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The conference started a few minutes behind schedule, and then got off to a slow start, giving us a history lesson about the PlayStation Brand’s success, then talking about PSN, PSP, and finally the PS3 lineup. Here are the big announcements you need to know.

• 130 Titles coming to PS2 in 2008
• PS3 Greatest Hits line, games for $29.99
• You can download Movies and TV Shows for rental or purchase on the PlayStation Network Store
• Home service can access custom environments based on games in your library
• Some version of Valkyria Chronicles will be available for PSP
• A partnership with Google that has to do with news and user-based content via PSN
• 80 GB PS3 for $399.99
• New Game: Infamous by Sucker Punch. Gritty action game with telekinetic hero
• New Game: Massive Action Game, fight with up to 256 people in online skirmishes

Honestly I am really looking forward to Infamous, and the Store/download stuff sounds cool. IMO, it was the best conference of the hardware camps; Sony delivered a few new games, price cuts, and new online functionality. Their goal of highlighting the increasing value of the PS3 seems to have been achieved.

Full details after the cut.

Read more!

Sony has filed for and received a US Patent for a “Hand-held device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels.” The patent goes on to describe the device:

The device may comprise a case case having one or more major surfaces; a touch screen disposed on one of the major surfaces, the touch screen; a processor operably coupled to the touch screen; and one or more tactile pixels disposed proximate the touch screen.

Multiple surfaces with spaces for screens, one of which being a touchscreen? Sounds awfully similar to a certain other handheld device on the market. It’ll be interesting to see how Nintendo responds for the next time they announce a new handheld device.

[Joystiq]

Well, it turns out Afrika is a photography simulation game, much like Pokémon Snap. You’ll be going on missions to photograph certain scenes or animals and will be driven by a jeep around the savannah (read: on-rails).

Also the sixaxis will function as a virtual camera; for example, if you don’t keep a steady hand, your snapshots could turn out blurry. The criteria of grading shots is based on “composition, rarity and clarity.” Let’s just hope the game is fun, polished, and has interesting enough animal AI to make this more than just a hi-def Pokémon Snap remake.

[Kotaku]

I one of the lucky ones who got to see E3, no i didn’t get to go to E3, I’m stuck here in my house, and its raining. But thanks to G4 their live streaming of the conferences made my day!

But man do i have news for you who happened to miss the Sony Conference today!

let me dial you in on what happened.

Sony Has announced:

Slimmer PSP, 18% slimmer and 33% lighter, and at the new price to boot!

Killzone 2 for 2008, i got to see the trailer, and i must say, it looked BEAUTIFUL, i didn’t play the first one, and if i ever get the money for a PS3 i will get this.

The fourth and final Metal Gear Solid game is also going to be released in early 2008, there was no demo at E3, but the director said that “if you guys want to come to Tokyo next week, we can get you one, hope to see you there!” ha ha, no. sorry man but I’m flat broke from my trip to acen…STILL.

Nintendo has also Announced:

New controllers/peripherals for the Wii, Wii Fit (basically Wi Sorts and Wii Play, 2) and a Zapper Gun, hopefully Resident Evil 5 and Time Crisis compatible.

One of the more anticipated games of the next-gen Super Smash Brothers Brawl, has been slated to arrive in stores December 3, 2007. Just in Time for the holidays.

Tskiller should have the details from the Microsoft show, or Nahu, or…someone.

Stay Tuned!

This post is old; I originally posted it on my.qj.net back in March, and then on my own blog, Warriors of Gaming. As such, it is slightly out of date. However, it still holds true and it reflects my core beliefs about the gaming community. It’s pretty long, so it’s after the split.

Read more!

At his 56 years of age, Sony’s ex-chairman and group chief executive Ken Kutaragi will hand the bar to the next runner in this everlasting race of doing the best video gaming console. Sony will now be headed by Kazuo Hirai (former president of Sony Computer Entertainment) and boy, does he have some weight on his shoulders!

Although Kutaragi will still be holding an advisory post at the gaming unit, we can only hope Sony takes a better path towards success. . .$599.99!

[Kotaku]

Sony’s Self Delusion Public Relations department sure is working hard on making the PS3 an attractive system for consumers everywhere. First, Next-Gen wouldnt begin until Sony said so, then only the PS3 had true Hi-Def. Now if you dont want a PS3… well, youre not even a real gamer or so says Sony’s Dave Karraker:

I am pretty sure if you asked just about any real gamer out there if they would like to have a PS3, their answer would be a resounding “Yes!” I think a lot of this goes back to the proliferation of the Internet, where a very vocal minority can make a lot of noise and potentially alter perceptions of the masses, whether they are accurate or not. A lot of this, naturally, is driven by the media who seem focused on taking swipes at us lately, without taking in the full picture.

Sorry to break it to you, millions  of gamers, you arent real gamers after all, just the result of a conspiracy by the gaming illuminati. Find another hobby.

[GamePRO / Via Kotaku]

In a recent press conference given by Nintendo in Japan Satoru Iwata let a very controversial quote out that has fanboys up in arms. Given Kutaragi’s recent exile from Sony, Iwata said that he “would love to see Kutaragi join up with Nintendo”. Now, as sacrilegious as this could see to both Nintendo and Sony fanboys, Kutaragi is no stranger to Nintendo. The man developed the sound chip for the Snes and let most of the development process of the Snes CD expansion unit, which later became the Playstation.

And for those hopeful that this will lead to an epic alliance in the industry, the fact that Kutaragi holds an honorary chairman position at Sony should serve as a reality check. As controversial as this seems, its less than likely to happen. Its just one of those things, like Bill Gates saying he’d buy Nintendo in a heartbeat if the Yamauchi family wanted to sell. Shocking but most likely inconsequential.

Still one must wonder, what could become of the next Nintendo console of Kutaragi joined Nintendo? A two-thousand dollar virtual reality machine like the Nintendo ON? I cant help but feel a little giddy.

[QJ]

Yes, Nintendo is making money by the truckload; we all know that because we are anal about knowing everything there’s to know about the industry. Your average newspaper-reading small-time investor, however, might not. Reuters is making sure that changes, they have published an article on the shocking profit increase Nintendo is reporting, and not without mentioning the competition!

The Kyoto-based company said on Thursday in its fourth outlook hike this year that earnings would exceed its January forecast on stronger-than-expected revenue of about 966 billion yen ($8.1 billion), but it did not give specific profit numbers.

Nintendo, known for game characters like Mario and Pokemon, had forecast DS sales to reach 23 million units in the 2006/07 business year, more than double the expected shipments of Sony Corp.’s rival handheld PlayStation Portable for the same period.

So expect your market-tycoon wannabe uncle to be very, very interested in your Wii; expect it to be very disturbing.

[Reuters]

True, the console was one of the fastest selling consoles in the United Kingdom - however,

But that was only for the first week of availability after the March 23 launch, because after the second week things look pretty bad for Sony all of a sudden. Imagine a massive drop in sales of 82%, and then try imagining where the figures will be at after the first month..

Haha, fuckers! Finally, the Dreamcast gets the revenge it deserves! I’m still feeling a bit bitter about what the Playstatoin 2 did to the Dreamcast, but considering Sony’s presence, it probably won’t fade away like the Dreamcast did… Nevertheless, this has got to be a big blow to their morale. Click the linky if you want more.

[Playfuls]

Apparently, if you can complete a 999,000 combot hit in God of War 2, a little secret will be passed upon you - check out the video to see what I mean.

Now, IGN confirmed that this had nothing to do with the PSP version of it - however, the meaning behind the countdown at this website is still cryptic…

Check out the website for the Final Countdown!

[kotaku]

Hi VGCats people, thanks for visiting, be sure to check out our other stuff, you’re sure to find something you like!

Kingdom Hearts 2, the hit game from the collaborative minds of Disney and Square, and based off of the original from 2002, finally gets a face lift. The Final Mix is set to deliver both a remastered version of the Japanese release of the game, but with the secrets and additions given to the US release. While normally this may not be a cause for celebration, the game also comes with a complete remake of the Chain of Memories game, originally on the Game Boy Advance. Fan boys of the series rejoice, for a trailer is out, and Chain of Memories is lookin’ Mighty Fine.

With the early console battle still raging, we find that the fight may be taking a nice, albeit strange, turn of events.

First we start with Sony’s Folding@Home project. The premise here is that each PS3, while running, and not gaming, will aid in the complex study of protein folding, all going back to Stanford University’s nifty computers where it could be used in research of Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. This leads one to believe Sony is leaning more and more on the power of the PS3, and not its ability to host worthy games.

The Wii may have bowling, but it sure ain’t curing cancer!

Next up is Nintendo’s donation of a huge amount of Nintendo DS’s and games to the Child’s Play charity started by the authors of Penny Arcade. The “Donation” in reality was sold to the Charity at a huge discount, not technically donated.If I was a sickly youth, I too would love to marvel at hundreds of video games filling a room to the brim. Actually, I’m marveling as we speak!

We now turn back to Sony to see that, even though their less-than-stellar launch of the PS3 in Europe may have even more to do with the console’s slow decline, they still don’t forget to do well for the player that stands in the cold, or in this case the brisk evening air, for hours to get their grubby hands on a new PS3. Sony decided that with the release in London, England, the first 100 people in line would get a free 46″ LCD TV with their purchase of their PS3. This could be a sign that Sony is trying to really regain its friendliness with gamers, but it has the distinct odor of a PR stunt, mostly because the number of others that either pre-ordered theirs or were anywhere else in the world received diddley-squat for freebies from Sony.

I expect Microsoft to come with an announcement of free 360’s or copies of vista to underprivileged children in Africa soon.

[Folding@Home/Yahoo! Games/Penny-Arcade]

You and your party board the elevator, the long lift to the top floor doesn’t help your nerves. What if you are not ready? Maybe you should have taken that side quest the old lady offered you at the last town. The extra exp definitely wouldn’t be a frivolity. Before you know it you are already at the door, you know there’s no stopping now, its coming. The boss battle is here, literally.

Yeah, bet you didn’t see that one coming. This is an ad for Jeanne D’ Arc, the PSP turn based strategy RPG released last year in Japan. The ad might be old, but its gold, real gold I tell ya’!

[The Reclusive Revenant]

It was practically announced last year by Hideo Kojima but just this week we get confirmation that Konami is indeed working on a Metal Gear Solid movie. Sony Pictures Entertainmen and Columbia Pictures are both involved in this project.

Yair Landau from SPE told IGN:

It’s a very cinematic game, it really lends itself to movie telling. But the question is, ‘How do you translate Snake’s experience into a full arc that conforms to what audiences expect on the large screen?

Yes, because taking Snake to the big screen is much more of a challenge than any other game. I’m hoping to be surprised but unless it has Otacon screaming SNAAAAKE at some point, its probably going to suck.