coppro
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This is the obligatory E3 discussion thread.

Be back on August 20th

Nillo
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"As of 2007, E3 will be invitation-only, meaning that instead of around 60,000 people at E3 there will only be 5,000. The reason for this change is to allow for a more intimate atmosphere where business will be emphasized. A separate conference called Entertainment for All Expo has been created to accommodate the public demand for a major, annual video game event."

Discuss.

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zonhin
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Awesome. Finally E3 is becoming a bit more serious.

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gamer_extreme_101
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So many good things have come from this year's E3 already today:

Nintendo Wii:

-Smash Bros: Release date is now December 3rd.
-Wii Fit: The newest athletic related game to be released. Come with pad that does something that no one knows.
-Wii Zapper: Gun peripheral for games.
-New Mario Kart in early 2008, online play, and it comes with a steering wheel!
-Super Mario Galaxy: November 12th
-New Resident Evil uses the Wii Zapper, and the game looks sweet.

Microsoft XBOX360:

-Pink and blue controllers added to the mix.
-Exclusive Halo 3 console will be available.
-Scene-It to be available for Xbox 360, and will come with unique controller.
-Canada + Europe will finally get the Video Marketplace.

Sony PS3:

-Unreal Tournament 3. Metal Gear Solid 4 are both PS3 exclusive.
-Massive price drop, and a new SKU added with 80GB HDD.

Nintendo DS:

-New Mario Party DS media released.
-Vision improvement "game" to come to Japan, probably NA and Europe as well.
-Spelling Game sees light of day (All we need now is for 90% of the people online to play it).

Sony PSP:

-Thinner, lighter, and longer-lasting PSP to be released in September.

I'm reserving my opinions until the conference is completely over, lest I be completely wrong on anything I say. The only thing I will note is that Sony's playing Nintendo's game now of redesign and price drop - kind of sad, really.



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malkav11
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The PSP thing would excite me if I hadn't a) just plumped for one a month or two ago, and b) absolute certainty that the redesigned PSP will be stuffed full of anti-homebrew security crap.

Homebrew being crucial to my enjoyment of the PSP, I shall pass. However much I might like longer battery life. (But hey, depending on how they're making the battery last longer, I might be able to reap the benefits anyway.)

gamer_extreme_101
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gamer_extreme_101 wrote:
Sony PS3:
-Massive price drop, and a new SKU added with 80GB HDD.

Well, for anyone interested in grabbing a cheap PS3, you should probably grab the 60GB model while they still exist.

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Doom
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gamer_extreme_101 wrote:

gamer_extreme_101 wrote:
Sony PS3:
-Massive price drop, and a new SKU added with 80GB HDD.

Well, for anyone interested in grabbing a cheap PS3, you should probably grab the 60GB model while they still exist.

It's apparently even worse outside the us... http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173987.html

Mattcrampy
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What's hilarious is that the price drop isn't really a price drop as they intend to stop making the 60gb model and just sell the 80gb model.

So basically what they've done is added 20gb and taken out backwards compatibility, and characterised it as a price drop.

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eytanz
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gamer_extreme_101 wrote:

gamer_extreme_101 wrote:
Sony PS3:
-Massive price drop, and a new SKU added with 80GB HDD.

Well, for anyone interested in grabbing a cheap PS3, you should probably grab the 60GB model while they still exist.

Note that that story has since been put to question by another division in Sony. At the moment it's not clear what's going on - different Sony PR officials are saying very different things. I'd wait for the dust to settle.

So basically what they've done is added 20gb and taken out backwards compatibility, and characterised it as a price drop.

Where did you get the info that they're removing backwards compatibility? I didn't get that from any of the announcements I've read (the new SKU, as far as I can tell, means that they're removing forward compatibility, i.e. that old PS3s won't be able to play new games).

In any case, I really don't think it's a sensible decision for anyone to buy a PS3 now, or anytime soon. Doing so just gives Sony the message that they can screw around with their customers and still sell devices.

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Oneiromancer
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eytanz wrote:
Where did you get the info that they're removing backwards compatibility? I didn't get that from any of the announcements I've read (the new SKU, as far as I can tell, means that they're removing forward compatibility, i.e. that old PS3s won't be able to play new games).

There are allusions to this in the articles on Joystiq, that I can't be bothered to find right now. Essentially they are removing the PS2/PS1 chip and instead doing backwards compatibility by emulation, like the XBox 360, which is prone to errors.

Note that the 80 GB version does come with a game, so if it is a game you actually want, the cost isn't that much more than the reduced-price 60 GB version. Not that I am any more tempted to get one, but this makes it more of a price drop at least.

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coppro
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Well, apparently Sony has different departments saying different things, and so we won't be sure until we get a definitive answer.

I concur with Eytan, though. Sony is a bit crazy, and needs to be brought back to reality.

And while it's an interesting feature, I for one would definitely not pay for a cable to attach my handheld to a TV screen.

Mattcrampy
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By 'removing backwards compatibility' I mean this:

The American/Japan 60gb model is the only currently sold model that contains the Emotion Engine chip, and thus is the only one that's able to do hardware backwards compatibility. (20gb also has backwards compatibility.) The software backwards compatibility on the PS3 is less than perfect, and many popular games not run, or do not run well. There has been talk that Sony do not see improving backwards compatibility as a high priority, so it's probably fair to say that what currently works is the only stuff that works. The 80gb model, as implied above, does not contain the Emotion Engine chip. On the other hand, if you've got PS2 games, you're pretty likely to also have a PS2, so backwards compatibility is not exactly a dealbreaker.

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[Last edited by Mattcrampy at 07-14-2007 04:41 AM]

malkav11
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Mattcrampy wrote:
By 'removing backwards compatibility' I mean this:

The American/Japan 60gb model is the only currently sold model that contains the Emotion Engine chip, and thus is the only one that's able to do hardware backwards compatibility. (20gb also has backwards compatibility.) The software backwards compatibility on the PS3 is less than perfect, and many popular games not run, or do not run well. There has been talk that Sony do not see improving backwards compatibility as a high priority, so it's probably fair to say that what currently works is the only stuff that works. The 80gb model, as implied above, does not contain the Emotion Engine chip. On the other hand, if you've got PS2 games, you're pretty likely to also have a PS2, so backwards compatibility is not exactly a dealbreaker.

It is for me. I have limited space for consoles, and so I was absolutely counting on being able to chuck my current gen consoles in favor of their new improved successors. I can't do that (yet) for Xbox, and that sucks, but if I throw out my VCR (probably safe at this point as I haven't watched anything on videotape in a couple of years and don't watch TV to need to record it.) I can accomodate that. But that's all. I have to get rid of *something* for any other next-gen consoles.

Plus, in a pinch, I could probably live with missing out on a couple of the more obscure Xbox games I have. I hardly play most of them anyway. But I can't say the same for my precious, precious PS2 games. Full, proper backwards compatibility was one of the PS3's few selling points for me. I have no idea what sort of hallucinogen they're taking to think that adding 20 gigs to the drive is any sort of compensation for a bonehead move like removing it.

On the other hand, in a twisted way this might make me buy a PS3 well before I was otherwise intending to. Just so I can have one that does what I need it to.

Tombot
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I have a PS3, there is a list of currently compatible games somewhere on Sony Entertainment's website. They bring along additional support for different PS2 titles with the online updates and all of the newer games work fine on it, one of the major problems however is getting access to old save games, which requires an adapter cable which is sold separately; so mostly I download save games from the internet and use a flashdrive (which is rather an odd thing to be able to do).

They showed more of this kind of thing at the presentation, which looks good.

Edit: Unreal tournament is a PS3 exclusive??? That can't be right!

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[Last edited by Tombot at 07-14-2007 02:22 PM : mistakes of all kinds]

b0rsuk
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I'm really disappointed that Id Tech 5 engine hasn't been shown to public on E3. It was there, but only for the eyes of potential licensees (spelling, I know). We'll have to wait until QuakeCon .

One disturbing observation. 70% of games are sequels ...

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Pilchard VIII
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Heheh... Electronically Exaggerated Entertainment...
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/191110

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[Last edited by Pilchard VIII at 07-16-2007 02:55 PM]

malkav11
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Tombot wrote:
I have a PS3, there is a list of currently compatible games somewhere on Sony Entertainment's website. They bring along additional support for different PS2 titles with the online updates and all of the newer games work fine on it, one of the major problems however is getting access to old save games, which requires an adapter cable which is sold separately; so mostly I download save games from the internet and use a flashdrive (which is rather an odd thing to be able to do).

I'm sure they'll periodically make more games compatible. I just don't think that's adequate. Microsoft has had ages to get their compatibility up to snuff and they're still missing a number of my favorite games for Xbox. With the much higher number of games out for PS2, including weird, niche titles that are likely to fall through the cracks, and given Sony's decision-making so far, I am not convinced they will do even that well.

Tombot
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Turns out that the new unreal tournament won't be a PS3 exclusive, it will be for both Pc and Ps3 at the same time later this year and will only be out winter 2008 for Xbox360.

Phew.

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