PS3 news and tidbits thread

[v85rawdeal]

Thats one of the reasons I included the direct link, that and the fact that Sony had forgotten to link to the download page on the site itself... The muppets!!!

[v85rawdeal]

More news on RFOM 2

Australia, April 3, 2008 - Every few months Sony Australia holds an event in Sydney called Pause – essentially a chance to bring the local journos up to speed on the world of PlayStation and to give us all a chance to go hands-on with an array of titles. At the most recent event – held yesterday – one of the components of the presentation was a recording made for us by Ted Price, head of Insomniac, on Resistance 2. While he didn't reveal many new details, it was an interesting insight into the thinking at Insomniac nonetheless, so we figured we'd jot down a few of the things he commented on.

First of all he mentioned that there was a "lack of unification" between the original Resistance's single and multiplayer modes, and that this will be addressed in the sequel. Not only will Resistance 2 have a far more unified design – both in gameplay terms and in aesthetics, settings and story, but Price views the game's eight player co-op – which is a separate set of levels from the single player game - as the perfect bridge between single player and multiplayer. He noted the difficulty of hopping straight into a huge multiplayer firefight, and pointed out that co-op would be the perfect way to learn how to operate as part of a team, without being thrown in the deep end. You can also expect Resistance 2 to be even more community focused than the original, with Price saying that most FPS communities are "anaemic".

A face only a mother could... etcetera.

Price also acknowledged that the opening sections of the first game were "weak" and that fans can expect Resistance 2 to begin with much more of a bang. The story will also be bigger and more thorough, according to Price, exploring who Hale is, and dealing with the transformations upon himself from his infection by the virus. The third person narrative is out too, with Hale firmly at the centre, hopefully making the game more immersive. In terms of the story, the events of Resistance 2 kick off right after the end of the original, with Hale landing in Iceland. It's not long, however, before he moves on to San Francisco and becomes a member of the Sentinels.

It seems most of the game will be set in America, with the Chimera hitting the U.S. on both the east and west coasts simultaneously. Price spoke a little about their vision of alternate history 1950s America – this ain't the clean cut, suburban stereotype from our world, but a bleak, desolate place that becomes even more so after the Chimera begin to decimate it. Cheery.

Price also revealed that further details of the 60 player online and eight player co-op would be revealed soon, so stay tuned!

And in unrelated, but definitely appreciated, news...

PLAYSTATION Store (PS3) is changing... come on inside and find out how.

PLAYSTATION Store (PS3) on PLAYSTATION Network will be undergoing a dramatic change in April 2008, hitting your screens with a redesign that will make your Store experience even better than ever.

Due mid-April, PLAYSTATION Store (PS3) will gain a new design, interface and navigation in response to feedback from the millions of PSN registrants in the PAL region. This revamp will not affect PLAYSTATION Network accounts or the virtual wallet system, so current users can just sit back and enjoy the fresh look and feel of the Store.

While content will be suspended for two weeks as the improvements are carried out, users can look forward to a special update mid-April and also enjoy the bumper batch of titles and entertainment recently released, including the sterling Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and refreshing slapstick action PAIN, not to mention the vast back catalogue of titles currently available.

[v85rawdeal]

And now more news regarding Sony Firmware...

Hey Everyone! We know you’re all patiently waiting for the next PS3 firmware update, ver. 2.30, which includes the revamped PLAYSTATION Store. The good news is that it’s coming soon.

I have more good news to report today – the system software update will also add DTS-HD Master Audio output for Blu-ray videos, which means the high-definition visuals of Blu-ray will now be matched with the highest quality audio for the ultimate movie-watching experience on PS3.

DTS-HD Master Audio is literally bit-for-bit identical to the studio master recording and makes movie soundtracks and sound effects truly come to life. The technology delivers audio at the incredibly high rate of 24.5 mega-bits per second (Mbps) on Blu-ray disc, which is significantly higher than standard DVDs. DTS-HD Master Audio also offers 7.1 audio channels at 96k sampling frequency/24 bit depths, so you’ll be totally immersed in the sound. The firmware update will add DTS-HD High Resolution Audio as well, which is a similar output technology that requires less disc space. You can read more about both codecs here.

A lot of you, particularly the home theatre enthusiasts and audiophiles out there, have been asking us for this capability, and we can’t wait until you have an opportunity to pop in a compatible Blu-ray video to test it out for yourself.

Looks like Sony are TRULY pushing the boat out now for the PS3. This is what support should be like. Maybe 'Tendo could take some lessons from this...

Also....

For those of you who like to be in with the latest fashions....

A NetBlender SDK will soon allow Apple's iPhone to communicate with the PlayStation 3 console.

The new connectivity will see the the iPhone acting as a PS3 remote control, and will also introduce new touch features that might be integrated into PS3 movies (via Blu-ray), games and applications.

The CTO said the new SDK "will allow studios, independent movie companies to enable BD Touch features. These features send data in two directions from the Disc to the iPhone and vice versa. Video, audio, text, and player commands can be sent. So right now it seems everyone likes the ‘remote control’ idea. However the player can control the iPhone as well."

Another possible application of this new feature would see portable versions of Blu-ray releases copied to the iPhone for watching on the go.

Damn, it never rains... Just like a bus (how's that for mixing metaphors)

[Harrison]

I can guarantee you will never see me controlling a PS3 via an Apple product!

Nice about the audio though. Why do people hate Sony again? They seem to be the only company who are truly supporting their customers. What other company would upgrade the capacities of their system so much since launch? Definitely not M$!

[Buleste]

Nintendo don't need to take lessons from Sony as the Wii is out selling the PS3 in every region. Goes to show, the technology doesn't have to be the best to be the best seller, it's all about quality and Sony have let toooooooooooooo many crap and overpriced games loose for the PS's. I'm not saying there hasn't been some turkeys for the Wii but they have been fewer and the quality games have been greater in number.

[Harrison]

There are other reasons for this. Nintendo have throughout the history of all their systems charged games developers a premium to develop games for their systems, viewing it that these developers should be privileged to be allowed to release their titles on a Nintendo platform. Titles have also always had to go through a stright quality control. This was OK in the NES and SNES days because it kept quality high and most developers knew they would have a popular title on their hands. But since the N64 this has kind of back fired a bit for Nintendo, with systems since then mainly enjoying first party software and not much from third party developers.

In contrast Sony have always wanted the Playstation range to be quite open for any developer to develop for. Yes this does introduce a load of dross into the back catalogue of the platform, but it equally generates a lot more creativity and variety of releases. Look at the number of games released for both the original and PS2. Each has a back catalogue of thousands, with at least a few hundred of those being polished must play titles. In contrast look at the Nintendo systems. How many games were released for each? Definitely not that many for the N64 and Gamecube compared to Sony's. OK most that were released were great must play titles, but for the N64 this was definitely under 50 titles and for the Gamecube it wasn't that different. Look again at both the original PSOne and the PS2 and there were more RPGs released for each than good titles in total for Nintendo systems!

As for the current generation. I don't think you can really directly compare the PS3 and Wii, as the later is a pure gaming platform, whereas the PS3 is offering a complete home entertainment solution that to a certain extent is reliant on the HD home movie market, and with that still slowly gaining speed it was always going to take time before consumers started to buy into the HD revolution and the PS3. I'm sure towards the end of this year the PS3 will start to pick up in popularity, especially as the price of HD TVs is starting to tumble. You can now buy a 22" HDTV for £199 and a 32" for £399.

As for the Xbox 360. I think it is now starting to age fast. When the Wii and PS3 were first launched a lot of next generation titles were being released as 360 exclusives. Now if you take a look they are all cross platform releases for 360 and PS3, with the PS3 getting the exclusives. The biggest reason has to be that developers are starting to outgrow the 360's DVD storage limitations and enjoying the much larger Blu-Ray media.

[Sharingan]

I'm not saying there hasn't been some turkeys for the Wii but they have been fewer and the quality games have been greater in number.

Actually, I dare say that the amount of craptastic 'shovelware' on the Wii has so far been much worse on the Wii as it is on the other next-gen platforms. Only recently have developers started taking the Wii more seriously (who wouldn't, considering how well it's sold) and begun investing more time into developing for it.

It's been so bad that even diehard Wii fans have started threads in online forums complaining about the tragic overall quality of Wii releases - that has to be an indication of something. So far, the system's best games have all been 1st party Nintendo releases, with the odd exception here and there.

I don't think anyone really expected the Wii to sell as well as it has, not even Nintendo itself.

[Harrison]

I agree. It sold so well that developers rushed products to market to make some money, hence the poor quality releases. It should see more quality games this year though as developers have now had some time to work on the next wave of games.

[v85rawdeal]

Personally, I think the Wii is the most over-rated hunk of plastic I ever wasted my money on... but millions of others can't be wrong!

My comment was actually referring to the way that Sony are looking to support the PS3 and keep their user-base happy, rather than the milking of cosh (Cosh??? I mean't cash!!!) from all the adoring fans that 'Tendo has. Their Virtual Console is a great example of Europe getting a second-rate product because they can't be bothered to recode the games.

Their product may be great but their appreciation of the people who made it the success it is is quite laughable.

[Sharingan]

So, what did everyone think of the redesigned PS Store?

I kind of like it. Definitely a lot less clunky compared to the old store, and it matches nicely with the XMB, since it uses the same style of lettering and design. Too bad the server seemed a bit overloaded, though, seeing as how the icons and such took ages to load.

I've been dabbling a bit with Everybody's Golf: World Tour since tuesday, and it's quite enjoyable. I don't even normally like golf games, but this one is very easy to get into.