The SIXAXIS 07.17.07
Posted by Mike Minotti on 07.17.2007
Thanks to E3, much Sony goodness can be found inside. Also, news on the discontinuation of the 60GB SKU and rumors on rumble returning to PS3 controllers.
E3 2007 is done and in the past. Needless to say, there's a ton of Sony news to report. There's also more price drop confusion to report on. So let's get to it.
News
PS3 price drop not all it seems. 60GB model to be discontinued.
If you want to get a $499 PS3, you better act fast. The recently reduced in price 60GB model is no longer being produced, and once current supplies sell out, there will be no more 60GB SKU. The recently announced $599 80GB SKU, which comes with MotorStorm, will be the only model of the PS3.
Also of note is that the 80GB model will have software emulation backwards compatibility. It's the same way that the 360 backwards compatibility works. Undoubtedly, not every PS2 and PSX game will be compatible. There is currently no idea how often the software emulation will be updated.
Rumble coming back to Playstation?
Immersion, creators of the rumble technology used by Sony (you may remember their ugly legal battles that resulted in the PS3's lack of the technology), has issued a press release stating that 3rd party accessories creators Hori and Katana will begin using their rumble technology to create rumble accessories for various platforms, including the PS3.
If 3rd party rumble controllers are coming to the PS3, does this mean Sony will start creating 1st party rumble SIXAXIS controllers? Sony won't confirm anything, but they won't deny the possibility.
Metal Gear Solid 4 will be Kojima's Last Metal Gear Game/Last Game in the Series
Before showing the new MGS4 trailer at E3, Hideo Kojima confirmed what many had been speculating. MGS4 will be his last Metal Gear game, and it will also be the last game concerning Solid Snake's story. This doesn't mean that this will be the last Metal Gear game, but probably the last Metal Gear Solid title.
New Slimmer PSP coming in September
Sony finally confirmed a new PSP model at their E3 press conference. The new model is pretty much identical to the original, though 19% slimmer and 33% lighter.
The new model will also have various new features, most notably video output, allowing UMD movies to be played through a PSP and outputted onto a TV screen. Battery life is also now longer.
The new PSP will be coming in various colors, including piano black, ice silver, and a special Star Wars version. It will also be available in various packages. One package will include the ice silver PSP, a 1GB memory stick, a copy of the game Daxer, and a Family Guy UMD for $199.
The Star Wars package will include the Star Wars PSP, and the game Star Wars Battlefront: Rouge Squadron.
NCSoft to create online games for the PS3
This news also comes direct from E3. NCSoft created popular PC online games like City of Heroes and Guild Wars. There is no word on what game they will be creating for the PS3. That's pretty much all there is to this one for now.
For at least this year, Unreal Tournament 3 will only be available on the PS3. More exciting is news that user created mods will be downloadable on the PSN. Mods are what makes games like UT so exciting on the PC, so it's great to see that they'll be available on the PS3 version of UT3.
Infamous announced
This new 1st party game for the PS3 was announced at E3. It's being created by Sucker Punch, previously known as the developers of the Sly Cooper games. Infamous is a super hero/sandbox game. It looks sort of like a more hyper-realistic Crackdown. It's scheduled for release sometime in 2008.
The Weekly Releases
A good week for football fans.
PS3
All-Pro Football 2K8 – 7/16. This is the first 2K sports football game in some time. Fans of their previous football games will want to check this out.
NCAA Football 08 – 7/17. If you prefer the Madden way of football, on the other hand, this will probably be more your speed.
PSP
PaRappa the Rapper – 7-17. A PSP release of the PSX classic. Kick, punch, it's all in the mind.
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology – 7/17. Not to be confused with Namco's "Tales of" RPG series.
PS2
Hot Shots Tennis – 7/17. A tennis game made in the vein of Hot Shots Golf, I suppose.
NCAA Football 08 – 7/17. Same as the PS3 version, only less pretty.
Rugby 2008 – 7/17. Hmm. I guess it's a rugby game.
Survey of the Week
Last Weeks Results
The PS3 price drop is a sign of...
Sony panicking about low PS3 sales. 64%
PS3 production costs being reduced. 8%
The beginning of a more consumer friendly image for the Playstation brand. 28%
The Water Cooler
Good show, Sony. Seriously, I think Sony had a very good E3. While Microsoft was criticized for playing it too safe, and Nintendo criticized for trying to hard to appeal to the casuals, Sony seemed to have a showing that had a lot of exciting and new things to show.
We also finally got to see Killzone 2 in action. It really does look pretty impressive. Graphically, it's the prettiest FPS I've seen that's not called Crysis. It'll be exciting to finally be able to play it.
It's too bad the ugliness of this price drop fake out has marred things a bit. It's not so much upsetting as it is puzzling that Sony would want to abandon the 60GB SKU. I would think that the $499 60GB PS3 would sell better than this new 80GB SKU. Not that the new SKU isn't appreciated, but it's hard to imagine that it's going to fare any better sales wise than the 60GB SKU at the same price. I'm not sure if the average consumer is going to see 20 extra GB and a packaged game as reason enough to finally buy a PS3.
But who knows, perhaps the 80GB SKU's price will be dropped shortly after the 60GB is no longer available. We'll just have to wait and see.
YouTube Theatre
Here's the Killzone 2 trailer I was talking about earlier. I'll let you judge how good it looks.
Pictures for Ashish
Again, I'm not really sure exactly what kind of pictures would amuse Ashish. Maybe he likes cats?
This is the first thing to come up when I Googled cats.
I don't want to cram pimpage
Angry Gaming laments the lack of co-op gaming these days.
