If you’re reading this and are anywhere near London, why aren’t you at The O2? Sony Europe is currently holding its “PlayStation Day” there, so — oh, wait, never mind; it’s press-only. Apparently, they’ve got a number of upcoming PS3 games playable there. Anyway, the press conference that kicked off the event ended recently, and we’ve got a few juicy morsels of Sony-related information for you, courtesy of Eurogamer’s liveblog.
Up above, you can view the first trailer for EA DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, a first-person action/adventure title. It’s got a female protagonist who reminded me of Jade from Beyond Good & Evil at first glance. I’m worried about running and jumping around a city without being able to see where my feet are (unless I look down), but it certainly looks impressive so far — according to the trailer, it’s all in-game footage.
Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news. Trigger-happy PS3 owners will be sad to hear this: Reeves offhandedly announced that Guerrilla’s highly anticipated FPS, Killzone 2, has been delayed yet again; it will now be out in February 2009. Another PS3 exclusive title that gamers have been waiting for with bated breath is LittleBigPlanet. Sadly, we’re going to have to wait just a tad longer; it’s been pushed back a month into October.
Early on in the show, Reeves introduced Kaz Hirai; he talked about a number of things, including PlayStation Home. He stressed that he would not release the Second Life-esque online world until he’s “completely happy with it.” Apparently, Home will be “open to the public towards the end of the year” — I just hope he’s talking about the full product as opposed to a public beta.
Hit the jump for more.
[Via Eurogamer — thanks, wardrox!]
[Update: As a clarification, there’s no official word yet on whether the LittleBigPlanet delay applies to Europe only, or is a worldwide delay. For now, we’re just going to assume that it’s being delayed in Europe alone.]
Reeves also brought out Insomniac’s Ted Price, who gave an in-depth discussion of the multiplayer component (60 players!!!1!) of Resistance 2. The idea, he says, is to create smaller, more intense pitched skirmishes within the larger scope of the battlefield. MyResistance.net will also be upgraded with “the kind of social features you'll find in sites like Facebook.” Next up was Paul Hollywood, the creative director of MotorStorm 2, who hyped up that game pretty well. For a link to the first screens of the game that aren’t scans from a magazine, as well as an interview with the game’s director, hit up Nick’s post from earlier today.
Here’s one last intriguing bit: Reeves announced that more PS3s have been sold in Europe than 360s, which is pretty impressive when you consider the fifteen-month head start that Microsoft’s machine had. As for the delays, they’re sad to hear about, but as Dtoid tipster extraordinaire Joe Burling puts it, “I always welcome a delay if that means it will be a better game.” What do you guys think?
05/06/2008 13:47
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05/06/2008 14:01
mirror's edge looks fantastic. on a technical aspect, it's actually not that much different then alot of other current gen games. It only looks more amazing due to it's fantastic art direction (the shading is alot of baked ambient occlusion maps, which is visually obvious and pleasing on all the simple whites and saturated surfaces).
and on the ps3 selling more, I guess Europeans are just smarter at investing their money in reliable hardware. american culture has too of the "things are disposable" mentality.
05/06/2008 14:06
@13thDragon: It would have to work in a manner similar to that, because all this parkour stuff is going to be impossible if you can’t see your body (i.e., without a third-person viewpoint).
@ceark: Uh...baked ambient occlusion maps FTW! Also, from what I understand, the PlayStation brand has always been very strong in Europe, and the PS3 is something of a status symbol — I’m sure those two things have a lot to do with the console’s success in that region.
05/06/2008 14:09
...Please?
05/06/2008 14:21
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05/06/2008 15:04
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05/06/2008 15:15
Huh, I didn't even notice the colors the first time I watched it. Your idea does make a lot of sense, that's probably what it is. On "red" objects, press B, etc.
05/06/2008 15:15
05/06/2008 15:18
PS3 needs EXCLUSIVES.
05/06/2008 15:23
She like she was taped together from a bunch of character designs.
05/06/2008 15:24
05/06/2008 15:29
Mirrors edge looks cool, but I doubt it'll hook me considering all the buildings you cross looks like a single path must be taken and I don't like that much linearity.
Good EU sales ftw.
05/06/2008 15:32
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05/06/2008 15:45
I love DICE. They have the best writer ever. :)
05/06/2008 15:53
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05/06/2008 17:19
Mirrors Edge looks interesting though i will reserve my judgement until we have some hands on impressions. It may look nice but is it fun? A female protaganist is good if she is more like Jade from BG&E rather than tits with a gun. Hmm, actually a tits with gun game might be quite good. They could use the new Unreal meatcube physics engine.
I don't think many people would argue that late good games are not better than early crap games. No matter how excited you are for a games release there will always be plenty of stuff to play in the mean time.
I guess there has to be a limit though. At one point you have to consider the game to be what it is and ship it rather than constantly fixing every minute detail that in turn makes very little impact on the enjoyment of the game (this refers to those perfectionist developers that want to the game to be EXACTLY like their mental image). It's tough though because sometimes those little things make all the difference. Hmm, i can how sometimes it can be a tough decision, deciding to delay a game.
05/06/2008 17:23
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05/06/2008 18:10
I'm pretty sure that, largely, the only people who are truly anticipating Killzone 2 are hardcore Sony fanboys. It just looks like a generic shooter, at this point. Pretty, but generic. If I were them, I'd be more apt to keep an eye on Haze.
05/06/2008 19:02
As for Killzone, pfeh. I don't know why they're pretending it's that exciting, when the original game does not have the kind of pedigree to justify it. The ridiculous delays (this was announced before the PS3 was anywhere near released) do not inspire me with confidence.
The PS3 outselling the 360, however, is impressive, if a little predictable. We love our Sony products here in Europe, and I think Sony deserves it after not fucking us over with region locks and having a platform with a lot more timely Euro releases than before. Good stuff.
05/06/2008 19:11
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05/06/2008 21:54
Let's not forget, the Half-Life 2 games are also all tech demos. It's not always a bad thing.
05/07/2008 04:04
I pray that this game doesn't end up being first person Assassin's Creed
05/07/2008 22:11
05/08/2008 07:35