And E3 unofficially begins...

[Blight]

With the Square Enix press conference. Lots of good stuff here. But they had a really retarded fixation on mobile (as in cell phone) gaming. But F that. Here is the summery from gamespot.

LOS ANGELES--Kicking off a week of potentially explosive gaming announcements is Square Enix's annual pre-E3 press conference, being held this morning at LA's Palladium event venue. With new consoles due out this fall from Sony and Nintendo (and the Xbox 360 already plowing ahead at full steam), excitement here is understandably high about new products the titanic Japanese publisher may announce for next-generation platforms.

A throng of eager journalists assembled outside the Palladium prior to the event. Surprisingly, Metal Gear Solid designer Hideo Kojima made an appearance, eschewing the spotlight and sitting among the regular audience.

The Square Enix press conference.

Following a brief delay, the audience was herded into a fashionably decorated auditorium where the company's most closely held secrets will be revealed. Banners displaying existing properties--from Final Fantasy XII to Dirge of Cerberus--draped the walls, display cases full of statuettes bearing familiar likenesses greeted attendees at the entrance, and a rousing score from many of the company's most popular games.

But even minutes before the show began, no hint of Square Enix's new, next-generation games was yet in evidence.

1:02 pm The conference is starting with a cavalcade of announced products on video--Dawn of Mana, Final Fantasy V and VI for GBA, Rocket Slime (!), some mobile stuff. President Yoichi Wada's now taking the stage, wasting no time talking about the promise of next-gen and telling us they've got some hot secrets for us today. So let's have 'em already!

1:06 COO Daishiro Okada is now on stage discussing the upcoming lineup. Final Fantasy XII will be out October of this year. Finally. Also some mobile stuff. Space Invaders? Elevator Action? Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episodes also on mobile this summer.

1:10 Now we're getting into the meat with a long trailer for Final Fantasy XII, all in English. Sounds like they're sparing no expense on the voice acting for this one--it's all appropriately haughty, in line with the tone of the story.

1:18 More trailers for announced, current-gen stuff like Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and the latest FFXI expansion. Now it's Final Fantasy on mobile--I knew my nerd sense was tingling for a reason.

1:24 Looks like their mobile strategy rages unabated--Dirge is the standout since it's all in 3D. Now we've got Final Fantasy III for DS, billed as "the only Final Fantasy never to reach Western shores." They're urging us to "complete the fantasy" with this 3D remake--fine by me since it looks like the best DS RPG yet.

1:28 Final Fantasies V and VI for GBA--not the biggest news, but near and dear to many hearts for sure. Promised to have new surprises. Now it's Mana time, starting off with the sorta middling Children of. But what's this? Ten years before Children of Mana, a 3D game: Dawn of Mana, of course. More CG than gameplay, but it looks pretty good.

1:32 Once upon a slime! It's Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, which is the most bafflingly adorable name I've ever heard. Apparently, "it's payback slime." So cute, I'm sold. Now Shinji Hashimoto is taking the stage to talk about the utterly unsurprising massive success of the many Final Fantasy VII projects, from Advent Children to Dirge and the mobile games. Hey, and a US date for Dirge: August 22, with new features included.

1:43 Still showing off the Compilation of FFVII stuff, all of which is out here or in Japan. Bring on the next-gen games!

1:49 I spoke too soon: Here's our first real footage of FFVII Crisis Core for the PSP. Stars Zack of Soldier fame, apparently, and there's a ton of Sephiroth in here (down, boys 'n girls). No gameplay footage, only real-time cutscenes, but it looks amazing for a PSP game.

1:51 Here we go--Dragon Quest is coming to the Wii. Some dude is fighting a stone golem in a forest. Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. Launch title for the Wii! No real footage of the game, but still, big news.

1:54 The hits keep on coming--now we have Akitoshi Kawazu, exec. producer of Crystal Chronicles. Two new games from that series: one DS, one Wii. DS game is Ring of Fates, and will have wi-fi multiplayer (duh). Looks a bit more whimsical than the Cube version, same basic sense of style though. They're showing four players at once, like you'd expect. Yay DS!

1:58 And here comes the Wii title. That Final Fantasy theme still makes me all misty-eyed. Wow, these visuals are nice--random shots of CC-style little dudes fighting bombs and other monsters. If any of that was real-time footage of the game, the Wii graphics ought to do us just fine. Hard to say if it was just CG, though. Code name: Chrystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. No major details on the game available yet though.

2:02 Final announcement! For PS3! E3 is so damn exciting sometimes. What is it?!

FINAL FANTASY XIII. FINAL FANTASY XIII. They pulled a serious bait-and-switch on us. Sword-and-gun-wielding heroine who looks like Yuna, flipping her way around a high-tech, futuristic world. No idea what it was until the end when that NAME popped up. Yoshinori Kitase directing! This is the guy behind all the best ones--VI, VIII, VIII, X. Be still my heart.

2:08 Sorry, I jumped the gun--Mr. Kitase was merely presenting. Motomu Toriyama will direct the game. And apparently FFXIII isn't the only game coming out of this universe--there's a, uh, mobile game too. Oh. It's Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

Now it's Fabula Nova Crystallis--"the new tale of the crystal" in Latin. They're big on the Latin today. Whoa, wait, another new game? Another PS3 game?! Final Fantasy Versus XIII? They're emphasizing that in Latin, versus means "to change direction." This is a Tetsuya Nomura game, and he's taking the stage now.

2:17 Nomura is providing more details. The CG movie we just saw, featuring a spiky-haired character (natch) squaring off against machine gun-wielding soldiers, was created by the Advent Children team, but the game itself will be made by the Kingdom Hearts team, and will feature "extreme action elements." He says "bonding" will be the primary theme of the game.

2:20 The conference draws to a close with a comment from Hashimoto that this should demonstrate Square Enix's commitment to next-generation gaming, but that it's "only the beginning." A final movie showcases the name Final Fantasy XIII, as if each new installment in this mega-enormous series is now a franchise unto itself.

Finally, Mr. Wada has retaken the stage. "How did that grab you?" Laughter and applause. Some more commentary on SE's commitment to supporting the next gen. Speaks more about the "synergy between products" being a proven formula with Compilation of FFVII. Looks like they're taking the same tack with FFXIII.

Some more info on FFXIII (can't type fast enough!): The game was begun by the FFX team for PS2, but the team was then derailed to make last year's FFVIII PS3 tech demo. They were so happy with the hardware, they decided to then shift development to the new platform. Apparently the game will run on the "White Engine" and will feature the most technologically advanced civilization ever featured in a Final Fantasy. The storyline will center on "those who resist the world." Yeah, okay.

2:27 The conference is officially over, but E3 (and GameSpot) is just getting started. Stay tuned for screens of all this FFXIII madness, and a lot more. And to think, the actual show is still two days away.

Let me just say, Dragon Quest. For Wii. At launch!!! They also announced FF XIII for PS3.

[Mot_Soldats]

Dragon Quest! Wii!!!!

It's one of the best selling series in Japan right?

[Blight]

Ok, time for Sony's press conference. Let me Just say two things about it. First, the Thing Will be $499 (and euros (sp?)...you guys got fucked) for the 20 Gigabyte version and $599 (once again 599 euros and an even harder screwing) for the 60 gig version. That is HD size btw. So in your face everyone who didn?t believe it would be at least 500 bucks! And two, Sony is fucking weak. What a bunch of hack-ass bastards. You know, I was in favor of a controller change, and they have switched the Dualshock style, but they had to go and try to rip off Nintendo by adding in some last second changes that have limited tilt functions. That's really lame Sony.

LOS ANGELES--At today's pre-E3 conference held at Sony Pictures Studios, two questions that have been on gamers minds were answered. Sony president Kaz Hirai revealed the PlayStation 3's price and launch date. The PS3 will be released in Japan on November 11, and the United States on November 17, 2006. Like the Xbox 360, the PS3 will come in two configurations, one with a 20GB hard drive and one with a 60GB hard drive.

The 20GB will retail for $499 in the US (59800 yen in Japan, 499 euros in Europe), and the 60GB model will retail for $549 (open price in Japan, 599 euros in Europe). Sony expects to ship two million units in its first month of launch, four million by the end of the year, and six million by the end of its fiscal year, which ends in March 31.

Sony's conference got off to a shaky start when it was delayed by almost an hour. Though it was set to begin at 4:00 p.m., Sony president Kaz Hirai didn't even welcome attendees until just after 4:50 p.m. The gaming press milled around the Sony Pictures' lot, waiting for entry into the hangar-sized sound stage. Even industry luminaries like Konami's Hideo Kojima had to wait outside, like everyone else.

4:40pm: Attendees are filing into the auditorium as a DJ spins the Beastie Boys, Michael Jackson, and Sean Paul. A giant screen bears the classic PlayStation logo. Banks of monitors flank the room on either side of the stage.
4:52: Kaz Hirai takes the stage and welcomes the crowd. He mentions Sony's 2005 E3 Conference and the unveiling of the PlayStation 3. "In essence, the real power of the PlayStation 3 rests in the hands of the content creators and ultimately the consumers... PlayStation 3 is the most ambitious project we have ever undertaken in our history."

4:55: Hirai teases some of today's news, but then says it's time to take a look back at Sony's past performance.

4:59: At the 18-month mark, the PSP is the fastest selling console in Sony history. They shipped 47.3 million games as of the end of March. And now they're showing a list of new games for releease by the end of the year. Apr Escape 2. Planet PSP. Killzone Liberation. B-Boy breakdancing game., Loco Roco. Syphon Filter Dark Mirror.World Tour Soccer 2. Talk Man. Gangs of London.


Kaz Hirai addresses the audience.
5:03: The Greatest Hits program is coming to PSP starting with ATV Offroad Fury, Ape Escape: On the Loose, Hot Shots Golf, Twisted Metal, and Wipeout Pure.

5:05:RSS channel, expanded UMD video profile, Voice-over IP, camera and GPS support being added to PSP in future updates. Then they show a video of gamers around the world talking about their PlayStation memories.

5:08: It's arefresher course on the PS3 stats. It will support standard definition as well as high-def setups. It will communicate with the PSP and support Blu-ray video, PSone, and PS2 games.

5:12: Hirai gives a few stats saying PS users are more likely to be HD viewers. The Hard disc drive will ship with a hard drive in the box for every system.

5:14: Hirai says the "clear black" color system will be available at launch.

5:15: SCE president of worldwide studios Phil Harrison takes the stage, then promptly introduces Kazunori Yamauchi of Polyphony Digital. Yamauchi is holding what looks like a DualShock controller.

5:19: The next Gran Turismo will run at 60fps with menus designed for HD resolution. Players will be able to play vehicles ranging from race cars to commercial transportation to scooters. Hirai demonstrates the Tokyo track in replay form. He says it is broadcasting three times the amount of information on screen as normal HD broadcasts, or 12 times the amount of information GT4 on the PS2 conveys to a television. In loading another track, he asks the audience to pay attention to the load times. For Gran Turismo HD, he says it has been optimized for the hard drive-equipped PS3 and says players should be able to get from the menu to the race in two or three seconds. For the demo shown, it takes slightly longer.

5:24: A pack of cars race around a track. The engines sound like jets taking off an aircraft carrier, but before the race is finished, they cut back to the original Gran Turismo to show how far the series has come.


5:28: The third track demo is the Grand Canyon with vintage cars racing around. After the demo, Hirai says Sony will be conducting beta testing based on GT4 online capabilities in Japan and the US. He says the world of GT will not expand, but rather explode. They hope to deliver the next GT "not too far" from the PS3 launch.

5:31: EyeToy creator Dr. Richard Marx is here to introduce the Eye of Judgment, an EyeToy card battle monster game. He is placing real cards in the EyeToy's view and monster graphics are appearing on the cards to do battle. This game will be at Sony's booth.

5:34: Kaz Hirai is back out to talk about the online strategy. He says online and network will be like air conditioning in a car: a standard feature. He says online and networking for the PS3 "is as essential as the air that we breathe." He says by offering a variety of social functionalities beyond gaming (messaging, player profiles, friends list), Sony will create a community, a "virtual society," free of charge.

Kaz plays the original Ridge Racer on a PSP

PSP users will be able to play emulated PSone games booting up directly from the memory stick. He navigates through the PSP menu and boots up a game. Galaga comes up as the game loads. It's Ridge Racer.

[Blight]

(Continued)

5:40: Hirai says this is part of Sony's plans to leverage its systems lifespans and extend them for more than 10 years. People can pick up for "The PlayStation Card" at retailers, which will allow them to buy additional content. Phil Harrison shows the online store interface for the PS3.

Warhawk store on PS3's online marketplace.

He shows an example of how it will work using Singstar for the PS3, scrolling through dozens of songs from Billy Joel to Destiny's Child. The interface includes a price ($0 for now to keep the pricing strategy secret) as well as other information about the song. There's also the option to see who else is on Singstar, and customize the user's background.

5:45: Bill Rich of Game Republic takes the stage to introduce Genji 2. Dozens of samurai battle on screen as Bill cuts them down where they stand. He switches characters on the fly, and says that ability will be used by players to create new and unique combos. To take on a giant crab boss, he uses the more powerful character to flip the crab on its back, then calls in the swift character to hop on its stomach and attack a glowing purple weak point. This will also be playable at Sony's E3 booth.

5:50: Harrison shows a PS3 F1 game with an interactive wing mirror. A PSP he is holding is displaying a rear view in the game in real-time.

5:51: Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword is next. A red-headed woman in white uses a pair of large swords and a variety of hand-to-hand combat techniques to best a number of opponents in gladitorial combat. The screen cuts to cinematic angles for special moves and particularly impressive sequences, including one complex sequence that has players following a number of button prompts on screen.

5:56: A quick trailer of Lair played, followed by clips from the next Getaway, Afrika (working title), Everybody's Golf (better known as Hot Shots Golf in the US), and Monster Kingdom. They are followed by the debut of Eight Days, which showed a high octane shootout at a dusty truckstop in the middle of nowhere.

6:03: Next up is a trailer for Naughty Dog's next project.


Naughty Dog's new game.

A pan around maps and jungles ends when a man in a t-shirt and jeans starts getting into gunfights with armed mercenaries. No name was given, and they quickly go to Insomniac president Ted Price taking the stage. He talks about Resistance: Fall of Man, about an alternate history where World War II never happened and aliens invade. He says it is "intense, bleak, and brutal." Then he introduces a trailer for it.

6:07: The Resistence trailer qualifies as bleak, brutal, and intense. It is a noisy, violent first-person shooter set in an utterly destroyed city. Price thanks the audience and says the game will be playable at the show. Harrison says "that sums up our playable section," and returns the stage to Hirai. Hirai turns the topic to third parties, and introduces a selection of titles from other publishers. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed is first, followed by a new Gundam game from Bandai Namco, Konami's Coded Arms Assault, Bandai Namco's Ridge Racer 7, Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Bandai Namco's Tekken 6, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega's Virtua Tennis 3, Sega's Virtua Fighter 5, Midway's Stranglehold, Koei's Fatal Inertia, Koei's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War, and From Software's Armored Core 4.

Guns start blazin' in Eight days.


6:17: Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst takes the stage. He says he will show two brief demos, and introduces NBA Live executive producer Kevin Wilkinson. He shows a PS3 player model reacting to a cursor moving in 3D space, then shows a PS2 player model not reacting to the same thing. He details "footplanting, which makes the players in the PS3 game actually have to move their feet and plant them to move instead of just sliding around. He shows the players moving around in 360-degree arcs, then demonstrates a real-time demo of what he's talking about.

6:21: The second EA demo is for Tiger Woods's next game, which uses the "Ucap" motion capture technique. Instead of a playable golf game, the demo shows a lifelike Tiger Woods model that grins, frowns, and reacts to shots with realistic facial expressions and body mannerisms.

6:25: A trailer for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII is shown, with a couple scattered hoots and hollers throughout the audience. Then a Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer comes up, to an even larger crowd reaction. It deals with the next game's plot and shows a number of the returning characters rendered in detail for the PS3. An elderly Solid Snake talks about one last thing he has to do, then puts a loaded gun in his mouth, calling it his "final mission."

6:32: Ken Kutaragi takes the stage, and asks the crowd if they enjoyed the latest progress on Ps3 titles, which is met with some applause and cheers. Kutaragi then promises "one more big thing we have kept secret." He talks about the controller of the 1994 PlayStation controller's debut. He promises to enhance controllability to the next tier for the next generation. He then holds up the final PS3 controller. It's a silver DualShock with a little black button in the middle with the classic PlayStation logo. He asks Harrison to demonstrate what the controller can do. A demo trailer shows a crate, hopping around of its own accord. It breaks open and the PS3 controller is inside. He lifts the controller up, and the controller on the screen lifts up. With no external sensor required, he can move the controller in six degrees of movement.

6:36: Harrison notes that the Bluetooth-capable, wireless controller will be lighter than the PS2's normal controller, and calls it "a fantastic innovation." Harrison says Incognito's Warhawk will make use of the motion-sensing capabilities, then asks Incognito's Dylan Jobe to demonstrate. He controls the game's fighter using the PS3 controller as a proxy, tilting the controller to gain altitude, bank, perform barrel rolls and other actions.

6:41: Hirai takes the stage once again and recaps what's been seen so far. Then he announces the global launch details. It will be available in two versions: one with a 60GB hard drive, and one with 20GB. It will launch in the US on November 17 for $499 ($549 CDN) for the 20GB version and $599 ($659 CDN) for the 60GB one. The machine will launch in Japan on November 11 with the 20GB version fetching 59,800 yen, and the 60GB one bearing an "open price," which means retailers will set the price themselves. Europe and Australia will also get the mahcine on November 17, with the 20GB version running for 499 euros, and the 60GB configuration going for 599 euros. Hirai thanked the audience and invited them to get their hands on PS3 games at kiosks throughout the hall.

[Cidien]

Awesome. Surprised they didn't show any more killzone though. That game just looks amazing.

[Elcoholic]

I haven't seen and read alot but so far I'm a little pissed over 2 things. 1, the new controller doesn't have vibration anymore because it wouldn't work together with the motion sensing stuff. 2, The 20 gig. pack supposedly doesn't have the hdmi and wifi outputs but the 60 gig. one does. Atleast the HD is standard and they kept the old controller design but it looks like it has triggers now.

I like the motion sensing stuff. Its not the same as nintendo's thing at all and it can make for some fun gameplay with racing and flight sims.

I need to watch the vids and read up on the online part. Still wondering if its free or not. I'll be back when I know more.

[geo85]

I F***N told you it was going to cost 500 or more. Damn straight!!!

[Cidien]

Where the hell do you see triggers at? It looks almost identical to the duelshock.

[Elcoholic]

Well, i still don't know how to post pictures but if you look at the back you see the L2/R2 buttons are analog now. You can press them inwards much further. Also some hands on experiences confirm this (there were playable ps3's on the floor after the show). People who played the games said framerate's were smooth and the controller felt nice which sounds positive.

I just saw the conference and I'm pretty impressed with how far allong some of the games are. Heavenly sword and resistence looked awesome. They got quite a few playable titles. Didn't expect that.

[Cidien]

Well if you've played it I can't argue with you lol. I noticed they stick out a bit more but they don't really look like very handy triggers. How does it feel? Still think they're stupid for not just ripping off the 360 design. They ripped off M$'s button in the middle and nintendos gyros at the last second, why not take it one step further and make a great controller?

[Andromeda18_]

6:41: Hirai takes the stage once again and recaps what's been seen so far. Then he announces the global launch details. It will be available in two versions: one with a 60GB hard drive, and one with 20GB. It will launch in the US on November 17 for $499 ($549 CDN) for the 20GB version and $599 ($659 CDN) for the 60GB one. The machine will launch in Japan on November 11 with the 20GB version fetching 59,800 yen, and the 60GB one bearing an "open price," which means retailers will set the price themselves. Europe and Australia will also get the mahcine on November 17, with the 20GB version running for 499 euros, and the 60GB configuration going for 599 euros. Hirai thanked the audience and invited them to get their hands on PS3 games at kiosks throughout the hall.

And once again we in Europe get screwed pricewise! $499=391 euros and $599=469 euros. Basicaly, what this means is the PS3 will be about 108 ($137) and 130 ($166) euros cheaper in the US than in Europe. With such a huge price difference it might even be worth ordering one from the US despite all the taxes we'll have to pay. Anyway, I want one of these babies no matter what but what I really want, what's made me drool all over my laptop was FFXIII! Has any of you seen the video yet? The game looks so friggin awesome! And that female character! She's so cool! I haven't even played FFXII and I'm already dying to play FFXIII!!!!

[geo85]

FF is dead, ff12 looks like the worst crap since x-2, why the hell do the characters need to look like gay japanese pop singers, and the bunny people, come on thats the best they could do, garbage.

The future of rpg's are games like fable, a lot of people said it was a let down but what else is out there that compares, nothing.
And just cause a character might look great doesnt mean anything, look at ffx they looked awesome but were all shallow and had no decent story.

[Cidien]

Yes, FF is dead. Never mind all the money they're going to make. It's dead. They should just stop making money now and get over it already.

[snowboarder]

For the past couple of weeks at work, I've been working on presentation videos (game footage and upcoming releases) for E3. Most of the stuff looks awesome. My favorite video project was for the game Scarface...based on the awesome movie of the same name with Al Pacino.

Here's a link for you guys to check out some presentation videos and other stuff:

http://titaniumtorrents.com/


Later!!

SB

[Elcoholic]

FF is dead, ff12 looks like the worst crap since x-2, why the hell do the characters need to look like gay japanese pop singers, and the bunny people, come on thats the best they could do, garbage.

The future of rpg's are games like fable, a lot of people said it was a let down but what else is out there that compares, nothing.
And just cause a character might look great doesnt mean anything, look at ffx they looked awesome but were all shallow and had no decent story.

Right, and you didn't notice FF12 getting a perfect 40/40 score from famitsu?

And then you bring in fable as an example of how it should be? That's a ten hour rpg you are trying to compare to a hundred hour rpg. Fable was one of the biggest flops on the xbox. So much hype, so little substance. After 10 hours all that's left is become utterly evil and kill everyone and then you're done. I'll take ff over fable any day.