When coupled in the same sentence, the words "Sony" and "E3" will forever resonate memories of their legendary 2006 press conference. A year has passed and while Sony has managed to shake off the giant enemy crabs, their PlayStation 3 is being trampled by larger entities: the competition. With a management shake-up and a few promising titles, it's time for Sony to come out swinging.Last time on the guessing game, we said that Nintendo could have the most to lose coming out of E3 and you asked, "Well, who has the most to gain?" The answer is Sony, because, let's face it, the only way from here is up. Phil Harrison's GDC presentation ushered forth a feeling that change was in the air and that it was still, obviously, too early to count Sony out in the new arms race.
What's in store for Sony's presentation this year? Mum is the word but that hasn't stopped any and everyone from taking a few, well educated stabs in the dark. Will Metal Gear Solid 4 remain an exclusive? Will Sony open their conference with "Momma Said Knock You Out?" Saddle up, dear readers. It's time to venture forth towards rumorville.
Time after time after time again we've heard about the PSP going back to the drawing board. It's getting to the point where we wish that Sony would just get it over with! The PSP's number one fanboy, Andrew Yoon, is choosing to be difficult and says "It's much too soon after the price drop and recent promotional campaign." Beyond difficult is Lord Kyle Orland as deep within the recesses of his sepulcher of agony he howled, "It will have an 120GB hard drive, a slot for DVDs, CompactFlash cards and 3.5" floppy disks. Oh, and a cheese grater!"
Likelihood: In Andrew we trust -- it's still much too soon for a new PSP.
Former Sony chairman Ken Kutaragi once said that the PlayStation 3 is for consumers to think to themselves, "I will work more hours to buy one." So what will happen now that proud papa and the the discipline bunch are out of the gang? As a lover of tight pants and interpretive dance, Ludwig Kietzmann snapped his fingers and crooned, "It would do Sony a world of good, but I reckon they'll try to ride the $599 wave for at least one more holiday season. They like money, you know." Being his good-time pal, Justin McElroy backed up Ludwig during his solo, chirping, "To announce a price cut would be an admission of defeat."
Likelihood: If anything, Tokyo Game Show would be a much more likely time for a price drop.
Andrew, only after promising to play nice, returned to report that "we're going to see a lot of software. A playable Killzone 2 is a certainty." A fanboy of the PS3 variety, Colin Torretta agreed that there will be "extensive coverage, sure ... but not sure of the playable kind though." Offering up the most poignant view of E3 ever, Ludwig toweled off and mused, "I would be surprised if Killzone 2 wasn't playable -- almost as surprised as I'd be if it looked identical to 2005's prerendered fib. Therefore, I expect to not be surprised at all... which I find somewhat surprising."
Likelihood: Regardless, expect to be surprised in some way, shape or form.
Sure, you can swap out your original PlayStation 3 hard drive with anything you'd like, lickety split, but that didn't stop Sony from launching it in Korea! Microsoft already proved this to be a successful strategy with their Xbox 360 Elite, so why not Sony? Jem Alexander from PS3 Fanboy was so offended by the very notion of it that he kicked his puppy, shouting "No 80Gig in America. Ever! So definitely no mention of it during the show!" With a phobia of being kicked, Justin cowered in the corner whimpering, "I don't understand the point of this system." Meanwhile, whilst clutching his fabled moon sapphires, Kyle Orland whispered into the very heart of darkness itself, "Yes. In fact there will be a new model every year ... Gotta catch 'em all!"
Likelihood: We have a better chance of Phil Harrison giving birth on stage than this happening.
Unsure whether this specific of information comes form the hive mind of Sony itself or GameFaqs.com, Collin stated quite boldly that, "Sixaxis with rumble will be announced, with a Fall to Winter launch. Expect 10-15 hour battery life." After tasting his kool-aid for anything funny, Ludwig did his best to fit in, mumbling something like, "Sure, why not? Sony and Immersion are talking to each other again, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time a console manufacturer released a new primary controller. In Microsoft's case, however, we wanted less, not more."
Likelihood: It sounds like a winner and please, do drink the kool-aid on your way out. It's delicious!
"God of War III won't be featured during E3" Jem told us through double-paned glass. She gripped the two-way phone nervously and stammered, "It's not coming for a while yet. Not until after Chains of Olympus, at least." After our 15 minutes were up, Andrew, not willing to cough up his bail, shrugged his shoulders and agreed. "I think Chains of Olympus is coming out to hold people over until God of War III is in any presentable form."
Likelihood: Regardless, David Jaffe will have our legs broke before we get to report it. No, David! That's where our pants live!
Stating the obvious, Ludwig says there will be "More trailers, more exclusivity confirmation and more painful release dates than you can possibly imagine." Practically tripping over himself to fortify the hive, Colin blurted out, "Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 will stay PS3 exclusive! Expect at least one additional major title to announce exclusivity to the PS3."
The most realistic of the bunch, Justin McElroy fiddled with tarot cards and lottery tickets to reveal the future: "MGS4 will have a playable demo. They need that right now. Final Fantasy XIII will be represented by a video sequence that will include (1) an orchestral arrangement, (2) scantily clad women, a lady boy and (3) a tear that looks like a crystal. If the crystal shatters at some point, expect six more months of winter."
Kyle Orland merely looked on, chanting below his breath, ".metsys ynoS-non a no pu wohs ot meht fo eno tcepxE"
Likelihood: Playable Metal Gear Solid 4 for some, Final Fantasy XIII trailers for others.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
The only other thing would be dredging up some old game property to remake it NEXT-GEN! ugh..
A redesigned PSP or a controller that has what it should have had to begin with is not big news to me either.
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With Drake, they talk about how big it is and how much puzzles it has, then show some ultra generic "shoot the guy standing there in the open not moving about 20 times so he dies" gameplay.
Lair they just keep showing amazingly cool pre-rendered stuff.
I can't remember the last Heavenly Sword update. I thought that was supposed to drop this year.
They'll talk about how awesome Home is. They'll maybe show another Little Big Planet teaser. Perhaps some Haze action if in fact it is delayed on other platforms until after X-mas.
It should be good in any case. I think all three console makers have some good stuff to report on.
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Ain't gonna happen. Even Sony has admitted at this point that they're not negotiating from a position of strength, and can't afford these third-party exclusives.
They've got to price-cut below $500 and move a lot more units before they can even open the discussions on exclusivity.
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Well, flight controls are pretty much known. It's ground controls I'm worried about. And likewise, how much of a threat to you ground units are. Are they a legitimate concern or is your presence on the ground primarily a morale booster.
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I'm sure there'll be some surprises, to be sure, but I doubt any of them will do much for Sony...unless it's a price drop.
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Screw groundhogs day!
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Err...I *DON'T* think.
It's too early to be thinking about anything other than Zelda's pubes, still.
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Did any of that make sense?
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Off-topic: shut up about 4chan. Nobody cares.
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Okay, I checked gametrailers and there is a 3 part developer walkthrough that does a decent job of showing some of what I wanted to see. People actually playing the game and not just short clips and pre-renders.
The game looks alright, imo. They were doing some pretty easy levels in the walkthrough, which made it look kind of lame, but I could see it being interesting if things got more hectic. I also thought the game seemed kind of slow. Not saying dragons should go super-sonic, but it should "feel" fast.
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Realistically speaking, the larger a creature gets, on average, the slower it gets. Those huge wings have to keep a large amount of weight afloat. Honestly, I'd be disappointed if the dragon flight speed was suddenly in comparison to something like the F14s in Battlefield.
Also, keep in mind, unless you're right at ground level, you also look like you're going much slower than you are in any flight situation. Seriously, when was the last time you took a flight? Looking out the window, would you have guessed you were going 140-180MPH?
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Because it would "feel boring" otherwise..!
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It's a dragon and it should feel fast. If they can't make it feel fast, the game will be a bomb and rightfully so. It can be made to feel fast in a variety of ways without having to be close to the ground. When you put that dragon into a dive, you should feel like your face is going to come off. If they don't pull that off, then the dragons are just fancy set dressing for what could have been jet packs or bi-planes or any other generic flying combat machine.
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... Oh and drop the price.
If they come out cocky and act like nothing is wrong, it will be hilarious. If they come out like whipped puppy dogs and plead that Home is going to save them, that will be even funnier.
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Funny, Panzer Dragoon felt anything BUT fast.
And my statement still stands. Take a look at Rogue Leader. Unless you're skimming a surface of that game, it feels anything BUT fast. Frantic, yes. But without environment reference, all games feel slow in the flight genre.
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Game Developers Conference and Sony Gamers Day off the top of my head...
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The first Killzone sucked and the one for the PSP I never played but it didn't seem to be outstanding, so don't get your hopes up this game will awesome.
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Well i only hope they make the game similar to the 2005 trailer, if they done it the same way; Killzone 2 will Rock........
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It's Ridge Racer. Riiiiiidge Raaaaceeeeeeeer!
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I wasn't aware Liar was a simulator, you know considering there aren't real dragons. The game needs to be fun and therefore shouldn't have slow flying dragons because "that's how they would really fly". Besides, where did you read this scientific article on the projected flight speed of dragons if they existed? I know you are going to say that their size blah blah blah, but that has nothing to do with it. It would be like if Call of Duty had you get in the tank, slowly lumber through the battlefield to find a target. You find one and then have to stop, goto the loader, place a shell in, move to the gunner station, aim, fire, then run back to the driving seat and move. Suddenly an enemy soldier run up, so you again stop the tank and move over to the gun turret, aim and.. wait the guy moved to the other side so its back to the drivers seat as you slowly turn to find him, you spot him and quick you're up and into the gunner seat, aim and... damn moved again! back to the drivers seat to... you get the point.
Lair may be good and all of this might be useless debate (wait it already is...) but I think the argument of realism is a bit ridiculous, thats all I'm saying...
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Chances are in general flight it would be a powerful flyer, but not a fast one, but on the ground it would be somewhat clumsy and pretty slow . Probably like one of the larger birds of prey, it would be fairly agile in the air, and able to pick up a lot of speed when diving, but it's general travel speed wouldn't be that fast. Most of what I've seen from the game would "make sense" as far as how it would move. Besides, why would a ton of speed make the game more fun? It's not like you're riding a dragon trying to chase down a jet, everything will move at the same relative speed.
And yeah, I can't even believe I just wrote a paragraph defending why dragons would move slowly. I need more work to do today...
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"And my statement still stands. Take a look at Rogue Leader. Unless you're skimming a surface of that game, it feels anything BUT fast. Frantic, yes. But without environment reference, all games feel slow in the flight genre."
Your examples don't really apply. It's not hard to put clouds, smoke and various other objects in the skyline to gave you a sense of speed. They figured that out in film decades ago. We've seen enough of dragons in movies over recent years to have some expectations and that isn't one of slow, plodding dinosaurs with wings. While they're not fast out of the gate, once they get going they're anything but slow.
If it feels slow, they failed at delivering on the promise their movies, screenshots and the entire concept built up for the game.
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Also I think a dragon going after modern jets would be one kickass game, heh.
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Think of it.
1. What PS3 is bothered about in 2007 is not sales but GAP in sales versus 360. And fact is, the 2 are selling equally poor.
2. The biggest threat to PS3, in terms of 360 widening the gap, is second half 2007. Thats when ALL the MS big-hitters are out (Halo3, Mass Effect, Forza 2, Splinter Cell 5).
3. However, this threat is low as long as prices remain the same - because, while the PS3 is expensive, SO IS THE 360! As long as 360 stays at 399, the PS3 is relatively safe.
3. So the best thing for SOny is - dont cut prices, because that would force MS to do the same, and then 360 sales will rise much much more than PS3.
If Sony can survive this year - it has a far greater number of op-notch exclusives in 2008 (the 360 has barely a few). ALso, by 2nd half 2008, Blu-ray may become popular and the cost of the PS3 may be down by at least 50% (The 360 dropped 40% in 1 year). Then slam down prices by USD200 - its still expensive, but with free multiplayer, blu-ray, big hard disc and most importantly great PS1/PS2 library it can then have a chance.
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I can't believe you are trying to argue against me that the dragon gameplay should "feel" fast. Like I said, I am not saying they should move super fast, but if you were riding on top of one, swooping around, I think it would "feel" fast.
Hell, a Peregrin Falcon can hit 150mph when diving, and it isn't even a super-powerful mythical beast. Dragons don't "have" to be really slow. I think it would be more fun if it moved faster. The gameplay I've seen just looks, slow, I guess.
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I agree with you that Sony should wait until the 360 gets a price cut. Both companies can only sell so many until they get under $300.
I honestly don't think a $100 cut would do Sony that much good. There aren't that many people that wouldn't get one at $600, but will get one at $500. I honestly think there is a $300 magical price point that you need to at least get to.
As for 2008 Sony exclusives vs. the 360. I don't know if it is THAT lopsided. Remember, many people were saying the same thing last year. Tentative release schedules are, well, tentative. ;)
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"The gameplay I've seen just looks, slow, I guess."
Now this, I can agree with. However, from what I've seen, there has been no footage of dives aside from the trailer. Likewise, I don't think I've seen ground unit footage but I've seen them zoom over ground units. In fact, all the footage I've seen has been of flapping, a motion which applies a counterforce and unfortunately slows the thing in motion down. I'd like to see travel speeds during dives and glids. Likewise, I want to see how gameplay relates during the elaborate "dismounting" midair sequence.
STILL SO MUCH I NEED TO KNOW!
When does this one drop again? I know it will be a financial failure but I'm still excited.
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Here is a list of exclusives coming out in the next 1 or 2 years 360 has more then ps3
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/06/17/console-exclusive-games-list-for-xbox-360-ps3-and-wii-as-of-june-2007.htm
Also 360 has sequels coming out probably in 2008 Fable 2, Banjo-Kazooie 3, Cry On, Halo Wars, maybe Ninja Gaiden 2, GTA IV exclusive content, maybe MGS4 port to 360, Forza 3, PGR4, Alan Wake, Too Human may get released in 2008, and what ever they announce at E3.
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No I would have guessed it actually flies much faster, and I am glad planes actually do, cause otherwise it would be a huge pain in the @ss everytime I have to fly back to europe... When was teh last time you were on a plane? Was is still a single prop machine? :P
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Yeah, actually there could be some fun gameplay to be had there. Perhaps your dragon can only "fly" at 50-80 mph or something. But, you can get some altitude, then dive and glide, to go much faster for brief tims. In this way, you could perhaps get high in the air and escape or attack by diving and gliding around at high speed, but would then have to get back up to higher altitude. I don't know, could give more gameplay depth.
But this whole argument has missed my entire first point, and the reason I used damn quotations. The game doesn't have to technically have dragons going 300mph to be fast. It just has to "feel" fast. I don't know how to describe fast and hectic gameplay, but Lair has mostly looked kinda slow. And I have played flying games where your craft isn't moving that fast, but yet it does "feel" fast. I don't know how to explain it.
That really isn't a knock on the game, just pointing out how it doesn't work with my tastes perfectly. For example, I was super-stoked about Forza2, and do enjoy the game quite a bit, but the big (and only)disappointment for me is the "feel" of the speed. Even though you are going 160mph in an 8 second car, it just doesn't "feel" like you are going that fast.
I've spun out on a turn and been like "wtf I was barely moving", just to see the speedometer at 70mph while I'm taking an 80 degree turn. Yet, I'll take a turn in Dirt at like 35mph and it will feel like I am absolutely hauling ass.
It is okay for an exclusive for the system you absolutely love to have something wrong with it or something you disagree with. You don't automatically have to defend it against someone else, especially someone like me that is a wii60 owner and borderline 360 fanboy.
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http://www.gametrailers.com/player/20906.html?type=wmv
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