Joystiq

Joystiq live from Microsoft's TGS 2008 press conference

Christopher Grant — 2008-10-08T23:49:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360, TGS

10:40PM ET - We're sitting tight, listening to a panel of reps from Capcom, Square Enix, and Namco Bandai discussing the current realities (crises?) facing the Japanese gaming industry. Appropriately enough, we're waiting for Microsoft's John Schappert to take the stage and deliver his TGS keynote. We'll keep taking notes here, and begin updating as soon as things get underway.

11:03PM ET - Finally! The lights are down and the screen is on. They're playing a The Last Remnant trailer. Very slick, as is to be expected from a Square Enix RPG.

11:06PM ET - John Schappert is on stage, reminding us that TLR will premiere exclusively on Xbox 360 this November - the 20th to be exact. He thanks the preceding panelists for sharing their insight (read: We better pay more attention to Microsoft). Schappert brings up his background as a Super Famicom developer (dude's the real deal) - wants to help Japanese creators bring their games to the world. Says we need three key things.
11:08PM ET - Need great tools, an online service (hey, how about Xbox Live?), and a console at a price "the world can afford." Nice little dig at the still more expensive PlayStation 3. "We think Xbox 360 is the platform best equipped to help Japanese developers bring their creations to the world."

Sales in Japan have jumped five-fold year over year, thanks in part to that recent price-cut. Sales are up 60% on Xbox 360 games relative to Xbox 1 games. Schappert claims consumers will spend $1 billion on Japanese Xbox 360 games.

11:11PM ET - "Xbox 360 has emerged as the console for RPGs." Strong words, Schappert. Where's the proof? He's gonna show us - Star Ocean: The Last Hope trailer is on the screen.

11:15PM ET - Star Ocean: The Last Hope will debut on February 19th in Japan and March 3 in North America. It's coming to Asia and Europe too so good for you guys. Enough RPGs, says Schappert. Let's make with the action. It's a trailer for Biohazard 5 (that's Resident Evil 5 for most of you). Mostly cut scenes here, but we're alright with that. This game looks good.

This is the longest trailer we've seen to date. Lots of story elements here, some juicy gameplay, and some familiar faces. Seeing how some of this co-op gameplay is gonna look (hint: good!). Some massive enemies. Oh great! Ninety-Nine Nights 2 ... since the first one was such a hit? No bother, it's coming whether you like it or not!

11:23PM ET - He's got a surprise announcement. Another legendary franchise into the Xbox 360 family! Tekken 6 is available at launch on Xbox 360! Says the game will launch in Fall 2009. A great lineup for fans of all sorts of Japanese game genres.

Onto Xbox Live Arcade - "a beloved ecosystem" where classic games can find a new home. Taito is making Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid Live - updates of those two classic arcade hits.

SNK is bringing Metal Slug 7 for Xbox Live Arcade. Also King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match, in Spring 2009. Also R-Type Dimensions - there's a Tozai logo on the ground there, the same developers bringing Lode Runner to XBLA.

11:28PM ET - Xbox Live Community Games - bringing all that community powered goodness to Xbox 360. They've partnered with Japanese universities (as well as US ones, of course) to help bring games to the service.

There are more than 14m people online with Xbox Live. Speaking of what Microsoft can do with Xbox Live, we're hopping over to the New Xbox Experience. He says this is the "complete" New Xbox Expereince being shown for the first time ever. It's complete folks, and it's coming this fall. (Can we just have it now?).

The entire NXE is in Japanese - this thing is ready for Japan. We've got Avatars, Themes, everything you know and (want to) love. Awww, there's a BIG avatar with a speech bubble saying "I'm a PC."

11:35PM ET - New games channel, including the new games details page for "back of the box games details." We're into the Marketplace, browsing visually and says it's "much easier to find." We'll be the judge of that, thank you very much. He reminds us that we can ship for and download everything straight from Xbox.com.

Spotlight channel, "anything on the service that's popular and new." The best Xbox has to offer all in one place. Still too clumsy for you badass super gamers? The guide of course duplicates much of the current interface with the push of the Xbox button. Here's a release date: 26 countries, localized in 19 languages, coming on November 19th.

11:39PM ET - Next in store for the Halo franchise: Halo Wars, being released "early next year" by the team who created Age of Empires (and, by the way, are currently being disbanded). Graeme Devine, Lead Story Writer for Halo Wars, is on stage telling us about the game, set 20 years before the beginning of Halo 1.

Watching a demo. We're building a base, a supply pad, a barracks. All being controlled with the game's easy-to-use "circle menu." A Warthog is on screen and, sure enough, it looks like it controls like a Warthog. Devine says getting that feeling just right was very important from day one. We've got one more announcement here: The Flood is in Halo Wars! Grossssss.

11:46PM ET - Schappert says he hopes Halo Wars will help the strategy genre breakout on Xbox 360. "We're not quite done with Halo 3 yet." He's going to share the second part of the teaaser with us now. Drop pod hits a wall, security camera tracks it. ODST soldier climbs out. Halo 3 Recon! "New Hero, new campaign. Prepare to drop. Fall 2009!"

11:51PM ET - That's it, we're wrapping up here. Schappert says "thanks" and we're out. Thanks for reading along with us!

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Joystiq live at Nintendo's fall media summit, Pt. 2

Ross Miller — 2008-10-03T12:05:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

Another conference? Yes, Nintendo is hosting a second fall media summit conference. What else does the company have under its sleeve? We're told there will be a couple of announcements and then live demos.
12:07PM Balance Board is on the floor in front of us.

12:10PM Nintendo's PR director, Marc Franklin, is at the podium welcoming everyone. He says he wants to talk about ... WiiWare. Reports that , to date, there have been 33 games released for the service. Gives a shout out to Lost Winds as being highly-downloaded.

12:12PM Two new games to announce today. First up is Tetris Party. Casey from Tetris Online is at the podium; the game is-up-and-running. It's developed by Hudson. We're getting a history lesson on Tetris.

12:14PM He says they challenged Hudsom to "take Tetris to the next level!" 18 new modes, some motion control based, some incorporating Balance Board. Tony, the game's producer, is demoing Field Climber mode. Blocks need to be placed so that a little guy can make his way up them.

12:16PM Next up is Shadow mode. It's a variant of puzzle play. You're given a silhouette that you need to fill in. You can skip through pieces, but are only given 10 skips. This can be played competitively. Another mode is Stage Racer. You actually take a block ? in this case a "T" ? and "drive" it downward through a course trying not to get hung up on anything.

12:21PM There's a new co-op mode that uses a wider well. Both players work together in the same well to clear lines and create Tetrises. Dual Spaces uses the same screen setup but is ... turn-based. Players attempt to fill in the "white space" before their opponents can. Wii Balance Board support is optional. Leaning forward-backwards controls drop speed. "Squatting" rotates pieces. The blocks are really large in this mode, but can be scaled smaller once you get the hang of it. The producer looks a little ... odd playing this way. Price announced: 1200 Wii points.

12:22PM Real Networks and Ninja Bee are showing Boingz It''s a "2D-3D puzzler platformer." The Boinks are elastic creatures. You use the Wiimote to grab, stretch, and flick them around the level to reach exit gates.

12:26PM Boingz is physics-based an actually a bit reminiscent of LittleBigPlanet. The game is "designed for the Wii." Reeeally? Seriously, though, it looks like a retail release. There's a timed mode to challenge more hardcore players.

12:29PM Marc Franklin is back at the podium. He says that "dozens more games" are on the way to WiiWare. World of Goo launches Oct. 13. And that's a wrap! (Yes, really.)

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Joystiq live from Nintendo's fall media summit

Randy Nelson — 2008-10-02T13:05:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Business

We're live in San Francisco at Nintendo's press event - sure, they're going to go over last night's Nintendo announcements like the DSi, Play for Wii, and Punch-Out but maybe ... just maybe there's something else in store.

12:14PM: Reggie has taken the podium. He's announced the DSi as a "third trier" platform and is talking about its built-in NVRAM. He's talking about the DSi Shop, the first two titles to be offered are "re-tooled" versions of Brain Age 1 and 2. The DSi features onboard image editing software that can be used to composite photos taken by both cameras in real time. Music player will support AAC format and allow pitch / speed manipulation. Various audio effects can be applied in real time.

12:20PM: Opera browser runs faster than previous DS browser, Wi-Fi is "faster." Reggie just announced that the DSi will not see release until "well into calendar year 2009" citing strong U.S. sales of current DS hardware. He's talking about Wii storage now; confirming that SD card will be used for additional storage, saying that transferring between internal NVRAM and SD card will be dramatically faster.

12:24PM: Reggie says that significantly more Wii systems will be shipped into retail this holiday season versus last year. He can't say how many, and anticipated the question of will it be enough? "Ask me in January." Har. Har. Cammie is at the podium now to talk about software. Take note, folks: She's smiling! Punch-Out!! is on-screen. Cammie calls it a "re-introduction" of the classic title. Video is rolling! Little Mac is showing off in toon-shaded glory. King Hippo and Glass Joe plus a female boxer appeared in the video. Looks like it plays just like the original titles ... but what's that? Cammie says that Punch-Out!! is fully motion-controlled.

12:29PM: MadWorld is the focus now, pretty much just the basics on the game we've already heard. Same for CoD: WaW, Dead Rising: Cop 'Til You Drop, and now ... The Conduit. High Voltage software rep is at the podium, demoing The Conduit. The level is a cold war bunker. Says the game is still pre-alpha, still on target for a Q1 09 ship. Campign mode in basically complete, and they're focusing on multiplayer development now, "incorporating ideas from fans." We're seeing really impressive character animation and use of normal mapping in The Conduit. More impressive, though: the control looks very solid. We'll find out when we play it.

12:35PM: Looks like The Conduit's struggle with finding a publisher is over - Cammie just called it a "first-party" title. It's Wii Music time! Get this - you can "improvise" while "playing." Nintendo guy is ... waggling the Wiimote and sound is coming out. He's set up a "custom jam," adding a bass and drummer set to automatically play the Mario theme. His movement is controlling the tempo of the entire song. He's switched from a violin to a guitar, showing how you can press buttons to create chords, mute cords, add vibrato, and double pick. Now for something "weird." Bagpipes. Holding the Wiimote up makes them louder. Please, sir, lower it. We need more cowbell! Oh, there's the cowbell. Now there's not enough cowbell. Please see to that ...

12:44PM: Now another weird one: beatboxing! Sadly, since there's no mic, you "beatbox" simply by shaking the Wiimote maraca-style. Nintendo rep is blaming Wi-Fi in the room for his poor performance (we're thanking Wi-Fi for this liveblog, so to each his own). Now he's joined on stage by a Treehouse staffer to "play" the Mario theme. Violin and Ukulele. Most of the song is playing itself aaaaand ... they've left the stage. Cammie is talking about how Wii Music was demo'd to real musicians at Austin City Limits. She says they liked it.

12:49PM: Now Animal Crossing Wii ... er, City Folk is on-screen. Cammie just made a sour joke about not being able to pay mortgages in the real world. Boo-urn. Cammie just said we all look "really fit!" Wii Fit is on-screen. Evidently Christina Aguilera's trainer is on-site to give us tips (what about our trainer, Cammie?). Rayman Raving Rabids TV Party is being shown as another Balance Board title. Cammy says it "really works your core!" Actually, we think The Conduit is what Nintendo needs to work its core ... wait, what is she talking about?

12:52PM: Sin & Punishment 2 time. Says the announcement was probably met with excitement and worry, since Sin & Punishment never came to North America formally. Sin & Punishment 2 is coming to the US in 2009 from Nintendo. Says that Virtual Console sales of the original helped in the decision. Gameplay video is rolling. It looks very much like the original in art style and basic concept, only with obvious direct motion-control aiming.

12:54PM: On to the Personal Trainer series for DS. Math and Walking joining the lineup in early 2009. Rhythm Heaven (that's Rhythm Tengoku for you GBA importers out there) is "infectious," says Cammie. She says the Japanese version is averaging around 50,000 units per week. Now she's talking about "hard-edge" titles for DS. Hard-edge = the new "core!" Age of Empire Mythologies for November, Tecmo Bowl Kickoff (also Nov. but we knew that), Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia ("developed exclusively for DS" ... really?), aaaand Chrono Trigger for Thanksgiving week. Last live demo of the day is up. It's Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. Release is first-half of 2009. First in the series with online play. Julian from the Nintendo Treehouse is playing.

1:03PM: Gameplay demo is over, and Julian is talking about Shadow Dragon being a remake of the original NES / Famicom game, but that doesn't mean it's not getting extra DS content. There are two new scenarios, six difficulty levels, and 1v1 Wi-Fi play. But that's not all, folks. Fire Emblem features full voice chat when playing online or via local wireless. You can loan out your units to other players via Wi-Fi and when you get them back, they'll retain all of the EXP, etc. gained while your friends have been using them. There's also a Wi-Fi store with a constantly changing inventory. And that's that for Fire Emblem.

1:08PM: Focus now shifts to Pokemon Ranger. Cammie's going over all of the info we've already heard. EA's Henry Hatsworth is on-screen now and everyone in the room suddenly perked up! Mario & Luigi RPG 3 confirmed for 2009 though there's no "working title" visible. We're seeing video of Bowser being controlled as a playable character. He sucks - literally, he has a sucking power.

1:10PM: Uh-oh! Cammie has two more announcements. First is the Wii Speak Channel, which uses the Wii Microphone. Up to four people can chat together. Microphone comes with a coupon to download the channel. And Club Nintendo is coming to the US (YES!)! "We know that there have been lots of people in the US that have been lusting after these products for a long time." Just like in Japan, consumers will be able to collect points by purchasing Nintendo products and then trade them in for goodies. It's coming to the States "by the end of the year."

1:12PM: And, with that, the briefing is over. But wow, Club Nintendo - finally! We're off to get more info, folks.

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Liveblog from Nintendo's 2008 E3 Developer Roundtable

Kyle Orland — 2008-07-16T22:31:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

We've heard rumblings that something big might be announced at this post-press conference event, but it's far from a sure thing. Keep it here.

5:44 PM PDT There are roughly 100 members of the press gathered on the green plush seats of the L.A. Convention Center's Theater 411. No music in the background this time, just the low chatter of dozens and dozens of journalists.

5:49 A few latecomers are straggling in, but it looks like it will be far from a capacity crowd. About half the seats are empty.

5:54 The lack of background music is a little disturbing. We find ourselves humming Bill Joel's "No Man's Land" under our breaths for no apparent reason ...

5:55 On stage there are two large LCDs, four Wiis, four chairs, a bunch of Remotes and Nunchuks, a drum stool, and a Balance Board. Begin the rampant speculation!

5:58 Comment of the moment: "pleasebekidicaruspleasebekidicaruspleasebekidicaruspleasebekidicarus..."

6:01 Eric Walter with Nintendo PR welcomes us. Photos are OK, no video allowed, and audio for note-taking purposes only. Journalism geekery over.

6:02 Bill Trinnen from the Nintendo treehouse comes to the stage. They're presenting the three key titles of E3: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music. The producer on all three is Mr. Tasia Yeguchi, or something spelled similarly.

6:04 "As you can see, my name is not Shigeru Miyamoto," says Yeguchi. This gets a smattering of laughs.

6:05 The translator will also be playing th game. He apologizes for any mistakes in translating caused by his play, and vice versa. More lulz.

6:07 Yeguchi's going to focus on the new stuff that's not in the old Animal Crossings. One event that's coming backfrom the Gamecube version is Halloween, and Jingle, the reinder that comes during the holidays. Two new events as well: A visitor that hides painted eggs, and a "Carnival." Have they been taking notes from Take Two's Carnival Games?

6:09 Furntiure and wallpaper and such will be updated through WiiConnect24. On screen, our toe-headed character walks around another new feature: the city! There's a salon for hairstyles and whatnot, an auction house, a fashion store, the "Happy Room Academy Office." and a theatre where you can catch a comedy show.

6:10 The city is like a shared space where friends can visit, even when you're not there. YOu can interact indirectly. That's SO much better than interacting directly, don'tcha think?

6:12 Yeguchi is talking up the new WiiSpeak feature, as shown at the media briefing. It's a conversation from various locations "as if they were in the same room." Because it sits on the TV, you can have group conversations, which is different that what you get with a traditional headset mike. TAKE THAT, MICROSOFT!

6:14 Diving into the "enhanced user creativity." This time you can edit not just the front of your shirt, but also the back and each sleeve. OMG MEGATON! Seriously, editing with the Wii Remote looks pretty neat.

6:15 On screen, Mabel asks if we think our design "Loud! Proud!" or "Simple, subtle." The other animals in the town will give feedback based on this decision.

6:17 You can save screenshots to SD cards, for easy transfer to a PC or to other Wii owners through the Wii Message Board. Nice that you can bypass the on-board storage totally, we suppose.

6:18 Q&A time. In WIld World, if one player left a town, everyone was disconnected. This time around there's the same system, and so the same problem. But this time around you can do more stuff together, like take in a show and such. Still, Yeguchi is sorry for not fixing the problem.

6:21 You can port your characters and items from the DS to the Wii! If you don't have Wi-Fi in the house, you can move the character to the DS, and move the character to your friend's Wii physically, using the DS. It's like a wireless flash drive!

6:23 In Japan, those without Wi-Fi can download the new furniture and such in certain real-world locations, then upload them to their Wii. They're hoping to recreate this in America too. We suppose 7-11 should be hearing something about this soon?

6:26 Will the NES games be returning? Maybe Virtual Console titles, playable with friends online? The answer is ... no. They want people to stay in the Animal Crossing world ... if you want Virtual Console games, please play them on the Virtual Console, Yeguchi says. FINE! We didn't want to play Virtual Console games in Animal Crossing ANYWAY! *sniff*

6:31 They thought about interconnecting with the Forecast Channel, but they were worried that some regions would be too rainy/not rainy enough, leading to too rainy/not rainy enough Animal Crossing cities. The game relies on seasonal changes, so they figured it would be better to keep the seasons consistent in the game. Seasons are still inverted for those in the southern hemisphere. We didn't even know this was a problem!

6:33 Moving on to Wii Sports Resort. Wii Sports contained typical, serious sports. With Resort, they changed it up with a tropical island setting and make the game "filled with some sports and lesisure activities that refelct the nature of the locale." Sounds good to us, but swordfighting on the beach? Really?

6:34 JC from the Nitnendo Treehouse (not Fletcher) shows off how the movement of the Remote correspond to movement of the Frisbee in the Mii's hand. Looks very precise and relatively lag free, from our vantage point. JC gets some mild applause for a decent throw.

6:36 JC tries a forehand throw that goes way off. Just like in the real world, you might be able to throw it, but not very well, Yeguchi says. Some developers at NCL have gotten a perfect score.

6:37 The audience is getting into it a bit. "Get it... yay!" It is rather endearing.

6:39 On to waterskiing, which uses the Remote and Nunchuck, leaning back and forth to navigate through hoops in the water. Twisting the Remote works the throttle for a speed boost. Without Wii Motion Plus, this would not be possible. The audience groans sympathetically as JC crashes into a bouy and his Mii falls into the water.

6:42 On to swordfighting, JC points at the screen to calibrate the Remote and takes some practice swings at pieces of wood. Other games on the Wii had sword fighting, but none of them could recreate this realistic motion, says Yeguchi. We have to agree ... just thinking of Red Steel's sword controls still gives us nightmares.

6:43 It's not just about swinging... the B button can be used to block. You can't win just by wildly flailing around, says Yeugchi. You have to watch the opponent, block, and then attack when the opponent has left themself open. Reminds us of the stick-and-move style of Punch-Out, a bit.

6:46 Q&A time. Someone asks if third party developers had access to WiiMotionPlus before today. Yeguchi doesn't know. Someone else asks about what kind of tech is actually in the WiiMotionPlus, and whether Yeguchi is worried that everyone needs one to play. WiiMotionPlus measures angles of rotation, and adds that to the accelerometer data from the Remote itself.

6:49 As for multiplayer, they hope you'll purchase more WiiMotionPlus units, but there are pass-the-remote games, like Bowling in Wii Sports, so multiple WiiMotionPlus accesories aren't always needed.

6:52 Yeguchi can't say exactly how many mini-games will be in the final game, but he'd "like to have ten." We'd like to have a million dollars, but ...

6:54 Is this an admission the Wii Remote isn't good enough? When they were working on Wii Sports, Yeguchi says, they always wanted more, but they realized they could create a fantastic product with what they had. Or, as Donald Rumsfeld might say, You go to launch with the Wii Remote you have, not the Wii Remote you might wish you had.

6:58 Is WiiMotionPlus going to become the deafult Wii control scheme sometime in the future? Perhaps WiiMotionPlus will be built in to the Remote? Yeguchi says they're always looking into things like these, but there's no definite answer for today.

6:59 Is WiiMotionPlus too sensitive? Is it going to make the games too hard for some? Yeguchi says developers could, for instance, track the head of the racquet in Tennis for real topspin and backspin. The developers then have to ask themselves, "Is this easy to play? Just because iit's realistic, is this somethingwe want to do?" Nintendo always tries to keep a balance between too hard and too soft, with a low difficulty hurdle at the beginning and depth later on to keep everyone happy.

7:02 Shigeru Miyamoto comes on stage to demo Wii Music. He's clad in a retro Super Mario World undershirt, a stylish black cowboy shirt, black jeans and brown cowboy boots.

7:04 Miyamoto briefly goes over the basics that he discussed at the press conference: Other rhythm games require precise matching of notes, but they were trying for something different.

7:06 Miyamoto plays guitar, but he says he's terrified of playing in front of other people, because he's scared of missing notes and making a bad noise. In jazz, however, they do rapid play, and "I'm sure they make plenty of mistakes. In the end, it's not a mistake, it's an ad lib." Light laughter from the audience. Oh Miyamoto. You ham.

7:07 Miyamoto chooses Yankee Doodle, a "perfect song for an American audience." The hamminess continues!

7:08 The demo has "only" 26 of the 60+ instruments that will be in the final game. when 26 insturments gets an "only," that's pretty impressive, from where we're sitting.

7:10 Miyamoto plays one guitar rendition that sounds just like the real song, then another that is a total mess of random notes and steel drum notes. I t sounds surprisingly still OK, in its way. Quickly on to the vibraphone, and harpisichord. It sounds likea real harpsichord, all right! The tinny toy piano gets lots of laughs.

7:11 The vocal track sounds like K.K. Rider from Animal Crossing. The dog suit reminds us of those AWFUL christmas albums composed totally of dogs barking. ARGH!

7:12 Miyamoto and the translator do some rapid fire back and forth on the mouth harp and the harpsichord. They're still on the music selection screen. This isn't even the real game yet!

7:14 JC comes up for a three-player jam on the original Super Mario Bros. theme. Miyamoto gets some laughs with the beat box character on melody. His "Whoo!" sounds just like Michael Jackson. Miyamoto asks us to notice how they don't have to watch the screen as they play. TAKE THAT, OTHER RHYTHM GAMES!

7:15 You can change the arrangement, the tempo, and record it all to a music video to share with your friends on WiiConnect24. Some 5-8 year old children of the development staff came in to try the game. "Children of that age could not pull themselves away from this gam," says Miyamoto. They also can't drag themselves away from Barney the Dinosaur...

7:17 Miyamoto thinks that half of an elementary school music class could be dvoted to this. Mothers can also jump in to the game easily. And those in between, we wonder?

7:19 Aaron Rosenbeck comes up to show off the separate drumming mode. Using the buttons and the Nunchuk/Remote and the Wii Balance board, he can control a nine-piece drum set. He's definitely an experienced Wii drummer, effortlessly putting together nice set.

7:20 There will be a lesson structure built in to the game that Miyamoto says can teah anyone how to play the drums "in a few weeks." He hopes we'll get more drummers and a lot more kids interested in music. Just what we need ... even MORE drummers joining the Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Rock Revolution army of drummers.

7:24 Q & A time. Someone asks if the drum mode is an extension of the similar mode in the Japanese game Rhythm Tengoku. "To be honest, it's not so related at all." It was created specifically with the Wii in mind.

7:26 The 50 songs in the game will include a wide variety of public domain songs, but also licensed music, says Miyamoto. They're "not really thinking" about digital distribution of song downloads, instead focusing on using WiiConnect24 to share music videos.

7:29 Someone has the temerity to ask if this is really more of a musical toy than a game. HOW DARE HE! Miyamoto says the questioner is right, and "that's why it's more interesting than a video game." The audience laughs and applauds at this verbal bitchslap.

7:31 Staff from Wave Race 64 are working on the waterskiing game from Wii Sports Resort. Yeguchi was the director of that game. The team is going to create a game that "surpasses Wave Race," according to Yeguchi. Miyamoto adds that it will "exceed Wave Race in depth." Bold words.

7:37 Miyamoto and Yeguchi address a question about "core gamers" and whether or not these games will appeal to them. In a nutshell, they respond that they hope anyone will enjoy these games, and that a "core gamer" is someone that enjoys games, regardless of genre, as long as they're good.

7:38 In response to a question about whether or not a new Pikmin is in the works, Miyamoto says he'll announced the new game when he's ready. Apparently he's ready now. "We're making Pikmin," the translator says. OMG MEGATONZ! Huge applause from the audience.

7:40 Motion plus offers no new functionality for new games. And with that, the event is over. Trinnen says he hopes we found it illuminating. Well, there was that Pikmin thing, we guess ...

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Joystiq live at Konami E308 press conference

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-07-16T18:20:00+00:00

Filed under: E3

2:39PM PST: As is the standard procedure for attending an E3 press conference, we're currently waiting in line for Konami's E3 2008 event. Keep an eye on this post and brace yourself for unimaginable megatons and/or insipid fizzles!

2:41PM PST: We've taken our seats! Jay Boor, Konami's head PR guy welcomes us. Here we go!

2:43PM: Anthony Crauz, vice-pres of Konami's marketing welcomes us too and expresses his pleasure with the success of Metal Gear Solid 4. "Thank you very much for your support!" He also thanks SCEA for their support in developing the game. The "Gene" expansion is mentioned for Metal Gear Online -- it's coming July 17th complete with new maps and characters.

2:45PM: There's a MGO worldwide tournament planned, beginning in Japan sometime in the future. There's also a tournament planned at the upcoming Comic-Con, so be prepared to polish up those online sneaking skills.

2:46PM: Rock Revolution will be the official video game for Linkin Park's upcoming tour. Other horror news: Silent Hill: Homecoming will be demonstrated "in detail" for us later in the conference. Some "exclusive footage" is promised. Yay! Also, EEK!

2:48PM: Koji Igarashi is up next, here to show some highlights of Castlevania Judgment and the DS' Order of Ecclesia.

2:49PM: The Castlevania producers marhces onto the stage and introduces himself. He says he's a little nervous -- we would be too if we had to explain the reasoning behind Judgment. First up, a trailer of Order of Ecclessia. Commence the 2D Castlevania goodness.

2:51PM: We see the game's stylish heroine casting spells and generally inflicting pain on every one of Dracula's dimwitted denizens. The game's sprites are impressively large, especially the screen-filling bosses.

2:53PM: "This is the third DS Castlevania game, I hope you enjoy it." Next up, the "very different" Castlevania game, Judgment. "I like to consider it a 3D versus action game." Let's watch the trailer.

2:54PM: We see Alucard pummeling Maria in a gothic locale, followed by a glimpse of Dracula and Simon flinging magical attacks at each other. Airborne combos, over-the-top special attacks and -- of course -- whip attacks are all accounted for in the clip. It's out in Fall 2008, says a spooky voice.

2:56PM: Plot details -- because we so desperately wanted them -- are being shared. Essentially, Dracula's being a jerk and is messing with the series' timeline. Time travel: the best way to bring all those characters together. 14 playable characters are promised. We'll hear more about the unrevealed characters later.

2:58PM: It's Simon vs. Alucard (psst, it's "Dracula" backwards!) in a real-time demonstration. The Wii remote is used for the main attacks in the game -- shake for basic whippage. While Igarashi explains, we quietly hum the stage's theme music. Igarashi notes that holding down the B-button and swinging, it'll initiate a stronger attack. Use combinations of both waggle-tacks to create combos. There are also sub-weapons available, a Castlevania staple.

3:01PM: "Based on whether you're moving or standing still, you'll do different attacks." Objects can be destroyed for hearts, of course, since Dracula still hasn't gotten off that habit of hiding precious items within his fancy candles and chandeliers. You can also grab the candlesticks and use them as weapons.

3:03PM: Igarashi next demonstrates a special attack, in which Simon knock Alucard into the air and slashes him multiple times for a K.O.. In certain environment, non-playable characters may be present and affect the outcome of the battle, adds Igarashi. "I understand the gameplay is very different from what Castlevania fans are used to ... but I hope that you will all try it when it comes out."

3:05PM: Jason Allen takes the stage to introduce a short trailer for Silent Hill: Homecoming.

3:06PM: "Josh! Josh! Don't let me fall!" The protagonist wakes up from a nightmare and is quickly thrust into a scary, flashy montage of grimy environments. We're honestly a little creeped out. "Find me, and everything changes," says a gravelly female voice.

3:08PM: Jason is talking us through a demo of the game. We're in a hotel -- and fans of Silent Hill should realize that this is rarely a good thing. The camera is no longer fixed and closely follows Alex as he moves around the room. Physics are here too, with a chair shifting as Alex shoots it. Stop wasting your ammo, dude!

3:10PM: We're going into the Atrium. It doesn't look safe. Suddenly, the Silent Hill siren starts blaring, and the entire world dissolves and rusts in front of our eyes. Welcome to Dark Silent Hill. Alex, wielding an axe, slowly walks into the darkness. A suspicious-looking man stands in the center of the area, promping the appearance of a dialogue tree.

3:12PM: Jason explains that the developer wanted transition between controllable dialogue and cutscenes to be as seamless as possible. "You shouldn't have come back, Alex," warns the man. We agree with suspicious standing-in-the-atrium-man.

3:14PM: A giant, leathery monster descends from the ceiling and initiates a boss battle. Jason just pointed out the "hanging meat sacks" surrounding Alex. Eww. The boss creature isn't pleased when you attack these sacks, so that's our strategy. The lighting is fairly impressive, but we wish they'd turn up the volume for us to appreciate Akira Yamaoka's sound design. Alex takes out the meat sacks and -- oh! The monster just grabbed him. Pound the A button to escape! Have a health drink!

3:16PM: "That's just one of the boss battles we have," says Jason before departing. Lauren Facadomo arrives to sing the praises of Rock Revolution. Sing the praises. See what we did there? HEAR what we did there? Oh, forget it. The Sheenas -- a Los Angeles band, apparently -- are here to play a song on Rock Revolution. They're... loud.

3:19PM: Our limited music knowledge tells us we're listening to a Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." Hey ho, let's go! Tempting... but we'll stick around a little bit longer.

3:20PM: Applause! Let's get rid of those silly "real" instruments and whip out those plastic peripherals. Blitzkrieg Bop, round 2. Lauren's jamming the guitar and another guy is drumming through the scrolling note chart. This isn't nearly as exciting to watch. Bring back the real band, please! Oh, and they just failed the song. "That was my fault," says Lauren.

3:23PM: That's it? The crowd is still sitting in stunned, confused silence. Is this a trick?

3:24PM: People are starting to leave. There's got to be something else, right?

3:26PM: Still here.

3:27PM: People are taking pictures with Mr. Igarashi, who just pulled out a whip.

3:28PM: Okay, so that really was it. Bye then.

3:30PM: We came back.And it's still over.

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Joystiq live at E3 2008 Take-Two press conference

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-07-16T13:50:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

10:44 am PT: Just chilling as the press-type folk move on in. Linkin Park is playing,

10:46 am: Strauss takes the stage10:50 am: Strauss takes the stage and isn't saying much. He's happy with the way the year went.

10:51 am: Ben Fedder tells us that BioShock is the most anticipated game of E3. Wait, what year is this? Ohhh, for PS3. Really, most anticpated?

10:52 am: Video time. Showing off a bunch of games we know like Don King Prizefighter, MLB 2K8, The Bigs, Top Spin 3.

10:53 am: Fedder says they're going to show off NHL 2k9 and NBA 2K9. Now Jeff Thomas, a VP of 2K Sports is going to take the stage.

10:55 am: Thomas says that NHL 2K9 is "all about fun." He says you can drive the Zamboni. The game will allow players to use the Wiimote as a hockey stick.

10:57 am: NHL 2K9 looks fine. It's the type of "family fun" the company wants to deliver. Here comes NBA 2K9.

10:59 am: Oh, we just learned that "if you know anything about sports games, you know 2K!" That's a nice note. Let me write that down. Did you know that?

11:00 am: NBA 2k9 for Xbox 360 is being shown. It's actually really good looking. There's a lot of stuff going on. Cheerleaders flipping, crowd reaction, announcers. It's sponsored by Gatorade. Crowd got real quiet when they scored, the reactions are neat.

11:03 am: Fedder comes back out and says Carnival Games has sold 1.5 million copies. 2K Play, the family focused brand gets its time. Carnival Games is being pimped hard core. Now we're being shown a Carnival Games commercial -- make it stop! Carnival Games Mini-Golf will be out this fall for the Wii.

11:06 am: Carnival Games Mini-Golf looks like the same quality as Carnival Games but in a mini-golf setting. So the 1.5 million people who bought the first game may enjoy it.

11:07 am: ZOMG! Dora the Explorer is coming to the Wii for the first time! AHHHHHHHH! Dora Saves the Snow Princess for Wii and DS.

11:08 am: Fedder is talking 2K Games now. Says Civilization Revolution is doing well and is talking BioShock. Now it's just a video of those games. Some Mafia 2 images. Champions Online.

11:11 am: Champions Online is getting a seperate trailer right now to show 2K's commitment to quality games and their move into the MMO market. The game is still expected next spring for Xbox 360 and PC. The images look lik a new version of the City of Heroes/Villian games.

11:13 am: Melissa Myer Miller, a producer, is going to talk BioShock PS3. She's saying that they wanted the PS3 version to be good and now she's talking about the PS3 DLC we wrote about yesterday. She's talking about the "challenge rooms" but not saying anything new.

11:16 am: Fedder returns to introduce Gearbox and Borderlands. Now comes Randy from Gearbox.

11:17 am: Randy is "really excited" to be here. They're showing off the same scenario we saw yesterday in an appointment session. Let's see if they do the same presentation script???

11:19 am: Not the same script. The characters are being attacked by "scags," which are like nasty dogs. The characters are searching throw scag leftovers for loot. Yeah, now they're showing off that the game has a half-million weapons with various alterations to them. Borderlands looks good for being pre-alpha. The game is an FPS RPG.

11:25 am: Wow, these guys are getting a lot of time for this demo. Now showing off an acid gun, throwing grenades. Randy says the game is different every time they play this demo. That appears to be true from what we're seeing. Guy just got shot with a shotgun and exploded, the audience seemed a bit shocked.

11:29 am: Rockstar time. Fedder reitterates announcement of GTA: Chinatown Wars. Video clip plays showing Bully, LA Noire, Midnight Club LA.

11:31 am: Playing a extended clip of Midnight Club: LA

11:32 am: Strauss is back! Hey, Strauss. He's thanking people who helped set up this press conference. Oh no, this is looking like the end. He says the company doesn't want to talk about vaporware, he wants games they can show. Yup ... that's it. *yawn*

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Capcom's E3 2008 press conference liveblogging

Kyle Orland — 2008-07-15T19:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, E3

It feels like we just left, but we're back again in LACC room 403 to bring you the latest announcements from Capcom as they happen. Keep it here.

4:55 PM Pacific The press flows in amid a ridiculously loud and thumping, yet low-key bass beat. The seating area doesn't seem nearly as crowded as the UbiSoft conference. Must be all those journalists covering the tween girl market ...

4:57 Diving right in with Lost Planet, the movie. Seems the event is going to be focused on this new theatrical project. Cause who cares about the games, really...

5:00 A trailer of cut scenes and action shots form the game commences, complete with Metal Gear Solid style sweeping music and giant robot footfalls. Lots of explosions ... you know the drill if you've played the game.

5:01 Arad Productions Chairman Avi Arad, Screenwriter David Hayter, Ari Arad, Head of R&D for Capcom Keaiji Inafune, Capcom CEO Haruhito Sukamoto, Seaside CEO Steven Paul and Tetsu Fujimora all come out and take their place at the table.

5:02 Avi Arad talks about the game's focus on the energy crisis and dealing with global warming. "This game has every element that makes a good movie." He even likes the name! "Lost Planet feels like an instant classic." Maybe he's thinking of Forbidden Planet?

5:05 Arad goes on about being lucky to be partnered with Warner Bros., but stresses the vision of Capcom becoming an "all-around" entertainment company is also important. "This amazing content being brought to the world by game designers is uniquely suited to be exploited further ..." Exploited is a good choice of words, we guess.

5:06 Arad mentions screenwriter David Hayter as the voice of Snake. "Different company ... but that's OK." Lulz! "David was alway the guy to go to to break the story, to bring in another level of imagination."

5:08 Arad is still talking ... where's the guy off stage with that big hook?

5:09 Arad finally says something interesting (if I heard him right): they're "aiming for 2/11" for the release of the movie. Because February is when all the blockbusters come out ... [Update: I clarified with him Aram after the conference that he meant they're "aiming for 2011," not aiming for Feb. 11. This makes much more sense...]

5:10 David Hayter talks about what he looks for "This game makes a real statement about where we are in the world with our dwindling energy supplies...." Then he makes a joke about some guy's camera. Um...

5:12 Hayter talks of his love for John Carpenter's The Thing and the similarities to Lost Planet. He throws us off to Ari Arad, the president of the production company.

5:13 The younger Arad quickly hands it off to Inafune, who speaks in rapid-fire Japanese. The translator says he originally "set out to create a game that would turn into a Hollywood movie." How conveeeenient.

5:15 Immense vistas, a love story (full of intrigue) and "massive robots" were all key to making a product "that could become a successful movie," according to Inafune. He gets a laugh when he notes that Japanese film has a lot more giant robots than Hollywood.

5:18 Inafune on Arad: "I feel that he is the person that really understands this game and what we were trying to do with this game the most. ... to have someone like him understand what we were trying to do was wonderful."

5:20 Inafune is delighted to be working with Hayter as well. He understands games and understands movies and speaks Japanese and can melt steel with his laser beam eyes (we may have added that last part).

5:21 "Of course the movie is not finished yet, but I feel like I have realized one of my personal dreams in making this movie." Do all game designers these days secretly want to work in movies?

5:22 Seaside Productions' Steven Paul is up next, talking about the game's extraordinary look, grand scale and such. These guys are all starting to repeat themselves a bit...

5:24 Testu Fujimura, CEO of a new company, Philosophia, is "the matchmaker" according to Paul. He works through the differences in business and culture when East meets West. He laments that Hollywood doesn't pay enough attention to Japanese properties, historically, but is encouraged that this seems to be changing these days. "Lost Planet is obviously the biggest film adaptation from a Japanese game ever!"

5:27 Capcom CEO Sakamoto talks about the company's previous film adaptations of Street Fighter and Resident Evil. "We've had success with both of those..." Really? Even Street Fighter? Have you checked Rotten Tomatoes lately, Sakamoto-san?

5:28 Arad productions' experience with converting comic books to movies (Spider-Man) should come in handy, according to Sakamoto. "We aim to make Lost Planet int oa truly successful movie, so we hope you are looking forward to it."

5:30 And just like that it's over. We have to say, this is not what we were expecting from this conference, but it was at least somewhat illuminating. One thing's for sure ... Capcom's not doing this one half-assed.

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Engadget & Joystiq live from Sony's E3 2008 keynote

Christopher Grant — 2008-07-15T16:07:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, E3

10:23 am PT: We're en route to Sony now, stay tuned! In the meantime, have you prepped your bingo card? We haven't won yet this week.

11:11: We're waiting outside the entrance. Tons of people in front of the entrance to the show. Veronica Belmont is getting tons of fan response for Qore. People are taking pictures with her.

11:25: We've just taken our seats at Sony's conference in front of what could only be described as a wall of screens: 7 main screens and roughly 64 smaller screens. OMG, Vaio LCD's everywhere. You'd think this was a Sony event.

Estranged Big Three execs Phil Harrison and Peter Moore spotted in the wild.

There's a couple players up front playing, from left to right: MGS4, PixelJunjk Eden, GT5: Prologue, SOCOM, Echochrome, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Number of smiling old people: 0. The players are most definitely not smiling.

11:29: SOCOM is looking fun. Lots of players on screen. Of course, the dude playing MGS4 has been staring at a cutscene since the moment we walked in.

11:32: Just chatted with Xbox's Aaron Greenberg - he's been following our liveblogs from his phone, so now he's totally reading this and thinking, "Whoa, meta."

11:37: Triangles, squares, and circles galore. We're at the right place apparently. FYIL It's 68 panels, not 64. Shots os last year's games: Uncharted, Haze... A video montage of some of PS3's biggest games - already out and upcoming. We're seeing Uncharted, Resident Evil 5, Little Big Planet, Buzz, MGS4, SOCOM, Resistance, Killzone 2. Not all PS3 games either - PSP and PS2 are making an appearance. It's the PlayStation "family" of products afterall, remember? They just showed off a shot of Bioshock, too!

11:39: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jack Tretton. "Thanks for coming out everybody. I can't tell you how much fun we've had over the past several months putting together this press conference. The truth is: this is the most stressful event you can imagine. It's taken two years off of my life."

11:40: He's recounting all the famous events that happened on this stage. Tretton isn't bad as a stand-up comedy act. He recounts Jack Palance's one handed push-up: "And thanks to my job and my bi-annual workout regiment, you're not likely to see that here. But Jack Pallance is dead and I'm still here ..." -- *groans* -- "2008 is the year of the PS3, but as great as 2008 is, we're just getting started."

11:41: Says PlayStation is hitting its stride, finally. Just getting started. Just begun. Sounds like a bit of an excuse for the past couple years, eh? The seeds of the PlayStation brand were laid nearly 15 years ago this week

11:43: Says Tretton: "From the very beginning our customers came to expect something very different from us. What really made SCE different from the very beginning is we took a longer look ahead. When most companies were looking at a 3 to 5 year lifecycle, we were on a 10 year. Really hitting hard on the long product lifecycle thing, saying their consoles have at least a 10-year lifecycle. In other words: "Thanks for waiting."

11:44: GTA: SA came along in year 4. Shadow of the colossus in year 5, God of War 2 in year 7. Interesting that they mentioned Ico along with FFX and GTA. Not exactly a big seller (although it's one of our favorite games ever). IBM is actually using the CEll processor to power its newest supercomputer. He's mentioning FOlding@home numbers.

11:46: "If we stopped to ask consumers if they needed all this horsepower, they may have said no." He recalls Henry Ford's quote, "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse. Games like MGS4 aren't just exclusive to the PlayStation 3, they're only possible on the PlayStation 3"

11:47: Games like MGS4 on PS3 is a good reminder of what it means to have exclusive content. He says PS3 has more exclusives than any other platform. Wonder if he'll be avoiding Final Fantasy XIII today? Hey, we resemble this remark: Singstar brought about a lot of really bad singing to the PSN!

11:48: "I agree with what CNET and so many others have said in recent months: 2008 is the year of the PS3." Big-ass subwoofers in here at the beginning of Resistance 2. "Here's a look at the third-generation title from Insomniac games on the PlayStation 3: Resistance 2." Wow. Okay, yeah, that's one big boss. Seriously, this thing makes the Collossi in SotC look like puppy dogs

11:52: Demo end. *applause* Ted price from Insomniac on stage. "In 1951 we lost Chicago, millions never made it out. ... now Chicago is enemy territory." 350ft tall Chimera called Leviathan. "resistance 2 is a story of a country under siege, broken by a superior foe."

11:53: Okay, he's essentially reading us the game box back, but that's cool because he just told us about 8-player online co-op. "resistance 2 also breaks new ground with it's 8-player online co-op and 60 player online multiplayer ... While many games talk about scale, resistance 2 truly delivers." Scale, scale scale: This game is big, epic, etc. "resistance 2 offers more than any shooter in 2008 ... I'm Ted Price, president and CEO of insomniac games, and this is resistance 2." *cue the trailer*

11:54: The game is definitely more colorful than its predecessor. Less gray, more bright colors. Think 1950's America.

11:56: It has a definitely arc-deco feel. A bit like Bioshock but less...wet. Jack's back! "It's set to redefine the online experience" Ah here comes little big planet!

11:57: littlebig planet isn't just a new game, it's a whole new experience. It's the first time User Generated Content and social networking and gaming have come together. It's uniquely PlayStation. The motto "play, create, share" is all about user-generated content, social networking, and gaming. He's going after the non-gamer here, saying you can play it with your six year-old daughter.

11:58: Alex Evans, Media Molecule on stage. "Just think, if LBP can help me make E3 more "interesting, just think of what" it can do for gamers. Oh man, Sack Boy is taunting LA with his Celtics uniform! This is cute: they created their sales presentation as a LBP level! (Rather than a powerpoint)

12:00: Best. Presentation. Ever. Okay this is disgustingly cute. Perhaps some distraction from the stats, but we're digging it. He's breaking down the sales numbers - it's still pretty dry, but we can't fault him for the presentation. "Starting in 2008, we'll engage in distribution in Latin America as well" PS3s and red peppers falling into a train on its way to Latin America!

12:01: "Since 1995, PlayStation has generated more than $50b at retail" best SP3 games will be available at $29.99 retail Resistance, MotorStorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, NFS: Carbon, RSV, and Assassin's Creed; Oblivion: Elder Scrolls, and Ninja Gaiden

12:02: "So Alex, what is the target consumer for LBP?" Sack boy gets into a truck that says "Little Big Planet" coming October 2008. Too cute. We're barfing in cute juice here. Alex: "I think it appeals to a wide range of people."

12:03: Jack: "Absolutely unlimited potential" "Great way to expand our PS3 user base beyond males and core gamers" Let's talk about PlayStation 2. (okay, let's!) "In many ways the success of PS2 has allowed us to be more aggressive" with PS3. In 2008 we're introducing more than 130 titles to PlayStation 2. Interesting that Sony is the only company here still talking about last-gen hardware, though.

12:05: Here's a sample of those titles: Yakuza 2, Force Unleashed, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods, Warriors Orochi 2, Singstar Pop vol. 2, Madden, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. "The PS2, at $129, is a great entry into the phenomena of social gaming - ideal for playing with family and friends. "

12:06: The PS2 will not only come with Lego Batman the video game but animated movie Justice League for $149. So looks like Sony is all about "being connected". Talking about PSN now.

12:09: Starting this Fall, all PlayStation users will have a single sign-on. He's talking PC, PS3, etc. "They want us to work to make PSN the best gaming experience in the industry." Sweet - all PSN members will have a single sign-on (SSO), but we gotta wonder if those aliases will carry into games -- do we still need a separate name for MGS4? Resistance? Separate friends lists? Do tell!

12:11: Tretton's PSN name is DoctorGrip120? Add him! He's talking PlayStation Store update. "Just last month we had more than 20m pieces of content download, now at 180m pieces downloaded (since Nov. 2006) I'd like to introduce you all to Ratchet and Clank Future, Quest for Booty. QFB is a new concept -- it's a shorter game at a lower price." Shorter, cheaper... just an expansion, in other words?

12:13: "Quest for Booty is a continuation of R&C Future" Ah, we get to find out what happened to Clank after he was taken away from us at the end of Future. Light and dark gameplay, answers about Clank's mysterious disappearance. "Great introduction into what R&C is all about" Wait... is this the Insomniac briefing or Sony briefing? This summer, for $14.99 You don't always have to choose between quality and quantity, you can have both (re: PSN games) ZING!

12:14: "I'd like to show you what I mean" FAT Princess looks like a funny PSN downloadable game. Titles: R&C: QFB, Crash Commando, Fat Princess (this looks like Castle Crashers!), PixelJunk Eden (of course), Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse (ZOMBIES!), RagDoll KungFu: Fists of Plastic (Media Molecule!) (some breakouts on some of those)

12:17: "Great entertainment for about the cost of a movie ticket." Depends on where you live, we guess. Polyphony Digital and GTTV. 'pay-per-view distribution" of automotive shows "footage from racing events around the world" So GT's producer is basically doing a TV show now for PSN. Which, if you're into cars, is cool. Watch Yamamachi (spelling?) go around the world and check out dope cars

12:20: We can't help but think he should be working on GT on PSP, no? Content will be available starting August 1
"just one more example of original programming on PlayStation Network. gamers today are in it for the community experience" Here come trophies... "This brings us to PlayStation Home"

12:22: I absolutely assure you that when Home is available through out Public Beta," absolutely worth it He's thanking us for being patient. Game-specific spaces, like Uncharted and Warhawk, available to check out here. Non-gaming partners like Nike. Resistance space has Chimera in tanks -- gross! Looks like game-themed rooms are coming to Home - we just saw a Resistance-themed room with Chimera on display in tubes.

12:23: Very pleased to unveil the movie/tv download service "This isn't just about Sony content" "PSN's video delivery service is open for business for all studios" Sony, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner, Funimation.

Standard and High-def rental and sell-through TV starts at $1.99. offering both rental and sales. 9.99-14.99 for purchases, 2.99 to 3.99 for rentals, "this content is portable" download on PS3, bring on PSP "put on multiple devices at the same time" Eric Lempel is taking the stage to walk us through it.

12:26: He's got his hotmail address on the screen -- we're totally going to email him later. New tab in the PlayStation store that says video. it should be familiar to anyone using the PlayStation store today. There's a lot more room for movie studios, wink wink. "also, screen changes to give you a nice branded experience for that" studio. SD rental is $2.99 100 minute = 1565 MBs. preview pops-up, and you can full-screen it

12:28: No subtitles, at least for the movie being shown. incorporated progressive downloads so a user can watch a minute after starting the download. You can sort by genre. Cloverfield, HD rental is $5.99. SD purchase is $14.99 (which is the limit -- no HD purchases?) You can get all the same content on the PC PlayStation Store, and sync to PSP

12:30: "You can also use video-out feature to share with others. The interface is very slick, a definite improvement over the Xbox Live Marketplace." Whoah, movies coming tonight! Party in our room, bring the popcorn! "The video store will be available tonight!"

12:31: Let's talk a little bit more about PSP Last year we introduced the PSP Slim and sales shot through the roof. This fall we'll be introducing a new entertainment pack -- starting in October they're offering R&C Size Matters with a silver PSP, 1GB Memory Stick, National Treasure 2, and a voucher for Echochrome all for $199

12:33: Here to introduce a new title for PSP. Resistance Retribution. Nathan Hale coming to PSP, OMGWTFBBQ. Third person shooter. Spring 2009 release. "we've had great success with games for PSP and we're only going to improve on that trend."

12:36: Highlights for PSP over the next year: Star Wars, Madden, LocoRoco, NBA, a new Lego franchise, Patapon 2, Buzz quiz game with ad-hoc play

12:38: We've always felt the PSP is the key to Sony owning the living room. This is every bit the hybrid device that we've always imagined. People continue to move from their office to their living room, and now that people can download movies through the PS3, this is the reality that we're building between the PSP and the PSN. With titles everyone wants to watch and play, we're proud to be leading the charge to the living room. Now let's get back to the PS3.

12:41: Developers like working with us because we've embraced multiplatform. For instance, Google likes working with us. If you hit a homerun in MLB The Show, you can save that video to Google and have it voted on by the community. As Kaz Hirae announced in Tokyo, we're geared up to allow people to see live news, weather, and webcam feeds via Life with PlayStation, which will be available by the end of the month.

12:43: Last April we announced that Sony Online joined us, and we welcome them today. Today for the first time ever, we'll show DC Universe online. Proud to introduce Jim Lee, director of DC Universe Online.
He gets on the floor and does a one-handed pushup!! Yeah, big deal, Lee ... we could totally do that too if we wanted to. We've been building this world up from scratch, and I'm actually a bit winded and anxious.

12:44: It's total gang warfare: Microsoft couldn't get Marvel Universe Online out the door, but here's Sony and DC Universe Online. "This is really a dream project for me. When I was a kid, my parents wanted me to become a doctor and follow in my father's footsteps. Meanwhile, I wanted to read comic books, and even started my own comic book like. As far as my other obsession? I remain an avid gamer today -- hooked on MMOs and even started playing Everquest on launch day. I was the first Paladdin to get fire avenger." (People laughing) "No, it sounded cool at the time!" (Laughing turning to applause) Switching back

12:45: Imagine being able to create your own superhero or supervillain in the DV universe and fight alongside help batman take on the joker . Imagine being a villain and helping all the inmates at Arkham Aslyum espace and attack the batcave. (We're hearing "imagine" a lot. We're imagining lunch. But this game looks cool so we'll wait.)

12:46: It's certainly a project that would have made my 12-year old brain explode. This game seriously has every DC star. Craziness Could this be the first good game involving Superman? Tretton is back: Jack: "Great content and one-handed pushups. I've seen it all now ... we continue to work hard to increase the value proposition for consumers"

12:48: Starting in September, the 80GB will have the current functionality of the 40GB PS3, for $399. Whoah. 80GB for $399. So $50 more than the 60GB 360. Interesting. Add an XBL membership to your 360 and they're the same price. (What happens to the 1/2 backwards compatible 80GB now?)

12:49: Montage of folks talking PS3. Thinking about lunch again. We're watching videos of developers being interviewed. Treyarch dev, Tiburon dev, Ubisoft Far Cry 2 dev, Bethesda (Fallout dev), Prince of Persia dev. Fallout 3 developer was saying that the SPUs "eat everything alive" Amazing -- everyone is just talking about how it used to be much tougher, but they're all getting used to it now.

12:52: Ben Mattes says the Blu-ray is way better than the competition. Long term PlayStation 3 development: This all sounds similar to the PS2 development cycle. Dev's hated it and then learned to love the pain. Ironically, though, these are mostly cross-platform games that won't really take advantage of the Cell structure. Jack: "as you can see there's a tremendous amount of support from our development partners" SCE worldwide studios makes a competitive advantage - 23 exclusives, 10 on Blu-ray and 13 on PSN

12:53: They're pumping smoke in here, either to confuse us or make this all seem like a dream. First mention of Killzone 2, which has been suspiciously absent so far. LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, MGS4, Guns of the Patriots, Quantum of Solace, SOCOM Confrontation, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naruto Storm, Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil 5, Singstar, Guitar Hero World Tour, NBA09: The Inside, Buzz Quiz TV, Killzone 2

12:56: I'd like to spend the next few moments to show you what's to come after this holiday season. God of War 3 is coming to PlayStation 3 (SURPRISE!) (Applause for GOW3) Really nice graphics, but a total CGI trailer. No gameplay, all cinematics. Cool?

12:58: We're about to see what Sucker Punch has been up to this whole time with Infamous. With infamous, you roam an open world as a superhero, putting you in a position to ... save or destroy an entire city.

1:00: He can climb, jump, throw dudes, and shoot electricity out of his mitts. So infamous is coming in Spring 2009. This is gonna be a long winter. "You've all seen multiplayer online games, you've all played massively multiplayer games" Jack says even this will push the PS3 hardware.

Andy Beaudoin from Zipper interactive. MAG = Massive Action Game. Zipper building on their experience from SOCOM. Buh. 256-player battles. We certainly hope this handles voice chat well. "MAG will deliver a sweeping battle experience using only real players" 8-player squads. lead by people who are "proven" to be good leaders, character advancement tree to fine-tune your character.

Groundbreaking large scale combat, intimacy of 8-player squad combat, and character growth

1:02: First glimpse video, here we come! This game will either be complete chaos or completely amazing.

1:05: So far just a FMV trailer... Looks like a giant SOCOM, which makes sense... Vehicles? Looks like there may be. Air combat with air drops of reinforcements? (? = we're not sure, but trailer alludes to it) "It's hard to imagine that all of this could have come out of a meeting in a Sony Computer conference room fifteen years ago."

1:06: (Jack is back, touting the 10-year development cycle, wrapping up) "If this is what year 2 of the PS3 lifecycle looks like, imagine what years 3 and beyond will look like."

And..... lights up. Thanks to the people behind us for not shutting up the entire presentation, by the way!

Additional reporting by Joshua Fruhlinger.

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