PlayStation 3 Comes Out to Play at TGS

Kutaragi's morning keynote strays off message, but evening event at SCE HQ suggests PlayStaton's still got it.

The Tokyo Game Show was booted into existence by PlayStation boss Ken Kutaragi today, in a keynote address entitled "Next-Generation Entertainment Created by the PlayStation 3". Things got off to a good start, with the talk quickly jumping into trailers for a handful of PlayStation 3 games, but it soon became clear that Kutaragi, wearing his engineer's hat for the morning, had things other than mere games on mind.

Sony invited media to its top floor suite for the first time

Whether constrained by the format of the open forum of which it was to be the highlight of, or simply kept broad to appeal to as wide an audience of gamers and non-gamers as possible, Kutaragi's speech oscillated between boring and bemused for most of its hour-long stretch, straying in murkiness at a time when people came for clarity.

Those people in the packed conference room at the Makuhari International Convention Center who came to find out about the new console and its games were cheated of a glimpse of the soon-to-be-released PlayStation 3, with the proceedings instead focussing on the abstract notions that birthed the console and that will drive it and its successors forward.

Nowhere was the glitz that characterized last year's keynote address by Microsoft, or the excitement surrounding the debut of the Wii Remote at Nintendo's. No, Kutaragi came instead to talk about Cell, and the recently neglected idea of grid computing - where user-side computers cooperate on massive tasks that would drag down lone units.

Kutaragi also delved into the sometimes-stagnant pool that is game creation, castigating developers for creating sequels all the time and gamers for lapping it up. "Without innovation," he said, "there is no sustainable industry."

To counter this, he said, there needs to be more information sharing, whether that's between organisations sharing data so that a developer doesn't have to create real-life objects from scratch or gamers sharing information with developers, letting them know what they want. Users, said Kutaragi, should have "120 per cent involvement" in the game creation process.

Pictured this evening at his Tokyo HQ: SCEI boss Ken Kutaragi talked about his vision of the videogame future and said the next ten years could prove more exciting than the last.

This idea of sharing information, in particular, seemed antagonistic, considering that today's event gave Sony a platform to share information, and instead it chose to stick to vague ideas and non-specifics.

Content that was directly related to games amounted to trailers for Final Fantasy XIII, Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight, Ridge Racer 7, and Virtua Fighter 5. There was also a new clip for nature-simulator Afrika, but it brought us no closer to understanding what this ostensibly safari-themed software is all about.

There was also a point when, during a near-fatal spiralling passage, that Kutaragi mentioned something along the lines of PC Engine and Mega Drive games being available for download on the PlayStation 3, but it was delivered so nonchalantly and without any additional facts that it was hard to tell if this was simply being given as an example of what was possible.

It's two months now till the launch of the PlayStation 3 in the US and Japan, and still there remain many questions to be answered.

However, it's far from bleak elsewhere at the Tokyo Game Show for PlayStation 3. Its presence on the show floor is riveting, with many great-looking titles close to finished, and a total of four games now presented in Sony's self-stylised 'Full HD' 1080p standard - Ridge Racer 7, Virtua Tennis 3, Gundam and Gran Turismo HD.

In addition, PlayStation 3 enjoyed an exclusive evening presentation at Sony Computer Entertainment's Tokyo headquarters, where company bigwigs Ken Kutaragi, Phil Harrison, Kaz Hirai and David Reeves revealed the system's slick front-end and media playback capabilities, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the PSP's popular 'media crossbar' concept. Users will be able to view photos in original new ways, with the power of the PS3's Cell and RSX processors used to display their pics as if on paper in 3D. The built-in internet browser also impressed, with the ability to view multiple web pages on screen simultaneously.

A first party line-up of titles, exhibited in the building's spectacular top-floor suite, included MotorStorm, LAIR and Genji 2, running directly from final PS3 hardware. Sony also announced that both the 20 Gig and 60 Gig versions of the machine will now support HDMI, meaning all PS3 owners will enjoy the best possible picture quality right out of the box.

Speaking exclusively to Kikizo at the event, SCE America president Kaz Hirai said: "we're going to try everything we can to get units into the hands of the consumers as soon as possible for launch and heading into the holiday season. That's one of the reasons why we decided strategically to delay the European launch, so that we can concentrate and focus more on the Japanese and North American markets. But the most important thing is being able to bring compelling software that really keeps the platform vibrant and fresh for the long term."

Kikizo Staff