PlayStation whuh

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 » gaming image thought

So the E3 conferences began today, and what a start. It's hard for me to gauge what the general reaction to last week's Xbox 360 unveiling is like since I don't live in a frat house, but I was rather unimpressed. (Although, yes, you can turn the thing both on and off with the wireless controller. Amazing!) I don't know if it's because of the lackluster Xbox unveiling, but Sony's atom bomb of a PlayStation 3 unveiling completely floored me. Where to begin?

I guess the unit itself is a logical starting point. The console looks slick... slick!! You can't go wrong with shiny silver, and even then, there are black and white alternative models. It's not quite as dramatic of an evolution as the PS2, but five years ago we were all expecting to just toss the next PlayStation onto the shelf with all the other consoles. Console design never really was that big of a big deal until PS2. Granted, the PS3 has a weird convexity thing going on, and, come on, it's slot loading now? Oh well. Maybe that means and end to my fears of snapping off a disc tray by glancing at it too hard. And speaking of disc trays and design, I hear Microsoft is going to make a limited-edition graphite Xbox 360 faceplate so the front of the system and the tray will finally match. Ooh, haha! Zing! Zingg!!!!

Of course, much of the community is, as expected, bitterly divided on the whole design thing. However, there are two points on which the entire Internet seems to agree:

1. The controller looks horrible
2. Spider-Man font

To which I reply: Yeah, pretty much.

But anyway, forget what the thing looks like. Sony cut right to the chase and tossed out a number of clips of, get this: actual games. And for the most part, they're not just any old games, either. There's Gran Turismo 5. Tekken 6. Metal Gear Solid 4. The demo showcase list is filled with triple-A titles, not random filler like Dead or Alive 4: Now with Depth-of-Field. Unfortunately, gameplay footage was scarce, but just the possibility of what they'll be showing off for the rest of the week makes me giddy.

That's not to say there aren't a few amazing gameplay clips out there, though. The new Killzone demo features unbelievably lifelike characters, effects, and animation. The few minutes of footage hint at an unprecedented level of immersion, as well. And this is just Killzone I'm talking about. Wait till they start showing off a game I actually care about, and we'll see how long I can blather on about it.

The really, really impressive demo, though, was Square Enix's surprise Final Fantasy VII tech demo. While the Squenix was quick to clarify that they have no plans for a PS3 remake, the demo served to show how far things have come. Basically, it was the entire opening movie from Final Fantasy VII, beginning with Aeris walking out of the alley, then the camera pulling out to show that famous shot of Midgar, and then finally zooming back in to catch Cloud jumping off the train. (And this wasn't the old, block-handed Cloud from 1997, either.) I can only assume this was all rendered in realtime, as difficult as that is to take in. I can't wait to see Square's plans for its actual PS3 games.

Lastly, almost as a footnote in their PS3 article, Gamespot mentioned that Sony is planning to have Xbox Live-esque online functionality. Xbox Live is one of the main strengths Xbox currently has against the PS2. If they can finally launch a similar service, they should have the next gaming generation in the bag. They'd have the titles, the hardware, and, finally, the connectivity. And if Bill Gates really insists on doing something really devious, like the Halo 3 counter-launch, or sending J Allard to assassinate Ken Kutaragi with his Billy Corgan impression, they've still got Batman on their side.