Sony @ GDC: Phil Harrison's Keynote

[DuckThor Evil]

Anyway, before posting speculations about things like HDD and the network service, this Phil Harrison PS3 Q&A is essential to get a clue.

"Question: There's been some question over whether the hard drive will indeed be included with the PS3. Can you confirm either way?

Phil Harrison: As head of the software studios I don't want to be the one comment on the hardware, but I'll say this: developers are all designing their games to support the hard drive. All of our games are absolutely using the hard drive."

That basically says that it hasn't been decised whether it's included, or that it isn't included, if it was standard he would have been glad to confirm it. So anybody who is now saying that it's confirmed to be standard is living on a fantasy island.

 

[fulcizombie]

"Question: There's been some question over whether the hard drive will indeed be included with the PS3. Can you confirm either way?

Phil Harrison: As head of the software studios I don't want to be the one comment on the hardware, but I'll say this: developers are all designing their games to support the hard drive. All of our games are absolutely using the hard drive."

That basically says that it hasn't been decised whether it's included, or that it isn't included, if it was standard he would have been glad to confirm it. So anybody who is now saying that it's confirmed to be standard is living on a fantasy island.

If it was standard he would flat out say "it's standard".No vague words,but then again after last year's E3 sony fiasco(with the CGI movies) that the press was drooling about at that time,everything is accepted when it comes from sony.

On another note why did the sony conference had a ,very unimpressive,tech demo with the 1000 soldiers and not some real time heavenly sword(you know the game that looked like CGI LOTR)???I guess they showed this crappy demo and are saving heavenly sword for E3.Playble versions of motorstorm,killzone and heavenly sword at E3???The comparison with the target movies will be great.

 

[Kabbage]

If it was standard he would flat out say "it's standard".No vague words,but then again after last year's E3 sony fiasco(with the CGI movies) that the press was drooling about at that time,everything is accepted when it comes from sony.

On another note why did the sony conference had a ,very unimpressive,tech demo with the 1000 soldiers and not some real time heavenly sword(you know the game that looked like CGI LOTR)???I guess they showed this crappy demo and are saving heavenly sword for E3.Playble versions of motorstorm,killzone and heavenly sword at E3???The comparison with the target movies will be great.

Yet according to a developer working on HS who posts on these very boards... HS was mostly legit footage... outside of the first few seconds :|

And CGI LOTR

You "people" crack me up

 

[overclocked]

If it was standard he would flat out say "it's standard".No vague words,but then again after last year's E3 sony fiasco(with the CGI movies) that the press was drooling about at that time,everything is accepted when it comes from sony.

On another note why did the sony conference had a ,very unimpressive,tech demo with the 1000 soldiers and not some real time heavenly sword(you know the game that looked like CGI LOTR)???I guess they showed this crappy demo and are saving heavenly sword for E3.Playble versions of motorstorm,killzone and heavenly sword at E3???The comparison with the target movies will be great.

Whatever, cant you spill the crap on kindergarden instead...

 

[StefanS]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/697/697656p1.html

Quote:
- In a QA session following the platform keynote address at GDC 2006 this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Phil Harrison confirmed what was heavily demanded for import gamers all over the world and yet previously thought unthinkable for a major corporation: the PS3 will be region-free for gaming.

Quote:
The system is, amongst other things, hoped to help combat piracy - many import fans "chip" their consoles with region-free mod chips to play import games, and while that desire has some legitimacy, it also opens the doors for pirates to release illegal copies of games.

I wonder if this will be mandatory for all games, or if it'll be opt-in for publishers?

It is up to the publisher, but it has been the same with psp-games which so far are region-free. Anyway great news!

 

[overclocked]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148958

Summary: UT2K7 on PS3 looks unimpressive. But it's just in a small room so who knows.

But the Crysis (on PC) trailer..WOW..this is jaw-dropping next gen better than Microsoft or Sony have EVER done it yet.

Where's my next gen console that does THAT!

Care to to explain what this has to do with Phils speech if you dont mind?

 

[dukmahsik]

this is prob why ign/gamespy was giving high praise for the game vids and Gaming-age was not

they are part of the middleware provider for ps3's network, they stand to reap loads of $ if ps3 hub becomes successful

 

[Titanio]

this is prob why ign/gamespy was giving high praise for the game vids and Gaming-age was not

they are part of the middleware provider for ps3's network, they stand to reap loads of $ if ps3 hub becomes successful

Oh God, dukmahsik...gamespy is in a bunch of different platforms, you think they're biased toward all those also?

IGN were hardly alone in their positive impressions! See Gamespot, the Gamedaily blogs etc.

Tekunorobby at GA followed up on GAF by saying he actually thought the showing was very strong, he hadn't mean to give a false impression.

 

[Corwin_B]

this is prob why ign/gamespy was giving high praise for the game vids and Gaming-age was not

they are part of the middleware provider for ps3's network, they stand to reap loads of $ if ps3 hub becomes successful

They also provide some of the technology behind the Nintendo WiFi Connection, and that has not shown into their reviews/previews, meaning they are mostly just as lame as they were before the deal.

Never attribute to malice something that can be explained by incompetence...

 

[Platon]

Anyway, before posting speculations about things like HDD and the network service, this Phil Harrison PS3 Q&A is essential to get a clue.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148957

Quote:

Question: Will the free PlayStation Network allow things like multiplayer gaming?

PH: While there will be content offerings that will be premium, we are aiming to have a free platform, so things like multiplayer gaming will be free. We have no plans to charge for that at the moment.

Actually that is what is more interesting. So there is a possibility that they might charge for it in the future. And wasn't there a slide from the Japan briefeng the other day, where it said that the service will start out free, whatever that means...

 

[overclocked]

It is up to the publisher, but it has been the same with psp-games which so far are region-free. Anyway great news!

Yep very good news. I think its great for Europes as many countries suffer from the *sometimes* horrible long times between the regions because of the issues with speech translation etz.

 

[dukmahsik]

Oh God, dukmahsik...gamespy is in a bunch of different platforms, you think they're biased toward all those also?

IGN were hardly alone in their positive impressions! See Gamespot, the Gamedaily blogs etc.

Tekunorobby at GA followed up on GAF by saying he actually thought the showing was very strong, he hadn't mean to give a false impression.

oh im sure it was very strong just not up to the E3 cgi vids, not one of them said it looked exactly like the cgi vids or better. sony has until E3 to put up or shut up.

 

[Titanio]

oh im sure it was very strong just not up to the E3 cgi vids, not one of them said it looked exactly like the cgi vids or better. sony has until E3 to put up or shut up.

What CGI vid did Resistance have to compare to? Reportedly it's looking better than at E3.

Tekunorobby's complaint about Warhawk, relative to E3, was the environment didn't appear to him to be as complex - but then this was an ocean, vs the terrain in the E3 vid (which IMO wasn't that impressive! the terrain modelling at E3, that is). We also didn't have the described cloud rendering or ocean rendering in the E3 vid. Most of the impressions painted Warhawk as amazing, with no complaint vs what was shown last E3.

Motorstorm would appear not to be the same quality as its CG - but if it ends up looking better than its peers with the kind of environment interaction described, which I don't think we've seen in a racer or indeed a game to date, then moans about that may ring slightly hollow

 

[Kabbage]

oh im sure it was very strong just not up to the E3 cgi vids, not one of them said it looked exactly like the cgi vids or better. sony has until E3 to put up or shut up.

Why would "they" (The Developers) have until E3 and not the games release date

Oh Development stops after E3

 

[zRifle1z]

oh im sure it was very strong just not up to the E3 cgi vids, not one of them said it looked exactly like the cgi vids or better. sony has until E3 to put up or shut up.

And speaking from a perspective of a consumer just looking for the truth it is rather amusing how some of the media continue to gloss over this fact. It is obvious now that Sony used CGI and real time Tech Demos as examples for "Target Material." This was just a marketing ploy to keep everyone waiting. Sony is just now capable of showing Tech Demos and some game play from PS3 Dev Kits that are no better than what MS had for the 360 at this stage of the system's development cycle.

Fact of the matter is PS3 games will be on par with 360 games. Only the games coded for the specific system from Sony and MS will show advantages for their respective console and they both will have some.

As MS stated before, and I've believed since E305, Software will drive each console. Funny how the quality of 360 games has made me interested in what Sony and Nintendo may have to offer. I just hope all of the hype, misinformation, and f@nboy damage control by the media, and on forums, is put to rest when Sony consistently shows actual game play and ends the smoke and mirror games. I'd rather hear next to nothing as Nintendo(sp?) is doing as opposed to all the attempts to discredit another.

 

[Inane_Dork]

But the Crysis (on PC) trailer..WOW..this is jaw-dropping next gen better than Microsoft or Sony have EVER done it yet.

Where's my next gen console that does THAT!

Crysis is pretty amazing, yep. And considering that EA is publishing the game, it's pretty much in the bag that the 360 and PS3 see some version of the game.

 

[Titanio]

Sony is just now capable of showing Tech Demos and some game play from PS3 Dev Kits that are no better than what MS had for the 360 at this stage of the system's development cycle.

Maybe I'm misreading you, but you're saying what Sony showed yesterday was just on a par with what MS showed last March?

If you're talking in terms of 360 games to date, with all due respect, I think you're ignoring the focus of most of the stuff shown yesterday. It's pretty obvious where Sony sees PS3's USPs, and I think they did a good job of showing that, and showing how they're going beyond what we've seen to date. It's one thing to talk about modelling or texture quality in Motorstorm and how it does or doesn't compare to 360 titles shown to date, but show me a racer on 360 with the same level of physical sophistication as is described in Motorstorm.

It's pretty clear the differentiating strengths Sony sees in PS3 relate scale and simulation, IMO, and they continue to do a good job of showing that. Every developer up there yesterday was talking about what Cell allowed them to do. The GPU is brilliant, but I think it's clear that Cell will be the strongest differentiating factor here when it comes to comparing to other systems - and happily it's one that can produce quite compelling, game-affecting results (while also having visual implications).

 

[liolio]

i've read the whole post, I'm pleased, at least Sony leaked some more informations.
But at least 2 big videogame sites are less enthousiastic than the others.
I think most of video game journalists are more geek than all of us
so it's easy to be over enthousiastic especialy when everybody (including me) wait for news( they have seen games or tech demo, nerves control can go down lol) for PS3 for nearly one year.
Like a movy you really want to see, it's flashy, when you're out you think great, but as the time go you think not that great...
what is the consensus on this at this time?
It's confusing (i should say very confusing...)

 

[function]

Maybe I'm misreading you, but you're saying what Sony showed yesterday was just on a par with what MS showed last March?

If you're talking in terms of 360 games to date, with all due respect, I think you're ignoring the focus of most of the stuff shown yesterday. It's pretty obvious where Sony sees PS3's USPs, and I think they did a good job of showing that, and showing how they're going beyond what we've seen to date. It's one thing to talk about modelling or texture quality in Motorstorm and how it does or doesn't compare to 360 titles shown to date, but show me a racer on 360 with the same level of physical sophistication as is described in Motorstorm.

It's pretty clear the differentiating strengths Sony sees in PS3 relate scale and simulation, IMO, and they continue to do a good job of showing that. Every developer up there yesterday was talking about what Cell allowed them to do. The GPU is brilliant, but I think it's clear that Cell will be the strongest differentiating factor here when it comes to comparing to other systems - and happily it's one that can produce quite compelling, game-affecting results.

But would you know a game with Motorstorm's level of "physical sophistication" if you saw it? How would you judge it without numbers or inside knowlegde?

Sony are good at talking up concpets in gaming, from Matrix like connectivity, to movie quality CGI now being in games, to generating emotion at the hardware level D), to what we see now in what you descibe as "scale and simulation". But it's all just a marketing push (clearly a successful one). It always is. Just because you tell people you're selling something doesn't mean you the only one that's got it, or even that you're the best.

Show me a PS3 game with Oblivion's "scale"? You can't. I guess that means MS see "scale" as one of the 360's big advantages over PS3 eh? Xenos can do "scale" that Cell can't? [edit] This is is a bit of fun/joke. No flames anyone please! [/edit]

How relevent high quality simulation code is to making a game good fun to play, and how the scale of a game makes a it a better experience, comes down to developers not processors. And how much of a thing you can do (which with the new consoles is still very much open for debate) pales next to how well you can use that thing. John Carmack knows what he's on about.

 

[Phil]

Excellent info. I must say, I am most excited about region-free games. Excellent move.

As for the HD confirmed or not - I interperate Sony's move to be that HD will be required (as noted by Kutaragi at the business meeting) but that Sony is not sure yet how the HD will be distributed to the end-user. I think chances are very high that it will be sold initially with the HD with later SKUs being sold without but absolutely requiring one regardless. It's a big move if they stay with it to the end and thus I think they're still a bit weary on confirming anything definite at this point. The launch is still a few months away and I think E3 will take in a key role in their final decision.

If anything, maybe they're still playing a little with the competition by not letting all the details out of the bag just yet. At this point, the selling price is still an unknown factor and if they confirm the HD to be standard at this point, it may cause some speculation that the PS3 might not be affordable (very high price) for most mainstream consumers or that the competition may anticipate their selling price better and may be able to factor that in to their own strategy to counter that.