Andrew

A few years ago, I interviewed Dr. Richard Marks, i.e. the guy who talked us through Sony's PS3 wand-with-a-glow-bulb motion control demo at E3 on Tuesday. Marks is the guy who designed Sony's Eye Toy, and I was at the time working on a games interface story to coincide with the release of Nintendo's Wii. I asked Marks why Sony didn't just turn up the Eye Toy's capture resolution and challenge Nintendo with a hands-free alternative. In other words, why didn't Sony just debut their own "Project Natal" years ago? They had the essential tech--Microsoft's approach is essentially just the Eye Toy Plus, after all.

Marks' thoughts were telling, perhaps even predictive of what we saw from Sony on Tuesday.

"The trick is matching what you want to measure with what you want to accomplish," he told me. "Do you want to track distance? Location? Angle? Speed? They all have different functions, and things start to get really exciting when you can mix and match sampling tools to create feedback synergies. Say the Sixaxis controller for speed and angle with a camera checking location."

Complementary augmentation, in other words, not--as might have seemed logical given the Eye Toy's approach--an entirely peripheral-free experience. Or at least that's how I read him.

Which leads to my--I wouldn't say concern, so much as curiosity--in light of the week's events. When you take the controller away for an "untethered" experience, you introduce a brand new issue: What about feedback?

I'm not just talking about the rumbly vibrations that pulse through our battery-juiced gamepads, but the simple--in game terms atavistic--tactile response you get from hefting a slim, slightly weighted piece of plastic covered in dials and buttons and levers.

In gamer parlance, we occasionally invoke the term "button-mashing." Take away the controller and there's nothing to mash. You grip nothing. The smooth plastic contours you're so accustomed to pressing against simply don't exist.

Think it through with me. Why don't guns fire with shallow buttons (or god forbid, simple "touch" sensors, like the power button on the PS3) instead of tension triggers? Easy: Because our brains need touch-based indexes. Clunky as it sounds, we depend on the interaction of our finger with that tensile, deterministic trigger, to pull off subtle, sophisticated maneuvers. How hard do you need to pull on the trigger (gun or gamepad) to fire? The trigger's resistance lets your finger (and therefore, your brain) know.

The other advantage of controllers, is that they offer that tactile relationship while at the same time minimizing the amount of activity being physically simulated onscreen. If you want to pound something with a bat, say, the gamepad's designed to let you do so without the gestural complexities and physical intensity of the actual motion.

Try something with me. Take your index finger, whatever hand you favor, then tap as fast as you can on a flat surface. Now try holding that same hand out in the air and seeing if you can tap as quickly, or with as relatively little effort. Not as easy as it sounds, right? Part of the body's ability to make precise motions depends on spatial rules about objects it's been trained to follow since birth.

(http://www.pcworld.com/article/166109/e3_whats_wrong_with_microsofts_xbox_360_motioncontrol_approach.html)

I am guessing details on the next ps3 firmware update or information on final fantasy versus 13 will be revealed (square enix is also announcing something this week).

They can't sell digital content for lesser then you can get in retail stores for a reason. If they sell it for less then there retail partners, there is a chance the retail store will revolt by not carrying there products. I think warhammer for the pc had an exclusive closed beta for those who preorder the game through steam and gamestop got pissed off and stop carrying the game as an example. Retail stores like gamestop hate online distribution since it cuts into there profits and they have to compete with the manufacture.

Apple is doing fine. Sony just needs better marketing of there products and there products are of high quality.

Sony does not need a price cut. Even though the components that makes up a PS3 has dropped, it does not mean the true value of a PS3 has dropped. Sony spent tons of money investing into research and development to bring us a true next gen console.

For those that want to pre-order at best buy you need the order from the below link to get the killzone 2 theme.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat170300050037

I personally will wait to see if there will be a collectors edition. I was in the closed beta and enjoyed it very much. The multilayer is intense when teams converge at a certain point to complete an objective.

You guys should read the prologue of the book. It is quite interesting and I might actually purchase it. (http://www.amazon.com/Race-New-Game-Machine-Playstation/dp/0806531010) Click on the image of the book and it will allow you read the prologue.

Microsoft went to IBM to look for a chip they can use in there new console. IBM offered every product they currently had at that time. Bill Gates was not interested in any of those products and a senior engineer who was working on the cell processor told him about a new product they are currently working on. Bill Gates was immediately interested and offered IBM billion dollars to produce it for them. The guy who wrote this book actually was the lead designer for the cell. He was looking very fortunate to help sony lead the way for a true next generation of gaming. He wrote in the prologue he felt betrayed by IBM's CEO to let his years of work and effort go to help a competitor.

I just signed on at 2:31PM eastern time and it works fine for me.

Amazon also has dbz burst limit for $14.95, pure for $19.95, and Playstation component av cable for $4.95 as of this post.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonball-Z-Burst-Limit-Playstation-3/dp/B001383L2M/ref=br_lf_m_1000170001_1_10_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=videogames&pf_rd_p=465005531&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000170001&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0NPXRTGHSQRGDVMR5R83

http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Playstation-3/dp/B00170BV6E/ref=br_lf_m_1000170001_1_16_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=videogames&pf_rd_p=465005531&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000170001&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0NPXRTGHSQRGDVMR5R83

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Component-AV-Cable/dp/B000MIXFWA/ref=br_lf_m_1000170001_1_24_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=videogames&pf_rd_p=465005531&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000170001&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0NPXRTGHSQRGDVMR5R83

capcom loves the ps3 more. they even have a store within the playstation store. the demo should be coming to the ps3 also or maybe earlier then 360.