[The Inquirer] PS3 supports KB/Mouse + dev kit cost

[Titanio]

From GDCE:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25855

SONY HAS TALKED about the Playstation 3 and decided to tell the world of developers how to get a developer kit. In the real world, you actually have to pay for it but we kind of thought that Sony wanted to make more people to develop for their platform and give some of those kits for free. No.

We learned here at this conference that Sony is actually charging €25,000 for each developer kit that you order.

I love how The Inquirer discusses this as if charging for dev kits was new..

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25858

SONY OFFICIALLY revealed many details about upcoming Playstation 3 hardware. At the game developers conference, held at the Cafe Royal, where George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde used to hobknob, the company decided to provide developers with some more information about the machinery.

We learned that despite having up to seven Bluetooth 2.0 compliant controllers, and six USB slots, and you will also be able to plug in a keyboard and a mouse. The company representative added that you will be able to play games such as Unreal Tournament 2007 with the keyboard and the mouse.

Sweet. I wonder if you'll be able to use any keyboard/mouse along the lines of a more "open" platform?

. At the same time you will be able to use your Playstation portable as a remote device for Playstation 3, but right now won't be able to use it as a controller for games. But you will be able to do some things such as play a video or a song.

I wonder if transcripts of this presentation will be available at some point..was this the PS3 architecture presentation?

 

[StefanS]

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?p=555890#post555890

Has been posted already...

 

[ninzel]

Awesome, just awesome!

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Oh, I didn't know it was Bluetooth 2.0. Is this new news or am I just slow? Anyway, it makes me feel a bit more secure about the wireless controllers, at least.

 

[London Geezer]

Oh, I didn't know it was Bluetooth 2.0. Is this new news or am I just slow? Anyway, it makes me feel a bit more secure about the wireless controllers, at least.

Always been Bluetooth 2.0! :smile:

 

[BlueTsunami]

The main features of Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.0 + EDR are:
• 3 times faster transmission speed (up to 10 times in certain cases)
• Lower power consumption through reduced duty cycle
• Simplification of multi-link scenarios due to more available bandwidth
• Backwards compatible to earlier versions
• Further improved BER (Bit Error Rate) performance

Real cool...I wonder if BlueTooth functionality will go beyond Keyboards, Mice and Controllers (Headphones..or Headsets)

 

[-NakedZ-]

I little off topic, but is it just me, or The Inq are a little anti-Sony?

- Z

 

[BlueTsunami]

I little off topic, but is it just me, or The Inq are a little anti-Sony?

- Z

Thats the feeling i've gotten from the Inquirer. One example is there quickness to jump on a random forum post...

 

[Carl B]

But... was this the architectural discussion? Seems like it could have been. No RSX info like I would have hoped then, but at least some new information/confirmation. To tell you the truth though, nothing I hadn't expected anyway - except actually being able to *play* games using the keyboard and mouse, that's a little unexpected.

 

[Titanio]

They seem quite anti-Sony, or anti-NVidia and perhaps by proxy anti-Sony. The hate in the dev kit article is heaving underneath. Still, they brought the kb/mouse news so I'll appreciate them for that.

I hope you'll be able to use any old keyboard and mouse with it. That'd guarantee for devs that pretty much everyone could use that combo with their game. The PC versions of FPSes may not automatically be the default choice for me anymore. By the sounds of it, they'll be encouraging devs to use them, so I think we will see FPS devs jump at the chance, especially those coming from PC backgrounds. Why not?

edit - and sorry, I missed the original post in the other thread. Just saw the other article too (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25860) - if anything, a stronger pointer towards The Inquirer's feelings towards Sony. Ridiculously unprofessional. Unfortunately they're the only ones I can see sofar reporting on this..hopefully other articles will appear soon with more detail.

 

[scooby_dooby]

no game saves on the PSP eh? interesting....

 

[Titanio]

no game saves on the PSP eh? interesting....

Hmm? It doesn't mention game saves anywhere? But I wouldn't expect you to be able to put gamesaves on a PSP, as such, but rather you could I'm sure stick them on a mem stick that could also be used in a PSP.

 

[scooby_dooby]

the PSP is a mass storage device like any USB device is it not?

I know x360 is showing PSP as an external mass storage device.

It mentions only video and music playback, it's interesting that they didn't mention saves.

 

[Carl B]

Well, I'm not sure if that example means much though, since the 360 doesn't let you save onto 'external mass storage devices' either. But since you probably have a memory stick for the PSP, you automatically have a memory stick for the PS3 as well. I agree it would be cool if the saves could be done remotely without having to plug the memory card in, but hey, what can you do? Also for the 360 the PSP was actually connected by a USB cord, so the PS3 enjoys the wireless convenience for normal functionality, if nothing else.

 

[Nicked]

I'm not sure why this is important, couldn't you plug a standard USB keyboard/mouse into the PS2?
If they enforced KB/Mouse usage in certain games (eg. FPS), that would be awesome.

I little off topic, but is it just me, or The Inq are a little anti-Sony?

- Z

A little?
They are very pro-ATI/X360, and even more anti-NVIDIA/PS3( by extension?). They may occasionally post something postive about them but its always riddled with 'howevers' and 'buts' etc. They are also one of the most unreliable sites on the internet. Sometimes they are accurate (but usually they outright make stuff up), but as they say, plant a few seeds....

Oh and they also have the worst editing (or lack thereof) I have seen.

 

[mckmas8808]

I heard that a MS rep said that it may be possible for the x360 to use k/b.

 

[Titanio]

I'm not sure why this is important, couldn't you plug a standard USB keyboard/mouse into the PS2?

Not sure, I know certainly there was a KB/mouse from Sony themselves for use with the Linux kit, but was it exposed for use by games?

Ditto for Xbox - could devs use it freely as an option in games? Could you use any old KB/mouse? If yes to both, I'm surprised it wasn't available more as an option.

the PSP is a mass storage device like any USB device is it not?

I know x360 is showing PSP as an external mass storage device.

It mentions only video and music playback, it's interesting that they didn't mention saves.

I don't think they were talking about video and music playback there, from PSP to PS3, but I'm sure that's possible. They mentioned this before, and I think they were talking here about using PSP as a remote control - a second remote screen, where you could select music or video from that screen without disrupting the game or movie perhaps playing there. Could be cool if they offloaded other functionality too to a PSP screen, like video chat etc - anything they talked about using a second monitor for, perhaps. There's potentially a lot of cool stuff to be done there.

I think two-way media playback is a certainty though (playing media from PSP on your PS3, as MS showed with X360, and vice versa, playing media from your PS3 with your PSP).

As for game saves, the only issue is whether you could do it wirelessly. "Saving games to your PSP" effectively can be done by just sharing the memory stick between them, I'm sure.

edit - I'm reading that there was no standard/native support for keyboards in Xbox. Sega had to release a special adaptor to let PSO users use a Keyboard with it (and it could only be used with PSO). see: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/393/393241p1.html

 

[wco81]

You could plug in USB input devices on the X360 but last I heard, MS was mandating that keyboards would only be for text input, not game control. Guess they don't want their PC business impacted in any way.

Developers were presumably free to support keyboard/mouse for gameplay on the PS2 but very few of them did, even though they did support keyboard for inputting text.

Unless Sony requires them to or cheap USB keyboards/mice are widely distributed, developers may not bother.

Plus I've heard that Tiger Woods won't support keyboard and mouse because they want to have tournaments and they don't want the K/M people to have an advantage over the controller-only gamers.

It's too bad, because K/M would obviously be required for RTS games. And then one of the best RTS series is AOE, which is owned by MS.

 

[ban25]

Not sure, I know certainly there was a KB/mouse from Sony themselves for use with the Linux kit, but was it exposed for use by games?

This was just a USB keyboard and mouse and just about any USB keyboard/mouse worked with the PS2. It was used in certain games including Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, CON/CON 2 (keyboard chat), etc.

 

[Acert93]

It was announced earlier this week the Xbox 360 will support USB Keyboards. No work on mice or if in game.