Category: PS3

Sony’s Kaz Hirai Dismisses the Nintendo 3DS

In an interview with Sankei Biz, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai brushed off portable 3D gaming. While he didn’t call out Nintendo’s 3DS handheld by name, it was easy to see his target. Hirai said:

Based off internally conducted research, naked-eye 3D for portables does not have high precision, and at present there are limitations.

He surely has a point, but he’s also comparing apples to oranges. Most experts believe that the 3DS will cost under $200. Playing stereoscopic 3D on your PlayStation 3 requires a $2,000 television and $150 glasses. While the PS3 will certainly provide a superior 3D experience, these are two entirely different product categories and price points. That said, it’s always fun when CEOs try to layeth the smack down.

What do you think of Hirai’s comparison? Is he just confident that the PS3 will have the better experience? Or is he threatened by the buzz the 3DS received at E3 2010?

Source via Andriasang

Grading the “Big Three” at E3 2010: Nintendo vs. Microsoft vs. Sony

Another E3 is in the bag and it’s time to judge how the “big three” did at this year’s show. Usually I just rate the companies’ respective press conferences immediately after the last one, but since I was working for the excellent people at Shacknews, I didn’t get a chance to. Using the pressers and what was shown on the show floor, I’m going assign letter grades to Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. I’d love for you to do the same thing in the comments section!

Microsoft: Kicking off the major pressers was Microsoft. The format was very strange. It kicked things off with a third-party game and close the show with a hardware refresh. Sure, it’s a pretty big deal that the Xbox 360 will have first dibs for all Call of Duty map packs and add-ons, but I was surprised that Halo and Gears didn’t get the money spots — they certainly looked fantastic and deserved the rub. Closing out the show with a new product is fine, but updated hardware doesn’t quite fit the bill. It’s cool that Microsoft went all Oprah and gave everyone free consoles, but I thought the company would have been better off plugging a first-party game in that slot. (On a side note, I found it hilarious that Epic’s Mark “Chocolate” Rein was standing up and clapping when he found out about his free console. The dude loses more money having a brain fart than I make in a year. Ha!)

On the non-gaming front, the ESPN announcement is potentially huge. Unfortunately, it’s not for everyone. Your ISP has to be on the ESPN 3 partner list, from what I understand. In something that I’ll have file as “sucks for me!”, my ISP, Time Warner, is not on the list.

Obviously Microsoft had to talk up Kinect at its press conference. Unfortunately, it didn’t play well at the presser. The good news is that the product was much more interesting on the show floor, particular with games like Child of Eden (expectedly awesome) and Dance Central (surprisingly fun).

Grade B-: If I was just going off the presser, it would have been a C+, but Microsoft had a lot of great stuff at its booth. While most of the Kinect stuff I saw wasn’t fun, the cool gamers for Kinect were better than the cool games for Move.

Nintendo: I thought Nintendo absolutely killed it at E3 2010. It had the best games and the most interesting new hardware. I was actually scared that Nintendo’s presser would have put me to sleep with a 20-minute presentation on the Wii Heart Rate Monitor Vitality Sensor. Instead I was bombarded with classic franchise after classic franchise returning to the Wii — Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Metroid, and Kid Icarus dazzled millions of longtime Nintendo fans.

As a show, Nintendo had the best conference. Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Reggie Fils-Aime are the best “personality” executives from any of the big three. The presser also had the best pacing and flow.

I’m not sure how it played for everyone at home, but Nintendo was the talk of the show at E3 2010. It had the tech everyone wanted to see with the 3DS (at times the line took more than two hours) and it had the journalists’ darling game in Kirby Epic Yarn. Disney’s Epic Mickey also played well — yes, a third-party game for a Nintendo system was one of E3’s highlights.

Grade A: Nintendo owned the show. I want to hear some of you that are in the “Nintendo forgot about me” camp complain about the company’s E3 2010.

Sony: Sony’s performance was mixed. In terms of content, I thought it had a better presser than Microsoft, but it was about 30 minutes too long and cut into everyone’s E3 show floor time (which nobody was happy about). Sony did get the loudest pop of any of the E3 pressers with Kevin Butler’s performance. The company also had the biggest shock with Valve’s Gabe Newell on stage hocking Portal 2 for PS3 with Steamworks.

Sony had two pieces of new tech to push — 3D gaming and PlayStation Move. 3D gaming is interesting, but it’s probably not something that will take off this generation. It’s just too expensive for most people. Killzone 3 is okay in 3D, but I thought MLB: The Show was better. As for Move, the tech is cool, but Sony is having a hard time showing that it’s more than just Wii in HD.

In terms of games, there’s a lot for PS3 and PSP owners to get excited about. The two biggest were Gran Turismo 5 and Twisted Metal. I’m not really into the former, but the latter was way fun. The third-party games like Assassin’s Creed 3 (with the beta being PS3 exclusive), Medal of Honor (also with exclusive content), Dead Space 2, The 3rd Birthday, and Kingdom Hearts looked great.

Grade B-: Sony gets points for a wide variety of great games, solid tech, and Kevin Butler. It loses points for taking way too long, keeping everyone from the show, and failing to make the tech seem like fun. Steamworks on PS3 is huge and I’m not sure why people aren’t making a bigger deal out of this.

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Now it’s your turn! Take the poll and let me know which company had the best show in your opinion.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi Makes Motion Controls Cool with Child of Eden

Q Entertainment’s Child of Eden is — by far — the coolest motion control game I’ve seen for PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect. The game is being published by Ubi Soft and it pretty much looks like Rez with motion controls. There’s probably more to it than that, but Rez with motion controls sounds awesome to me. As most of you know, I’m a total mark for Q’s Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Of course it would take someone like him to make motion controls cool.

Rock Band 3 Peripheral Pics: Keytar, MIDI Box, and More!

MTV Games, Harmonix, Fender, and Mad Catz have teamed up for some truly excellent Rock Band 3 controllers. A lot of you have been having keytar dreams since that feature was revealed…and now you can check it out! I’ll stop blabbing and let you look at these fine photos of the Rock Band 3 peripherals.

New PlayStation 3 Models Tested by the FCC: What Are They?!?

The FCC has tested a couple of new PlayStation 3 consoles a few days before Sony’s E3 2010 press conference. What could these new PS3s be? I’m guessing that they’ll use the PS3 Slim housing with updated CPUs and GPUs that run cooler and are cheaper to make — die shrinks are good like that.

Considering that PS3s have been difficult to find for the last few months, I hope the latest die process allows Sony to finally meet demand in 2010. Will the new models be accompanied by a price cut? I sincerely doubt it considering that Sony just slashed prices last August and price cuts are usually not announced at this time of the year.

Now it’s your turn to speculate! What are these new PS3s?!?

Source via Engadget

Study Finds That Nobody Gives a Crap About Motion Controls

A recent study by OTX found that a very low percentage of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners are interested in PlayStation Move and Project Natal, respectively. Here’s the 411 from Gamasutra:

Research firm OTX’s U.S. tracking study GamePlan Insights polled a group of 2,000 gamers between May 23 and June 5, 2010, and found that 8 percent of the Xbox 360 market intends to buy Natal, and 6 percent of the PlayStation 3 market intends to purchase Move.

Of course the big caveat is that not much has been revealed about either system and a ton of information is expected to hit at E3 2010 next week. Microsoft and Sony have a chance to drastically change these numbers. Still, I wonder how successful either endeavor will be. Natal is certainly original and Move has some amazing tech, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into fun or sales.

Were you surprised by these numbers? Or are they inline with your feelings on Move and Natal?

Source

Mortal Kombat is Koming Back in 2011: Do You Kare?

Warner Bros. has announced that it will be publishing Mortal Kombat for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. The game is being developed by NetherRealm Studios, Ed Boon’s new company that’s full of old Midway peeps. Here’s some official information from the press release:

The newest chapter of the iconic fight franchise marks a triumphant return to the series’ mature presentation and a reinvention of its classic 2D fighting mechanic. Driven by an all new graphics engine, the fan favorite Fatality is back and presented in more gory detail than ever before. In addition, Mortal Kombat introduces a number of new game-play features including tag team and the deepest story mode of any fighting game. Players can choose from an extensive lineup of the game’s iconic warriors and challenge their friends in traditional 1 vs. 1 matches, or take on several new game modes.

I’ve alway been a fan of the Mortal Kombat games, characters, and universe. It’s cool, but isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. That said, I wonder if MK will mean anything to gamers in 2011. What say you? Do you care that Mortal Kombat is coming back next year?!?

3D Gaming Arrives on the PlayStation 3 Tomorrow

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that WipEout HD, Pain, Super Stardust 3D, and Motor Storm Pacific Rift will be playable in 3D starting June 10, 2010…if you happen to have a television capable of stereoscopic 3D. Just in case you don’t — raise your hand if you do (I can’t actually see your hands!) — Sony was quick to point out that Bravia 3D-capable televisions are available for pre-order and will be delivered this month. The prices start at $2,099.99and go as high as $4,999.99.

So, how many of you are going to buy a 3D television tomorrow?!? Is your interest in 3D stereoscopic gaming piqued? Or do you need to see more games before pulling the trigger on a new TV? As for me, I will probably buy one at some point this year because I’m due for a new TV and I can write stories about 3D gaming. *sigh* If only I could afford one of these new Bravias.

Source

Power Gig: Rise of the SixString Uses “Real” Guitar: Will it Work?

Seven45 Studios has announced that it has signed Eric Clapton, Kid Rock, and the Dave Matthews Band to provide songs for its upcoming game, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Considering that music games had a relatively poor year in 2009, you’d think a company would be nuts to introduce another franchise that competes with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Seven45 believes it will differentiate its game from the competition through the use of realistic peripherals.

The guitar is the most interesting accessory for Power Gig. It can be used in the game and played as a real guitar offline. Seven45’s press release quoted Dave Matthews Band as saying:

We think Power Gig is a much needed and much welcomed game because, unlike any others before it, it puts a real guitar into the hands of aspiring musicians, and we hope it inspires our fans and others to start playing even when they’re not playing the game. We love the thought that fans of ours who’ve never picked up an instrument can now play our music on a real guitar and experience what we love to do day in and day out.

First of all, I’m impressed that the whole band said that. Did they say it in unison? Did they harmonize? Or did they take turns (perhaps switching out every 14 syllables). Secondly, I wonder if using a real guitar as a controller will intimidate some gamers.

Power Gig bundles are currently listed on Amazon for $179.99 and $229.99. What do you guys and dolls think? Is it too pricey? Or is it a good value considering that you’re getting a real guitar? Will Power Gig be able to compete with established franchises that have been rocking for years? Should I try to smash a Power Gig guitar at E3 2010? Let me know!!! (And check out the additional pictures below.)