CES: Sony fails to get us highER

8 Comments by James Ransom-Wiley Jan 4th 2006 9:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP

Sony held its CES press conference at its massive booth on the showroom floor tonight. The presentation unfolded at four separate locations throughout the booth area, tied together with video feeds. Tucked away in the corner of the PlayStation 3 section we discovered the same old "conceptual design" display featuring black & silver PS3s in a rotating cylinder—later, the MGS4 demo popped-up on a large flat screen, front and center, followed by a series of teasers, featuring Unreal Tournament 2007, Tekken, GT, The Getaway: Future Vision, Lair, Fight Night Round 3, MotorStorm, Warhawk, and others.

The keynote kicked off with the unveiling of Sony's "HighER" Definition concept (translation: 1080p resolution), segueing into the announcement that Blu-ray players are on target for a summer launch, with Sony & MGM releasing at least 20 Blu-ray (film) titles this spring. Could the PlayStation 3 be far behind?

Following a brief digital camcorder spiel, Sony launched into its PlayStation segment. There were a few minutes of gloating, culminating in a claim that the PS2 is on track for a 10-year life cycle, and then Sony got into the heart of its gaming presentation... the PSP. The focus tonight was on the PSP's remote-viewer feature for LocationFree TV (released in v2.50 firmware), as a Sony rep proudly showed off a live television feed from his New York home here in Las Vegas—elsewhere, another rep logged-in to his Tokyo base station. In addition, Sony announced that the Connect Video download service will launch in March, allowing users to download feature length videos onto the PSP's memory stick. Overall, the lack of news was a disappointment.

Also on display at the booth are three new PSP titles: Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Daxter, and MLB, along with the new (and improved) version of Pursuit Force. We'll bring you more coverage in the following days.

Alas, as expected, not a word about the PlayStation 3... (just those darn teasers)

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Obscene Truth: Jan 4th 2006; 9:48PM

Well, there's always Stringer's speech tommorow morning. Weren't we promised "significant presence" for the PS3 at CES back at E3? Hmm, well that sucks big time if they don't show any new stuff until next month's Playstation Meeting

Jago: Jan 4th 2006; 10:58PM

WOW!!! So instead of making must have 100% ORIGINAL system sellers I get to watch TV anywhere in the world with my PSP and other new features I could care less about.

Good job Sony!!!

/end sarcasim

Agent X: Jan 5th 2006; 1:06AM

I hope to see some new footage of Daxter really soon. This is one of the most promising games of the new year, and one I am eagerly anticipating!

Dave: Jan 5th 2006; 9:06AM

OK Sony, nobody cares about location free TV. You're putting way too much money on a horse very few are interested in here... why on EARTH am I going to buy your base station for this? If I could watch TV anytime, anywhere, this would be one thing. But I need to be near a wi-fi connection. Given the lack of decent speed public wifi access points, this is HARDLY location free. Example:

I'm trying to play World of Warcraft on my Powerbook in JFK airport. There's "free wifi" there, but I'm getting so much lag the game is unplayable. Too many people logged on, not enough bandwidth, I don't care. It doesn't work nearly well enough to make me believe that a live feed of TV will come through properly.

Sony, I don't freaking care. I was completely onboard with the PSP when it came out. I wanted to play games, and you let me down. Stop trying to invent the wheel, you stink at it. I loved your Playstation, and I'm hoping you can capture more of that magic on PS3 than you did on PS2.

Vince Carter: Jan 9th 2006; 4:47AM

Ok guys, how many times do I have to tell you? It's I COULDN'T care less about. Meaning, it isn't possible to cary any less than you care about it now. Now, how in the hell does COULD care less about make any sense.

oncnawan: Jan 9th 2006; 11:14AM

Thank you Vince Carter!

To everyone else on the internet:

Vince has a firm grasp on the niceties of caring less, or not. I get that feeling every time someone says "they could care less", you know, the one you get when someone rakes their fingernails down a chalk board.

If you could care less, then you are not at a point of absolute apathy. In fact, you are leaving open the possibility that you care very much, as you are indicating that there is a whole range of caring that is below your current level of pathos. If you don't care at all, then you COULDN'T CARE LESS. Let this be a lesson to you all.

Thank you Vince Carter. You saved my Monday.

oncnawan: Jan 9th 2006; 11:27AM

Sorry to double post, but I figured I should separate the off-topic from the on-topic, the wheat from the chaff, etc.

This is awefully funny. Sony did the same thing competing against the Dreamcast. "Hype, hype, hype, delay, hype some more, delay, here is your console. It is not everything we promised? Ah, sucks to be you."

I had been holding out some hope for a post-holiday PS3 release from Sony. Not for purposes of buying, mind you, as I own a 360 and am happy with it, but I had hoped that they were being smart and using this for business strategy, instead of incompetent. There was always the possibility that Sony was quiet on the PS3 front during and leading up to the holiday season to protect PS2 sales. However, it is becoming painfully obvious that they just don't have their stuff together.

I find it interesting that, in many ways, Sony and Microsoft are standing where their competitor stood in the last generation. Microsoft is releasing first and has more games in development and seems to be opening up its genre library in a big way. Sony is releasing late, with a smaller library, and, relative to the PS2 offerings, a less diverse catalogue of games. That may be due to the fact that we really don't know what the launch titles will be. Sony yet may have some sinister purpose for which they have foregone releasing information that would entice gamers to hold off on purchasing a 360 (as enough become available to satisfy demand), but I doubt it.

Tiberius Jones: Jan 9th 2006; 4:35PM

The silence you hear from Sony is just another in a long line of misfirings they have had in this latest clash with Microsoft.

As a gamer first and foremost more than a console layalist, I am very disappointed that Sony is still refusing to produce an online gaming service in the mold of Xbox live. In my opinion this is a major mistake on their part. As good as Xbox Live has always been, Microsoft has really taken it to the next level with the 360.

It's funny to me that one of the most popular games on this "next-gen" system is an Asteroids type game, albeit with tremendous graphics, called Geometry Wars, which is only available through Xbox Live Marketplace.

I love my 360, and have had no problems with it, thankfully. It was well worth the 11 hours I spent in line to get it at launch.

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