Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
To round out this year’s pre-E3 show conferences, Sony has revealed the new PSP, some surprises on the software front and - not to be outdone by Microsoft’s Project Natal – a motion controller for the PS3.
At the (close to) two hour Sony pre-show conference today, the third of the big three to present, it is clear that a trend has emerged in video-gaming. After a bunch of years being flogged around, the sleeping giants of Microsoft and Sony have awakened to realisation that a significant number of people like the motion controller.
Microsoft had their Spielberg introduced Project Natal and its 3D special and audio game controller. At the Sony conference a new eye-toy based 1 for 1 motion controller was demonstrated. The controller also has tension control allowing subtle touch actions as well as more dramatic sword fighting. The demonstration was impressive and showed a level of responsiveness possibly missing from the Natal Microsoft system.
Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton said "We're working to create an experience that's much closer to real life than anything you've experienced."
Whist the controller is only in prototype stage, a targeted date of 2010 was mentioned for release timeframe.
The more concrete Sony hardware news was given over to the revitalised (again) PlayStation Portable, with the rumoured PSP Go! tag sticking.
The PSP Go design is fundamentally different from previous PSP iterations. On the outside the hand-held features a sliding screen to reveal classic PlayStation controls.
As expected the maligned UMD disc format disappears, enabling the PSP to be 50 percent smaller than the current generation PSP 3000, which, in a move similar to Nintendo’s marketing of the DSi and DS lite, will not disappear of retails stores. This may be due to the decision to give customers the option of digital downloads for the PSP Go, and continued (albeit surely limited in time frame) support for UMD at retail locations.
To enable digital distribution of software, the PSP Go will include 16GB of internal flash memory, WiFi and Bluetooth networking, easy access to the PlayStation Network store, a native video download service and an expected retail price of US$249.99. Look for a PSP Go to hit stores on October 1st.
On the software front, expect to see (as we seem to across most platforms today) a Final Fantasy title for the PSP – City of Final Fantasy out in late August. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines was also announced for the portable – aiming for November 10th.
The ever popular Hanna Montana will also have her own coloured PSP bundle out in July.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker along with titles from Resident Evil, Little Big Planet and Harry Potter will also grace the PSP.
Sony expects to sell another 13 million PS3’s this coming fiscal year, and whilst the rumoured PS3 slim hardware SKU did not make an appearance at this show, there was plenty of Software to flog to the PS3 faithful.
The featured products were the stunning Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and (again – as it was introduced at last year’ E3 show) MAG was showcased, this time with a public demo of the game-play.
MAG or Multiplayer Action Game (A title desperately in need of change) features a up to 256 players at once battling it out in a futuristic landscape.
RockStar Games surprised the crowd with a PS3 exclusive known as Agent, and along with the expected Final Fantasy XIII release, Square Enix have announced Final Fantasy XIV exclusively for the PS3 in 2010. This iteration of Final Fantasy will be a (possibly the first) console based Massive Multiplayer Online game.
Other software announcements for (but not all exclusive to) the PS3 platform included a bunch we already knew about: "Madden NFL 10," "Overlord II," "Batman: Arkham Asylum," "Brutal Legend," "Ninja Gaiden 2," "Mafia 2," "Karaoke Revolution," "Heavy Rain," "Battlefield 1943," "Hustle Kings," "Trash Panic," "Critter Crunch," "Tekken 6," "Red Faction Guerrilla," "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10," "Dark Void," "G-Force,” "Planet 51," "Gravity Crash,” “The Last Guardian,” and of course, to a rousing cheer “God of War III”.
God of War III is aiming for a [northern] spring release time frame.
Gran Turismo 5 got some screen time as did a new title named ModNation Racers, a title that aims at giving players access to a wide range of physics related creation tools which they can use to create playable race tracks to share.
In summary, Sony are pushing the PSP even more than before, giving some love to the PS3 software library, and playing follow the leader (to a certain extent, given they should be credited with the eye-toy concept to begin with) on motion controls.
David Bass
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