Press release roundup of Sony's keynote at TGS

Posted by: John at 9/22/2007 10:33 AM - Comments (0)

More On: Sony

The Tokyo Game Show's almost over and here's the press release for Sony's keynote speech announcing the DualShock 3, Home delay, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue going to Warhawk route and being offered as both a Blu-ray Disc and online purchase, as well as other news.

Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Outlines Plans for PlayStation Business at Tokyo Game Show 2007 Keynote Speech
Hirai Gives Keynote Speach at 2007 TGSPrint

Tokyo, 20 September, 2007 – At Tokyo Game Show 2007, Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), today made a keynote speech that demonstrated the strength and new plans of the PlayStation® business.

Further Expansion of the PlayStation®2 business

In the 8th year from launch, PlayStation 2 still sees steady demands particularly in North America and Europe. Reaching the remarkable milestone of the 120 millionth shipment in the 7th year from launch, PlayStation 2 will have longer-tail business compared to its predecessor, the original PlayStation. Targeting at further expanding the business into the emerging markets, SCEI will continue to vigorously promote PlayStation 2, by introducing more and more exciting new games.

PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), a Key Driving Force for the Growth Strategy for Overall PlayStation® Business

Strong support from users worldwide as well as abundant exciting software line-up including million seller titles from publishers around the world, have resulted in PSP hardware shipment exceeding 26 million units worldwide by June, 2007. SCEI will further enhance its portability and convenience for users along with continuous cost reduction measures to boost the expansion of the PSP platform.

* Introduce color variations and popular software bundled products to meet the needs
of variety of users around the world.
* Offer users new entertainment experiences that are only possible on PSP, by enriching network content and services in addition to introducing unique peripherals such as camera, GPS, and “１Seg” TV tuner.
* Deploy market oriented strategies in each region.

With PSP, equipped with an overwhelmingly powerful CPU and a high resolution large LCD screen for a handheld device, SCEI will further extend the boundaries of game experiences by fully utilizing “Remote Play”. The combination of PS3 and PSP Remote Play will offer PSP users more exciting and new ways to enjoy rich interactive entertainment content especially of sports, RPG, and shooting.

Strengthening Software Development Environment for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) along with the Introduction of More Software Titles and Unique Peripherals

SCEI will be even more supportive of third party developers by way of following measures.

* Share assets and know-how built up within Sony Computer Entertainment
Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS).
* Hold advisory board in periodical basis to get feedback from publishers.
* Implement various strategies and sharing of information to enhance efficiency in games development.
* Share SN Systems tool chain.

In a strategic move to secure excellence in games development for current and future PlayStation platforms, SCEI have acquired leading game developer Evolution Studios Ltd. and its subsidiary Bigbig studios Ltd., to further expand its games development capability as part of SCE WWS.

Continuous cost reduction efforts including shrinking the chip size and reducing the number of components. Cost reduction of hardware is one of the most important challenges for our business and SCEI will further accelerate this effort.

SCEI will continue R&D efforts to accommodate to users’ demand. As part of such efforts, SCEI today announced DUALSHOCK®3 Wireless Controller, a new controller for PS3 incorporating a rumble feature, to become available in Japan in November as a separately sold accessory. It inherits the basic design and functionality of the popular PlayStation controller, while keeping the motion sensitive six-axis sensing system. Introduction to North American and European markets is expected in spring 2008.

Creation of New Business Opportunities Suitable for the Network Era

More than 2.7 million users worldwide have gone on-line with PS3. The number of users that are on-line is steadily increasing, enjoying the latest PS3 network games as well as exchanging messages and video chatting on-line.

* Gran Turismo™5 Prologue will be available both on Blu-ray Disc and as a downloadable content from PLAYSTATION®Network on December 13th in the Japanese market. Gran Turismo™5 Prologue presents a new life style beyond traditional game experiences such as on-line car dealers and “GT.TV”, an in-game service for the distribution of car programs.
* PLAYSTATION®Home, a 3D on-line user community service, is currently under development to be launched in spring 2008.
* PLAYSTATION®Store in Japan offers more than 500 entertainment content including more than 30 of downloadable new games and demos, more than 300 of addon game content, more than 100 “Game Archives” titles for PSP/PS3 and about 90 movie trailers.
* SCEI today opened PLAYSTATION®Store on PC in Japan which enables PSP users to download a wide variety of digital entertainment content available on PLAYSTATION Network via their PC.

Future Possibility for PS3

With the participation of PS3 incorporating super computer-like powerful Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.)– and what will be even more powerful when connected to the network – , Stanford University’s Folding@home™ program achieved a total computing power of 1 petaflop at a single moment, of which 80% calculation was contributed by PS3 users.

With PS3, equipped with this powerful Cell/B.E. as well as other state-of-the-art technology such as full HD capability and Blu-ray, SCEI will continue to expand a new world of interactive entertainment.

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E3 2008: Dark Void (Interview and Hands On)

by: Chuck - posted: 7/20/2008 1:50 PM - Comments (0)

One of the games that I wanted to check out going into E3 was Airtight's Dark Void. The early trailers had shown some stomach churning vertical combat and given that Airtight is composed of a lot of people who worked on the Crimson Skies games there was a lot of potential in the game. After talking to Jose Perez III (audio below) I think Dark Void is another game to keep on your radar.

You play Will, your typical everyman who's sucked into the Void while traveling through the Bermuda Triangle. Now you have to find a way to escape and defeat the Watchers, an alien race trying to destroy mankind. The best way to think about the vertical combat is to take the cover based gameplay from Gears of War and turn it 90 degrees upward. Throw in a little acrophobia and now you're talking Dark Void's core gameplay mechanic (which makes sense given that the game is using the Unreal Engine 3). You'll only be climbing up rock surfaces for part of the game as eventually you'll build a fully functional jet pack and that's where the Crimson Skies influences really start to show. With the fully upgraded jetpack you can zoom around levels without any worries or restrictions and the game opens up to accomplish that.

I only got to play the game for about five minutes but zooming around the with the jetpack was a lot of fun as you got to try and take out a series of flying saucers. The real key is that you need to board one of the flying saucers and then use it to take out the others in the area. Once you get close to one of them you press the B button and then that kicks off a small mini-game where you circle around the edge of the saucer trying to work your way in. Thankfully it's not a quicktime event but once you have control you can then zoom around and take down the rest of the aircraft with ease. Controls are very tight and responsive. I will admit that flying in the jetpack is a bit like flying in WarHawk as you have the option of hovering as well as flying forward.

From what I saw the game looks like it's coming along well. I do worry that the vertical combat part of the game is going to take some getting used to as you do have to climb your way along a linear path but I don't think a lot of people will mind it. I guess we'll find out when the game ships. Here's our interview with Jose Perez III that explains more about the backstory of the game and more about the vertical combat gameplay.

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E3 2008: Motorstorm:Pacific Rift (Interview and Hands On)

by: Chuck - posted: 7/20/2008 12:52 PM - Comments (0)

The original Motorstorm was one of the better looking titles for the PS3 and did a fairly good job of showing off the strengths and weaknesses of the PS3. You had amazing visuals, interesting SIXAXIS controls, and some really brutal load times. The follow up game looks to build on those strengths and fix a lot of the issues with the first game. In our chat with Paul Hollywood, the creative director on the project and he confirmed that the game will not require a hard drive install to increase speend.

The game is placed on a new imaginary jungle island which provides for some new challenges. You'll now have to deal with foliage and water which can slow down smaller vehicles. Water is important in other ways as it can instantly cool down your engine from boosting which adds a new tactical element to the game.

I did have the chance to go through one quick race in the game against Mr. Hollywood using the game's new split screen mode. The game builds on the amazing visuals of the first as the graphics are just jaw droppingly gorgeous. While Pure comes close I still think Motorstorm: Pacific Rift has a slight edge on them graphics wise. Gameplay is still fast paced and the game retails the multiple paths through a course setup from the first game.

Load times for vehicle selection are now almost non-existant as you now pull up a 2D card with the information about the vehicle rather than the 3D model of the car. This may change by the time the game ships but for me it works. Level load times have also been decreased dramatically and this isn't final code. The racing itself will be familiar to fans of the first game (why ruin what works well). I was able to narrowly defeat Paul but I have a sneaking feeling he let me win. Hopefully I'll be able to get a re-match this fall when the game is released.

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E3 2008: Pure (Hands On)

by: Chuck - posted: 7/20/2008 12:51 PM - Comments (0)

Despite a packed s