E3: The PlayStation Conference 2006

The complete report from Sony's anticipated PS3 showing as E3 week kicks off, complete with the photographs that prove it's real. We look at the final PS3 controller, launch details, massive game line-up and much more besides.

Page: 1  2  3 

Page 2

Ted Price, president of Ratchet and Clank developer Insomniac, was wheeled out to show more of the game we now know as Resistance: Fall of Man (previously I-8). The game depicts Great Britain in an alternate 1951 where no World War II ever happened - a story of the near-total destruction of mankind, at the hands of an unknown species, in which you take the part in a last-ditch effort to save "the last free state in Europe - England". Price describes it as "intense, bleak, and brutal". He explained that since GDC back in March, the team has broke into full production and is now discovering "what kind of muscle this machine really has". The smooth, detailed FPS impressed in a live gameplay demo that followed, showing everything from red London phone booths to the hostile species themselves. "Keep in mind that the game has 32-player online competitions", Price said, promising to reveal "more and more" over the coming months and inviting E3 attendees to play the game on the showfloor.

Phil followed up by saying that these "firstparty games share common technologies that we're moving between our studios to get these results."

There's no doubt that Sony has been very busy courting thirdparties too, and although a lot is still to come, the line-up of thirdparty goodness was mouthwatering. Assassin's Creed from Ubisoft kicked off the proceedings, looking insanely good as expected - and we hear that these visuals are totally the real deal. Gundam Mobile Suit followed, and had robots in it - cool, right? Right? Next, some dude is inserted into a digital world in a trailer for a PS3 title based on Konami's PSP game Coded Arms, entitled Coded Arms Assault - "commence hacking!", it says. Reiko looks like a million dollars as always in the trailer for Ridge Racer 7 - and the short racing sequence looks just as sexy - "a new beginning... experience the next step on PS3". Next was Brothers in Arms Hells Highway which we switched off to because it's another game about war. Then, Jin shows how to kick girls up in a smooth Tekken 6 fight sequence that breaks into a cutscene.

Sonic the Hedgehog is straight hustling in the next trailer - things are going well until Shadow turns up, and starts driving around in a jeep. Virtua Tennis follows, and is of course automatically good. Likely game of the millennium Virtua Fighter 5 is next in a stylish, brand new trailer. Midway's Stranglehold is shown and looks the same as the trailer from a couple of months ago, which is not bad. Fatal Inertia looks like WipEout in a desert or something. Koei is causing a big battle again in a game called Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. From Software finishes up with Armored Core 4, prompting Kaz to outright ask for a round of applause. We can count at least six titles in this line-up we're totally hot for, and the others aren't looking too ropey either, so all is looking very healthy on the thirdparty front. And that's before any big guns are even rolled out... yet.

EA took its annual opportunity to fondle Sony in front of conference attendees, with the company's CEO Larry Probst declaring their relationship is "built on trust, cooperation and two generations of success". He says EA has 1,000 staff working on PS3 games right now, which is a little bit scary. He emotionlessly brought out two such staff to show two demos, one highlighting the animation used in the next NBA Live, creating "players with personality, attitude, confidence and style", the other showing off some frankly stunning facial animation on a digital Tiger Wood, showing how games can really benefit from the emotion delivered from a technology that will "change the way you experience interactive entertainment", says the CG expert working on the demo. A brief EA gameroll featuring Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor Airborne, Madden NFL 07 and a new game called Army of Two was shown, before Probst wrapped up with "Kutaragi-san, thank you for your leadership and vision - you can count on EA's support every step of the way."

More stills from the awesome MGS4 trailer

Kaz was only just getting warmed up though, as he introduced a trailer for the next, next Final Fantasy, number thirteen. That's Final Fantasy XIII. There will be "multiple versions" he revealed, further to the details from Square Enix's conference that took place earlier this morning - Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII (which doesn't really make sense). The refreshingly genuine trailer combined Square's famous CG work with in-game RPG battle sequences.

It wouldn't be E3 without a new MGS trailer and the second trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 didn't... hold on, sort of didn't, disappoint. Certainly a trailer for the fans, the shorter-than-usual movie is character-heavy and ends with an unusually surprising touch, which we'll save mentioning here for you to check out when you see it yourself. Or in a screenshot we've included here. It's obviously an awesome trailer with a beautiful soundtrack, and a little bit different to the norm, as Kojima's creative confidence continues to grow. "War has Changed" seems to be the new theme for the game, which is scheduled for release in 2007. We expect an extended version of the trailer at Konami's event tomorrow, and on the E3 showfloor.

Ken is proud of the new controller, which has motion sensitivity

Enter Father of PlayStation Ken Kutaragi, who is quick to reveal that Nintendo isn't the only one with a special secret stashed away for the show. "So, have you enjoyed latest progress on PlayStation 3 titles?" Yes we have. "But I have one more big thing, that we have kept secret from you. Back in 1994 when we introduced our first PlayStation, the controller was quite unique in shape, but everyone was amazed with its controllability in the 3D world. We are going to enhance its controllability... for the next generation system to navigate and control seamlessly". He reached into his pocket and pulled out what, to all intents and purposes, looked like a silver PS2 DualShock2 controller. "This is a final PlayStation 3 controller", he announces, with a smile. The audience thinks that's the surprise, but not for long. "Phil, can I ask you to show us what it can do?" Coming back once more for a fantastic little/large duo with Ken, Phil says it would be a pleasure to do so.

You eyes do not deceive you. PS3 is "bigger".

A wooden crate opened on the screen, before Phil moved bits around on the screen by simply lifting the controller up. "This controller has six degrees of freedom built into it as standard, with no external sensor required. I can move this controller using my hands as the entire input device. This standard feature controller will be packed in with every PlayStation 3... and allows me to unlock the most incredibly fluid movement in games... but, based on our industry standard, de facto interface." A further two demonstration with a duck showed off the capability of both wired and wireless controllers. "I think it's in our Sony rulebook that whenever we introduce a new piece of hardware we have to use a duck... being wireless and Bluetooth, it's actually lighter than a PS2 controller. It's a truly a fantastic innovation that is going to add to the PS3 success story" he offers. The second demo, a modified version of the WarHawk PS3 title, shows how flight action would work with the controller. "Don't you just love surprises? Isn't that the coolest thing?" asks Phil. We can't help but wonder how surprised Nintendo is...

Little and large

The conference had been rolling for about 100 minutes by this point, and there's no doubt we'd been treated to a lot of material so far. But the Sony boys weren't done just yet, and concluded with information nobody really expected to get at the conference: definitive, global PS3 launch details.

The PS3 will be available in both 20GB and 60GB hard disc varieties, with the former costing $499 or €499 and the latter $599 or €599. The Japanese launch is on November 11 at a price of ¥59,800 (about $535 for the 20GB version), with the US, European and Australian launches all scheduled to follow on November 17 - a pretty unprecedented rollout strategy if it does actually go ahead. And Kaz says it will: "We'll ship two million units worldwide during the launch window, 4 million by the end of calendar 2006, and 6 million by March 31, 2007." This is a company confident about its manufacturing position for PS3 - hopefully not in the same way it was confident about a Spring launch for PS3 this time last year - but for real.

The end of the conference marks the start of the battle

"We want you, our special guests, friends and partners to be the first group of people in the world to get your hands on playable [PS3] titles right here on this showfloor" invited Kaz. And with that, Sony's 2006 press conference ended with as much excitement as it started. Altogether, a strong showing. Next up: Nintendo. Bright and early.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

Page: 1  2  3