Gamescom 2011 : Sony conference discussion

Sony conf was alright.
50% crap and 50% cool stuff imo.
Uncharted 3 looked daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn o_O
Wish I hadn't spoiled it for myself.
 
I was expecting a $100 price drop, not $50. Doesn't matter to me really since I already have one, but I have a couple friends who would have considered a PS3 at $199. =/
 
Sony top execs need to retake their marketing classes. They can easily generate more buzz just by confirming the specs for Vita:
http://www.sys-con.com/node/1947549

Main memory 512MB
VRAM 128MB

EDIT: Looks like it will have Skype, Twitter, FourSquare and FaceBook apps.

Now please allow FPSes to host their own games without contacting servers or peers over WAN.
 
I did not get the TV thing, but is it correct that some games will support 2 player games where the 3D glasses are used to create full screen for 2 players on the same TV?
 
I was expecting a $100 price drop, not $50. Doesn't matter to me really since I already have one, but I have a couple friends who would have considered a PS3 at $199. =/

How much does it cost to make a PS3 nowadays? Last I heard, it was around 275 making the PS3 a small profit for every buy.

199 makes no sense since it'll narrow the amount of leverage for more future drops since I believe the PS3 will stay on the market for a long time much like the PS2 transition to PS3. Consumers need reasons to buy a PS3 by then.
 
It's a data driven move. I wouldn't say it's pointless. It will make money for Sony as long as Sony manage the production level carefully. For Europe market only.
 
I did not get the TV thing, but is it correct that some games will support 2 player games where the 3D glasses are used to create full screen for 2 players on the same TV?

Yes, that's it.

Watching the presentation now. Pretty boring presentation - these Anglo-dudes are boring presenters! I wonder when they realise that they should just take someone who has a good stage presence for this things rather than being an important rung on the ladder. These things do not necessarily combine well.

But I'm going to gamescom on Thursday, so hopefully will be able to give you a more vivid account from that. :)

EDIT: that new PSP is pretty clever. There is indeed quite a bit of interest for the old PSP still here (the ten games included offer for instance), and this model could compete quite well with the 3DS on the one hand and cheaper portable game thingies on the other. The iPod Touch is too expensive and limited for games atm.

Move Fitness looks interesting. The Dance game has potential too - it is at least better than the SingStar Dance add-on (you get hints about what moves are coming), and I like the idea of being able to make your own dance routines and share them. Hopefully you can use two controllers for one player, as I think that would allow pretty great dancing and accuracy.
 
I did not get the TV thing, but is it correct that some games will support 2 player games where the 3D glasses are used to create full screen for 2 players on the same TV?
Presumably this'll be a feature in only a handful of Sony exclusives. Who on earth else is going to target this TV owning PS3 gamers?! 3D's rare enough as it, but a feature only supported by one €500 peripheral?! It's conceptually a nice idea, but until there's a common standard for all 3D TVs out there (all 600 of them) it'll be a tiny niche within a small niche, meaning zero relevance whatsoever. I for one wouldn't buy this TV expecting any games I want to play implementing this two-player experience. In fact it'd be a nightmare to support as it's even more demanding than rendering 3D, as you have two independent cameras requiring two independent sets of assets.
 
It's a data driven move. I wouldn't say it's pointless. It will make money for Sony as long as Sony manage the production level carefully. For Europe market only.

Since I didn't watch the presentation could you point me to where you have derived the, "it's a data driven move", I would be interested in seeing this otherwise my thought would be similar to "...pointless" actually my thought is waste of resources but that's my snap judgement.

Does this new PSP have ethernet?
 
Presumably this'll be a feature in only a handful of Sony exclusives. Who on earth else is going to target this TV owning PS3 gamers?! 3D's rare enough as it, but a feature only supported by one €500 peripheral?! It's conceptually a nice idea, but until there's a common standard for all 3D TVs out there (all 600 of them) it'll be a tiny niche within a small niche, meaning zero relevance whatsoever. I for one wouldn't buy this TV expecting any games I want to play implementing this two-player experience. In fact it'd be a nightmare to support as it's even more demanding than rendering 3D, as you have two independent cameras requiring two independent sets of assets.

Maybe so, but a lot of developers have explained that supporting 3D and supporting two player split-screen do go hand in hand. And once you do support two-player split-screen and 3D in your game, I'm thinking supporting this feature could be a good move.

So far I haven't heard great things about this device, but it does come with two glasses for that price, and I'm looking forward to reading reviews when it does get here.

@NavNucST3: the data is that there is quite a lot of demand for the PSP in Europe, and that there's a market for a cheap one that young kids can buy. The iPod Touch and 3DS are too expensive, and the demand is partly from kids and parents who do already have a DS, and part of the attraction is a lot of pretty good games for 9,95 being available.
 
Maybe so, but a lot of developers have explained that supporting 3D and supporting two player split-screen do go hand in hand.
Split screen's half resolution though. Unless they just got that route and upscale, which'll look pretty rough.
 
Presumably this'll be a feature in only a handful of Sony exclusives. Who on earth else is going to target this TV owning PS3 gamers?! 3D's rare enough as it, but a feature only supported by one €500 peripheral?! It's conceptually a nice idea, but until there's a common standard for all 3D TVs out there (all 600 of them) it'll be a tiny niche within a small niche, meaning zero relevance whatsoever. I for one wouldn't buy this TV expecting any games I want to play implementing this two-player experience. In fact it'd be a nightmare to support as it's even more demanding than rendering 3D, as you have two independent cameras requiring two independent sets of assets.

I don't think this will be sony exclusive or rare. This is not a function of the tv but the glasses. Usually glasses would show separate image per eye to have 3d image but here both eyes need to get same image and each user needs to get separate image. In essence the shutters of the glasses need to sync so that one pair of glasses always shows the left eye image and the other pair shows right eye image.

I think as long as this goes through and takes the gaming aspect into account everything is rosy in the future: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/09/sony-samsung-join-panasonics-3-d-glasses-project/

edit. I think all this ps3 3d stuff is just a early adaptor/mindshare/marketshare game until ps4/xbox720 come out and I bet they will have much more proper 3d support since day 1.Somebody needs to do the prework or we end up being in chicken/egg situation forever where 3d games don't make since there is no displays and vice versa. For microsoft it's good to wait until market is ripe, sony obviously wants to build the market to sell blu-ray players, tv's and whatnots so why not leverage ps3 too even though it's rendering power for 3d games is limited.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sony covers the entire value chain: from sensor chips, assorted 3D devices to professional services and 3D movies and TV programming. It is in their interest to develop this market and gain expertise + mindshare.
 
Sony covers the entire value chain: from sensor chips, assorted 3D devices to professional services and 3D movies and TV programming. It is in their interest to develop this market and gain expertise + mindshare.

I would argue that it is against their interest since by its nature it can never really become mainstream as long as it requires dedicated glasses (or at least as long as a sizable portion of the population wears eye glasses normally). It is a waste of resources and a diversion of the company vision into a niche dead end IMHO.

Cheers
 
I would argue that it is against their interest since by its nature it can never really become mainstream as long as it requires dedicated glasses (or at least as long as a sizable portion of the population wears eye glasses normally). It is a waste of resources and a diversion of the company vision into a niche dead end IMHO.

Cheers

And 640kB is enough for everybody. 3d tv's are inevitability. 3d doesn't really make display more expensive if glasses and syncbox are optional. Once we see the standard emerge for glasses(see link in my previous post) it will become possible to make universal glasses with prescription strength if some people find it uncomfortable to wear two set of glasses. Same goes for designer glasses that can be more comfortable or uniquely designed to be fashionable.

One needs to remember all the source material is golden already, we don't need to replace source material once better display technologies become available. Also all 3d movies on blu-ray work on 2d players so it's not a choice of either/or for consumer between 2d/3d movie. I think all this plays in favor of gradual adoption and acceptance. I don't give big chance for 3d becoming a failure and going away at this point.

I might go as far as predict next gen 3d games will be what wii was for this gen. There definitely is good possibility to enhance games in meaningful ways by exploiting kinect(like controller)+move(like controller)+3d display next gen. Especially so if some of the games are fully built around 3d (imagine stealth spy game which let's you really look around and shoot from the hip and so on). This gen it's not feasible to build such games as the 3d is more of a gimmick for niche. Next gen some games could Require 3d display+controls for proper experience.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There seems to be a lot of consumer backlash against 3D in all it's forms, though. You often hear the new 3D phones being derided as gimmicks, 3DS already has a feeling of failure to it, etc. And I believe 3D is beginning to struggle in the movie theater as well.

I'm not sure what the final outcome is. If they can get glassesless big screens going that could help a lot, but OTOH if it creates all the same vision problems as glassesless 3DS seems to, I'm not sure even that would be bulletproof.

For me though as soon as 3DTV's hit the same price as regular, why wouldn't I want that, I suppose?
 
That's because a phone is primarily a communication and utility tool. A game console or an iPad with 3D support would be more awesome since they are content platforms.

The other thing is Nintendo is finding it hard to sell 3D to people because traditional media can't show the difference. You have to try it on the new hardware, which is chicken and egg. There are too many if-thens and buts.

Finally, the movie studios are trying to cash in quickly. So some 3D movies are just layered 2D images.

If you have seen good 3D content, the benefits should be apparent (assuming you're not one of the people who can't perceive 3D).
 
Back
Top