PlayStation 3 to be unveiled before E3

[hey69]

PlayStation 3 to be unveiled before E3

American Sony reps confirm that there will be an event to premiere its next-generation system before the May game-industry convention.
Last year, Sony announced it would debut its next-generation console--most commonly called the PlayStation 3--at the 2005 E3 games expo. The event will take place May 18 to 20 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and will also be where the world will get the first glimpse of Nintendo's next-generation console, code-named "Revolution." With it now looking unlikely that Microsoft will unveil the Xbox's successor at next month's Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco, industry-watchers had been betting it will also first see the light of day at E3.



However, now it appears those bets may not be such a sure thing. Sony Computer Entertainment America representatives have confirmed to GameSpot that the US subsidiary of the Japanese electronics giant "will have an event to premier [its] next-generation system" before E3.

SCEA reps would reveal little else about the PlayStation 3 unveiling other than saying it would not be at GDC. "The premiere event has nothing to do with GDC," said one. "The event will be before E3, but the date is still not announced."

Sony's disclosure about the PlayStation 3 premiere came just hours after it officially took the wraps off the Cell processor, which the PS3 will use, at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. For a full run-down on the Cell processor's capabilities, check out GameSpot Hardware's feature on the chip.


so my whisper I got is maybe right about a march 18 unveiling .. maybe

when was the first public unveiling of the ps2? does anybody remembers what month that was?

 

[Inane_Dork]

Why is Sony doing this? I don't get it. Theoretically, anyway, they have around a year of life left in the PS2. Aren't they upsetting any 3rd parties by focusing PR on the PS3 so early?

Sony is pushing for reasons I don't get.
MS is stalling for reasons I don't get.

One of these days, we'll actually know something about these two machines.

 

[rabidrabbit]

MS stalling?
Their console's life cycle seems to be the shortest in console history, I don't see how theyt are stalling.

Or do you mean they have not "hyped" their upcoming machine and the technology behind it?

I see it that they both are doing it the way they did last time.
Sony giving a lot of info (some may say "dishonest hype" ) before the official unveiling at E3, and actually revealing the PS3 before E3, as they did with PS2.

Same with Nintendo, they reveal "Revolution" at E3.

MS is not doing it just like they did last time though, they're keeping it more secret. Although as xbox was based much on exsisting PC tech, there was not much to hide this gen. It's understandable that they want to be as cautious as possible, and give as little info to competitors before they reveal their own cards. Simple as that.

 

[hey69]

in japan yeah

 

[one]

Why is Sony doing this? I don't get it. Theoretically, anyway, they have around a year of life left in the PS2. Aren't they upsetting any 3rd parties by focusing PR on the PS3 so early?

It was already on the diagram published in the last July that they'd have the premiere event for the PS3 in March 2005. It's exactly the same schedule at which they unveiled the PS2. It seems they don't care about competitors' move.

Feb 1999: ISSCC 1999 - EE was unveiled
Mar 1999: The next generation PlayStation spec was unveiled at Tokyo, including the final spec of EE and GS, and the first visual demos
Sep 1999: The console name, "PS2 : PlayStation2" was announced
Mar 2000: PS2 launched in Japan

 

[rabidrabbit]

Did they reveal the casing design, controller etc.. of PS2 at March 1999 unveiling?
Can we hope that they show how PS3 looks at March 2005?

 

[one]

Did they reveal the casing design, controller etc.. of PS2 at March 1999 unveiling?
Can we hope that they show how PS3 looks at March 2005?

The casing and the controller were apprently first unveiled at the September 1999 event, which was the real unveiling event to clear up all remained uncertainties, so the March 1999 event was kind of a technology preview (to generate hype to kill DreamCast?).

These are little streaming movies from the Sep 1999 event.

Kutaragi presenting the the 'PS2' name, the case, the DVD support, the controller, the price, the launch date, and other details

Game demo

So it's probable that in the premiere event in March 2005 you'll be tantalized again till the later event, but who cares if the premiere event contains all technical info (except memory configuration) like the last time Anyway, to answer Inane_Dork and correct my comment above, I think the March 2005 event is laid out to build some hype to attack the competitors.

 

[PC-Engine]

Now that CELL/BE has been revealed there's really not much about PS3 left that people are interested in.

 

[rabidrabbit]

nVidia GPU? Memory? BluRay? Sound? Controller? Convergence? Games? Will it have some Eye Toy type device?..................
Yeah, not a lot

Still, is the "Cell" that was revealed going to be in PS3 as such? will it have more SPU's than eight? What will the clockspeed be? Final flops?
.
.
.
I understand now that most info about "Cell" is out, you now feel like after an orgasm, not much interested in the stuff at hand anymore... but soon you'll be ready to take it all in again

 

[London Geezer]

I understand now that most info about "Cell" is out, you now feel like after an orgasm, not much interested in the stuff at hand anymore... but soon you'll be ready to take it all in again

.....

 

[PC-Engine]

nVidia GPU? Memory? BluRay? Sound? Controller? Convergence? Games? Will it have some Eye Toy type device?..................
Yeah, not a lot

Still, is the "Cell" that was revealed going to be in PS3 as such? will it have more SPU's than eight? What will the clockspeed be? Final flops?
.
.
.
I understand now that most info about "Cell" is out, you now feel like after an orgasm, not much interested in the stuff at hand anymore... but soon you'll be ready to take it all in again

Pretty much everything else is known...

 

[Evil_Cloud]

...

These are little streaming movies from the Sep 1999 event.

...

I cannot stream these files, any place where you can directly download them? Thanks.

 

[one]

...

These are little streaming movies from the Sep 1999 event.

...

I cannot stream these files, any place where you can directly download them? Thanks.

http://kodan.wmt.biglobe.ne.jp/kodan_wf/kodang/digital/19990915/ps21.asf
http://kodan.wmt.biglobe.ne.jp/kodan_wf/kodang/digital/19990915/ps22.asf

Can you open them from Windows Media Player?
Also RealPlayer versions:

http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/dejitoku/playstation2/ps21.ram
http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/dejitoku/playstation2/ps22.ram

 

[Spidermate]

Why is Sony doing this? I don't get it. Theoretically, anyway, they have around a year of life left in the PS2. Aren't they upsetting any 3rd parties by focusing PR on the PS3 so early?

Sony is pushing for reasons I don't get.
MS is stalling for reasons I don't get.

One of these days, we'll actually know something about these two machines.

Seriously, Inane, you're a smart girl. I figured you would know this by now. How is Sony over-shadowing the PS2 when the PS3 is right around the corner? The PS2 is almost six years old.Don't you think it's about time something new shared some of the light?

IF I wanted to complain about a console's short life cycle, it would probably be the Xbox or the Game Cube seeing how they were the ones to launch almost a half a generation later.

 

[rabidrabbit]

And let's not forget the backwards cmpatibility.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

...

These are little streaming movies from the Sep 1999 event.

...

I cannot stream these files, any place where you can directly download them? Thanks.

http://kodan.wmt.biglobe.ne.jp/kodan_wf/kodang/digital/19990915/ps21.asf
http://kodan.wmt.biglobe.ne.jp/kodan_wf/kodang/digital/19990915/ps22.asf

Can you open them from Windows Media Player?
Also RealPlayer versions:

http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/dejitoku/playstation2/ps21.ram
http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/dejitoku/playstation2/ps22.ram

It works with Realplayer, thanks.

 

[V3]

Well PS3 is pretty much known, its just not finalised yet. It would be nice to finalize it so we can concentrate our speculation on the other two, if they aren't announced already by that time

The other two are less known at this point, especially Nintendo.

 

[marconelly!]

Why is Sony doing this? I don't get it. Theoretically, anyway, they have around a year of life left in the PS2. Aren't they upsetting any 3rd parties by focusing PR on the PS3 so early?

For a machine to be released in 2006, hyping it now is a good time to start. PS2 is a machine for very budget minded now, presenting PS3 will do nothing to veer those buyers off the PS2. Early PS3 buyers already have PS2.

Why before E3? I think because the signifficance of E3 has been diminished over the years. Didn't EA said last year they would not even attend this E3, but instead organize their own press events to unveil new games?

I am not sure however if it's smart that they are unveiling the machine before Microsoft shows their Xbox 2. They are launching PS3 later, so it would make sense to unveil it later. Are they that sure PS3 will upspec whatever MS shows later on? I wouldn't be. You never know with MS.

However, as long as I know that we'll get some games that will have character models like that siren from Nalu demo, and even try to think what will Ico team come up with (or insert game from your favorite dev team here), I find it hard to care who will sell more or lose more money.

 

[passerby]

Why before E3?

I don't think we need too much fancy specualtion actually. They want to show it to investors and shareholders before the financial year ends. We are almost guaranteed to see another year of very high R&D spending when Sony submits their report for the year. So analysts can write "overall revenue continues to fall because of high R&D spending, but they showed the product anyway, which will make them really rich, so that's all right".

 

[Inane_Dork]

How is Sony over-shadowing the PS2 when the PS3 is right around the corner? The PS2 is almost six years old.Don't you think it's about time something new shared some of the light?

There's still a year of PS2 game sales out there. That represents millions of dollars. I don't really see why they'd do something that could possible cut them short. Maybe there isn't much effect when all is said and done.

IF I wanted to complain about a console's short life cycle, it would probably be the Xbox or the Game Cube seeing how they were the ones to launch almost a half a generation later.

I'm not complaining, and 1.5 years is shorter than 5/2 years. Check your math.