Here's the latest news...

http://www.gametrailers.com/viewnews.php?id=3042

To summarize, it seems that the PS3 60GB HD that we've heard about will not be optional but standard.

Could one really expect something else?

That's pretty awsome. We all know what happens when they have a huge add on such as this sold seperately, so this is definately good news. It does make me more worried about the price though...

Oh and other than saving games & downloading demos/patches/new levels, is there any other real use for the HDD?

Developers can make games with a HDD in mind. Can result in faster loading, and other goodies.

The real use for the HDD is pirating games.

No lying.

Gullible little fan boy.

Only MGS4 was displayed on actual PS3 hardware and it didn't have any AI or anything else running side-by-side with the Graphical engine.

Get informed, then start talking.

There was quite a bit of realtime footage shown running off the earliest kits at E3, it's just that folks decided to focus on fantasy (Killzone, Motorstorm) rather than reality (I-8, Heavenly Sword).

Odd enough, those last two games are the ones I'm interested in the most.

Didn't PHIL HARRISON said himself in an interview that nothing was running on actual hardware at E3?

Also, MGS4 was 'hailed' by PS3 fans because it was the first piece of actual Software shown.

Metal Gear Solid 4 was hailed, because its Metal Gear Solid 4. Durr. :lolsign:

Then I suggest you head on over to B3D, since they've got 3 members of HS's development team and they've gone over, time and again, that aside from the character's face at the beginning, the rest was real-time. Then there's Ted Price from Insomniac introducing Resistance, which no one said was CG.

Really, how hard is it to believe that developers had the alpha kit before E3 '05?

It was "hailed" because it poked skeptics in the eyes by dragging the "LOL CG" crowd through the mud. Following that, they proved it wasn't CG by manipulating every part of the demo it with the code showing. Oh, and because it's MGS4.


Cue inane Megalith response

Nothing to this date has been running 'off of the actual hardware' as it still is not finished. Plenty of games shown have been running off of the alpha kits including Unreal 3, Fight Night and MGS4. Many of the demo trailers show were also a DVD recording of a demo that was produced running off of a alpha development kit.

And this is beneficial to Sony how? Surely there must be some other official use that they have in mind...

(hey, not that I'm complaning though)

Metal, I'm pretty sure Motorstorm is real.

Go check out one of those screenshots, and the huge amount of aliasing they have.

Well, that's debatable Hauton. It's often held under the same scrutiny as Killzone, given the insane level of physics going on in that trailer. There is one brief section of the trailer that could possibly be what the the final game may look like (a 5 second chase cam view of one of the cars).

You'd think that with such strong GPU and CPU power, the PS3 could do some anti-aliasing, even the Dreamcast could do that well. My Official US Playstation magazine has some PS3 game screenshots, that look like PS2 games with a very high polygon count. Their aliasing is extreme Untold Legends looks worse than Devil May Cry, a 2001 PS2 game. Obiviously SOE is not shooting for good graphics with that game. Stranglehold looks good though, Chow Yun-Fat (in the game) looks pretty close to real life counterpart. It'll be a while I guess until we see a PS3 game that looks even remotely good compared to the pre-renderd movies I've seen. Unreal Tournament 2007 and MGS4 are the only games that look to eclipse the PS2's best graphics in the near future.

Sega, you've got to be kidding me. Any half-assed PS3 game would stomp the shit out of a the best looking PS2 game around, especially when the original Xbox has done that for quite some time now.

The only place where we're really going to see a noticeable jump in graphics is between the PS2 and PS3 given how old the former's hardware is compared to the latter.

The newest anti-aliasing methods use multiple frame analyzation and blending which results in better looking AA without the normal blur associated with using superscale FSAA, edge blur AA or even Z-buffer FSAA. As a result, you really cannot see the AA effect from single frame screenshots. I'm sure there will be tools that will take proper direct frame buffer shots for the PS3 later on, similar to the tools used to take PS2 screenshots for magazines and such.

Most of the PS3 games I've seem (at least real in-game screenshots) don't really take advantage of the hardware. UT2007 looks the best by far, but I do remember many PS2 games (especially early on) that didn't look much better than the best PS1 games, save for a higher resolution and better lighting. It took PS2 devs quite a while to get used to developing for the PS2 before they could pull games that looked as good as DMC3 and Prince of Persia.
Tech demoes don't take into account, physics, controls, or anything else gameplay related. They only show what the graphics and sound capabilities of the system are.

ps3.qj.net/

I thought we were supposed to get more info on the online portion. :(

Problem is, the PS2 is ridiculously outdated, and the only reason it's survived this far is because developers have been able to wring out an impressive amount of power out of the machine. Unless these guys don't try at all or don't applly AA or AF or even DOF, they'll easily look far better than a PS2 game. All you'd need to see is a screen cap of MGS3 and compare it to any of the 9 month old shots from games like Resistance or Heavenly Sword.

And yet, like I said before, a half-assed effort on the part o developers would trump the best efforts of PS2 games simply because of the difference in hardware. And tech demos show off everything in a game and console except actual gameplay. How can you include physics in there when that was a major part of Sony's presentation at E3 '05.

I'm really excited about the news of Ratchet and Clank making the jump to PS3. I was fearful that, like the Jak and Daxter series, R&C was over after Deadlocked as far as consoles were concerned.

Hopefully with this announcement will soon come a similar one regarding Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter.

What do you expect? Sony's not going to blow their wad until E3. GDC conferences are usually made to appease people until E3.

However, this portion from a Q&A with Phil Harrison from IGN has got me excited.

A Xbox Live-style feature set for free will make Xbox Live's subscription service obsolete, assuming PS3's online features are comparable or superior, of course.

Title: PlayStation 3 Will Be Region Free for Gaming
Quote: "the PlayStation 3 will be region free for gaming."
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10544/...ee-for-Gaming/
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/697/697656p1.html

Checked the thread- I guess this confirms it. I tip my hat off to Sony for a progressive move.

This is pretty great news. I myself am pretty iffy on modding my PS2, not so much because of the legality issue, but because even if I get those Japanese games I'd like to play (looks at FFXII) I don't think I'd enjoy it simply because of the language barrier, as noted in another entry.

Thank god I can play games that I don't understand.