Sony Moves Up E3 Ps3 Unveiling

[Alpha2]

From Gamespot

Sony moves up E3 PS3 unveiling

Japanese game giant's expo press conference will now be held before Microsoft's and Nintendo's.
Yesterday, Microsoft sent out invitations to its E3 press conference, at which the company confirmed it will show off its next-generation console. As has been the case for the past several years, the event will occur on the evening of the Monday before E3 officially begins on Wednesday.

This year, the Microsoft conference will happen at 6:45pm PDT on Monday, May 16. Nintendo's press conference, which will feature its next-gen "Revolution" console, is slated for 9am PDT on Tuesday, May 17, in keeping with tradition. Customarily, Sony would then get the last word in on Tuesday afternoon at its own event, at which it has said it will unveil the next PlayStation.

As it turns out, this year things are going to be a little different. Shortly after many members of the games press received their invites from Microsoft, Sony sent invitations to its conference--on Monday afternoon. The new time means Sony will now have the distinction of showing its console to the public before its two rivals.

Frankly I think it's a mistake, when the DC came out everyone ooh'd and ahh'd only to be shocked when Sony unveiled PS2 graphics with the Reiko Nagase and Early shots of the Bouncer. That extr graphical puch is what helped them win the battle before either system was even released, but this time around they're unveiling first leaves them opened to be over shadowed but either M$ or Ninty, That is unless they think they have something that will blow people away so badly that they'll be bored by the other two systems later on in the day.

I guess we'll see what happens next month.

 

[kotd]

I don't know if cell is even half of what its been cracked up to be, graphics wise Sony may make a laughing stock out of the other 2. Depends how good this "Cell" really is. We'll see.

 

[markusdragon]

I have a feeling that cell is going to be a load of balls, like the 'emotion engine'. <_<

 

[kotd]

Well I'm sure it will be better than Nintendos supposed "Project Reality" yes N64's graphics were meant to be life like.

 

[markusdragon]

True, project reality is indeed an imfamous load of balls . Probably time we just ignored corporate propoganda altogether and actually made decisions for ourselves.

 

[bast525]

in this case it really doesn't matter... this isn't anything at all like the DC and the PS2... these things are going to be shown all within a day or two of each other... I seriously doubt Microsoft or Nintendo could make any significant changes to their presentations or to their hardware or demos in such a short time to somehow belittle whatever Sony will have to show.

As a matter of fact, it's Microsoft who's making the mistake which you are referring to, since their system is supposedly much closer to being finished and ready to release than either of the other two, so they are the ones who are giving the competition the extra time they need to get the leg up on them... though again, they will all be coming out in a short enough time frame that I seriously doubt any of them will have time to make significat changes or improvements that would allow them to really get some advantage... I think whatever we see at E3 will, more or less, be what we get... and I also think they will all three be so close together, graphically, that graphics will be the LEAST of the features that will end up making any one system better than the others.

Whatever the case, I'm really kinda sad about this whole thing as I feel it's way too soon for new systems to be coming out already... the GC and the Xbox especially have quite a bit of power and potential left... at least we probably wont see a new Nintendo system until mid-late next year... but if the new Xbox really does release before this Xmas... that's just too soon, and I think MS might be shooting themselves in the foot on this.... ESPECIALLY if they don't at LEAST make it backwards compatible... not that that may matter much, seeing as MS are supposedly dropping support for the Xbox 1 like a bad habit.

 

[Alpha2]

M$ has to launch first since they're currently being beaten by an "inferior" system so they're definatly going to have to try and hit a near Xmas launch window. But I think you might be right in that if the PS3 does have something more powerful it's going to cause people to wait for it rather than spend money on the NextBox (this is assuming it is powerful) and still have the same effect as the PS2 had on the sales of the DC.

As for the Cell it's NOT the graphics chip for the system so it's not what you have to wonder about. The Cell is the main processor that handles information flow through the system. So their hope would be that they could put the most over clocked megaton of video hardware you can possibly make in this generation without actually building a super computer into the system and have it make all the pretty anti-aliased pictures they want without getting bogged down because they decided to throw in an extra blur effect. That would be the ideal situation, because then M$ could tie 37 stock PC graphics cards together and still only barely manage to equal their launch title graphics in 3 years.

Of course that's all a fantasy scenerio untill we actually see if the PS3 can create something signifigantly more interesting to rival what can be done right now in a way that people wil recognize an improvment... I mean We're talking full on Pixar/Dreamworks scale stuff on the fly.

Also yeah it would have to be easy to develop for and have functional support for past and future devices, otherwise it's just "what we have now only prettier."

 

[bast525]

good point about the Cell processor... really in the end it doesn't matter if it's running a Cell or a Pentium or anything else a CPU is a CPU and is only gonna make so much (easily noticeable) difference. So there's really no point to even debate over just how great the Cell will or will not be. Where that will REALLY come into play is later on when we start seeing just how smart games actually get... like noticeably improved computer AI or fantastic physics. And even then, this is as much in the hands of the programmers as it is anything to do with how bitchin the Cell is or is not....

All I know is when I'm playing my new PS3 the last thing on my mind is gonna be "mmm sweet I'm playing with Cell power now!"

 

[kotd]

Yeah the graphics might be CG movie quality. If it is I cannot see how possibly any chance in hell Microsoft can even match that if they use standard PC parts. Best we get currently is Doom 3 type graphics and thats out on the first Xbox. Its going to be a very interesting E3 indeed.

 

[bast525]

Um... the PS3's graphics card will basically be 'PC parts' as well. They're using an Nvidia chip for the graphics card... And Xbox is using ATI (last I checked, ATI was actually making the more powerful card in the PC video card wars, and had been in the lead for quite some time, though Nvidia was consistently selling more).

Seriously guys, do NOT expect there to be a huge disparity in the graphical power of the next three systems, not anywhere near as big of a difference in power as there was between the PS2 and the Xbox. Remember, the Xbox had nearly a full two years to develop after the PS2 released in Japan... so did the GC... that alone explains a lot of why they were so much more powerful than the PS2. This time, the initial release (in Japan) of the PS3 will be very close behind the release of the Xbox 2 here in the US, and the Revolution should come out about the same time as well, as Nintendo have stated many times that they did not want to be last to the table with their new system this time... so it just doesn't make sense that any one of them would just have incredibly better graphics.

And by the way, they should ALL have better graphics than Doom 3, which as you said, can already be done on current hardware. There are a few screenshots floating around in different magazines of supposed work-in-progress games for the next generation... very impressive looking from what I've seen.

 

[Ganepark32]

Yeah. The graphics on all the next gen consoles will basically be the same. The only real differences i can think of will be the processing power. God knows wat nintendo is putting in their console. currently their processor is called Broadway and their Graphics chip being called Hollywood(or is it the other way round). Anyway they sorta lead u to think that CG movies quality will be capable by the revolution. The only thing that can let down the revolution is its third party support and thats the area that sony and microsoft excel in. So it'll be interesting come E3.

 

[markusdragon]

'Course, it's not really about which console is best is it? I mean, that's what they want you to think, but it's really about which console has the games that suit you as an individual. I keep thinking about buying a PSTwo, but I can't name any games for it that I particularly want, which suggests that I made the right choice when I bought my Xbox; all the games I want are already native to my chosen console.

Oh wait, there is ONE game; Soul Calibur 3, but that's going to be on PS2 only because Namco have no real business sense anymore and think that isolating over 50% of their fanbase is profitable :rolleyes:.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, it's all about games, isn't it?

In my opinion, neither console wins a fight or not.

I don't own an XBox. Why? Simply because there's no decent RPG available.
And I mostly only play RPGs.

I'm sure the PS3 gets most of the RPGs released in the future.

RPGs are the most played games in Japan, so the PS3 will surely sell better in Japan than the XBox. And most systems are still being sold in Japan.

XBox has a lot of action games. Mostly played in America and Germany. That's why the XBox is more spreaded there. Not than the PS2, but the PS2 was backwards compatible, the XBox a whole new system, that's why.

Nintendos games a child compatible, so they also will always have a place in the world.

There's not really a fight - as the PS3, XBox2, GC2 (or whatever it may be called) have a different audience.

 

[declaration]

Well, it's all about games, isn't it?

In my opinion, neither console wins a fight or not.

I don't own an XBox. Why? Simply because there's no decent RPG available.
And I mostly only play RPGs.

​

KOTOR, KOTOR 2, Fable and Morrowind are all very good and are worth owning an Xbox for.

If you dont have a gaming PC that is.

Although I generally prefer Japanese RPGs myself.

 

[Alpha2]

I can only think of 5 games that interest me on the BoX and none of them are Halo, this makes the system pointless to me to own, and I dont really care about emmulation, that's what I have a PC for.

Ultimately yes it is all about games, but the companies need to impress more than just us. They need to impress the developers to get behind their horse and push with new games. If the press goes "HOLY CRAP DID YOU SEE THE NEW PLAYSTATION!!1!??" and go "... that Revolution... was kinda... meh.." then more early adopters will be likely to buy the PS again of course this is still yet to be determined which system makes the press go wild and you need a spectacular first impression to do that.

 

[bast525]

Fable and Morrowind are TOTALLY different kind of RPG's than the kind of stuff the usual PS2 RPG player would ever play (IMO, Fable BARELY qualifies as an RPG at all). To take Final Fantasy, and Fable or Morrowind, and put them together and say "they are both RPGs" is really misleading... we need to break the RPG category up a bit.... Give a typical Final Fantasy fan Morrowind, and tell him "it's one of the best RPG's on the Xbox!" and watch as that fan NEVER touches another MS console again so long as they live! And you forget to mention the amazingly SUCKY Sudeki... the Xbox's attempt to mimick an FF style game failed MISERABLY.

Not saying Morrowind was a bad game, lord knows I put about 100 hours of my life into that game, and actually, I am a FF fan as well... but the typical square enix fan would sooner flush a new copy of most Xbox RPG's rather than play it.

Kotor comes closest to your 'typical' Japanese stlye RPG, and outdoes Final Fantasy, etc. on a lot of levels, IMO.

It's like Evil Dragon said... each system appeals to pretty different groups of people, Xbox is PC-game style action, PS2 is typical Japanese gaming with big eyed character platformers and RPG's, and GC is mostly younger but also home of the classic game characters we all grew up with.

I think it's a safe bet the same trend will continue with the new gen... MS have yet to really woo the Japanese developers over to their side (Xbox stopped being relevant in Japan some time ago), so will primarily host american and european designed games, which for the most part, comprise the PC-style of games. Thus garnering little interest from the typical non-PC-game liking fan of Japanese-designed games (read: Sony fan). PS3 will most likely continue to be the king of 3rd party support, my bet is it will continue to have the widest selection of titles available, and of course, will be extremely well supported by the Japanese developers that we all love like Konami and Capcom. Nintendo will probably continue to torment gamers, by utterly lacking in 3rd party support and continueing to host 'kids games'... making it a questionable investment but still seriously tempting to us old school fans to buy one with the promise of yet more continuations for our favorite classic characters. All three situations are real Catch-22's and it would really take something big to happen to change any of those patterns, IMO.

 

[markusdragon]

And you forget to mention the amazingly SUCKY Sudeki... the Xbox's attempt to mimick an FF style game failed MISERABLY.

​

Hell no! Sudeki was awesome, simply because it was NOTHING LIKE Final Fantasy! The critics just assumed when they said 'Japanese style', that i'd be an FF clone. Instead it mimicks a Japanese graphics and storyline style. It's a damn awsome game with some really interesting gameplay mechanics.

 

[Alpha2]

Instead it mimicks a Japanese graphics and storyline style.

​

Mimics them badly maybe.

You know, I'd heard soooo much about how Sudeki was going to be this cool japanese style game and when I finally decided to take a look at it the art design simply disgusted me. I saw nothing pleasnt about the characters and the models seemed to have a primitive joint system rather than a full body "skin" like almost everything created after the PSOne days. If the story got as much attention as the style did it'd be a very shallow imitation of japanese sensibilities.

It's been my experince that no american system "wins" in the U.S. without Winning in Japan first. I think most console players enjoy the japanese style of game and if you can't deliver that through first or third party you don't see enough of a paycheck to fight the fight (unless you're M$ and have the wallet to do so.) I agree, I think the Xbox brand will continue to be the home of the Euro and PC gaming style with it's FPSs and D&D/Marrowind style RPGs.

 

[junker]

good point about the Cell processor... really in the end it doesn't matter if it's running a Cell or a Pentium or anything else a CPU is a CPU and is only gonna make so much (easily noticeable) difference. So there's really no point to even debate over just how great the Cell will or will not be. Where that will REALLY come into play is later on when we start seeing just how smart games actually get... like noticeably improved computer AI or fantastic physics. And even then, this is as much in the hands of the programmers as it is anything to do with how bitchin the Cell is or is not....

All I know is when I'm playing my new PS3 the last thing on my mind is gonna be "mmm sweet I'm playing with Cell power now!"

​

actually cpu power is more crucial than that! complex games with life like physics need good processing power!
if future games are to be an improvement in more than only a higher poly count or sharper image, then a more powerful cpu is a must.

however, i heard that xbox2 or ps3 may be using a seperate physics processing unit(PPU) to handle game physics, which would allow future games to be more realistic with not much cpu power.


in any case, the next wave of consoles had better bring about mroe than just a small improvement in graphics!!

 

[Alpha2]

The news I heard about the PPU was that it would be an extra add-on board used in tandem with the GPU, concidering how recent I heard it I have a feeling the PPU wont be a part of either system, prehaps later.