PS3 Launch Details Announced

Sony's conference offered up reassurance that a number of their titles will be playable at this year's E3. The controller will sense movement, allowing the player to move an onscreen avatar 'naturally'. They also released the system's launch details. The North American PS3 launch will occur on Nov. 17th, 2006. The 20GB HDD version will retail for $499, and the 60GB HDD version will go for $599. They promise 4 million launch units by December 31st. Update: 05/09 03:57 GMT by Z : Apparently, not only does the $499 system have a smaller harddrive, but it has fewer features as well.

My two cents:

1.) I'm honestly surprised they're this far along with these titles. They may actually make the November launch.
2.) Even through an internet feed, it was obvious the only truly next-gen title there was Heavenly Sword (from the great folks at Ninja Theory). The EyeToy stuff looked cool, but isn't something I'm likely to try out any time soon. Most of the games could have been 360 or even late-lifetime Xbox titles.
3.) I won't be able to review games for this system at the launch price. There's no way I'm dropping $599 for a game console.
4.) The controller orientation thing is ... I don't have the words. Awkward? Cash-in? Cynical? Whatever their intent, it just seems like a bad idea.

Re:Where did they get that idea?

[despisethesun]

Just wait for the new handheld Sony will announce at E3 2007: the DSP!

Re:Controller...

[Wilson_6500]

Are you kidding?! This is a revolution in gamepads!

Decisions, decisions...

[FlamingWombat]

Gee, which motion-sensitive controller system do I pick? The $199 Wii or the $499/$599 PS3? What a tough decision. Especially when you consider that a) the PS3 has been repeatedly reported, by developers, no less, as being way under-powered, whereas many devs have expressed enthusiasm for making games for the Wii, b) the Revolution's game lineup is, IMO, looking much better than the PS3's, and c) we've yet to hear the last about cool stuff in the Wii (that announcement should be pretty interesting) Let us further consider that for the price of a PS3, I can easily build myself a computer with many times the hard drive space, reasonable comparability hardware-wise (assuming we don't buy into Sony's hype), and the ability to do everything a computer can do that a PS3 can't (i.e. everything but play games and DVDs). Oh, did I mention I can upgrade the PC if I want to? Also that my PC has a much wider range of games than the PS3? Yeah...

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, it'd be like putting a 500MB hard drive in a computer with a CD burner.

Sigh. Kids.

Re:Comparison with 360

[Nizer]

Which suggests - PSWii controller aside - that the biggest (perhaps only) differences in the machines are the price and the logo. Question then is whether the market agrees with Sony's assessment that its console brand is worth $100-$200 more than Microsoft's.

Missed the beginning

[CheechWizz]

It might be because I missed the start of the presentation, but I don't understand why they were demonstrating Xbox live, xbox360 games and the Wii controller?

Re:Even more expensive than 360

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"It won't affect non-fans very much (especially at $499 USD), but it insures that their existing fanbase stays loyal to them."

If the Sony fanboys have any decency what-so-ever, they'll hang their heads in shame the same way we did when Wii was announced.

This kind of sums it up

[AIX-Hood]

It didn't take long for this pic to surface: http://hood.filefu.com/sonysteals5dq.jpg [filefu.com]

I officially dub thee...

[Da Rabid Duckie]

The PSWii...

What you mean is

[246o1]

Not necessarily a good copy of the Wii

Re:My favorite part

[AstrumPreliator]

I completely agree with you.

You know it's pretty sad when Microsoft is more innovative than you. What's original about the PlayStation 3? Controller? Nope, still the basic PS1 controller with features from the N64 and the new Wii controller. Console? Nope, the functionality looks pretty damn similar to the Xbox 360's dashboard (at least from what I saw). So good job Sony, way to bring something new to the table.

On the plus side at least their final controller design wasn't that banana shaped dildo thing they were showing off earlier.

Re:Where did they get that idea?

[nugneant]

So, wait, does this moean we're getting a motion sensing control with Rumble capabilities?

That would be the funniest, saddest, laugh-till-you-cry-and-then-realize-you're-crying- and-oh-god-the-laugh-is-so-painful move ever. It'd be the 5200 controller of the 21st century!

It's like putting a "$" in Microsoft!

[Headcase88]

"This is a revolution in gamepads!"

What will Sonii think of next?

Re:Where did they get that idea?

[noidentity]

"Wow, Sony as ever shows their originality. I mean, a motion-sensing controller? Who in the hell would have thought of that brilliant idea? Wasn't this one of the same companies who wrote off Nintendo's idea as a gimmick? Wow, ironic the innovation that Sony comes up with. Let's hope for their sake that they didn't take too much away from Nintendo's idea... last thing they need is another company suing them over technology theft in their controllers."

Good thing Sony wasn't doing anything illegal like installing rootkits, otherwise they'd have a hell of a time demonstrating that they weren't remotely monitoring Nintendo's computers for interesting ideas.

Re:I officially dub thee...

[noidentity]

"The PSWii..."

Or maybe the PS-Wrr (as in, past-tense)

Re:It's like putting a "$" in Microsoft!

[mike260]

The Playstation Thwii?

Re:Even more expensive than 360

[mike260]

Are you kidding, you crazy flamebaiter? You *did* see the giraffe simulator right? That's some nice grazing...

Re:I'm sorry, but it's just too much $$$

[NutscrapeSucks]

The rays are blue! Why wouldn't you want one?