Sony's PlayStation Day has been and gone. Here's everything that went down in London town.
Sony Japan's main man Kaz Hirai was backed-up by Euro boss David Reeves as they both revealed the year ahead for PS3 and PSP.
Here's the live text from the show. Screens later tonight:
- The show has started and Kaz Hirai has taken stage. Things have improved massively since launch, he tells the audience.
- Buzz, Motorstorm 2 and Killzone 2 lead this year's first-party titles, says Kaz. Supported by MGS4 and others from third parties.
- Kaz talks about the 'ten year cycle,' says the potential of the PS3's power is massive.
- Apologizes for Home delay. "I will not open up Home untilI'm completely satisfied."
- 8 Million registered on PlayStation Network. "Huge opportunity for PS, one that requires a different way of thinking." SingStar Online is key to this, and Buzz Online will follow.
- About to pass back to SCEE boss David Reeves. "Moving forward the future of PlayStation firmly sits in Interactive Entertainment."
- "Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to meeting you later." Reeves back on stage. Says we'll get to play Home later. Yeah!
- Talking lots of PR magic. Says today won't be a traditional event, will be focusing on games rather than platforms.
- As of today we have sold more than 48 million PSPs. Announces 5m PS3s sold in Europe. "We have sold more PlayStation 3s in Europe than Xbox 360s, even though they launched 14 months before us."
- Moving on to look at PlayStation's user-generated content. Says you can customize your XMB and themes, which is well wicked.
- 220,000 copies of SingStar PS3 sold, and over a million songs downloaded. Blech.
- Now they're playing a video of a Wookie dancing to SingStar. We know it prints money, but can we see Killzone now please?
- Now he's going on about Buzz. Export quizzes and stuff from your PC, play them on PS3. Just like pen and paper. LittleBigPlanet looks much better, Reeves still reading from a press release. Check out our hands-on later today.
- LBP creation video rolls. It's Killzone... in LBP! Lots of crazy car courses, platforming carnage, rolling balls... just bliss.
- "PS3 is first and foremost a state of the art games machine." Also says Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 demonstrates how to get the best from the PS3. "But as we know from the PS2, it's still early days yet."
- Killzone 2 out February next year. Trailer rolls. "Our War. Their Planet." Gameplay footage mixed with a logo getting the crap shot out of it. Playable today. HOT.
- Insomniac Games prez on stage to talk about Resistance 2. Says they focused on the four C's: Co-op, Community, Competitive and Campaign.
- "Every game released these days has to have a strong community." Says Insomniac's revamping the online Resistance site with online features.
- 8-player online co-op with its own campaign, own story. There are character classes as well. Footage rolls, "this is sixth months away from being on shelves."
- Online multiplayer footage rolls, looks much better than the first game. Lots of grass. Pretty, pretty grass. "60-players in our battles."
- "More battles, more intimacy." Separate squads with own objectives. "We don't have60 players fighting in one small area." Every squad gets own rival squad. Reward system that rewards teamwork, i.e. leveling up. He's off stage, Dave's back.
- "Another game coming out soon is Metal Gear Solid 4." Duh. Confirms exclusive MGS4 PS3 bundle, out for June launch.
- Motorstorm sold 3 millionworldwide. Introduces the sequel, which apparently has "incredible graphics." Creative Director Paul Hollywood on stage.
- "We haven't just upgraded the graphics and put a 2 on the end." Says it's added ultra-aggressive AI and "even more brutal racing." New island setting is influenced by Hawaii. No hoola, no Elvis... apparently.
- 16 tracks in the new game, boots up one of them. "Pre-alpha, 40% complete." Looks wicked, demonstrates the fancy plant tech by driving a buggy through the jungle. Boasts about water tech, which in reality looks lame. Racing footage rolls, need more Pendulum.
- Talk about vehicles. Nothing new here. 4-player split-screen. If he says "brutal off-road racing" one more time, we're going to mental. He said it again.WE HATE YOU.
- Mr. Cheese is gone. Dave's back and he's talking about something WICKED; Mirror's Edge.
- EA Man Sean is on stage.Talking a bit about the story, but we just want to see the game in action.
- Says DICE is going to put you in an action game, instead of watching an action game. That means you'll be able to see her legs. Trailer rolls, it'll be on PSN later this week.
- In-game footage of Faith running across a rooftop, looks incredible. We ARE buying this game.
- Dave's back. No, don't go Sean! He's talking about sports games now. Urgh. Talks about sports games, mainly motorsport and soccer.
- Says Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is the dog's bollocks. Already sold 1.5 million in Europe. We're waiting for him to say "brutal off-road racing."
- Sony has teamed up with Nissan to make the GT Academy, which is a European competition that mixes PS3 racing with proper real-life motors. Mike should put his name down for that, he once got to our house from Kent in 15 minutes, the nutter.
- Now a Nissan bloke turns up to talk PR. He's got a posh voice. "I often wondered if I could make the grade behind the wheel in a real race." Says thank to the GT Academy, gamers can now find out the answer to that question.
- Every round of the GT Academy will be filmed and made available on PSN, says Dave.
- Now talking about soccer. Says Sony and SCEE sponsors FIFA, UEFA, so they're well into it. Rambles on about PS3soccer tournament. We don't care, show us games.
- Talking about Blu-ray, says its doing well in Europe. BD Live lets users interact with films on PS3, he says. To "show the potential of BD Live," here's some Aussie bloke from Sony Pictures.
- Lots of numbers. More than 1 out of 3 Blu-Rays sold is from Sony Pictures. Introducing "exciting interactive features," Walk Hard and The 6th Day were the first to have these. From June 16th the first BD Live disc will come to Europe; Men in Black. That was wicked, like,10 years ago. Blu-ray advert plays on the big screen.
- "Exciting" BD Live lets you connect to the internet and play online trivia games in Men in Black. Um, yay?
- "Time for Blu-ray to give something back," by making the PS3 the "only console" that plays the Hi-Def format. No 360 add-on, then?
- Trailer rolls for GO!LIVE movie service on PSP. Looks interesting. The service will launch next month. "It's no secret that we want to launch a similar service on PS3... so watch this space."
- Talking about SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz again, which have sold over 20 million combined. This bit really isn't for us.
- EyeToy Hero coming, comes with a toy sword that interacts with the camera.Take that, Wii.
- Echochrome video. There's a bloke playing on the PS3, with his missus relegated to the PSP. We don't know what's going on in this video, there are men in white balaclavas pushing fruit...
- Weird music stuff over, Dave's talking about Play TV. It's going to be on the show floor tonight, and will be out in September for 99 Euros (£78).
- Coming up to the end now. "Cast your mind to Games Convention in Leipzig last year," says Dave. Says Sony has lived up to all of its promises, sold over five million PS3s.
- "This is just the tip of the iceberg," says the future of PlayStation is looking very bright. We're off to play games and gush about them later. Ta.
May 6, 2008
