The screenshots are pouring out now.

The Outsider on PS3 (looks like 24 the TV show):



Whoa!!







Double Whoa!

I think Sony will do what MS is doing, which is have all games using a peer to peer (user hosted games) system with a back end server system (Gamespy is providing that). It's the only way they'll be able to have free online gameplay. EA and MMOs will be the exception and provide their own servers, just like on Xbox.

What I find really interesting is MS's opposite approach to pricing. MS pays NOTHING for gameplay servers but there is a fee for online gaming. While there is no fee to download content from the marketplace which is where all the server upkeep comes from. From a business standpoint it makes sense, make people pay for the feature that they actually want, but it's still ass backwards. Although I expect Live to drop the fee in response to Sony's network.

If they do, I hope the reimburse us somehow. If not a partial refund, then by marketplace points or something. I'm paid up through next March on LIVE.

Why should MS reimburse you for anything? Because Sony is telling you they might have a great online system?

I hope theres a good price war over online content. Keep the prices nice and low.

Do you honestly think an influx of Live users will be cancelling their accounts because Sony's service is free? I highly doubt it.

MS aint refunding anything.

I remember Sony promising amazing FREE online gaming for the PS2. It ended up being terrible.

As always, it's the games that make the system. With Halo 2 being exclusive and accounting for 50% of Live traffic, I also high doubt that people are going to drop XBox Live, because they can get it free on PS3.

As long as Microsoft has exclusive games and content, people are going to pay $50 a year to play on Live. When you think about it, $50 is an incredible deal, especially for players whose whole lives are XBox Live.

Luckily, I have the young people in the neighborhood who help me get the most out of my $50 annual sub.

Chris

that's what I'm saying. Until I see it with my own eyes I'll believe that Sony is full of shit on the good free online service.

Well, I guess we'll find out next week at E3, but as always let me present you with a "what if" situation. Rumor has it the PS3 will launch at $399 with a 60 gig hd, and free online service. Oh, and something about blu-ray. Now, what do you think MS is going to have to do to match that kind of value. Forget about what you think will happen with HD-DVD and Blu-ray. The fact of the matter is that as far as games are concerned whether or not you have an hdtv is irrelevant. 50 gigs of data on one disc will allow developers to drop whatever the hell they feel like on the game. No more cutting room floor bullshit. I hate it when mags run a piece about how the developers ran out of space on the disc so they had to drop a level or multiplayer.

60 gigs?! That's 40 more than 360's... 50 if you count the 10 or so gigs that are already taken up.

I'm no Sony fanboy, I'm just giving some food for thought. Not to mention that if all that is true, then I'm feeling just a bit ripped off after having purchased a 360 at launch. As a matter of fact I probably won't get a PS3 until Metal Gear comes out due to lack of funds. If I do pick something up this fall it'll be the Wi... wait a sec, screw that, it'll be the Revolution.

There will be so much unused space on a disc maybe Sony will sell 5 games on one disc.

That's not too far fetched. There is plan to release Silent Hill 2-4 on a single DVD. I would love to see FF 1-9 on a single disc!

Pretty cool shots from a technical standpoint.. very bland artistically. I hope we get some stuff from E3 from a company with an art department, I want to see something this technical with a little imagination behind it.

The pics posted above for the game The Outsider look very, very impressive...but who honestly thinks the 360 is unable to produce that level of graphical detail?

The high def era for console gaming is finally here. I've waited a long time for this. We're all in for a treat. Do yourself a favor and get an HDTV if you don't already have one.

Another thing, don't count on Microsoft to drop their fees for Live play. That's just too funny. With MS taking a loss on every 360 console sold, they've got to make up some ground somewhere. I will say, however, that the demand will dictate the price.

Like I said before I think the level of graphics will be very comparable on the consoles but the types of games on the Playstation are markedly different than on the XBOX. I think (this is my opinion) that because of the PC like architecture of the XBOX and 360 that they get "PC like" games. It's hard for me to explain but the everything from the artistic direction to the gameplay of XBOX games reminds me of PC games. Lot's of FPS's as well, which isn't bad if that's your main thing.

I agree that it'll be interesting to see what artistic games people can come up with on this next-gen of consoles. Toooooo many games are trying to look photorealistic and they all end up looking the same.

Absolutely, there need to be more artistic titles I don't know if it's because of the capability to closely copy real life environments or what but imagination is being abandoned for cloning reality. of course that should wear off quickly and we'll see some truly amazing inventive games soon enough.

That's a pretty juicy rumor would be cool if it's true, hard to play "what if" off of it though since it doesn't seem realistic. I don't see how they will be selling it for less than $500 but we'll see.

Hardware architecture has NOTHING to do with the types of games being made , that is a silly, silly argument. The similarities come from both PC gaming and the Xbox being led very Western-centric developers.. that and the, er, "age range" that seems to the narrow focus of Microsoft's marketing of the system. There's no reason that something like a Mario or a Katamari could not be done on either Xbox other than the fact that these types of games come primarily from Japanese developers where the Xbox does not exist for the most part.

Politely disagree... actually I think I agree but your argument proved my point:

XBOX architecture is basically PC arichitecture > most PC game dev's are from the US > most XBOX games (gross generalization) are PC-like in their art direction and genre

I never said Katamri type games couldn't be done on the 360 (could have been donw on the N64 for goodness sake), but because of the demographic they cater to games like that are not made for the 360. I could never see Shadow of the Colussus being made for the 360 (top 5 game from this generation IMO).

The 360 hardware is not PC hardware. It's Mac's old hardware and even they moved to intel.

The hardware argument is silly.

I think we're on the same page, just looking at it differently. Obviously Shadow of the Colossus COULD have been made for the Xbox or the 360, there just isn't an audience for it there. And yes, certainly a correlation could be made on the similarities of games on the PC and Xbox compared to their internal structure, but it really falls down to coincidence in my opinion.

For example, I have played PLENTY of Japanese PC games and they are all primarily modeled as if they were on a "traditional" gaming console. If you compare that PC gaming market to either Xbox in Japan (which is pretty much still American-style games) there's a significant difference; in that case.. the hardware architecture is the same between the two but the types of games between the two are very different.

You've hit the nail on the head (sorry, that's so overused but appropriate here). Microsoft's focus is different than Sony's. The wacky, quirky, more bizarre type games come out of Japan. Some of these games have been huge hits. MS has realized this and is indeed trying to cover this niche by inticing more Japanese developers this time around. Admittedly, even if Microsoft manages to get these kind of games, they will be too far and few between because of lackluster Japanese support.

I also agree that the PS3 will cover a much broader range of game types and genres compared to the 360. That being said, the limited genres and game types the 360 covers, they do so very well.

why can't you see how they will sell for $400? If they were to sell 10 million units before they can ramp up production and streamline production costs, that would be a billion dollars difference. I think they are willing to do that to get blu-ray into homes.

I honestly am getting to the point where I'm not sure Sony gives two craps about the PS3 as a gaming machine. They want to penetrate the market with blu-ray and PS3 making blu-ray the de facto standard for high def dvds, where they will get a cut of EVERY disc sold. PS2 market penetration is 100 million? If they can get that kind of PS3 distribution in 5 years, the HDDVD vs blu-ray thing is over....

I think the trend towards photorealism right now is because MS and Sony want to impress upon people how good their games look and how much graphical power their systems can crank out. Sure, having a really cool looking dragon, for example, would be cool, but having a person who actually looks like a human being turns more heads, because it's harder to approximate everyday reality in a video game than fantasy.

To be honest, I'd love to see a game like Monster Hunter come out on a next-gen console, and I can't wait to see what Metroid looks like on the Wii. The whole photorealism thing will always be around, but it's going to be most prevalent around launch.

On a different subject, there's no way MS will drop its live prices. It has no need to. Anyone who has done a marathon GRAW session will tell you that there is plenty of value to be had on live for $50 a year (less if you buy the 12+1 month card). Also, the only free downloads on the marketplace are promotional fluff and a few demos, the bulk of stuff on there does cost money, it's just translated into marketplace points. I am certain Sony will follow suit and offer downloadable content for a price. As long as the content is good, people will buy, and that will help pay for their free service.