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Sony Displays New PSP, Polished Games At E3
Sony had a lot to prove coming into this event, and kicked off on a high note. The PlayStation 2 is still selling units, and the PSP's numbers are apparently up as well. They followed that with the news of a new version of the PlayStation Portable. It's slimmer, lighter, has a longer battery life, and the ability to connect directly to your television to display video and games. There was a good deal of discussion about upcoming PSP titles, some of which are connected to a PSP bundle. Pushing out the PS3, they show several PlayStation Store titles, included the fascinating-looking Echochrome . Moving onto the Home service they discussed cellphone and website tie-ins to the Home service, as well as the ability to launch games from directly within the Home environment. Referencing the price cut, they reveal sales have already gone up. NCSoft, Epic, and Ubisoft are all referenced as heavy backers of the PlayStation, with a tantalizing statement suggesting that user-created mods for Unreal Tournament will be coming to the console via the Playstation Network. A lengthy Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer and a statement that the game is only for the PS3 (still to be determined), due early in 2008, cap off the third-party section. First-party titles show all of the highlights of Sony's portfolio with the LittleBigPlanet trailer emphasizing creation rather than play, and their Heavenly Sword highlight showcasing the game's story for the first time. A new sandbox title with a morality component was announced, InFamous, as was a new chapter in the Gran Turismo series. The press conference wrapped with a gripping trailer for Killzone 2, completely running in real-time.
Engadget has the photos. It doesn't look that much thinner to me.
What the hell are you talking about?? Sony talked about PS2 for two minutes or so, then PSP for about fifteen minutes, then Home / PSN for fifteen minutes, followed by PS3 for about an hour. They saved the best for last.
I think you misposted -- you should be at http://blog.us.playstation.com/
The bundle with the PSP doesn't contain any UMD movies; it comes with the Family Guy Freakin' Sweet Collection, which is just five episodes (mind you, the best five episodes of the first three seasons.) It also comes with Daxter and a 1 GB memory stick.
The most exciting announcement about the entire conference for me was the new PSP's TV-out feature. I was disappointed that it didn't have TV-out on release several years ago, and I am very excited about it now. It's finally like a portable console, and the portability is finally a reason to actually buy UMD content. It's one of the things that is making me consider getting one someday, and the $199 bundle does seem like a great deal.
Also, Echochrome looks totally awesome. If I don't play that game soon, I think I might die.
The MGS4 trailer is most definitely the in-game engine. No doubt about it whatsoever. And I'd reckon it's the engine actually running in realtime, too - do you reckon the RSX (basically a 7800 GT, so we have a very good idea of its performance) could do that in realtime? I do.
... gah, what'd I just say?! ... *sigh* My wallet is going to hate me for even saying that in its presence... wake me when they announce a bigger price drop.
It's not farfetched at all; it's good, with excellent particles and depth of field. I like the shaders on the tarps. And it's got all the little flaws I spot with my 7-series card all the time, and overall the graphics quality reminds me very greatly of MGS3, just in a higher resolution, with higher framerates.
If you have any doubts as to whether it's realtime, just look at the shadows on the beige before Snake lines up his first shot at Liquid. They match the usual shadow artefacts I see on my 7900 GTX precisely; decimated because the shadow buffer resolution is too low, then interpolated via texture filtering. Yup, that'll be real-time.
Besides, Kojima just doesn't pull stunts like that. He's not a dog-and-pony-show kind of guy, and he prefers polygon demos to FMV, because it doesn't seem out of place with the rest of the game's visuals.
Anyway, it looks like a damn good game from what we've seen. Even if Snake's starting to look like his dad. And is that Raiden and Vamp?
I might buy a PS3 for it-