NOOOOOO!!

Euro division of sony confirms - as far as we know - HDD for PS3 bundled on release. It would have been super ghey if that hadn't been the case, anyway.

Linky for HDD'y

Well if you think about it. If it's a portable media device, with wi-fi. Theoretically you could download songs directly to the player, rather than have to sync up threw a PC like the IPod does. That would be a really cool inovation, and if implemented well, could give the IPod a run for it's money IMO.

Whoa, lots of new info coming from GDC today.

PS3 is to be REGION FREE!?! WTF??!!

Holy shit, that's awsomely awsome.

Latest news from the GDC event according to Gamespot. You can download over 1,000 Genesis games and TurboGrafx games with the Revolution. Wow, now all I need to know is the cost for downloading all these old-school games. If might just end up selling my NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, and games if they dont cost much to download on the Rev.

! Thats awsome if ti's true. Some many great genesis games, I would love to be able to play again.

More news from GDC. New Legend of Zelda DS

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/694/694756/vids_1.html

NIce.

The "joke" wouldn't have been made in april, though.....

Edit: Revo Spec Information

Interesting. I'm not a power whore so the specs really don't bother me but, I know it will bother some peeps. Pandemic said something about the system, how it's "really something special" or something like that. IMO, you dont need huge power to have great looking games, you just need great art direction. Obvioulsy, power is nice, but IMO

Artistic Vision > Technology Driven Eye Candy

I'm looking forward to seeing the games.

True, but if these are the final/semi final specs it's a little dissapointing. I mean they could have at least managed a single core 2-3 ghz CPU, with probably the same graphics card, and 256mbz of ram. I mean yeah Nintendo isn't necesserily trying to compete with the PS3, and Xbox 360, but comparered to what both of the other 2 systems are offering you'd figure Nintnedo would offer a little more wiggle room that what is offered with the current gen original Xbox for developers. Regardless of how inovative the Revolutions's controller, or other features are.

I think that Soul Calibur (DC version) and DOA 2 exemplify that. DOA 2 is technically superior to Soul Calibur. Numerically speaking, it has better graphics. But as far as I'm concerned, Soul Calibur just "looks" better. It's more pleasing to the eye because it has a better artistic style. I've said it once and I'll say it 1000 more times. Power means jack unless developers actually use that power. The Xbox 360 could be 1000 times more powerful than the original and the PS3 could be 500 times more powerful than the 360. But all that power will mean nothing besides a deeper hole in your pocket unless developers are willing to put forth the money and effort to actually make good on that power. The Xbox is significantly stronger than the PS2 and yet how many Xbox games look like they couldn't be done at least competently well on what is considered the lowest common denominator of this generation? It seems like we're in this phase where console manufacturers are gung ho on making their consoles into something NASA would use but nobody else really cares enough to maximize the potential.

As for Nintendo, it bothers me less that they're making the claim that they aren't competing with Microsoft and Sony than does the fact that so many people are actually buying into that nonsense. It's not like they're selling a product in a different industry. They can't say "We're not competing with Microsoft and Sony" the same way that Pepsi Co. could say it. Dedicated people like myself who will eventually come to own all three consoles aren't really the biggest concern. The people they care about are the ones who will only buy one or two. You have a guy who's intent on spending his dollar on a video game console. Nintendo wants that dollar just as much as Sony and MS and therefore they want this guy to spend his dollar on a Nintendo product as opposed to a Sony or MS one because if this guy buys from one of the others, then Nintendo isn't going to get his business. That's the essence of competition.

Nintendo's playing the innovation card here by pretending what they're selling is not a video game console but it clearly is. Whether this remote controller actually is a huge innovation or a novelty remains to be seen but nevertheless, they are competing whether they want to or not. They're just using the "not competing" platform as an excuse for why their console is so different from the others. It's a way of being different but not letting Joe Blow: Lowest Common Denominator Consumer think that Nintendo is retarded. They're considering that people will look at the Revolution, see numbers that are less mindblowing and think "Wow, what a stupid system." So they made up this whole not competing routine to counter that.

The Yankees can't say in the middle of the playoffs, "You know what? We don't really intend to compete. We're going to play but we're not going to compete." It doesn't work that way. This isn't first grade little league where everybody wins. Nintendo's marketting campaign is actually pretty genius though. Because not only are they pretending they aren't in competition with their competition, but they're selling the Revolution controller as if it were something the casual gamer or someone who doesn't even play video games could enjoy. Again, people seem to be buying into this garbage and start saying "Well, Nintendo isn't showing enough concern for the hardcore gamer. They care too much about the casual player." Well, if that's the case, then riddle me this: How many casual players bought the Power Glove? How about the Super Scope? The DDR pad? See where I'm going with this? These gizmos and gadgets are specifically tailored to the hardcore player. If anything Nintendo is alienating the casual player, not catering to them. Besides, you see that video showing the grandfather waving the controller around and acting like he's having a ball? Well, again, riddle me this: How many elderly people, who have never shown interest in video games will spend 200-300 (whatever this thing costs) to play it themselves? The extent of old people playing video games is my grandmother running head on into the goomba in Super Mario Bros. So either Nintendo is making all this "old people will like it" stuff up or they're off their rocker if they actually believe it.

I guess the regional-free thing with PS3 wasn't an April fools' joke afterall (if it was, they wouldn't have release the info when they did it) ... well unless it is a lie in the hopes of gaining more commercial success with it.

I agree about Nintendo's scheme, they don't fool me about being a different product and a non-competitor. However it is still a smart move by then 'cause, say what you will, I see a lot of consumers buying into that isht (although it is not that easy to predict consumer behaviour these days.) Microsoft's "we-are-incorporating-a-new-slick-design-for-Japanese-gamers" didn't seem to work that well. Let's see if the big N can succeed with its gimmick.

Anyway, I just happened upon this news today. It seems like Sony is forking out a whole lot of money for this system, I am skeptical wether game developers would actually take advantage of the PS3 or it would just be a waste:
SN's PS3 Tuner

Sounds like something to just clean up syntax and shit, instead of having the intern do it, lol.

One thing I never thought about, which I ran across on IGN, was the idea behind Revo's architecture. I don't know the 1's and 0's behind that shit, but I do understand development pipelines. Revo's architecture is said to be almost identical to GC's. The development environment's are very similar. GC isn't nearly as difficult to develop for as PS2 - infact, my roomate had a buddy who worked for MS and had to port shit to PS2, and he HATED it.

Take into acount then, this efficient pipeline and architecure developers have to work with. Well, they've already worked with it on the GC, so all these little development tricks and "hidden secrets" that are developed over the span of a consoles life are already present for the Revo. Developers don't have to learn the environment and architecture over again, simply build onto the existing knowledge.

Anyway, the article on IGN brought up this fact and how it will effect the end result; games. The quality of the games, in terms of a gen to gen ratio, could be much greater than the competition. Every new gen console has these "build up woes" where games really don't take advantage of the system until much later in the consoles life. The similar architecture of GC and Revo will somewhat nulify this, giving developers a head start on "unlocking" the potential of Revo.

Anywho, peace and love ya'll.

So it seems that Nintendo would win the ease of development again I see. If I didn't know better I would be quick to judge that Revolution was a GC1.5 but they really put alot of thought into bringing out an alot better product into the market, taking the different and less popular path. I am curious to listen-to/watch/read impressions about what and how it feels/felt like to play the revolution once it is playable. I haven't seen/heared any hints as to wether the potential of revolution's controller would tapped anytime soon. Things should get interesting a couple of months from now.

On a side note, you British/European noble men and ladies may be interested in this piece of info I just found:
Euro pricing hint in line with expectations; direct conversion unlikely to reveal US price

That would mean a $500-$600 price tag for over here. Apparently Kutaragi wasn't dicking around when he said the PS3 would not be cheap. With a price tag like that the PS3 is going to fly like a boat anchor. In fact, if Microsoft drops the price of the 360 it's going to sink like a boat anchor too.

My concern is two fold:

1) If the PS3 is really that expensive (I mean significantly higher than most mainstream console launches by $150 or so) then there's a good chance consumers won't jump on it right away causing third parties to do the same.

2) If the PS3 uses Blu-Ray and is substantially cheaper than other Blu-Ray players, what are the odds there will be problems with the device? We've seen this before with faulty DVD drives in the PS2 and Xbox.

I won't use the word 'bleak' to describe the road Sony has ahead but it's most certainly one of the bumpiest rides I've seen. If Sony comes out of this unscathed then I will be extremely impressed. But what I predict is Sony losing it's tight grip on the industry. It may still remain the leader over Nintendo and Microsoft but the gap between first and second place will not be nearly as substantial. With Microsoft's notable strides in the right direction and Nintendo doing it's own thing, I think Sony is getting a little too big for its britches. They seem to be operating under the assumption that people will buy the PS3 because it's "the thing to do" since they already have a PSX and PS2 and everyone hates Microsoft and thinks Nintendo is for kids. If Sony isn't careful they could allow a competitor to fly by without even knowing it.

Well the gamespot article claims that it could be released at 500 euros. The thing is that game systems tend to cost more over seas, as apposed to here in the states. Si personally wouldn't be to suprised to see the PS3 debut at $400-$500 despite the exchaange rate with what it's being pegged in euros. But still $500 is a lot.

Do you think that PS3 will be able to play PS1and 2 games, i hope So

It's already been stated it will.

Yeah, Revo is looking more and more appealing, lol. Though, region free is SICK!!

I need you're oppinions. If I can afford it, I'm thinking about buying an extra PS3 or two which I can re-sell - craigs list, ebay, local ads, whatever. Anyway, do you think I could make a significant amount on the re-sell. Some PS2's were selling for over double the price when they first came out. If there is a production shortage, and I get lucky...

Please, share your thoughts on this with me.

If they say region free though they better stick to it otherwise they're going to piss of a whole bunch of people. They can't make it region free the first year or so and then decide "hey, this isn't working" and then go back to the old way and start region coding the software. But if it sticks, then region free is pretty sweet.

Saty, I was planning on doing the same thing but I was going to go halves with a friend of mine and we'd split the profits. I wouldn't tell someone to do something if I weren't willing to do it myself. But here's the thing. I had to put my plans on a hiatus simply because there isn't a set price point. I don't want to preorder 2 or 3 PS3s and then find out that I don't have the initial funds to back the project. So I have to wait things out and you may want to do the same. Another issue is timing. There isn't a doubt in my mind that there will be a PS3 shortage. But before you can make real money off an Ebay sell, you have to hit that sweet spot when people are trying to get the console but can't. It's often not the day after launch but a week or two. Scout Ebay and don't put up the console until you see them selling for good amounts. I was planning on putting the reserve for the base cost so at absolute worst I break even. But despite all of this careful planning and 90% chance a profit can be made, something is keeping me from really falling in love with this. I don't want to be the guy who charges a grandmother $1000 just so her grandson can open up a PS3 on Christmas morning. Part of me believes that if you have the foresight to predict these things, then you deserve to make money off of it. But I just don't like the idea of me gouging innocent people who are only willing to pay so much because they want to make their kids happy.

I was planing to the same thing Satyagraha. The problem is every article that has been coming about the PS3 seams to be pointing at a $500 or more pricetag. How much can actually be made off that kind of pricetag? Not to mention Sony is claiming they can get 6,000,000 systems shipped worldwide within 3 months of the systems launch. I'm starting to doubt there will be a shortage like there was with the PS2, and Xbox 360.

Eh, numbers are easy to throw around. Microsoft said that they had a goal to get 1 billion Xbox 360s out in the world. That's 1/6th of Earth's population. What the hell were they smoking when they came up with that number?

Hey man, what? That's true? If so, goddamn, perfect. Finally PAL gamers such as myself don't have to wait weeks/months for some titles.

You got a link or anything?

Appreciated.

EDIT ~ S'cool man, found it. Sounds pretty hot.

Damn, this console war is going to be very interesting. I'm still waiting for a PS3 though.

Speaking of console wars, does anyone else see them coming to an end? Things are changing. I get the feeling we will reach a point eventually where there will be two "big" names (I have a feeling Nintendo will end up going third party or focus exclusively on the handheld market over the next couple generations) and we'll have a Coke/Pepsi or DC/Marvel situation. Microsoft and Sony will still be in competition but it won't be a "war" in the classic sense. They'll be competing with each other but the world would be big enough for the both of them. Nobody speaks of DC and Marvel or Pepsi and Coke as being battling for control anymore. They can peacefully coexist. So unless Nintendo can grasp a larger chunk of the market than it's been working with, I'm predicting they'll eventually back out of the console market and Sony and Microsoft will split the industry between them.