The stunning announcement came yesterday, what may be the final death blow to the HD-DVD camp. Warner Brothers and all their sub. companies (New Line Cinema, HBO) have pledged their allegiance to Sony’s Hi-Def format Blu-Ray Disc. The shocking announcement came yesterday, a few days before the big C.E.S. trade show in Las Vegas this coming week. A spokesperson for WB had this to say about the announcement.
“The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers,”.
To read the full press release Click Here
I know, I know. Sony’s conference is unfortunately right smak-dab in the middle of your workday and you can’t watch the show without having to worry about someone stealing your red stapler while you are distracted. Well, fear not, as the following is a compilation of the notes as the show goes on, updated every single time they say something noteworthy.
All times are according to CST
1:32pm | The show begins. Jack Tretton walks out on stage… kinda. His avatar on Home shows a demonstration on screen.
1:34pm | Jack shows his face on stage and jokes with the audience. Jack talks about what the conference will be about. He also talks about the price cut and the 80gb PS3. Spouts that there will be 50 titles on show during the presentation and invites the audience to visit the arcade next door to try out what they have on hand.
1:41pm | Video shows off a couple of PSP titles, including Silent Hill Origins, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, God of War Chains of Olympus, Sonic Rivals 2, and Final Fantasy Tactics.
1:45pm | More Home video. Oh boy. Who says Playstation Portable anymore?
1:46pm | Kaz Hirai walks out on stage. He shows of a new redesign of the PSP, which is 1/5th slimmer and much lighter. It will also have the ability to output video, demonstrating with a trailer of Spider-man 2. Didn’t a third movie come out a few months ago?
1:52pm | Jack walks back on stage showing off the ice silver PSP pack, which will be $200 in September. He has… Chewbacca showing off a Star Wars Battlefront PSP. Necessary? I think NOT! There’s also a trailer shown for the game that accompanies it.
1:55pm | Jack talks about the PSN, nothing we don’t already know. Two million users are worldwide on the PSN network.
1:57pm | Phil Harrison walks out on stage to talk about PSN downloadable games. After making a stab at Microsoft, he shows off five new titles for the PS3. The first is Echo Chrome, a puzzle title light on the graphics but evidently strong on the gameplay. Kinda like a 3d Lemmings.
2:01pm | Phil introduces Pain, Wipeout HD, SOCOM Confrontation, and Warhawk. Videos play of each.
2:05pm | Phil talks about Home, says they are learning alot from the beta. He says that the Home client is now running on mobile phones. A video plays showing off the personal spaces people will have. He also shows off a video of Singstar. Home users can take photos in Home and port them to the Home website. Phil shows that he can launch any game on the PS3 from within Home, launching Motorstorm to demonstrate.
2:15pm | Jack walks back on stage. He talks about the goals of the PS3, saying that sales that they have doubled their sales since the price cut. Sony plans to ship 11 million PS3s this year worldwide.
2:18pm | Sony praises Blu-ray and Blockbuster for dropping HD-DVD. North America will have 120 games on the Blu-ray disc by the end of the year.
2:19pm | Jack announces that NC Soft will be bringing exclusive PSN games and content.
2:20pm | Ubisoft will be bringing Haze to the PS3 this holiday only on PS3. A new trailer demonstrates actual gameplay.
2:23pm | Jack announces that Sony has signed that the Unreal 3 engine will be optomized for the PS3. Unreal Tournament 3 will be exclusive to the PS3 this year. A new trailer shows off new gameplay. The game is set for a November release.
2:26pm | A series of trailers is shown, including Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed, Kane and Lynch, Resident Evil 5, Burnout Paradise, Madden 08, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Simpsons Game, Guitar Hero 3, Medal of Honor Airborne, and Rock Band.
2:32pm | Jack introduces Hideo Kojima to the stage to show off Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima announces his intentions to leave the series and that all the secrets of the MGS universe will be revealed in this new one. The new trailer premieres, all of it running on PS3, all of it in english. Its simply amazing. However, the game won’t release until next year.
2:44pm | Switching to first-party titles, Phil in Home shows off the newest trailer for the new Ratchet and Clank.
2:45pm | Next up is Folklore.
2:47pm | And now Heavenly Sword.
2:50pm | NBA 08 is shown next at 60fps.
2:51pm | Little Big Planet is next, showing off a little bit of new footage.
2:53pm | Uncharted is next, praising the thousands of animations that the game will have.
2:54pm | Phil walks back on stage, announcing Infamous, a sandbox superhero/villian game with moral choices. Looks to play alot like Crackdown.
2:56pm | Phil shows off Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which will be a PSN download this Fall. It will be a sampler of what the actual game will have in it.
2:58pm | The new trailer for Killzone plays, running entirely in real time. Somehow, the possibility of the trailer from two years ago doesn’t sound so impossible. The visuals are great. The entire thing is gameplay and feels more epic than even Call of Duty.
3:04pm | Phil thanks the lead developer for showing the trailer. Jack comes back to conclude the show.
Don’t want to have to watch the press conferences for hours on end? Well, how’s about this: you go about your business while I do the work for you? Below are the press notes for Microsoft’s conference summary notes, which will be constantly updated as the show goes on. The same will be done for the Nintendo and Sony conferences, so take a gander tonight and tomorrow for the latest after the jump.
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