The key word there is this ‘lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’. As you probably know, we’re working on a ten-year lifecycle, we’ve said that since day one and we’ve proven it with PSOne and PS2. I guess Don is saying they’re also going to be embarking on a ten-year lifecycle, then? If they are then that’s terrific, but I’ve never seen them manage it before. Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch.

Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch. On the other hand, if he’s saying that Microsoft will outsell us after five years, if he calls that this generation, then he’s saying he’s going to exit the 360 business within five years. I’m not exactly sure when he says ‘this lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’ what standard he’s using — five years, 10 years, I don’t know.

Don Mattrick is obviously on Don Mattrick Time. You can't put a time-frame on DMT, you just can't.

Hirai on PS3... Pt. 1 [MCYVK]

I think we got more than 12 months’ work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.

Oh, Don.

Mattrick: Rivals have been slacking off [MCVUK]

Developers know they have to amortize that investment over a global marketplace and the best place to do that is on a PlayStation format. Because if you look at the global footprint, PlayStation 3 dominates in Japan where the 360 is really irrelevant. In Europe, the PlayStation 3 is already past the 360. And in the United States you have a dogfight...So back to the third-party community, they’re looking at what’s going on, they’re realigning their development resources to exploit PS3 and I think they understand that if they want to have a global return on their investment, PlayStation 3 is the only place they’re going to get it.

Man's got a point, a point that - as the PS3 begins to slowly, inevitably pull away from the 360 in Europe - will only get sharper!

Sony: ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ Going To XBox 360 Creates ‘Jump Ball’ [MTV]

[thanks Matt!]

We sat down with DC Comics executive creator Jim Lee earlier today to talk about the SOE-developed, DC-branded game. Lee told me that he was the one who had approached SOE after catching wind of the project, an effort which had experienced multiple starts and stops.

As a fairly serious EverQuest player — Lee played Paladin, for the record — the artist turned exec knew his stuff. He dropped MMO-isms (LFG, instances, the grind) like it was his natural language, and with a working knowledge of the DC universe, fans of the genre and the brand should feel confident that it's creatively in good hands.

Players will be given the option of creating a good or evil character in DCUO, each with a possible dozen unique characteristics, such as power type (ice, fire, mental, sonic), power source (ring, elemental), and movement type (flying, speed). Given Lee's background as a serious MMO player, I had to ask what he was planning on playing in DC Universe Online when it shipped.

"I haven't decided," he said. "I'll probably have one public character and one private character — a villain."

I asked Jim if he was partial to any particular DC mainstays, if he'd lobbied for the inclusion of anyone in particular.

"I kind of have to be impartial," he said, noting that it was more important to ensure that DC's classic characters and classic designs were integrated accurately into the massive multiplayer world.

Sadly, that doesn't include some of the more off-kilter characters, non-humanoids like Krypto the Super Dog, Bat-Mite or various multi-limbed things from the Green Lantern Corps. They may appear in the game in some form, but if you're looking to create a super monkey that can ally with the Superman family or even Gorilla Grodd, you might have to wait for the expansion.

One surprise that Lee mentioned is that alter-egos will play a role in the game. You may have to spend some time as a lowly photographer, for example, one who walks among the regular citizens, preserving your secret identity. "We have to have it be meaningful," Lee said of superhero alter-egos. This aspect of the gameplay, Lee hinted, may address the dreaded "grind", something he says players won't spend much time worrying about.

As far as the look of the game, for which Lee is largely responsible, we learned that some characters that we've already seen are undergoing visual refinements. "The Joker is one character I wanted to tweak," he said, noting that the Heath Ledger/Christopher Nolan take on the Joker from The Dark Knight may have been part of the catalyst for the change. Part of the reason for the change, however, was that the current model of the Joker simply didn't fit with the rest of the game's non-playable DC heroes and villains.

We'll be going hands-on with the game soon and will report our impressions of DC Universe Online later this week.

The blog also says it'll offer three hints on Saturday, July 26th, stressing that it is a "new" PlayStation 3 "exclusive." In this case, it's the author, not I, who put those words in quotes — does that make anyone else a little leery?

Right now, all that's up in the post is a reminder that the announcement is unrelated to Square Enix's event over the same August date. Uh, oo-kay? Oh yeah, and they've got three words listed, all of them crossed out with strikethrough:

RPG
FPS
Next gen Twisted metal

Real? Hoax? Guess we'll find out.

Announcing MAJOR new PS3 exclusive on 3 August [PlayStation Lifestyle]

Consumers responded to “GTA” on the PS3 just as they did on the 360. And it becomes a bit of a jump ball. But it didn’t rise the tide for them. And I think if you fast forward to when “Final Fantasy XIII” comes out I think you’re going to have millions of people who grew up playing “Final Fantasy” on the PlayStation playing it on a PlayStation 3. They spent a lot of money, I’m sure, to get “Final Fantasy” onto the 360 but at the end of the day it’s on our platform as well. Which is why we focus on, “Let’s look at what happens when you have “Metal Gear Solid” on your platform … when the NPD numbers come out … I think you’ll see the value of what a real exclusive title does and how it raised the bar for PS3 versus 360.

So...exclusives don't really matter, yet exclusives like MGS4 bring "value" and "raise the bar" for the PS3? You seem confused, Peter.

Sony: ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ Going To XBox 360 Creates ‘Jump Ball’ [MTV]

Hit the jump for exciting photos of the new thinner PSP ring, another look at the PS button and one more cosmetic change. While you do say, chant "This is a rumor, this is a rumor."

Yes, that's that thinner ring. Again. It's thinner.

This shot of the PS button, the one that supposedly replaces the Home button on the current PSP model, looks noticeably different from what we saw previously. It looks more like the PS button on the SIXAXIS controller and is therefore, more suspect.

That would be some handy iconography stamped on the bottom of the PSP-3000. Answers the question, "What am I sticking these cables in here for?"

Jack Tretton took the stage at Sony's E3 2008 press conference and proclaimed it "the year of the PS3." Reflecting on the oft-touted ten-year lifespan of the PS2, the underlying message seemed to be similar to what we heard from Sony in the past: Just wait, a little bit more.

Sony dropped few big bombs during its press conference, which lasted an hour and a half, but did have plenty of details to reveal: just in case you missed something, we've got complete Cliff's Notes from Sony's presser for you after the jump.

Fitting the theme of a gradual but ever-progressing transition for the PlayStation 3, Sony announced the first Greatest Hits collection for the console, older titles that will now sell for $30 in North America. The first of these will be Resistance: Fall of Man, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night and Need For Speed: Carbon.

The company also provided a launch window for LittleBigPlanet — previously pegged for September, the company now plans to release it in October.

Sony also spent time on the PS2, which Tretton said is still alive and kicking. "In 2008, we're introducing more than 130 titles to PlayStation 2," he said. A new PS2 bundle, called the "Family Value Pack," is hitting North America in the fall, coming with LEGO Batman and Justice League: New Frontiers on DVD for $149.

As concerns the PlayStation Network, Tretton mentioned the company's effort to ease user migration from PS2, part of which is giving all PlayStation users a single sign-in that can migrate from PSP to PS3 and PC. The other piece of big PSN news was the announcement of Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty, which is a shorter-length downloadable that Europeans will have the option of purchasing on disc.

Tretton touched on Sony's long-awaited virtual world, Home, with little new information to report. "Your patience [for Home] will be more than rewarded," said Tretton said at E3 — meaning there's still no launch date in sight. However, the demo that was shown during Sony's press event looked, according to our own Crecente and McWhertor, much better than Home had previously looked.

As a counterweight to Microsoft's announcement of a partnership with Netflix, Sony revealed that it, too, would be receiving downloadable movies through studio partnerships, including Warner, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Disney, MGM and others. The cost is $15 to purchase, $6 to rent in HD, and $4 to rent in standard definition. The AVC-format videos downloaded to PS3 can also be transferred to the PSP via a USB cable, and the service was set to go live on the same day the announcement was made, July 15th.

A new "Life With Playstation" channel was announced, set to launch in North America at the end of the month, said to bring the news, weather and more to your PlayStation 3.

Finally, the PS3 did get a price drop — of sorts. Tretton announced a 80 GB PS3 "Core Pack" that'll go for $400 — "the same functionality of the 40 GB... with twice the storage," he said.

"This new 80 GB PS3 is perfectly suited for HD games, music, movies and more."

On to PSP, a new bundle was announced, the $199 Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters pack, which comes with the game, National Treasure 2 on UMD, a 1GB memory stick and a voucher forEchochromeon PSP.

The PSP is also getting several new titles: Sony showed Resistance: Retribution, in development by Sony's Bend Studio, along with LocoRoco 2, Patapon 2, NBA 09: Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Buzz! Master Quiz, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Remix.

The presser closed with the unveiling of MAG, the so-called "Massive Action Game" that may or may not be a SOCOM IP, promising battles for up to 256 players online at once.

Then he watched the Sony press conference, and the world as we know it changed. After hearing about “Metal Gear Solid 4”, as well as other PlayStation exclusives in the pipeline and the awesomeness of Blu-ray, he promptly packed up his Xbox 360 and all his games and went down to Game Stop to trade them in.

I am sure the folks at Sony are overjoyed to hear oh Jane's boy's extreme reaction to their press conference, but had he been living in a cave for two years or what? He heard about Blu-ray and Metal Gear Solid 4 and decided to go PlayStation? According to Wells, her son reads all of the news sites, participates in chat rooms, and even watches G4...oh. That explains it.

Not heartwarming story about a journalists son is complete without a tender moment at the end, so I leave you with Jane's final words on the subject.

As we left the store, I said to him, “I never thought I’d see you with a PlayStation.” “Neither did I,” he replied.

*wipes away tear and adds a link*

The Ultimate Proof Sony Is Winning [CNBC - Thanks Dean!]

"I prefer to talk about the fact that, yeah, we're competitors, but the competition really has made people so much sharper, and if I can use this analogy, if you're fighting in a war that's, say, Boeing versus Airbus, it's almost like battleship against battleship and you're fighting from 15 miles away; if you're fighting in the car war, it might be that you're fighting in tanks and you're one kilometre away; in the videogame industry, if there's a war, if there's competition, it's almost like hand-to-hand fighting, but it makes you sharper. You want to have a sharper sword, you want to have a sword that feels just about right, and everyone is very sharp, and what they're doing is they're looking for high ground, low ground where they can get an advantage."

So the console industry is like melee combat with swords...or is it like shoes?

The winner is the consumer, and I think that's great. That's why we are not going to slag off Microsoft or Nintendo at all, because again it's rather like the trainer market: one year it's Reebok, next year it's Nike, and then suddenly it's Adidas; it's cyclical, but in the end everyone wins in five to ten years.

See? He's like one of those guys who is really good with analogies. Just reading his words has sapped me of my will to explain one thing using another thing as an example!

Of course what he is trying to say is that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are equally matched in terms of what they have to offer the public and are just jockeying for position, but he makes it all seem so poetic, doesn't he?

Incidentally, for those of you who don't keep up with Brit slang, "to slag off" is equal to "to dis". Also, trainers are sneakers, and David Reeves might be the only English-speaking games industry exec who needs a translator when addressing English-speaking markets.

Interview: Sony's David Reeves [Eurogamer]

And we certainly don't do the consumer the disservice of basically saying that the consoles have gone by the wayside because we have a new one. Right now, a prime example? PS2 is nine years into it. Where's the Xbox? Where's the GameCube?

Same thing with the original PlayStation. At some point we looked around and asked what happened to the Saturn? Where's the N64? So if we're doing that, let's compare apples to apples, and for me, because we're on a ten year life cycle, unless we're talking ten years it doesn't really make that much sense to me.

The only way Kaz Hirai tracks time is with decades.

This is Living [GamesIndustry]

As can be seen in the picture above, the Home button on the original and current PSP models is now occupied by a PS button, similar to the one on the PlayStation 3 controller. One could assume that Sony would have made the Home to PS change in an attempt to prevent confusion with its Home service. The purported microphone is to the right of the volume buttons.

More pics after the jump.

Yes, that's a thinner metallic ring on the UMD door. Why that would possibly change, we have little idea. Below is what is said to be the back half of the PSP 3000's plastic casing.

Keep in mind these photos are not confirmed to be the real deal and that they should be considered rumor for now. We'll be following up with Sony to learn more about its PSP plans and get comment on the authenticity of the above photos.

Thanks to creamsuger and ZX for forwarding the pics.

"SCEE and Media Molecule can guarantee that all consumer-generated content will be free at launch. We know how important this is to the LBP community and what we want most is for people to enjoy playing, creating and sharing their content," Sony told Eurogamer.

Monetizing user-generated content has been a hot-button issue in video games' adjacent virtual worlds sector, where casual multiplayer social games usually rely on microtransactions support to make money, and community content to drive engagement. It'll be interesting to see whether LittleBigPlanet can set the standard for bridging those two worlds with what Reeves calls an "iTunes meets eBay" system.

How willing are you, Kotaku readers, to pay for something another player has made? Or will you just stick to the free stuff?

All LBP user content to be free at launch [Eurogamer]

Speaking to MCV, Hirai said the PS3 continues to evolve over time, and that as PlayStation Network content expands, Sony wanted to offer more storage capacity without raising prices.

“We brought in the 80GB because we wanted to make sure we continued offering the value proposition to consumers in the true fashion of PlayStation," Hirai told MCV.

"We heard a lot of response from the consumers basically saying 40GB is nice, but with a lot of additional download products were offering via the PlayStation Network, consumers were looking for a higher capacity hard drive."

"We thought it was a great time to introduce it at E3, but also make sure that we continued to keep the pricing the same.”

Hirai reassures 40GB PS3 owners [MCV]

10/21/08, just one day before my birthday! Note, if you will, however, the asterisk pointing the way to fine print: Release date subject to change. Perhaps I will hold off on that birthday wishlist, just to be sure.

It’s not hard to imagine that Sony knew Microsoft would choose E3 to make its curtain-call announcement of Final Fantasy XIII for the 360. It’s likewise reasonable to believe they searched their catalog of works under development for the best candidate to generate any buzz. What we got was a mixed bag — the trailer of an incredibly expansive shooter, but it didn’t even have a title. It was just MAG: Massive Action Game. It sounded tempting, but very incomplete.

In fact it was shown to a focus group less than a month before E3. One among that group, after seeing the MAG E3 debut, reached out to me, under a promise of anonymity, to describe what was shown and asked of the group. Put simply, MAG — whatever title it comes out under — will be a mercenary combat MMO. We're told that it will more than likely carry SOCOM branding, as Zipper Interactive is behind it. And if so, it could be called SOCOM: Shadow War or SOCOM: Zero. Though Sony did stress it was a brand new IP at the press conference.

For purposes of identity protection, my source, who has experience in other video game focus groups, will be called Orange. Being identified could cost Orange, and others, future work.

“They gave us six options for taglines at the end,” said Orange, who could only remember four: MAG: Shadow War; MAG: Zero; MAG: Global Assault and MAG: Final Hour. Orange said the group liked Shadow War and Zero. Orange reasoned that Zipper Interactive's involvement means all signs would point to a repurposing of SOCOM IP for this one, rather than creating a new title outright. Indeed, when providing me visual examples of certain factions that he observed, Orange used images from SOCOM 3.

“We were all deliberating what sort of game it was similar to, and for the most part, SOCOM and Planetside (another Sony title) were the only names that came out, based on what we have heard and seen,” Orange said. The group members saw, or was described, gameplay but could not perform it themselves, which indicated it was in a far less complete stage than other games for which Orange had been in a focus group. All the group saw was a “touched up” version of the trailer that ran at E3, Orange said. Then they were asked questions, mostly regarding the game’s story and the scope of its battles.

SOCOM and Planetside were the closest cousins, Orange said, because the game involves “troop like gameplay with a 3rd person view. The game is set following catstrophic events in the near future — “2015 to 2020, around there,” said Orange — in which mercenaries, aligned with certain factions, are engaged in relentless secret wars for control of resources.

Orange saw three factions — Americans, based in Alaska (“I can assume a snow level,” Orange joked) Europeans and a Middle East faction. Orange provided two .jpgs from SOCOM 3 that were close analogues to the MAG Europe and Middle East factions. If Sony chooses to go forward like this, the obvious Middle East motif could cause some PR problems (although, “It was a black American soldier they showed us, if that makes up for it.”) To Anglo players, that kind of garb clearly says “terrorist,” and not mercenaries, especially considering the regular fatigues and high-tech suits worn by Americans and Europeans, respectively.

Orange said the presenters focused on two topics: Whether the story justifying the state of current events in the game was believable enough for gamers, and whether the scale of combat was appealing. MAG is promising multiplayer battles of up to 256 participants, broken down into 8-member units aligned to one of two sides. There will be no third-party intercessions on any battles, Orange said.

“For MAG they were all about scale,” Orange said. “That was the word they were going for. Massive (as in the scale of the level). With 256 players, they don’t want it to be a clusterfuck of deathmatch. They want vast levels where troops can approach from all angles.”

At that scale, you can be an independent operator assigned to one unit, knowing none of the others on your side, or you can gather up to seven of your friends and jump in as a squad, with other participants added in if your unit totals less than eight. Obviously, it’s not obligating you to find 127 of your closest friends if you want to see the largest scale of combat MAG will offer.

That said, mission objectives for these battles will definitely be in the hands of a few human players. We’ve reported on the concept of ranks in MAG, where players accumulate experience and ascend a shot-calling ladder within the game, such that they are either grunts, lieutenants, or generals in charge of the whole operation. You’ll ascend in rank according to a points accrual system that Orange was able to describe loosely.

“When they were describing it, it kept reminding me of Alterac Valley from World of Warcraft, if you are familiar,” Orange said. “What happens is: You get points for contributing with your troop/overall team. If you happen to win or do better than the rest of your team, you get more points. So the more you play, or the more points you get, the higher your rank goes.”

Some speculated/wished that at high command levels, the game moved back into some sort of top-down/RTS interface. That sort of happens. “Everyone is in the field,” Orange said, “but the person in charge is capable of looking at the map and commanding the overall group or individual troops. He is also capable of things like airstrikes and parachute drops. He could either control and babysit from far back, or jump right into the action [with a weapon himself.]”

Orange didn’t like the fact another human player could set all the mission parameters. “Why would I want someone telling me how to play the game?” Orange said. “Perhaps I know more about the certain terrain than they do, should they have the ability to penalize me if I don’t listen? Granted, penalizing and kicking were not mentioned but they’re always a possiblity.

While Orange did not see individual character classes or their abilities demonstrated, Orange came away with the understanding that all units could be comprised of a single class if they desired. Also, once a character achieved a certain point ranking, certain options became customizable, such as appearance and equipment/weaponry upgrades.

In all, Orange described an appealing game, and it’s a logical progression from MMOs set in fantasy contexts. After all, there are, at least for narrative purposes, kingdoms and heads of state in those worlds too, and adventurers set off on individual quests and find combat there. Given a good enough story to set it up, what should preclude that kind of experience in the modern world?

Don't forget that since this is all coming out of a focus test it could be very pie-in-the-sky stuff, though certainly ideas that are tickling Sony's collective grey matter.

PSP Out There, Go!Explore [Pocketgamer.co.uk]

Both full size strips are on the jump. Sorry to do that, but at front-page width you can't make out the words.

It's Just Like Being There [Penny Arcade]
Eeee Threeee [F@NBOY$]

The neat part about this is the different types of game modes there are. You can play just by your lonesome with your PSP, you can use game sharing among your friends, or use the "Pass Around" mode, in which up to six of you can play the same game by passing around one PSP. It was the latter mode I checked out with the Sony reps, and I was surprised at how neat turning one PSP into a pass-around trivia game can be.

Buzz! Master Quiz features innumerable modes, guessing and trivia games, but in my demo, we tried a picture-guessing game. One person holds the PSP and selects a picture, and then picks only one section of it to show the other player. Once that's done, the PSP is passed to the other player, who must answer a quiz question about the picture after seeing only the one section.

I got mine wrong, and, of course, failed to stump the Sony rep when it was my turn.

The interface is fairly slick, and all you really need to do is push the buttons on the PSP that correspond to the answer you want to pick. Pass-Around players can plug in their names and choose a funny character to represent them — helps, of course, to keep track of who is who. In another one of the multiplayer games, the person holding the PSP is presented with a trivia question and is asked to predict which player will get it right and who will get it wrong.

I was also told about a "virus challenge" mode where taking time to answer questions saps player's scores, so as you pass the PSP around, ultimately the player who answered his or her trivia the quickest will have the most points.

It seems like it'd be a lot of fun for pairs or groups of friends — another plus is the reps and I were able to pass and play while still carrying on a conversation, so it's a way to entertain everyone without necessarily requiring all their attention. I'm the sort to eyeroll a bit at trivia games, but I could see myself playing the hero and pulling out my PSP with this game next time I'm in a restaurant or on a long subway trip with pals and an awkward silence descends.

WipEout HD delayed due to technical issue [Eurogamer]

To recap, MGS4 topped the software charts. And it propelled the PS3 to a big win over the 360, and an even bigger win over their June 2007 PS3 sales, which are up - according to Sony's crack numbers team - by around 300%. PSP sales were great, PS2 sales were, relatively, great, and all around, it was a good month for Sony.

Cue Jack Tretton, who enthuses "The PlayStation brand is truly hitting its stride on its long-term opportunity across all three platforms". For the rest of Jack's take on the June numbers, click through.

PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™), led by the launch of the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 bundle, continued to experience tremendous momentum in June 2008, selling 405,488 hardware units – 84% higher than Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (according to NPD June 2008 sales data). PS3 year-over-year hardware sales growth exceeded 311% in June, with month-over-month growth exceeding 94%.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, exclusively for PS3, was the best-selling title on any platform in June 2008, with 774,647 units sold. More than 2.4 million software units were sold for PS3 in June, representing an increase of more than 300% from this time last year. (Software totals do not include software units sold as part of the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 retail bundle).

* The launch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots kicks off the beginning of a blockbuster software line-up for PS3 in the back-half of the year, including highly-anticipated exclusive titles such as SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation, Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, NBA ‘09: The Inside and LittleBigPlanet to name a few. These monster titles promise to further drive PS3 sales into the holiday season and beyond.
* The PLAYSTATION®Network community continues to grow in popularity with more than 10 million registered accounts worldwide and 180 million pieces of content downloaded worldwide.

Fueled by enthusiasm for the launch of the God of War: Chains of Olympus PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) bundle, PSP experienced strong sales in June, with 337,356 PSP hardware units sold. This represents a sales increase of 85% month-over-month.

PlayStation®2 (PS2) also had a solid month in June, selling 188,798 hardware units, an increase of 42% from May. The popular console continued to experience strong software sales, with 3.9 million software units sold. More than 42.4 million PS2s have been sold in the U.S. as of June 2008.

Power of the PlayStation Portfolio

The PlayStation brand continued to generate impressive sales, earning $626.7 million in June.

· Year to date (Jan-June), the PlayStation brand generated almost $2.9 billion in revenue, representing an increase of 24% year-over year.

· PlayStation total hardware revenue was $265.5 million in June, representing a year-over-year growth of 90%.

· PlayStation total software revenue in June was $298 million, representing a year-over-year growth of over 52%.

CEO Perspective

"The PlayStation brand is truly hitting its stride on its long-term opportunity across all three platforms. Our strong June numbers serve as proof to the continued momentum of the PS3 and affirms that we’re exactly where we expected to be. This month’s success can be attributed to the exclusive blockbuster Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and we’re poised for continued growth into the back half of the year with a much anticipated line-up, including LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and NBA ’09: The Inside. Additionally, the new PlayStation Network video delivery service will be a big driver for the PS3 and PSP, allowing consumers to extend their multi-media and entertainment experience.”

- Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America

After a slight delay due to internet issues in the prior presentation, a pack of media people shuffled into a little room to hear all about Killzone 2. Guerilla Games' managing director, Hermen Hulst, looked slightly horrified that the horde of journalists had left the two women in the room to sit on the floor ('Someone please get her a chair!'), but Kotaku writers getting stuck on the floor be damned, the show will go on! Eric Boltjes — senior online game developer — launched into a presentation and explanation of Killzone 2 online multiplayer's unique features and mechanics. After, of course, a nice video showing ... fast action, and lots of explosions! Boltjes underscored the fact that everything we watched was shot in real time on the PS3, and everything still looked nice even with 32 players in a game. We got a long laundry list of features and mechanics, which all seemed to come back to one word, 'customized.' For more from the presentation, hit the jump.

Boltjes laid out four goals for the game: 'everyone can enjoy Killzone 2 online,' 'play just the way you like it,' 'inspiring team play,' and 'create community beyond the game.'

Under the 'everyone can enjoy Killzone 2 online' category, Boltjes mentioned they wanted the hardcore and uh, less hardcore audiences to be happy and have fun, and noted a few features. The quick join feature will ensure that players can just hop into a game suitable for their ability level, but pickier players will be able to search for specific criteria before joining a game. The game will feature a 'slow introduction,' working up to advanced features; the advanced features will hopefully keep the hardcore audience chipper while not demoralizing those who aren't ready for a really steep learning curve. Along with that, there will be transparency in the progression of the game, with twelve military ranks to progress through as you play the game (unlocking more features along the way), with an additional 46 badges and medals to be won for completing specific goals. Stats junkies will also be able to track 'over 100 statistics' regarding their progress and performance.

Boltjes seemed very proud of the 'play just the way you like it' features, which meant customize, customize, customize (within reason). Players will be able to select from six badges; each badge has a primary and a secondary ability. Decide you're really more of a medic-engineer than just a medic? Combine the two to take the medic's primary badge and the engineer's secondary badge (and vice versa if you decide to play as an engineer-medic). Custom games will allow players to select everything from the maps played, types of missions, weapons available, types of badges allowed, and variable settings (how long it takes to revive a player, how long it takes to set/defuse an explosive, etc.)

Under 'inspiring team play,' Boltjes discussed the benefits of having a squad, including the ability to see the stats of other squad members, a squad-only headset channel, and a 'spawn on squad leader' feature. Also under the spawning mechanics is the ability to cycle through available spawn points and check out what's going on in real time. Dynamic missions will also allow several missions to be selected for a game, with another mission starting after one objective has been won (there is also the option to switch in the middle of a round). There can be four members per squad and eight squads per faction.

Boltjes finished up by discussing the clan system and how they want to 'create community beyond the game.' Clans can support up to 64 players, and clan vs. clan matches can handle 16 on each side. Clan matchups will feature a 'valor' betting system, with winner takes all of the predetermined 'valor' bet. It is possible to run out of valor, but by participating in entry fee-free competitions, clans can rebound from a lack of valor. Clan tournaments can be set up in a tier-based system, with a maximum of 256 clans. On the issue of community more broadly, Boltjes talked about the leaderboards — including individuals, friends, clans, and clan member stats — that can be sorted on an all-time, daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The Killzone 2 website was also brought out as a more in-depth companion to everything available in game.

During the Q&A, a few more things came up: no, graphics were not downsized for multiplayer (and the game did look nice, at least the parts we were shown). A public beta will be open later this year, and they will be closely monitoring for exploits and vulnerabilities. Killzone 2 will also be functioning on a global server system. Further, more single player news will be out later this year, and while they have some interesting ideas to go with Sony's Home, "we're not discussing it right now."

Can the dreams of a flower change the world? This is the question explored by flOw creator That Game Company's latest game, Flower. Far from the plant life simulator some imagined, Flower is an enchanting adventure game that explores environmental issues through the subconscious minds of the most unique game characters – potted plants. .

That Game Company director and co-founder Jenova Chen explains that the theme of the game is “Life in Balance.” As reflected in flOw, The company's goal is explore what is possible to communicate through video games, from the complex concept of evolution and adaptation to the power found in a simple potted flower.

Jenova himself was on hand to demonstrate the game for us. First, like flOw, the controls are simple. You tilt the Sixaxis to control the game, with each button essentially having the same function, making it a very easy game to pick up and play.

The first level were were shown started with a single potted flower sitting on the windowsill of a grungy, worn down, dessicated apartment building in some random city. Far from just a level select screen, this setting is every bit as much of the story of Flower as the actual gameplay. Jenova selected the flower and hit the button, bring us into the world of the plant's dreams.

First, we an image of the city, filled with noise, broken buildings, noisy traffic, etc. Despite all the human life in the scene, to the flower this is a dry, lifeless place. Then we enter the dream.

The screen switches to that single flower, planted in a grassy field, swaying back and forth with the wind. Jenova preses the button and the wind kicks up, sweeping along with it a petal from the flower, and the perspective switches to follow said petal through its windy ride. Are you controlling the wind, or controlling the petal? The answer is open to your interpretation really, says Jenova.

He guides the petal in the wind towards other flowers, which open, adding their own petals to what soon becomes a swirling army of color against waving green grass. There are barren areas, but when the wind touches a certain sequence of flowers, the brown, dead grass in the area springs to life, joining the up to 200,000 swaying verdant stalks visible on the screen's 120 degree field of view at any time.

There is theme of transformation throughout the game. One flower desires to see more life, and in the dream they deliver it. When the level is complete the dirty apartment building setting is a bit brighter, and another flower joins the first. On to a second dream.

The next dream begins with images of colorless concrete, walls, bricks, and buildings. This flower dreams of color, and instead of bringing dead grass back to life, the petal in the level that follows brings bursts of color to an otherwise colorless landscape. This in turn adds color to the apartment.

The final level we see kicks off with visions of a sky obscured by clouds, buildings, and other man-made objects. In the dream the petal rides the wind to activate windmills, and though the demo stopped there I suspect clearing the sky was the ultimate goal.

It's an environmental game, perhaps, but also a philosophical sandbox sort of title that lets you explore the beautiful landscape, following your flower's desires or straying off the path, letting the wind take you where it will as you explore your surroundings.

The gameplay and challenge of Flower are really yours to decide. Do you want to just explore and relax, or do you want to push yourself to see how fast you achieve your goal? Are you more concerned with getting to the next level quickly, or are you going to focus on hitting the flowers with the wind at just the right moment to let the musical contact better blend with the game's background music? It's all up to you.

So what is Flower? At its heart I would say it is a puzzle game, of sorts. There are no instructions, no introductions...just pick it up and make of it what you will. It doesn't hold your hand...every level it is up to you to puzzle out your character's dreams.

I'd call it a high-concept game, but the concept is really quite simple – it communicates the beauty of a flower through a video game. Using modern technology to communicate a concept that modern technology has put many of us out of touch with? That's beautiful irony.

• Originally, they planned to give players complete freedom of depth, but found that a richer experience could be gotten with only three layers of depth.
• If you use voice chat, Sack Boy will be lipsynched to your speech.
• The tags used to label level you create are pre-selected and were intially from LOL Cats. This has since been changed.
• Stephen Fry does voice over work for the create mode.
• It hasn't been announced if you can import your own music into the game. Says Evans, "There's no reason technically why not."
You might've known all of these. Heck, you might even know more. Good for you.

Next-gen SingStar at Leipzig [Eurogamer]

This will not come to the PAL markets this year, but Sir Howard Stringer has made the commitment that non-games will come to all regions in due course and it will. The dates for video content will come later this year. For us, and I think you appreciate most of you European, that local content is important, and that's what working on right now.

A shame, but not a surprise, given the legal issues Microsoft faced with their service (which, incidentally, Australia still doesn't have).

80GB PS3 coming to Europe, Australia on August 27 [GameSpot]

E3 08: 80GB PS3 coming to Europe [MCV]

The reason for that is that Valkyria Chronicles is a PlayStation 3 title. Chalk its appearance at Sony's E3 media briefing up to a massive blunder on Sony's part. Sega president Simon Jeffery sounded none too pleased about the flub when we talked to him earlier today and hinted that Sony was on the receiving of serious tongue-lashing from the publisher. Oops!

42 photos.