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Hope no-one minds these threads, but I know there are quite a few gamers on the board & I thought it would be good to have a set of threads dedicated to the news coming out of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. I've started three separate threads so that news & discussion about one company, or games for their console, can be kept a bit clearer. For anyone unsure of what's expected this year, I've posted a brief summary of some of the main announcements expected.

SONY

PRESS CONFERENCE

May 9 @ 12.00am (available live on gamespot.com)

WHAT TO EXPECT?

The full unveiling of the PlayStation 3. The final hardware design and controller design to be revealed. Rumours from gaming sites suggest that the controller may implement limited motion sensitivity - although that would be a fraction of what Nintendo's controller is capable of, would that steal some of their thunder?

Launch titles to be showcased - may be playable, but rumoured to be behind closed doors. Other major titles to be on display - Metal Gear Solid 4, Ridge Racer 7, Final Fantasy XIII (or possible FFVII remake) and others all expected or confirmed.

Blu-Ray playback demonstrated.

Price may be announced.

Rumoured PSP hardware redesign & price drop may be announced. New and forthcoming PSP titles to be on display. Future lineup to be announced.

the new design PSP has caused a huge price drop in version 1 and 2 of the current console, its now S$300 agaqinst the $450 is was at christmas, thats a huge price drop in sucha short time.


but i hear the version 2 will include an anti piracy code,to stop the current huge volume of loss of sales through internet download sites.
its possible to get all PSP games these days if you have version 1 or 2 for a monthly subcription fee.

gee wow, sequals and re-makes from Sony Yippeee.

CU Radbacker

Hey, that $800 console is going to be AWESOME.

yeah, but remember you can play Blue Ray Discs on it.  Now if someone could actually find me a release on Blue Ray that doesn't cost me my first born?
Wonder if B.R. will be succesful as the UMD format, at the very least they'll be able to charge us doulble for movies we aready own on DVD

CU Radbacker

Ha Ha!! Yes that is the way of future technology, convince us all that things have improved sevenfold so we part with our hard earned cash and replace the items we already own , when the true improvement is not sooo high!! What mugs we are!!!

I wouldn't complain about the format change but I have over 400 original DVD movies and T.V shows, which is quite an investment on my part and I certainly ain't changing yet.
Was it Matt Goening(sp, creator of the simpsons, not sure how to spell his name) who said when they get about half way through issuing the seasons it will be time to go up a format, I thought he was joking they just released season 7 bets on when the first season is available on Blue Ray or High Def.

Cu Radbacker

If you ask me, sony are making a mistake putting their eggs in the blu ray basket. People simply won't accept a new format this early in the life of dvd. I won't and all the guys i've talked to about it won't either. People are dumb, but they're not that dumb.
The advantages of dvd over vhs are obvious, but it's not so with blu ray or hd dvd. higher res? Who gives a shit? dvd is good enough for me.

>>The advantages of dvd over vhs are obvious, but it's not so with blu ray or hd dvd. higher res? Who gives a shit? dvd is good enough for me.


Im in complete agreement with you here. Its the same as for ultra-expensive high-end Hi-Fis: By the time you're old enough to afford it your body cant tell the difference.
 
-hex

Nice! What a year for RPGs! Any news, shots etc for FF13 would be much appreciated if any come to light. Booga says same goes for Res Evil 5. :)

Everything-crossed-for-November-Tanky x

Blu-Ray has a 50/50 chance of being the next Betamax. Now, I bought a PS2 in part because it did dual duty as a DVD player, but I really couldn't see myself doing that if I wasn't sure DVD was going to be the dominant format...

My mate Darren still stands by Vhs, fer christs sake! He's got shelves and shelves of them, all rare 80's vids like Beastmaster, Monster Squad and Hawk the Slayer, all in their original packaging, and he doesn't really care about dvd, let alone any new formats.

News out of the Square-Enix conference:

Final Fantasy XII to be released in October this year (doesn't specify territory - I'm assuming US with a Euro release to follow, possibly before Christmas)

...and from the same conference (and inevitably) Final Fantasy XIII announced for the PS3. Footage shown and will undoubtedly be appearing over the next few days.

Fuck, that's weird. Final Fantasy XIII will actually be four games.

Final Fantasy XIII - appparently a more traditional RPG
Final Fantasy Versus XIII - an action game set in the FFXIII universe and a direct sequel to the above game
Final Fantasy XIII: Agito - a spin-off for mobile phones?
Final Fantasy XIII: Fabula Nova Crystallis (WTF? No more info yet)

Looks like the "whore it out to every platform going" approach they took with the recent FFVII releases has become the new mantra at Squenix...

Not much to report from the Sony conference yet, but here's some tidbits:

PS1 emulation on the PSP. Download games to the memory stick and play them on the go. No word on what kind of library will be available.

Gran Turismo being demonstrated in HD. Not a new game, but a demo based on GT4.

HDD as standard.

New Dual Shock controller displayed - physically very similar. It's now wireless, sports a kind of "home" button and controller display lights and the L2 and R2 buttons have been altered to form triggers.

Also - and in shameless fashion - Sony are incorporating limited motion sensitivity into the controller. As far as I can tell, it's nothing like what the Wii is capable of, but it does give the Dual Shock a little extra versatility. Fuckers are even proudly showing it off - takes some nerve! Will it be enough to steal Nintendo's thunder? They;ve got a big conference going ahead tomorrow, so if they can demonstrate what their system can do with the top-flight software they're capable of producing, then Sony's gambit might look a bit pathetic. Fascinating stuff, though!





The PS3 hardware appears smaller, but basically the same right down to the awful Spiderman-style typeface.





The new Eyetoy is being shown off, but not confirmed as included. Seems quite useful, but if it's not packed in it'll have the same lousy penetration as any other peripheral.

And in a real taste of what may be to come for next-gen, they're also showing off a "Game Store" for Warhawk with downloads and add-ons for the game available for purchase - hopefully it's just a mock-up, as there's a listing for an extra level at $7!

Other titles - Lair, MGS4, FFXIII, Tekken 6, Ridge Racer 7, Heavenly Sword, Genji, The Getaway, a couple of new games (Eight Days, Resistance and a new Naughty Dog title) are on show. Some footage seems to be pre-rendered, some in-game. Some is very impressive, some less so. MGS4 looks stunning

PRICE ANNOUNCED:

Two different models - one with a 20GB HDD, one with a 60GB HDD.

20GB - $499 / 499 EURO
60GB - $599 / 599 EURO

Lots of gasps in the audience when that was announced... :-D

Right, that's probably me for the night. I might have missed some later stuff from the presentation, but I'll update with any other big news tomorrow.

Tossers, motion sensitivity this has to of been anounced just so they can Me Too over Nintendo.
Great what a wonderfully inovative controller design threy have there, still we dont want to upset the masses because you know they couldn't like handle a different layed out controller(I've always hated the Dual shock, poxy analouge and shitty design, it just doesn't feel right in my hands holding both Sticks).  Download old games, gee that sounds familiar, still they're only going to be shitty P.S 1 games and in all honesty all the decent games on P.S.1 have had sequals that make em look better and play better anyway?

Not going to stop Sony dominating the market again anyway unless the average joe gets a bit wiser.
love the whoring of Final Fantasy, still not Sony's fault that one and who knows they might all actually be ok.

Downloads for games, I've never been a fan of this model, if I pay A$120 for a game I expect to get the whole game, complete with every thing the designers intended.  If you've got more levels save it for the sequal.  Also might alow games onto the market befor they're complete and the company then just offers constant patches like the P.C  market, no thanks(at least this hasn't happened for 360....yet)

CU Steamboy

anyone know if the actual Hardware is shunk and in the Box yet or are they kits wired into them still?

NIce price but I'll beklieve when I see, whats a Blu Ray Payer cost at the moment something like US$750 - US$1500 and certainly wont have the tech in it Sony claims is in the P.S.3

CU RQAdbacker

PS1 emulation on the PSP. Download games to the memory stick and play them on the go. No word on what kind of library will be available.


truth is been able to get that for ages through certain homebrew sites,only works on version 1 and 2 though of the PSP, you have to get the code to run it on later versions and the white ones.but pretty much of the PS1 huge back catalogue can be found.
it seems the big boys are trying to play catch up with asian pirates,whom are very adapt at this kind of thing.

that bloody cheap for a launch price though. seem to be trying to remind microsoft about the tortoise and the hair.

Marvellous! Thanks for that Amstor, loks like I won't be leaving the house much next year either! (Although I heard August 4th for FF12 euro release - bit of a bugger if it's been put back AGAIN!)

I'm not sure about those wireless controllers though, I'm good at losing things and it does look like it'd fit neatly inside my sofa. I had one for the PS2 briefly and the infra red bit was so twitchy, I had to sit bolt upright, pointing the thing at the machine - not comfy gaming!

Undecided on this motion sensor lark. it may be ripped off of nintendo, but I'd still rather have one of these babies. Nintendo just don't seem to have many decent titles anymore.
So that works out at about ?350-ish for the big bugger? I believe I'll have that one. It's a sexy little thing, and it doesn't look like its been messed about with too much. I just hope the laser lasts a bit longer than it does on the PS2...

Been-through-3-ps2s-already-Tanky x

I'd be very surprised if the PS3 was ?350 at launch, even for the cut-down pack. Considering how badly the UK gets stiffed on prices, I'd think ?400/500 would be closer to what we'll pay.

As for the cutdown pack, here's what you WON'T get for your money:

No HDMI out, so no Blu-Ray movies (or games?) in hi-def
No wi-fi, so no built-in link-up between the PSP & PS3
No Memory Stick slots

Add in the cut-down HDD, and it looks like being a fairly crippled version of the system.

Also appears that the Dual Shock 3 isn't quite what the name suggests - the rumble function has been removed, allegedly because it interferes with the motion sensitivity. Feedback on the motion sensitivity isn't good either, and it seems like it may have been a quick hack job to steal some of Nintendo's thunder.

Nintendo & Microsoft's conferences are both tonight - should make for interesting viewing :-)

...oh, and according to the official spec sheet, the damn thing even weighs in at 5kg!

I wasn't impressed by the 360 in general, but the wireless function is very well realised, and you can point the controller away from the machine and it'll still work perfectly.  I imagine Sony will have figured out how to make their version work just as well.
I liked the rumble function on the Dualshock controller, so that'll be missed.

From what I understand Amstor, you wont even be able to upgrade the vannilla pack - Its a closed box.

-hex

Tex -

Yup, that's how I read it as well.

I must admit, after seeing all the bile spewed at owners of the 360 or fans of Wii by Sony fanboys over the past 6 months, there is something quite delicious in watching them do a volte-face when Sony announce a cut-down Wii controller & "tard pack" for their new console :-D

I can't even use the thumbsticks properly, so no way do I want motion sensitivity in any form. I'm always getting slagged off for how much I move about when playing games (the best example being the way I lean into the turns on driving games) so this is just going to make it impossible for me to play properly.

Bah! Bring back the Quickshot 2, I say.

The claim that the new controller is an "innovation" was good. Gameboy Advance games have had motion sensitivity for years to say nothing of Wii controller...

-hex

In the words of Killing Joke " Follow the leader.... Who is the leader!!"
Hey just buy a C64 Joystick thingummy .. hours of fun!!!

"seeing all the bile spewed at owners of the 360 or fans of Wii by Sony fanboys over the past 6 months"

Agree that the Wii criticism is a bit odd (except about the name, which is rubbish) since the console won't be out for a while yet, but the 360 criticism is a bit of a myth - if you've been reading gaming forums for the last few months, you'll notice that some of the more vocal 360 fanboys accuse anything that looks like criticism of their console as Sony fanboy conspiracy in action, even when the criticism is nothing more than justifiable disappointment at poor game construction and a rushed product.  I don't have a problem with the 360 per se (or I wouldn't have bought one), just the vocal - and possibly deluded - fanboyism that surrounds what is nothing more than a lump of plastic that can be fiddled with if I don't fancy staring at the wall for an hour.  The 'bile' isn't aimed at the machine - it's aimed at the fanboys.
Tip for avoiding getting dragged into 360 fanboy arguements on gaming forums - say you have a Gamecube and *nothing else*.  Say you don't like football, racing or first-person shooting games and only play Pikmin and Super Monkey Ball.
And if you don't have a Gamecube, why not?  They only cost about a fiver these days - I got mine free with a copy of Pokemon Colliseum.  Which was shit and went in the bin, but Pikmin is as close to doing drugs as you need to get without actually doing drugs.

I was actually thinking more specifically of the flack 360 owners/fans get about the "tard pack" - there's a lot of valid criticism of the 360, and I'm not a fan of multiple versions of console hardware, but it is amusing to see Sony fanboys left with their very own version of the "tard pack".

Ah, the whole core pack thingy.  Supposedly, I can't really complain as I paid for the full package (a bit disappointed that Oblivion didn't take full advantage of the HD, too), but it's a scummy thing to do on gamers, reducing the simple and straightforward world of casual 'turn it on and it's ready to play' console gaming into some half-arsed pc knock-off that fucks up once you update the internal o.s. - not that I'm bitter.  Just because some other company does it, that doesn't lessen the shittyness.

I didn't see the Povo Pack for 360's anywhere when I went to get mine at launch, I don't think any of the retailers bothered with em over this way.

CU Radbacker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqD2e6fxA5Q&search=metal%20gear%20solid%204

I bet all the raiden haters are pissing themselves laughing right now

Liquid ocelot heh

One for Tanky.

Final Fantasy XIII video from IGN.

Link: Girly Gunblade Gratuitousness

Not to be negative or anything, (well actually I am), but am I the only person who is utterly terrifed about the new "stories" Kojima can inflict on us in MGS 4 with all that extra storage space?

absolutely...i stooped after MGS2. I once tidied up my house and had a bath and the damn scene was still going on!!!!!! Still it forces us to obey the 'you must take a break every hour rule.'

After trying for half an hour on Snake Eater to skip all the talking heads I turned the PS2 off and returned the game to the shop.

I love my first person shooters, but I've avoided Black because much the same criticism is levelled at it - about not being able to skip cut-scenes.  There's a seven minute wait between turning on the PS2 and getting to play the game, apparantly.  I also gave up on Far Cry for the Xbox because of the ridiculous wait for the damn thing to finish it's attract demo (which you couldn't skip).
Sort of erodes the ground gained by the whole 'turn on and play' element of consoles that dragged gaming into the mainstream in the first place, really.

How much will it cost though?

If you're asking about the PS3, then it's $500 for the crippled version and $600 for the full version. Expect something like ?400-500 for it in the UK.