Sony Playstation 3 Conference Details

Lets get down to the facts.

• $499 w/20GB HDD, $599 w/ 60GB HDD in the United States
• No new details about Blu-ray movie playback or drive speed
• Japan launch date: November 11
• US Launch date: November 17
• 2 million PS3s to ship in "launch window"
• Accelerometer in a wireless dual shock controller, much like Nintendo's, no rumble support
  
• Showed Gran Turismo HD: a special version using GT4 models rendered at 1080p and 60fps

Well there it is folks, don't forget to check out Joystiq for the moment to moment updates, although they are likely to slow down momentarily as Sony's last announcement was that they had playable PS3 games onsite. Now I suppose the question is why would anyone buy an HD DVD player for $500 when they can get a PS3 for the same price. Did anybody else check out the stream (via Gamespot.com or E3insider.com), what were your impressions?
My thoughts: I was confused by the GTHD showing, since it was only GT4 upconverted and didn't look much advanced over GT4 as a result, I don't know why it was shown. Interestingly if I recall correctly, that was the only game where they specified the resolution and framerate, although I may have missed something. Heavenly Sword looked nice, as well as a Yu-gi-oh style card game using the Eyetoy to bring CG into real life. There was a 99 Nights-style game, Genji, that looked pretty average, but the shooter 8 Days was stunning, we will have to see how that compares to the new Hard Boiled-based game coming out. Most of the other stuff was ok, some impressive, some disappointing, but I'll wait until we see high definition direct feed trailers posted on Playsyde to say more.

Overall however I felt good about the PS3 and the games it has coming out, if not blown away just yet. The price point is about where I expected as well, we'll have to see what the launch titles are before I decide to buy.

Now we can wait to see if we get a price on Microsoft's HD DVD drive tomorrow and how their games look compared to the playable PS3 games shown.

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 10:16PM]

Definitely getting me a PS3 especially after watching the live feed of the announcement. Just need Serenity on Blue ray.

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 10:40PM]

Hmm, hard to sell a blu-ray player at twice the price of a ps3! I think there's going to be a price adjustment in the stand alone blu-ray players the moment this gets released...

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 11:01PM]

big meh honestly....

some of the demos looked good but nothing *blew* the 360 away.

online portion -- stolen from live
controller motion sensing -- stolen from nintendo

pretty damn expensive for a console IMHO...

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 11:06PM]

I may be prejudice...but they it happens.

Truly, nothing impressed me. Their online setup...is just like Xbox live. The grand tourismo, which made it look like he was playing...he was NOT playing. That was clearly a pre-rendered movie...there is no way the video would cut out like that when he goes around a corner, you wouldnt be able to drive.

What also disappointed me, was the F1 game. The video that floated before showed it being ALOT nicer looking, and what is with that PSP as a rear view mirror? Who is going to look at that? Especially if you are playing on a big screen HD TV. Why dont they give me working mirrors like PGR3?

And that is that. :)

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 11:27PM]

I kind of also think it was nothing groundbreaking. I do like the fact the online will be free of charge. Also, they needed to make some real announcements for the PSP too. The emulation is a good idea but seriously, its been available on homebrew for a while, so there's no real surprise there. The online music store on the PS3 kind of also doesn't make sense. Just integrate Sony's Connect, it seems like with the naming and interface that they are making a whole new distribution service. I also didn't notice much talk about microtransactions which is really helping Live. All in all, there was very little kick to this conference unfortunetly. I may pick up a PS3 just to sell it on ebay or something (totally missed the boat on the 360s people were nuts about). Not to mention, if its a 'premium' console, they will drop the price real soon to compete with anyone on the market (especially when blu ray gets cheaper).

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 11:29PM]

What a bunch of sour grapes from all you bitter 360 fanboys. Who cares if Sony coppies MS live and the Wii controller. True gamers are happy to have the stuff not bitter trolls like you. The ONLY thing that matters are the games. You should know that since the only good game on the 360 is Geometry Wars.. and that's a fact.

[(Unverified) Posted May 8th 2006 11:33PM]

Let's cut through the comments and be objective, shall we?

- The GTHD demo was realtime, but the guy wasn't playing it. The GT series is big on the replay mode, which is all this was. Basically the demo was proof of concept - here's what can be done in a limited amount of time using existing icap, just wait until we really start developing, etc. etc.
- The system is expensive. But, note that a Mac mini starts at 599. They sell just fine. The comparison is off, admittedly, but the point stands: if you have a normal job, 599 isn't going to wreck your expenses. For 16-year-old Billy, it might be more of a challenge. Either way, Sony won't have a problem moving units.
- Notably, only the 60GB model has HDMI out- odd, considering at one point the PS3 was spec'd to have 2xHDMI out. (Per http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/060509ae.pdf)
- Motion sensing controllers are nothing new - ever use a gyroscopic mouse? Nintendo's innovative twist is that it operates in 3D space. Sony's does not and calling it a copy is disingenuous at best. Microsoft is suddenly in the position of being the odd man out, and you can bet they will be playing catchup on the controller front ASAP, just watch.
- Since when was HD Beat a blog about video games? What we have here is a Blu-ray player that isn't $1000. That should make the video dorks in all of us happy :)

[(Unverified) Posted May 9th 2006 1:08AM]

All I can say is hell yes!

http://gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?fs=1&id=1743

The E3 2K6 Trailer mid way down

[Galley Posted May 9th 2006 8:19AM]

Will it still play SACDs? Will it be able to output a digital signal over HDMI?

[(Unverified) Posted May 9th 2006 8:54AM]

I'm not going to touch one until the reviews are in and the PS3 demonstrates that it can play a blu-ray movie as good as a stand-alone player.

This week I popped a DVD into my PS2. The color sucked and it crashed 60 minutes into the movie (like it always does). I won't be duped by Sony twice.

Just having a blu-ray logo on the box doesn't mean it should replace a more reliable component for plating movies. Games are another story.

[(Unverified) Posted May 9th 2006 11:14AM]

Dave, while I do not think the WHOLE GT:HD was all pre-rendered, I really do not think the videos were real time.

They were obviously a movie, something they could have done before. I do not think they were CGI, but, they made it look like he was going to play the game, when he was obvious he was not.

[(Unverified) Posted May 9th 2006 1:32PM]

#11

There were plenty of other items that were not only being played live, but were playable on the floor by everybody.