E3: The PlayStation 3 Conference

Sony stunned the gaming world today with a slick unveiling of PS3, powered by a fistful of game demos so impressive, it beggars belief.

For many, getting into this year's Pre-E3 PlayStation Briefing event was an impossible task; every media publication in the world wanted to see the new PlayStation 3 for the first time, and yet only 2,000 guests could be admitted. As perhaps hundreds of media representatives were turned away, the buzz surrounding this massively oversubscribed and full-power event reached fever pitch. This was going to be big.

Naturally, being a world-dominating media outlet, Kikizo made its way in in no time at all. What followed was perhaps the most stunning presentation the industry has ever seen at an E3 conference, as SCEA Chief Kaz Hirai welcomed PlayStation overlord Ken Kutaragi onto the stage for the first time since his PSP 2003 announcement.

There was no time for boring sales and marketing updates this year - it was virtually straight onto the money with PS3 talk. The new console packs some of the most up-to-date technology available right now inside a sleek, curved package and also features the first complete PlayStation controller redesign in over - well, the first significant redesign ever in fact.

The heart of the console is the new Sony-IBM-Toshiba co-developed Cell chip, which will provide PlayStation 3 with two teraflops of computing power - roughly double that of Xbox 360.

A new custom graphics chip by Nvidia that more than doubles the performance of anything the company has out for PCs right now that will power in-game visuals only possible previously in computer-generated movie clips - as ably demonstrated by some of the stunning tech demos Sony showed off during the show.

Undoubtedly the most impressive demonstration was for Killzone, which sources suggest to Kikizo had been in the works for many months for its showing today. The utterly lifelike sequence was frankly jaw dropping, and significantly better than the majority of other material shown, leaving some to question whether it really, genuinely was real-time as claimed, or whether it could be somewhat dishonourably pre-rendered. The jury is still out.

Other demos that really stood out and that were far more convincing as genuine real-time presentations included a brilliant Unreal action sequence, which after impressing everyone with wildly convincing lighting and atmospherics, was controlled on-the-fly to prove it was the real deal. We'll be bringing you direct feed of all the PlayStation 3 demonstrations in our imminent E3 2005 Video Coverage.

Like Microsoft, Sony is stressing its new console's support of high definition video output, despite the low penetration of the new technology in some regions. PS3 will be able to output signals at a resolution of 1080p - higher than any console available now and higher than Xbox 360. And that's not all - if you have a lot of money you'll be able to hook up two high-definition TVs at once for a 32:9 ultra-widescreen panoramic view via PlayStation 3's dual HDMI connections.

You won't have to use two expensive TVs though - the connections will let you to hook up any two TVs and these could be used to show the main content on one screen and other content - music, Internet messaging, other gameplay components such as menus, etc. - on the other.

One of the more shocking changes with the new console deals with the PlayStation 3's controller, which has lost the now-classic controller design Sony has stuck with since 1994 for a new look that could be best described as boomerang-shaped. Also gone are the wires - PlayStation 3 controllers work with Bluetooth, and the console will support up to seven of them at once. It's even possible to use PSP as an additional controller, which is cool (if a tad predictable).

Connectivity is a key issue, and PlayStation 3 will support high-speed wired and wireless connections right out of the box. Network access becomes more important with Sony's revelation that PSP will be able to connect with PlayStation 3 via wireless hotspots, with the possibility of it working as a remote terminal for you to access stored content on your PlayStation 3 from anywhere in the world. The mind truly boggles.

Like PlayStation 2, Sony's new console will be able to use a detachable hard drive. This will be sold separately, suggesting that Sony is sticking with its current approach of not creating games with the hard drive as a standard hardware feature. PlayStation 3 also has slots for SD and CompactFlash cards and Sony's own Memory Stick cards.

But as impressive as the graphics, sound and connectivity features of PlayStation 3 are at this point, it's the great line-up of support from game creators that has arrested the entire industry. Sequels to most of the top-selling games of this generation are already in development.

From SCEJ comes Eyedentify, an interesting network socialising type thing that we didn't understand one bit. Next, Capcom is back with Devil May Cry 4. Insomniac unveiled a new project, I-8, Namco showed a brief demo of what will inevitably become Tekken 6; Polyphony's typically top-notch visual touch was in full force with Vision GT, and SCEE's The Getaway demo depicted an impressive London Piccadilly scene. All these demos hit the spot in a big, big way.

Executive VP Phil Harrison's presentation included some theoretical tech demos including a PS2-unveiling-style, duck-in-bath affair (powered by LOD - "Lots of Ducks" as Phil pointed out) and some explosion scenes that were powered solely by the ridiculously advanced CELL chip, sans help from the equally ridiculously overpowered graphics chip.

EA's support was never in any doubt, and a demo for Fight Night stood out in particular. And talking about a great software line-up, it was also confirmed that PlayStation 3 will be backward compatible with both PlayStation and PlayStation 2, meaning that there will be thousands of games available for the new console on day one.

Going into the conference, there were doubts as to whether Sony would be able to be able to keep its top hardware spot, especially considering the power and momentum of Xbox 360, which is set for release at the end of this year. But today's conference left nobody in any doubt that Sony is as serious as ever - and a domestic Spring 2006 launch brings the machine closer to tangibility than before (though delays are surely inevitable).

Now Sony just needs to prove that everything we saw today was really, honestly the real deal - some sceptical onlookers could only refer back to initially disappointing PS2 software standards in spite of incredible specs and tech demos. Once we have a controller in our hands, if the games really look like this, then it would be foolhardy to project anything other than resounding success for PlayStation 3.

We'll be bringing you tonnes more on PS3 including a whole load of remarkable direct feed video.

Alex Wollenschlaeger & Adam Doree