Honestly, the most exciting part of the PS3 to me lies in the ability for software publishers to send out patches and add-ons to their game titles, and to even purchase titles and download them online. In the past, that was a BIG negative for me with console systems. You buy a game on CD or DVD or whatever, and it is what it is. Find bugs in it? Tough... you're stuck with them. I was really happy with my $19.99 download of Tekken 5, and with the updates they're doing for Resistance. THAT is where a PS3 can add real value for customers.
I can't tell if you're trolling, but I'll bite...
Second question: did they reveal what kind of bandwidth you're going to need to walk around a virtual world with HD video streaming on billboards?
I didn't hear any comment, but I doubt they're going to have 20 videos blasting in your face. Most of the video content I've downloaded from PSN has been 20 MB at most, so it can't take that long.
Third Question: Playstation Edge. I assume this is only for licensed developers, yes? Meaning that there's STILL no way for a hobbyist developer to make anything...
Most likely, but no official announcement has been made yet. It's too early in the conference and the session is later today. As for the hobbyist developers, there really isn't any incentive for Sony to launch that yet. It's only 6 months into the consoles life for crissakes. As Zonk alluded to, there's a huge amount of possibility with Home and I doubt that Sony is going to let people not develop with something similar to XBLA. If they created this in response to Mii's and XB Accomplishments, I'm pretty sure they have something up for homebrew.
Finally, regarding LittleBigPlanet, how is this different from, say, half-life 2 with garry's mod?
Garry's mod isn't a game per say. This is - you compete in puzzles and minigames in a map (which has a name but I can't remember it) by working in cooperation with other players. You balance on a beam, climb ropes, and complete puzzles. You don't necessarily have to create the content as some will be available for purchase and with the game, supposedly. So content creation is along the lines of both modifying your character and creating unique maps for other players to play. You can keep track of who's playing your maps and what other maps are popular.
From the description, all I want, and all I'll ever want is Games 1.0. There is no compelling reason for me to upgrade to the latest gen of consoles whatsoever. I want a games appliance, nothing more.
Sorry, but Sony isn't getting one penny more from me until they totally change their attitudes about DRM and publicly and pointedly apologize for their rootkit fiasco. I don't care how good their products are, or how much better they are than their competition. No apology, no $$$. I think it's time we voted with our wallets and it really irks me that people are letting them get away with their anti-consumer, anti-customer anti-cs.
So I say, don't review their products and don't give them any air-time or press (internet or otherwise) until they are well and truly humbled.
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
This looks interesting. I can only hope someone ports the giant penis attack from second life.
A public chat room of console users? With interactive objects and importable pictures and video? Man, thats gonna be nothing but porn, goatse and 13 year olds screaming racist obsceneties! Should be hilarious for the first week or so, especially if its unmodderated. Can you even imagine? 10 000 12 year olds all vying for attention.. Man I just gotta see the cess pool of prepubescent circus freaks that it would create. It's the same feeling I would get from watching car accidents I think.
I predict that this will be a huge hit. People love playing with dolls. Its vanity. I have this friend who plays ps2 basically all day (unemployed). He likes things like dressing up his characters in gta, picking the perfect paint scheme for a car, and he likes showing that shit off. This service is going to be HUGE, and will quite possibly save the console.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
Thats kind of a stretch. Its not like they can't announce games after the conference. And they have some fairly high-profile games on the horizon, like Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm. Thats in addition to stuff like FFXIII and Metal Gear Solid 4.
A lot of my gamer friends feel that way about the PS3. Quite a few of them plan to pick up a PS3 when its cheaper though. I don't think the public perception of the PS3 is really what Slashdot paints it as. It is selling at a faster rate than the PS2 at the same point in their lifetimes, despite selling slower than the Wii.
They're just troll-threads full of fucking haters. Why the ever-loving-shit would I want to read ONE article about the PS3 on Slashdot? Tell me - because I've given up on Slashdot for gaming news a long fucking time ago, and just a quick glimpse of this thread confirms that Slashdot still sucks for gaming news but is otherwise great for pissy little troll-wars that have no fucking impact on the industry - what-so-ever.
When TFA says "hope for ps3" I thought that meant the price would come down 200 dollars, and 5 or 10 kickass games that take full advantage of the capabilities of the ps3 hardware are going to be released. All I saw in TFA was they ripped off Secondlife, rendered it all pretty with their uber hardware, and added adverts. Am I missing anything?
I'm super excited.
God I hate the mainstream games industry.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
If that's a copy... of XBL and Mii respectively, then my house is a copy of a 10x10 toolshed.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Look, I have no intention of buying a PS3. I have my 360, I'm happy with my 360, so I don't care. BUT, good for Sony! I was as surprised as anyone at how much I enjoyed the Achievements MS included. When I first heard of it, I thought it was pointless, and agreed with Sony that it doesn't evenly compare gamers' abilities. But I started playing, I started getting a few gamer points, and wa'la; like Pokemon, I had to catch them all (little did I know I suck at gaming apparently, and have a less than steller score). STILL though, it was an interesting addition to the console world. If you cared you paid attention, if you didn't care you didn't pay attention. It worked perfectly.
I'd like to spout off about how Sony is ripping off MS's idea (after initially badmouthing it) but ya know what? Good on Sony! It can't be anything but good. If you like it, use it and play around with it. If you have no interest I'm sure its not going to bother you at all. I don't think people will pick up a PS3 for this feature, and thats exactly why its a great idea, its a little bonus-added value to users who might be into this sort of thing.
It might be a killer app if they ever decided to port it. Second LIfe is a small download, doesn't require a huge space on a hard drive because content is streamed.
I wouldn't be surprisded to find out that their avatar stuff is based on SL code.
The reason to buy a PS3 is to have a virtual apartment? For $599, I can rent a real one!
I want a games console to, you know, play games. Not sit on a virtual couch, watching video on a virtual video screen in a virtual apartment, on my real TV while I sit on my real couch in my real house.
And what's all this blather about "everything is physics based"? To quote, "More interestingly, everything is physics based. Picture frames can be pinned to the wall, and any content on the PS3 is postable up there." What's "physics based" about pinning frames to the wall? Do I have to buy 30-lb rated virtual pins or the physics-based virtual frame crashes to the floor? Then I have buy a virtual broom and sweep it up, watching physics-based glass shards tumble on the floor?
And what's physics-based about having PS3 content in my frame? I can't put PS3 content in my real, physically physics-based picture frame on my real wall in my real house.
I must just be an old, non-physics based, curmudgeon.
ShoutingMan.com
For $600, they're only getting hardcore people to buy the machine. And this new concept is hardly a compelling reason for a casual player to suddenly change their mind and buy a PS3.
This isn't the proper response to Xbox Live. Live enhances the hardcore gaming experience. This doesn't. It's a casual gamer feature, at best.
So who is Sony hoping to win over with this again? Show me a casual gamer who previously didn't care for the PS3 that is now drooling for a chance to use this new "free" feature.
When SONY announced the development of the Cell chip, and the plans they had for their next gen console, the ability to do big, immersive environments that span across the network is what they had in mind. The Cell chip was designed for that, and even though it cost them with delays and price overruns it may well pay off big time. They will be able to provide an experience that Wii and Xbox 360 can't match. Including Blu-ray also hurt them with delays and cost, but it is paying off already, as Blu-ray has now passed HD-DVD in disk sales, despite a later launch (and terrible PR).
Motorstorm just came out yesterday, MLB 2K7 last week. Virtua Fighter 5 and Tekken came out about a while back. PS3 is definitely gaining strength, I'm glad I made the purchase back in November. Blu-Ray alone has been worth it to me.
i have both a 360 and ps3. There just is not enough games out for the PS3 at the moment and not as many as i would expect with a release date pending. personally i could care less what sort of second life / sims environment they add, i would use something like that on the pc before i would on the ps3 if at all. Where is my new version of Gran Turismo, where are the great RPGs, they are set to release about a year after the console... i tell my friends dont bother buying a ps3 right now until you look at the list of games out. I really do not understand why they limit other operating systems access as much as they do, especially to the graphics card in the system. I do understand they have to stop full access to prevent piracy, hacks, etc. but seems like it should be as open as they can beyond that.
s/©//g
So, what new games were announced by other developers on other platforms at their dev conferences, recently?
"but in the short term (next 2 years) it's looking sorta grim"
Yeah, so don't buy now. I'll eventually buy one when there's a reason to buy one (maybe Ratchet and Clank, unless they screw up that franchise even more), and the bonus is that by the time the games are ready, the prices will fall.
Win/win.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Who's got a gun to your head forcing you to read all the comments?
Just read the linked story and keep your flaming douchey commentary to yourself.
"Eric" is a know M$ fanboi cocksucker.
Sounds like someone hasn't gotten their morning coffee
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
and flocking to the 360. The hardware specs of the two systems are similar on paper (the PS3 probably has a slight edge), but the practical reality is that the power of the 360 is MUCH easier to harness than the power of the PS3. The 360 has better devkits, less RAM and CPU permanently consumed by the OS, a unified memory architecture (where the PS3 forces you to split memory into "graphics memory" and "everything else", the 360 doesn't), a unified shader pipe architecture (the same hardware resources can be used for vertex or pixel shading, so you can use it to the max with less bottlenecks than the traditional statically-allocated hardware resources that the PS3 still has), and so on and so on.
Microsoft had a rocky launch, but they had one huge advantage: for like a full year THEY HAD NO COMPETITION. Sony is launching in the worst position they've ever been in since they entered the console market. They won the last round solely because the developers supported them and cranked out lots and lots of good games for the PS2. But that is probably not going to happen this time. Most of those developers are making 360 titles and (after seeing the insane sales numbers Nintendo has been generating) now Wii titles. Sony will probably not come out on top in this round. It remains to be seen if they will be 2nd or 3rd, and whether 1st place will go to Nintendo or Microsoft.
What is a "hater"? Someone who posts an opinion you don't like? Someone who puts a toy in a bad light? Or someone you just disagree with? I'm really curiou.
Sounds to me like a multi-user version of what Microsoft was doing in 1995:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Please, nothing by itself isn't worth it for $600, Gears of War isn't even worth the cost of an XBox 360. It's the whole package, and every little thing that adds to the package helps. So no, PS3 Home, isn't worth $600, but perhaps as one poster said, bug fixes and patches, Blu-ray, free online, WiFi included, etc... *is* enough for some people.
I'm tired of fanboys rehashing the same invalid arguments over and over again.
Yeah but its really gotta suck having to move all your furniture and possessions out of the place after staying there for one month.
I want a games console to, you know, play games. Not sit on a virtual couch, watching video on a virtual video screen in a virtual apartment, on my real TV while I sit on my real couch in my real house.Then you, sir, are in luck! It just so happens that the Playstation 3 is completely able to play games. You can can even play them on your real TV in your real house while sitting on your real couch.
And what's all this blather about "everything is physics based"? To quote, "More interestingly, everything is physics based. Picture frames can be pinned to the wall, and any content on the PS3 is postable up there." What's "physics based" about pinning frames to the wall? Do I have to buy 30-lb rated virtual pins or the physics-based virtual frame crashes to the floor? Then I have buy a virtual broom and sweep it up, watching physics-based glass shards tumble on the floor?Probably that the actual hanging of the frame is based on physics calculations. Beats me why this is an important feature.
And what's physics-based about having PS3 content in my frame? I can't put PS3 content in my real, physically physics-based picture frame on my real wall in my real house.I think thats something additional that they threw out, not meant to be directly related to the whole physics-thingy.
In my opinion, IGN has the most impartial view of all three consoles. They're a lot more reputable than Kotaku or other sensational blogs.
So was there anything about solving the PS3's scaling problems that prevent games from playing in HD on some HD monitors? So far as I know, the PS3 is the only device that claims HD output, but that does not have the capability to scale all output to either 1080i or 720p to support all HD monitors. Even some fairly cheap scaling DVD players have this ability, so its absence in a $600 device is incomprehensible.
For me, this is the single issue that has prevented me from ordering a PS3. Most of the new stuff listed announced kind of cool, but probably not the sort of thing I'd use much--certainly not appealing enough to compensate for a fundamental hardware limitation.
I'm waiting for the PS9
Experience teaches only the teachable. -AH
"Honestly, the most exciting part of the PS3 to me lies in the ability for software publishers to send out patches and add-ons to their game titles"
Yeah but as a game developer this fills me with dread. Making games used to be nice because you would finish the game, publish it, then be done with it and go make a new one. Now we have to support it like any other software with patches, content updates etc. Yuk.
Damn progress!
3d avatar...decorate your own 'house'...customized items...arcade games... Gee, sounds like someone at Sony played 'Animal Crossing'.
This isn't going to help sell PS3s.
Zonk is a pretty anti-ps3 fanboy, but this just makes me think he just got a boat load of money because this is nothing but fanboy gushing.
This is an awesome feature, if it was flawless at launch, coming 1 year after the fact as well as not everyone will support it and the cost of the servers, oh they won't be players funded, they will be developer funded, which means the developers will raise prices, and the players will still foot the bill.
In the end this sounds like a lot of promises with no possible way to follow through, and in the end will just continue to bastardize the concept of the Playstation until it's no longer a game console, and if blu-ray fails it'll just be a social networking device.
This is just going to be a monumental build up (for those of us buying in, which is still not a huge amount of us) which will end up turning around and becoming another flop. Great idea, but it's not something most of us will use more than once or twice a month. At the same time a good working voice chat, and message system while in game would go far farther and yet they continue to be unable to implement these things. The fact they are taking up more memory for the OS and giving the developers less support and the gamers less features hasn't gone unnoticed inside the industry either.
If we all wanted a system like this we'd be playing second life, or WoW for the social interaction, the Ps3 is a console, and until Sony learns how to develop a consoles for developers (which the Ps3 is still not a developer friendly platform) for the fans (600 bucks and constantly fighting home brew, as well as weak games) rather then for their megalomaniac desires (blu-ray and sony's other business) they will continue to have a hard road ahead of them.
What's "physics based" about pinning frames to the wall?
Maybe if you pick the PS3 up and shake it, it causes a virtualquake, and the pictures fall off the wall?
By reading this you acknowledge that you have read it.
"Honestly, the most exciting part of the PS3 to me lies in the ability for software publishers to send out patches and add-ons to their game titles"
Actually, this is something I see as a bit of a negative for this new wave of consoles.
The permanence of the final product when it came to console games seemed to act as extra incentive for developers to get it perfect before it shipped. Mistakes were not acceptable. With a PC title though, there is little drawback to discovering you've shipped a game with some bugs, just leave it for the next patch. I find myself running into bugs a hell of a lot more in PC games than console games. I know this is a subjective statement and I have no concrete evidence to back it, but... whatever. I just hope that this new freedom in console design doesnt give the developers room to be sloppy. Plus, I figured that the addition of a hard disk to consoles was the initial way to open the door to expansion packs in games (which could also contain updates), witness, Halo 2's expansion pack.
Yup...
Slashdot is stop #1 by the paid Microsoft astroturfers to trash anything coming out of Sony.
I know what your trying to say... but the $599 is the cost of an apartment argument holds pretty much no water... unless your comparing it to buying a PS3 every month. Last I heard, you have to pay about that for an apartment... PER MONTH.
SL does require a huge cache, though.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
> For ages I've been coming here purely for the discussion. Slashdotters seemed to generally have a more open mind and the average maturity level seemed to be that much higher than the people over within the digg community.
:-)
You must be new here
> I guess it's obvious that Sony can't win here anymore.
Sure they can.. Make cool *new* things instead of "me too" products. Everyone laughed at the Wii and its name. Then it turned out to be fun, so it became popular. Almost everyone here hates Microsoft, too, but I don't see people chatting about how Gears of War sucks.
However, if you expect people here to like Sony stuff just because it's from Sony, well, you have a severe case of fanboitis, specifically acute fanboitis sonisuxscoxis. You should probably get it looked at because it may cause flaming sensations, uncontrollable outbursts and rapid neural vapidity. Of course, the only known treatment is to contract a new form of fanboitis attached to something that's still cool. This will reduce the flaming sensations and even the outbursts to some extent, although there's still no way to undo the neural vapidity.
...no lag is hardly impressive when you have no players.
Default SL cache is 512MB IIRC, that'll fit on the PS3's HD. Not a problem
It is selling at a faster rate than the PS2 at the same point in their lifetimes, despite selling slower than the Wii. Where are you getting those figures. http://www.vgcharts.org/japconscomps.php?name1=PS2 &name2=PS3&type=2&align=0 (PS2 2,250,000 PS3 754,250)
http://www.vgcharts.org/aconscomps.php?name1=PS2&n ame2=PS3&type=2&align=0 (PS2 1,309,750 PS3 1,035,500)
My Transformation Website
Kindle Books http://www.catprog.org/rev
Interactive CYOA http://www.catprog.org/st
First of all, dismissing this as Sony copying what Nintendo is doing is just stupid here. Considering this is very Sims like and seems to be pretty polished, this is not Sony ripping Nintendo Miis after the Wii launch. This has been in the works for quite a while now. No for those who think that Sony ripped Nintendo off, remove your fanboy cap please.
As for the actual usefulness of this service, I can see how it might be interresting to Sim loves (and there are a LOT of them), but this looks more like Sims Online, and I don't think that game did nearly as well as the sims. Playing yourself in a virtual dollhouse to meet people seems weird to me. But that's just me.
But seriously, cost being free??? I doubt buy this at all. Let's suppose PS3 minimum 30 million units (and I bet they will sell more after this), and then 1 out of 2 people use the service (based on the recent news that more than half people use Live in the 360) that means a MMO community of MINIMUM FIFTEEN MILLION USERS. And probably a lot more unless Sony does something really stupid again with their console. Seriously. Free? It's either going to cost you or end up reeeeeeeaaalllllllyyy sssslllllloooooowwwww.
As for any usefulness this has to gaming, time will tell, but personally, I couldn't care less. I'll buy a PS3 only when it's about 400$ and I'll be able to play God of War 3, Heavenly and White Knight Story (and assuming these games end up being good too). Meanwhile, I'll stick with the 360, PS2 and DS game.
I wonder if a lot of people will be change their decision from 'wait' to 'buy' a 500$-600$ console based on "Home". Personnaly, I don't think so, but then, I never got into "The Sims" games, so I might not be the target of this move.
Sony got sued by Immersion for stealing the best feature of the PS2's controller, and eventually lost.
Before having read this article, I already knew, thanks to Kotaku, that Sony had two future lawsuits to look forward to:
1) Microsoft. (Achievments.)
2) Nintendo. (Mii concept.)
After having read the article, I can add one more:
3) Linden Research, Inc. (Second Life.)
But hey! As long as Sony is willing to continue to bury themselves in massive financial losses - and let's face it: they have no choice at this point - I'm willing to eventually fork over the bare minimum to land a PS3, since it costs them money to sell me one anyway. I'll do my best to make sure they get very little more cash from me, too.
Honestly, the most exciting part of the PS3 to me lies in the ability for software publishers to send out patches and add-ons to their game titles
I'm really looking forward to seeing that for titles like GT(5?). How cool would it be to see an ad for a new sports car, log on to your console, and download that same car and mod it, improve its performance, etc...
I'll run over your avatar with the latest ferrari! =)
Hey, is this you, by chance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8xAaBWbVg
Key word, right there.
Wake me when it's released, and we can see how groundbreaking it actually ended up. Sony aren't exactly known for delivering on their promises, remember?
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
IMHO, taking two good selling games (Super Mario Brothers and Lemmings) and adding cooperative multiplayer seems like a good idea to me.
Dynamic advertising is pushed into the space via banners around the world, and in billboards. HD-quality video is running on the billboards. Users are communicating around the demonstrator, with chat, voice, and emotes.
Gee, that sounds GREAT!
"Second-Life ripoff? Pussies! We're gonna announce a Crackdown-based online community!
Huge online city, physics-based, virtual shops, yeah yeah - with us, you're gonna have your own apartment and your own hotted-up, tweakable, morphing supercar to tool about in. The higher your gamerscore, the higher your equivalent stats! Get that last achievement in Gears, you can out-jump Neo and play catchies with your friends - using a bus. Someone's avatar spams you? Blow 'em away with a fully physics-based grenade launcher.
Bowling, hah - try urban street racing and rocket-jump olympics. Completely expandable; new games will install themed new neighbourhoods & items - take your muscle car for a tour through Pinata Island, or try out your new Torque Bow on your friends. And best of all, entire suburbs of annoying Miis and Home avatars for you to test out your toys on :-)"
It's inevitable, you know it is...
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
Maybe...my fear is that game publishers use the ability to patch to do what they do with PC games...release completely nonworking crap hoping that they can fix it before it reaches customers.
The avatar stuff...I suspect it's aimed at the myspace set.
The cake is a pie
Maybe what people should be asking is:
1) How much of a fingerprint does the first owner leave and how does that impact the person who buys the console used?
Many games with online aspects are unplayable by second-hand owners, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same issues with both the games AND the console once someone has signed up for the full "Home" package. And wouldn't it be a wonderful bonus to buy someone's PS3 second-hand only to find you've got a perfectly functioning point-of-sale with their Credit-card?
2)What kind of privacy/monitoring/logging/moderation is going to be taking place, and is their new front-door little more than a "Call-home" opportunity?
3)Will their system still work when it's talking through a proxy server that doesn't allow any of the ads to be downloaded?
3)What kind of financial pass-through/oversight does the system have in order to keep Junior from going on a shopping spree? It better be something more than a "pin".
Until these interesting details are presented none of the public-relations cake-and-circuses crap really matters.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
You obviously don't live in San Francisco.
The cake is a pie
Hi! Welcome to Slashdot, Sony PR person! You should Create an Account, so you don't have to post as Anonymous coward!
Also, we know that the only reason you like Slashdot is because you only have to buy off one editor to get a friendly story on here, instead of buying votes on Digg. Go back to your cubicle, astroturfer!
Intriguing, but considering the amount of time they had to work on software while building the console, I'm a bit disappointed.
This is of course the same company that made the movie JM (Johnny Mnemonic), based on William Gibson's book... this is one of the original places where the idea of the matrix was visualized. (Okay it also kinda sucked and wasn't any Snow Crash either but.)
I've always expected the PS3 would be the forerunner of the "cyberspace deck" but this announcement while theoretically a step in that direction shows very little creativity and smothers everything in marketing.
I'm still intrigued, considering I've been visiting 2nd life because I'm interested in programming services for it or something better (with less porn and lag).
Here is what I'd like to see.
- Sony should spend significant money to build a very detailed development kit that allows game publishers to make a business of creating new games. It has become so expensive to make games that publishers have gone out of business or merged. Physics is maybe part of that but just part. I'd like to see them enable small teams/individuals to make games, possibly even without having to be a professional who makes games and nothing else. They say "community" but have already emasculated their own developer community as far as I can tell just by making it so hard to develop for it.
- Sony should sponsor development of a community standard for matrix visualization and services. Heck, 2nd life is just now rewriting things to enable distribution of load. Sony can afford to help guide this so that everyone doesn't have to reinvent the wheel, but future development can still be very differed. SL blog talks about decoupled services using URLs although chattiness over HTTP could be a problem.
- No mention of an open ecosystem in-game either. I'd be more impressed if this world could interact with SL and say PayPal or whatever. Maybe they should work with Google to sell the server side appliance that a company would need to address people visiting/using its services from the PS3.
- No in-game advertisement. We already paid for it!
- "Apartment"? Bullshit. Why not my own house, woodland manor, continent, world? They want to make money selling virtual electronic products?
- Basically they seem to have done a lot of work but currently it sounds like a dead end and copycat response, rather than using the PS3 to its maximum. A typical Sony problem, I'd be surprised if the developers even knew JM was by Sony. They have the hardware but lack the vision perhaps. Or do they just need money so bad?
"The game isn't totally ready, but we've reached our release date- just push it out the door and we'll release a patch next month."
Will those without access to the Network be stuck with the bugged version?
Seriously, all of the social interaction described is really just a port of Club Penguin to the PS3. I guess that's newsworthy but it's hardly a reason to buy a PS3.
The PS3 OS is designed to allow you to install Linux on it.
Now Linux games can blow away Windows and Mac games. If you write a good one, that is.
Or you can just use the PS3 supercomputer for mundane tasks like MP3 encoding.
--
make install -not war
LittleBigPlanet is far more likely to save the PS3--astoundingly cool--then Sony's Second Life clone where you get to buy new couches for your apartment from Sony. Bleck!
But no, instead we get some worthless service that is designed to appeal to the "I spend $50 per month on ringtones" market.
So the Wii is genius for appealing to casual gamers, but the PS3 is fucking ridiculous for doing the same thing? Hmmm....
Root kit.
So yeah, fuck Sony. What else are they hiding?
Will you be buying a PLAYSTATION 3 for your new apartment? or just sitting there, in the dark, alone
* Game Over * High Score: 264,846,927 -- Your Score: 14
I guarantee you that this will be a *huge* hit in Japan and other East Asian countries such as Korea. They just love wondering around in 3D virtual worlds chatting with people. If it is not popular in the West, Sony will still make money.
No no, you're not getting it... The Sims style accoutrement is just window dressing. The actual point of the thing is a 3d representation of an Xfire buddy list. So you can gather your friends into your apartment, play a game, switch to another, while keeping everyone together and on the same chat, etc. It also lets you stream media from your PS3 HDD, so you can 'go over' to another apartment and watch a video or have music on. And finally its a framework for YouTube/Myspace type social interactions, all of which will have hooks back to the game community.
Its not just some dumb Sims game, its a 3D meta-game that encompasses a bunch of clan-type network features that the Xbox service has.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Hmmm games 3.0, isn't that what PC's have been doing for years?
just as a point of information, your parenthetical totals are cumulative totals, not the monthly(or weekly for japan) totals. It would be possible for the ps3 to be outselling the rate of the ps2 now, but be behind in the cumulative total.
In the North American chart, the ps3 did outsell the ps2 when comparing their respective second months.
If you adjust to account for the fact that their release dates are off of each other by a month (so you are comparing december to december instead of to november), then the ps3 outsold the ps2 in november and january.
So the grandparent isn't necessarily completely out of line. He probably meant comparing like calendar months instead of comparing months since release.
Interestingly, the ps3 is selling at a faster rate than the 360 did when it was released (in both geos).
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
We sent a message and the message was clear: PlayStation 3 is not an incremental upgrade for previous platforms, but it's truly designed to inspire... ...so here's this giant enemy crab. ... And you attack his weakpoint for massive damage. ...it requires huge financial investment... ...and we're certainly not interested in gimmicks... ...So, what does all this mean? Simply put, RIIIIIDGE RACEEEEER!!!!!
Five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars
Five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars
Five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars
I was about to say 13256278887989457651018865901401704640, but it appears this number is private property.
Why all you guys have to bash Sony for everything, if it was Nintendo you have said "woow this is really cool, really innovative" but it's Sony so it's a crap. This is not a mii ripoff, with mii you can just play wii sport and do other few things, i hope that nintendo will expand this in the future, but playstation home it's totally different it's much better and complete for what we can see. Also nintendo wasn't the first to make a motion sensor controller but they are the first to have success because they make it good, same things with playstation home, of course it can be a complete failure or a success, we just have to wait and see
What do you get when you take Second Life, Xbox Live, Achievements, Miis, youtube, MySpace and Animal Crossing and stick them all together?
I'm guessing you'll end up with the worst parts of all of the elements, and none of the things that make them great.
Micropayments. I'm sorry I forgot these. And now I'm off buying some fancy new horse armor to impress my virtual friends. And I'm sure there's lots of DRM involved, too. But at least you can buy Sony's music and movies and watch them in virtual cinemas.
Someone who doesn't give two shits on the product described, but wants to flame about it. You see this RARELY on the apple news stories, but fuck - forget ANY video game story, particularly those about the PS3 which an owner MIGHT find interesting to read - but instead finds off-topic flame wars. I particularly like the fucking knobs that mod these rants "insightful" when flame-bait posts in the Apple threads get modded "troll" in a microsecond.
Fucking pathetic.
I will buy a PS3 a year from know, because I'm quite sure that things like MythTV will be ported to it. If Sony doesn't release something like this themselves.
If it plays my music and my divx and records my TV and plays my games, I will be very happy to pay the premium price.
I believe it will happen and I believe the PS3 is the only next-gen console with the hardware power to pull it off. The fact that you can already boot linux on it, will help of course.
What, all four of them?
Take for instance ONLINE play. Check back to the gamecube era and see what Nintendo had to say about that. Then Xbox Live becomes a success and see there, the Wii copies it.
I am afraid the attitude you describe is just sensible business practice. What the competitor does that you don't do is obviously stupid, costly, senseless and kills the cat, else the customer MIGHT just ask why YOU aren't doing it and wether they wouldn't be better of going to the competitor.
In public transport you can meet other people, fall in love. This is GOOD. In cars you are alone, without smelly people who talk to loud. This is GOOD.
It is just how you advertise yourselve. You don't see car companies promoting public transport do you? "Ride the tube, meet intresting people, get laid OR drive our car and get killed by the fuel bill and die a lonely death in a traffic jam surrounded by hatefull car drivers who won't move out of the way to let the ambulance through"
OR public transport companies "Get a car, listen to your own surround sound music, in a comfortable leather chair, leave anytime you want, be cool, pick up chicks OR buy a overpriced ticket, get delayed for no reason with no anoucements, stand for hours next to smelly foreigners who smoke and would kill you if you commented on it."
It makes sense doesn't it. So why should Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft behave any differently, they will say they got the best and that the others suck. Then they will queitly look what works and copy that for future use. Possibly improving on it.
The Wiimote original? Please, I seen that stuff done in the arcades for years and even in the form of addon controllers. Nintendo watched what worked, noted what didn't, improved on it and then used it. Same as it copied online play.
Everyone does it, it is how things work and frankly I don't see anything wrong with it unless you are a mental retard and take anything game companies say at face value. It is PR speak.
What do you call 10.000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.
What do you call 10.000 pr spokes persons at the bottom of the ocean? Even better.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
> Not sit on a virtual couch, watching video on a virtual video screen in a virtual apartment, on my real TV while I sit on my real couch in my real house.
I don't know, I was looking at buying a 22'x12' bedsit, and wondering if I could use VR to keep myself sane while I paid off the mortgage and found somewhere bigger...
So did someone at Sony read Snow Crash? Playstation Home sounds like the Metaverse, version 1.0.
"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - Major Mike Shearer, UK
"Dynamic advertising is pushed"
Hmmmm so let's see, they announce in-game ads, some useless gimmicky virtual apartment (yay?), and oh the PS3 is also a karaoke machine (Singstar)!!
Forgive me for not pissing my pants in excitement. Yeah yeah, I'm sure the conference was fun with big balls hitting people in the face and what have you, but reducing the article down to facts shows that Sony has done fuck-all to address their number one and number two problems, instead charging ahead blindly with their plans unchanged in the face of reality. "Stay the course... full speed ahead! We're winning!" Sound familiar?...
is it just me, or is it slightly scary the thought that there might be a 'MSFanBoi1' out there somewhere too? =)
Yeah... very true. But I've seen my share of annoying bugs in console titles in the past, with no option to fix them. EG. SSX Tricky on the PS2. When playing that, I regularly managed to snowboard my character off a slope and into an endless loop of "white screen".
I'm personally hoping titles for consoles will continue to be "bug tested" better than their PC counterparts though, simply because they only have to work with a specific set of hardware requirements. (Many PC game bugs have to do with certain video cards needing newer drivers loaded, or flat out incompatibility with various video chipsets. Same thing used to happen a lot with various sound cards and driver revisions. None of that should matter when you know a console only has 1 specific type of video and audio chipset.)
Give me about $600 and might be a fan........
Not A Troll!
The thing with comparing month to month is you get a launch effect on one month which you don't on the other
My Transformation Website
Kindle Books http://www.catprog.org/rev
Interactive CYOA http://www.catprog.org/st
true, but it can also be an unfair comparison to compare a holiday buying month like december to november or january. it is safest to look at both (monthly by the lifetime of the product, and monthly by calendar) and keep those issues in mind when trying to draw conclusions, in my opinion.
It occurs to me that you might have been referring to my note about you using cumulative instead of monthly totals.
The reason i feel it is important to look at interval totals and not the cumulative total (in this situation) is that the original post you were responding to was making an assertion about sell rate.
It's possible for a product to have a fantastic launch month and then taper to nothing while another product has consistent decent sales. Then 2 months later, the cumulative total would show the first product has sold more units, but the monthly data would show that the second product had a higher monthly sale rate.
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
Omg! are you serious wimpy games in the future Zzzzz Planet what?.lol Ragdolls for babies lol Home for PS3 freaks of nature?..lol And and whats the piont Harrison?..Wheres the Fuckin games you stupid fuckin idiot! Hmm no MGS-4,Tekken-6,KillZone 2,Gran Turismo 5,RE-5,GTA-4 fuck this chit! lol You companies today are losers!...Hmm just like I said to SCEA's lazy ass webmaster to much Porno for you! lol.
I was MSFanBoi as well, but most people on Slashdot don't like it when you point out flaws in Linux...