Hey folks, we are going to be keeping up with some feeds of the Japanese Press Conference Sony’ll be having coming up at 10pm PST (2am EST, etc.). Keep it tuned here for the latest updates, refreshing the page so info’ll appear as we type it. While we may not be there in person, we’ll still get you the good stuff! Here’s hoping we get something worthwhile – as most believe this to be the time in which the PSP2/PSP Phone to be unveiled!
NOTE: Quotes are paraphrased for the sake of time, and may not be considered to be an actual transcript
9:09pm – First posting on the LiveBlog, checking technical stuff…
9:21pm – Everything looks good, Liveblog announcement posted to Twitter and Facebook
9:24pm – Crap, Twitter double-posted…have to fix that later
9:26pm – Alright, basic info time!
9:26pm – Meeting in question: “Playstation Meeting 2011”
9:27pm – One of Sony’s quasi-regular Pressers in their native Tokyo, Japan
9:28pm – The timing is such that, most believe, if Sony is ever going to announce a PSP successor, it’s here
9:30pm – If you need to catch up, we’ve had rumors all over the place, about both a PSP Phone and PSP2
9:31pm – Alright guys, back at 10pm
9:58pm – Presser set to start any minute now, whether or not that’ll happen….
10:03pm – Hey, we aren’t the only ones doing a LiveBlog! Going to surf around and see if they have any juicy media I can grab…and source from them, of course
10:06pm – Yup, hitting that expected Presser delay. Keep the patience, doods!
10:08pm – BAM! Music’s up, Kaz Hirai’s on stage!
10:08pm – Expected welcome speech, thanking people for coming and all the usual routine…
10:09pm – Let the hype begin! Translator’s pouring out the big words, corporate lingo and such
10:11pm – Bit of a delayed reaction working with the language barrier, getting everything a few seconds after its spoken….
10:12pm – Sony just threw up a dated concept video back from E3 ’05 or so
10:13pm – “Complete control and freedom over the real world”…huh?
10:14pm – More corporate jargon, probably sounding much more suitable and less bombastic in Japanese
10:16pm – Talking about PS3 successes, PSN subscriber rate, internet connectivity…69 million PS Network accounts since Jan. 5
10:19pm – “Mobile Phones…Ready for a PSP-like experience…”
10:19pm – “How to deliver PS to larger audience”
10:20pm – PS Suite, expands Playstation content for “various” phones
10:21pm – Android OS included
10:21pm – Oh, excuse me, Android OS is the target platform for PS Suite
10:22pm – “Users have choice over hardware…”
10:23pm – “Game frameworks are hardware neutral”
10:24pm – GUI mockup: iPhone-like D-Pad screen imitation
10:25pm – Playstation Network included in PS Suite
10:29pm – NEW GENERATION PORTABLE
10:29pm – brand new PSP model, codename above
10:30pm – Concept trailer for new PSP, the expected “happy people playing games” motif
10:32pm – 3G, Sixaxis, touch panel, GPS….
10:33pm – 960×544 res, built-in microphone, six motion sensors…
10:33pm – Analog nubs…yes, 2! below d-pad/buttons
10:34pm – 5-in. OLED screen, front/back touch panels and cameras
10:35pm – Trailer for new PSP (will post w/ news tomorrow)
10:36pm – Shuhei Yoshida comes on to talk about future games on platform
10:39pm – Live demo of Uncharted game starting on stage
10:39pm – Other games shown: Killzone, Resistance, other PS exclusives going by too fast
10:40pm – Uncharted PSP looks lush and jungle-y, ala Uncharted 1 w/ slight downgrade NOT PS3 quality, but best graphics on handheld so far, in demos at least…
10:40pm – Yoshida tips PSP at different angles, “screen res clear at all angles”
10:41pm – Analog nub = Micro-Analog Stick
10:43pm – You can rotate the handheld to swing on vines/perform actions, robe-climbing allegated to sliding rear touch panel
10:44pm – Looks like most actions in games will take place by manipulating touch screens in some way/form in addition to ‘on-screen” buttons
10:46pm – Demo over, Hirai back on stage
10:47pm – Reiterating hardware features: touch screens, etc.
10:49pm – New game, Little Deviants, shown: raise land masses via touchscreen to fling little creatures around
10:51pm – Tapping makes little doods jump, dragging “slingshots” them…is this a tech demo or game?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-9FTXXcZr0[/youtube]
10:53pm – System GUI shown off: little bubbles on screen acting as portals to the usual: store, games, etc.
10:54pm – “LiveArea” – some sort of lobby
10:56pm – “Location Based Gaming” …?
10:58pm – “LBG” Shows traveling route via maps, and which games were played/popular in the area
10:59pm – Live updates, little cartoons showing local players
11:00pm – Going back to earlier trailer, these are the games shown: Hot Shots Golf, Gravity Daze, Killzone, Reality Fighters, Smart As, Broken, LittleBigPlanet, Little Deviants, WipEout, Resistance, and Uncharted (Source)
11:01pm – “Converging Real and Virtual”
11:04pm – system cameras can be used for new first-person type perspective, being moved around in real-world space (360 degrees)
11:06pm – Outside Report – UMD is dead, games will ship on flash/memory cards: black, white, silver
11:07pm – All PS Suite software compatible w/ NGP
11:09pm – via Kotaku:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXoVDJWP12I[/youtube]
11:10pm – Jun Takeuchi, Resident Evil 5 dev on stage, Capcom stuff
11:11pm – New download-only Monster Hunter game in works
11:13pm – Demo’ing dual-analog camera control w/ Monster Hunter
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXYEPccJvf8[/youtube]
11:15pm – Lost Planet 2 intro shown, “runs the same as PS3 version”
11:16pm – New games from Takeuchi TBA at a later date
11:17pm – Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza, Monkey Ball)
11:19pm – Yakuza tech demo
11:22pm – Unconfirmed Release Date: Holiday 2011
11:25pm – Akihiro Suzuki, Tecmo Koei, comes to the stage
11:25pm – New Dynasty Warriors game shown off
11:27pm – Hideo Kojima takes the stage
11:27pm – “Test Video” for Metal Gear Solid
11:28pm – Cutscene rendered in real-time, go figure, cutscene in a Metal Gear game…
11:29pm – it’s a MGS4 cutscene
11:33pm – Hideo to reveal his game at E3, dreams of making the same game for NGP/PS3
11:34pm – Good ole’ Kaz is back
11:35pm – And now he’s gone, but Tim Sweeney (Epic Games) is on stage
11:36pm – Citadel Unreal Engine 3 demo, same as for iPhone, but w/ fully rendered characters interacting
11:37pm – Shows of Dungeon Defenders, formerly Android-exclusive
11:39pm – Phillip Earl (Activision)
11:40pm – Call of Duty on NGP!!
11:43pm – Kaz is back
11:44pm – Listing of all on-board devs, very 3DS-esque kind of presentation
11:44pm – Future tagline? “The Power is Now in Your Hands”
11:50pm – Outside Source: most of the motion detectors are the same ones featured in Move
11:52pm – Show is finished, No pricing details announced. Expect more at E3
I wish Sony would have made the system a slider so it could fit in your pocket better, but if that means a bigger battery then things might be ok. I am really concerned about price and battery life, which is something they didn’t show off. Well I guess we will have to wait for a press release, GDC, or E3 (hope not that far, as today or as far as GDC would be ideal).
Come on Sony, tell people how much money they need to save up to buy your system, cause I know people who are saving up for a 3DS. If the PSP2 is over $300, I would not buy one until it comes down below that price, to say $250. With that tech, I expect a lot of games to range between $39.99-49.99 as development cost for games will be costly.
I am glad Sony got rid of UMDs and went with flash based cards, as it saves on power, storage space, weight, and most importantly is flash cards load faster than a disc does.