Sorry this took me so long to get around to, I've been fighting off a nasty cold. But better late than never. Here's our full list of Gamer's Day coverage for your quick viewing pleasure (crap, no wonder I got sick, 25 posts):

Sony's Black Book of Game Journalists
PSP to PS3 Abilities Explained
Kotakustalku: Jaffe You're Not Pretentious
Resistance Hands-On
Clips: Resistance Fall of Man
Formula One PS3 Hands-On
Untold Legends PS3 Hands-On
Virtua Fighter 5 Hands-On
Clips: Lair Ground Attacks
Genji Hands-On
Lair Hands-On
SIXAXIS Hands-On
Clips: Ludacris Hits It at Gamers' Day
Sony to Replace PS3 Controllers That Die
Inside the PS3 Kiosk
PS3 Porn: Tons O Consoles
Ludacris Invades Gamers' Day
Sony: Playstation Network Free Confirms Details
PS3 Peripheral Prices Announced
Buy a PS3 Get a Talladega Nights Free
PS3 Launch Line-Up
Liveblogging the Gamers' Day 06 Presentation
Gamers' Day 06 Swag
PS3 Event Getting Under Way
Gamers' Day 06: Here I Come

Brian Crecente

Before you get your panties in a wad, this was taken with my crappy digital cam, so the resolution doesn't really show up in this video. It does, however, give you a good sense of just how overwhelming this area is.

I'm not a huge fan of highly technical racing games. Much like highly technical flight sims, they simple leave me in the dust. I have no desire to learn the intricacies of really driving a car around a track or really flying. I just want to have fun when I game.

So Formula One wasn't really my cup of tea. But for those who are into highly realistic racers, the game looks amazing.

From the rain effect on the windshield (the water actually beads and gets pushed to the sides of the windshield as you speed up) to the realistic tires (sand starts to coat your tires if you spin out in a sand area) this game screams realism.

Unfortunately, it required far too much subtlety and patience for my breed of gaming. I couldn't manage to make it past a single curve in the road without pin-balling through a mess of cars of completely spinning out.

But I suspect there are a lot of people out there who are going to love this game. Brian Crecente

The very first game I picked up and played at Gamers' Day was Sega's Virtua Fighter 5. This was mostly because it was the only game that didn't have a line forming to play it.

While the graphics are mediocre at best, they still serve up enough eye-candy to make this latest iteration interesting and the characters moves were lighting fast and silky smooth.

It's unfortunate that fighting games, in general, haven't really kept up with the graphics of other games. Sure Dead or Alive 4 looks fairly nice, but it's nothing compared to some of the next-gen sports games out there.

This particular fighter seemed to be using big swathes of realistic skin wrapped around far too easy to see seams.

The game was fun to play, and I suppose that's what really matters. But more and more I expect sexy graphics with my sexy gaming. Brian Crecente

Genji: Days of the Blade was the last game I had a chance to get my hands on, thanks to the aborted evening of gaming. I was literally in the middle of an attack when a Sony PR guy came up, turned off the console and told me I HAD to go downstairs to eat and see the "surprise."

I, and just about everyone else, had already figured out that the surprise was Ludacris, so I was a bit grumbly as I made my way away from the game, despite their false promises that we could all return later on to play more.

I did get enough time with the game to get at least a decent sense of what it was all about. The graphics, while quite nice, weren't as stylistic as I had hoped and the same could be said for the special move animations, but the game is still quite pretty.

Fighting is accomplished through a series of button pushes and your character can swap weapons on the fly. Build up enough power and you can go into a special mode that lets you dish out a series of punishing special attacks to however many unsuspecting enemies happen to be standing around at the time.

In this mode, your character dances through a near void of falling flower petals and strange symbols, while you have to match button pushes that flash on the screen. The more you match the more enemies you get to cut down in a series of slightly interesting special attacks.

While I found the game intriguing, I really didn't get to spend enough time with it to tell if it's something that is truly going to captivate my interest.

As with Lair, I felt that the developers really didn't put in enough over the top, highly-stylized attacks. Maybe I've just come to expect that, but it really helps add sizzle to a perhaps otherwise mundane title.

I was also a little disappointed that Genji features so much magic. It would have been nice to see the developers take a more realistic, less magical approach to the game. But perhaps that title is coming another day.
Brian Crecente

I had a chance to speak with producer Sarah Stocker while Tommy Tallarico was hogging up Lair.

We started talking about the gritty, realistic look of the game and she told me that the developers tried to deliberately steer away from the bright, unrealistic colors of most fantasy fare and instead aimed for a more somber, subdued look.

To help achieve that goal, the game's graphics feature high polygon counts. The dragon and its rider alone have 150,000 polygons, while a single 16 by 16 kilometer scene is packed with 134 million polygons.

The graphics for the game were some of the most interesting I've seen for the PS3.

When I finally got my hands on the game I was impressed with how deftly the dragon winged and glided through the air.

While Stocker told me the team tried to adapt a control system that would make gamers feel like their holding a set of reins, jerking them around to move the flying beast, it still felt an awful lot like Warhawk.

That's not a bad thing, though I do hope they make the controls a little less sensitive by the time the game ships.

I played through the training level and a chunk of a level that had me supporting a mass of troops involved in a siege on a giant wall or bridge.

The training level had me flying through hoops, and taking out relatively easy to fight dragons.

Next it was on to a playable chunk of a level. In the level I was soaring over a giant bridge of some sort filled with two warring armies, mine and another, and the air was thick with dragons of different types.

I spent a bit of time locking onto to the other dragons and pelting them with fireballs and then went in for some close combat.

For close combat you need to lock-on and then get up close and personal and push another button. Once you're flying side by side you can shake the controller to body slam the other dragon or push buttons to have your dragon claw and bite it.

After a few minutes of that, my rider jumped on board the other dragon and I was able to pluck the other rider from the dragon with the help of my mount.

The combat was meant to be done along the lines of God of War where I had to match up directional shakes or button pushes with what flashed on the screen, but that wasn't developed yet, so any button push worked fine.

While the soaring combat was relatively fun, the incomplete melee combat felt a little too random and button-mashy for my tastes. I also felt a little let down by the cinematic graphics that showed the kill. If you're going to borrow from God of War for a combat style, and by all means that is absolutely fine, you really need to amp up those kill moves to deliver a big payout.

Fortunately, the game has another six months or so of development, so I'm sure a lot of that will be added as the game gets closer to gold.

After taking out some of the dragons and their riders I soared down to the bridge and flew through the openings and near the water, temporarily freaking out my real world handler who, I suspect, was worried I was going to glitch the game out. I didn't though and he was suitable impressed with some of the tight squeezes I managed to fly through.

Next I plopped onto the mammoth bridge and started tearing through the troops... until the demo guy pointed out they were my troops. Oops.

A short flight later and I was tearing into the bad guys. Again the game felt like it really wasn't delivering the visceral, bloody combat I was hoping to see. I mean, I'm on a dragon. I want to see it gobbling up terror stricken soldiers, melting armor, tail-smacking dozens of people screaming off the bridge. Instead I got a brutish dragon that sort of just muscled its way through the throngs of armor-plated baddies and attracted an awful lot of arrows.

The ability to go from sky to land with a simple button push and no sort of load screen is quite amazing. I would waddle my dragon through the crowds of men, scorching them with fire and then leap into the air and do a couple of strafing runs.

Another cool little feature is the ability to hover, an absolute must for dealing with those pesky catapults and other siege weapons.

While I sense I may very well love the finished product, right now Lair is simply the possibility of a great game. The developers are going to have to put in lots of work to polish the game up and add the sorts of moves and animations that well help avoid dreary repetition and lackluster play, but I suspect they have it in them. Brian Crecente

Jack Trenton took to the stage last night to introduce Ludacris. The hip hop star hung around long enough to do a handful of songs and then run upstairs and play some PS3 games. After his set, I saw his co-rapper grabbing some sushi at the bar. I guess he wasn't invited to get his game on. Brian Crecente

A Sony spokesman told GamesIndustry.biz that Sony plans to replace Playstation 3 Sixaxis controllers when and if they die.

The controllers use USB to recharge and do not have replaceable battaries.

"This is a purely speculative story and is largely untrue. The latest generation of Lithium Polymer batteries hardly suffer any memory effect at all, so it'll be many years before there's any degradation in terms of battery performance."

The spokesperson went on to confirm, "When and if this happens, then of course we will be providing a service to exchange these items."

A Sony developer guessed last night that a controller would last one to two years, when I was talking to him at the Gamers' Day event. Brian Crecente

Sony to replace PS3 controllers
[GamesIndustry.Biz]

The Gamers' Day event was simply lousy with Playstation 3s, they were everywhere. There were at least six up on the stage during the presentation and oodles of them packing the two floors of hands on space set up for journalists.

There were so many that I asked one of the PR peeps if I could just take one home with me. She laughed.

I was able to heft a couple in my hands, they're chunky beasts and feel all of their 11 pounds or so. They also get really hot, but not as hot, I believe, as the 360 gets during a few hours of gaming.

One of the things I really love about their design, and this is so silly, is that they have this cool touch sensative panel thingie that you use to turn the thing on and off and to eject the disc tray. You just lightly touch it and the system powers on or off. And to eject you sort of slide your finger across the eject symbol. Very cool.

Hit the jump for more shots, including one of Kaz holding up the official, but empty, PS3 box.

Ludacris snuck into Sony's Gamers' Day tonight, dropping some music to a packed and over-heated crowd before retiring to the stacks of Playstation 3 games upstairs to get his game on.

Funny thing, the Sony folks actually had to physically turn of the machines to get the reporters to stop playing and get downstairs to eat and listen to Ludacris. We were all told we'd be able to come back later on to play, but after the show they wouldn't let anyone back upstairs.

I sure hope it wasn't because Ludacris was getting his game on. His music is OK but he better not be standing between me and my Lair and Genji. Brian Crecente

Sony today confirmed that their Playstation Network for the Playstation 3 would be free. I double checked with a spokeswoman to confirm that this means chatting, friends lists and online gaming were all free and she said they were.

The free online service will also support web browsing using a USB keyboard. The console will let users bring up multiple windows at the same time. Finally, the online access will allow gamers to log into the Playstation Store where they can use their electronic wallet to purchase games, download new content, demos and trailers.

Downloadable first party games will all cost less than $15 at launch. Sony also confirmed that the electornic wallet will use straight cash instead of a point system. Both Microsoft and Nintendo's download systems use points. Brian Crecente

PLAYSTATION(R) Network Offers Unrestrained Community and Creativity
In addition to a wide array of software titles, SCEA today also unveiled
the online and network services provided through PS3, which will offer
distinctive benefits to consumers and developers alike. Consumers will be
able to enjoy a wide array of PS3 network capabilities, with basic features
offered absolutely free from day one. Developers will benefit from the open
platform policy of SCEA, which will allow them more freedom and creativity in
the development of their games and online/network services. The end result
will be more than just a place to play games, but a rich online environment
with strong community aspects as distinctive as the titles themselves.
The entry way into PLAYSTATION Network is XMB(TM) (Xross Media Bar), which
is the navigation system that enables a complete suite of entertainment
experiences in three key areas: gaming; network and web connectivity; and
other entertainment contents such as movies and music. The intuitive XMB
interface, which is already featured on more than 20 million PSP(R)
(PlayStation(R) Portable) shipped worldwide, allows PS3 users to experience
multiplayer games across the network; communicate with other players via chat,
voice or video; browse the web; download gaming content; store/view pictures
and video; download and listen to music; and shop online.
Through the online PLAYSTATION(R) Store, consumers can find such items as
game demos, game-related content and downloadable casual games, including
titles developed by Sony Computer Entertainment World Wide Studios exclusively
for download and play only on PS3, such as Blast Factor. Once users create a
unique, secure PlayStation profile, they cannot only communicate with other
PS3 users, they can also utilize an electronic wallet to purchase content in
the PLAYSTATION Store. Downloadable first party games will cost less than $15
at launch. More content will be added on a regular basis.

Sony confirmed the price of their launch peripherals for the Playstation 3 today.

The wireless SIXAXIS controller will sell for $49.99 each.
The Memory Card Adapter will sell for $14.99
The BD Remote Control will sell for $24.99
They also said most games will sell for $60.

I was talking to one of the Sony developers tonight about the life of the Sixaxis controller. I asked him how long one will last before it has to be tossed because the battery just won't take a charge anymore. He said one to two years. That is both, I believe, a wild ass guess and a HUGE spread. Brian Crecente

Sony announced today that the first 50,000 PS3s sold will come with a free copy of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in Blu-ray.

The movie won't hit stores in that format until mid December, which is kind of cool. I'm not quite sure why they decided to have this particular movie included with their PS3, but it is neat you'll get a free Blu-ray movie in the box. Brian Crecente

As I Liveblogged earlier today, Sony unveiled their first and third-party launch titles for the Playstation 3 today. Here's the run-down.

SCEA Launch Titles
Resistance: Fall of Man
NBA 07
Genji: Days of the Blade

Third Party Publisher Titles
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft
Call of Duty 3 - Activision
EA Sports(TM) Fight Night Round 3 - Electronic Arts
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks
F.E.A.R. - Vivendi Universal Games
Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Sega
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts
MARVEL:ULTIMATE ALLIANCE - Activision
Mobile Suit Gundam: CROSSFIRE - NAMCO BANDAI Games
NBA 2K7 - 2K Sports
Need For Speed Carbon - Electronic Arts
NHL 2K7 - 2K Sports
RIDGE RACER 7 - NAMCO BANDAI Games
Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Electronic Arts
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas - Ubisoft
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Activision
Untold Legends Dark Kingdom - Sony Online Entertainment

Make sure to check in tomorrow for my impressions on some of these as well as some video.Brian Crecente

Now I'm sitting on one of four big-ass buses waiting to be shuttled from the W hotel to the event center where we will be hearing from Sony execs and playing PS3 games.

I will, as always, attempt to liveblog the announcements and goings on, so make sure to check back in about 30. Brian Crecente

As you read this my broken hand and I are safely ensconced in the back of the family mini-van listening to Reggae as we tear across the mid-west on our way from Denver to Memphis. I'll be doing a few posts, but mostly I'll be vacationing in the land of rubbed barbecue and the mummified corpse of the King of Rock and Roll. Yes, I'm going to Graceland.

I've talked my wife into dropping me off at the Little Rock Airport on our way back home Wednesday so I can catch a flight to sunny San Francisco where I will be spending all of Thursday talking to Sony folk and playing Playstation 3 games.

I'm psyched: I've never been to Graceland and it's been year's since I've been to a Sony Gamer's Day.

While all Sony's told me officially so far is that there will be both an informal breakfast briefing and a more formal Q&A followed by a day of PS3 game playing, I still suspect that the last bits of real news will be coming out Thursday. I expect to hear about the online service and PSP connectivity, if not more. I hope I'm not disappointed.

I think I'm most excited about finally getting my hands onto Lair and Heavenly Sword, though I can't wait to see how Resistance: Fall of Man has shaped up.

Be sure to check out Kotaku Thursday for the hilarity of me trying to liveblog an event with a broken hand. There will be lots of swearing, and possibly some pain medication, involved. Brian Crecente

The Gamer's Day event, an invitation to "preview the beginning of the next generation", will take place on Thursday, Oct. 19 in San Francisco and feature a round-table discussion, executive presentations and a half-day of hands-on gaming time.

I suspect Sony will have most, if not all, of their launch titles on hand for playtime as well, perhaps, as some early builds of later games.

This has also got to be the event where Sony dishes the details on PSP connectivity and the PS3's online capabilities. I'm psyched... and going. Brian Crecente