Phil Harrison: Blu-ray will help ensure the success of PS3

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In a recent interview GamesIndustry.biz today, Sony executive Phil Harrison told the industry based website that he is confident that Sony will lead the market again for this generation of consoles, and that Blu-ray will push the success of the PS3.

In Harrison’s view, Blu-ray will repeat the same success as the DVD format, which eventually overtook VHS as the standard movie format. He expects that Blu-ray will do the same, and eventually replace DVD.

“In America, where PS3 disc is already out, Blu-ray disc is surging ahead as the next-generation movie format of choice,” Harrison claims, “It’s absolutely trouncing any other formats, and I think we’ll see the same in Europe and the UK.”

Harrison also believes that this current success will spill over to the consumer and retailers, increasing the exposure of the format in the coming months.

” That is a positive factor which will play more into the consumer psyche as the year goes on, as more consumer electronics firms launch standalone disc players, as more Blu-ray disc movies become available, and as more shelf space is dedicated to the category at retail”

PSP redesign in the works

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Denied not so long ago, it would seem that the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) is to be redesigned after all.

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Comments made by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) executive Ray Maguire indicate that the long awaited redesign of the PSP is planned.

Not many details available at this time, but one thing Maguire did confirm is that the praised PSP screen will not be part of the redesign.

In an interview with gamesindustry.biz Maguire stated that the current PSP is just the “first iteration” and the aim of a revamped PSP strategy was to make the console “smaller [and] lighter” in the future.

From the gamesindustry.biz article; Responding to a query on Sony’s plans for redesigning the system, Maguire added that any changes to the industrial design would not affect the size of PSP’s screen - widely seen as one of the system’s key strengths - which is “fixed”. He did not offer any suggestions as to when the new iteration might be released.

There has been much speculation around the PSP redesign of late, mostly around adding a Hard Drive or similar increase in storage and a change in the control system. The UMD format has turned out to be somewhat of a failure, with the UMD movies failing to ignite sales. From a gaming perspective, issues with load times also plagued the format.

PS3’s Cell Divides Into 65nm

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IBM today announced that their factory in East Fishkill, New York was now producing a 65nm version of the Cell Processor. Up until now, the Cell could only be made in a 90nm version. This smaller chip size will mean that Cell Processors can be manufactured at a third less cost, along with consuming less power.

Cell Processor was a multi-year project jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba and IBM. This new manufacturing method will no doubt be a boon for Sony, which uses Cell as the core of their PS3 console. The next smallest chip size, 45nm, is expected to roll out in a couple years.

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10433/1092/ <– Source

Sony’s Home Better Than Xbox Live And Second Life

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At GDC, Sony unveiled its own virtual universe, a new real-time 3D avatar-based community and communication service for the PS3 platform. The new service, called Home, puts users into a real-time, networked 3D community, where they can interact, join online games, communicate, share content and even build and show off their own personal spaces. Home will be available this fall as a free download from the PS3 Store.

According to Sony, other notable features include:

- Making your own personalized 3D character or avatar. These realistic human characters are highly customizable with different body types, skin tones, ages, clothing and accessories, creating a unique personality for each user.

- Exploring the 3D community that is Home – a sleek, modern indoor space featuring spacious common areas, retail shops, game lobbies and extensible, customizable personal apartments.

- Communicating with others through text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.

- Being assigned an apartment in Home where others can be invited to join you as you show off your own style in an area you can personalize yourself with furniture, art and other items. You can even show your video, pictures and music content stored on your PS3 hard drive.

- “Hall of Fame,” where you can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones in PS3 games.

Speaking with ThreeSpeech blog a Sony representative explained in detail what is Home and especially and Sony hope to achieve with its latest invention. “Home is a much more rich, user friendly experience than Second Life, allowing for ease of entry and use, as well as being fully-functional with the technology and capabilities of PS3,” said Sony representative.

Obviously, there were some questions about hoe Home is different from Xbox Live, the Microsoft’s service for Xbox 360. “Home is a first of its kind 3D community that allows for open interaction between consumers, SCE and third party partners. It is a truly interactive, global community of users. Xbox Live is a static, 2D, text-heavy environment that can’t match the rich community features found in Home. Xbox Live community interaction is much more passive and limited to the members on that friend’s list.”, Sony representative responded.

Although, at the first look, Home can be defined as a Second Life for PS3, the Sony representative claimed that “Home is a much more rich, user friendly experience than Second Life, allowing for ease of entry and use, as well as being fully-functional with the technology and capabilities of PS3.”

Sony Brings the PS3 “Home”

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Sony gave a look at a funky virtual world they’ve got in development for PlayStation 3 owners today.

Called “Home,” it’s an online world designed to work as a meeting place for PS3 owners, complete with customizable virtual apartments. The idea is that gamers will meet, hang out and socialize in this virtual space, before firing up a game and playing together.

And it’s not just about games, Sony says. If a PS3 owner has photos, music or movies stashed on his (or her) console, they’ll be able to share that content with their other PS3-owning friends online. The virtual world will also have movie theaters and a “hall of fame” section, where people who are really, really good at some game or other will get to see their names up in (virtual) lights.

For PS3 owners, the service– or whatever you call it– will be a free download. A beta test for “Home” is scheduled to start in April and the real thing is scheduled for a fall release.

Sony game studio head Phil Harrison unveiled the virtual world during a keynote speech at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco today, saying that the company was inspired by sites that are made up of user-driven content, like YouTube and MySpace.

The PS3’s multiplayer options aren’t too slick at the moment, and PS3 owners don’t generally seem to be suffering from an excess of great PS3-only games. But this Home thing looks like something that could make the console wars a lot more interesting.

Xbox Live reaches six million user milestone

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Redmond (WA) - The Xbox Live service has topped six million users, Microsoft announced today.

The new target has been reached four months sooner than the company originally had predicted. The number includes subscribers to the original Xbox Live service, as well as both the free (silver) and $50/year (gold) versions of the Xbox 360 service.

Microsoft also revealed some other statistics about Xbox Live. In total, 2.3 billion hours have been spent on online gaming, with over 2 million messages now crossing the XBL server every day.

Halo 2 continues to hold its spot as the game with the most total hours spent online. Gears of War and Xbox Live Arcade title Hexic HD are currently in the #2 and #3 spots, respectively. Finally, Microsoft said that over 70% of people who have connected their console online have purchased a game from the Xbox Live Arcade.

Microsoft did not break down statistics like how many of the six million are paying subscribers, are on the  Xbox360, or how many have paid for the wireless adapter.

Interview: D2C’s Scott Orr Talks PSP, Digital Comics, And Ease Of Play

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Representatives have officially announced the formation of D2C Games, a new video game publisher founded by former Electronic Arts executive and John Madden Football originator Scott Orr and technology expert Bart Besseling focused on delivering social games delivered through digital distribution.

D2C aims to partner with other companies to publish games on multiple platforms, including next-gen consoles, handhelds, 3G mobile devices, and PCs. As part of this announcement, D2C has also revealed that it has partnered with comic book and screen writers, game development studios as well as its own internal studio, Bigdog Games, to create and publish casual social sports games and episodic content.

Gamasutra recently spoke with Scott Orr to get his insight into D2C, a company that he notes as being “ideally positioned to take advantage of the casual market.”

“Our games will appeal to casual gamers as well as hard core gamers who simply don’t have the time to devote hours to a game,” Orr explained, “but who still want to be able to team up and play with friends. Social networking is a key driver that is going to set us apart, allowing users to create game content and personalize the game.”

“It goes back to basics, and being able to easily pick up and play a game without having to figure out or have to read a 50 page manual. We wont have one,” he added.

Orr, whose career highlights include managing the development group a Electronic Arts responsible for the first NHL Hockey and John Madden Football games, as well as founding leading mobile game publisher Sorrent (now Glu Mobile), also outlined D2C’s very specific focus, stating, “there are a number of things that give us an advantage…we intend to focus on two very specific areas with casual social sports on one end, and episodic sci fi on the other.”

However, the executive did note that despite this, his company does plan to support next-gen consoles as well, “including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. Particularly, the PS3 and Xbox 360 make a lot of sense. We are a licensed Wii developer, but we continue to wait and evaluate the console in hopes that Nintendo opens up a kind of direct download service similar to what the other consoles offer.”

“To begin with, however,” he continued, “we plan to initially support the PSP. So far the PSP has had nice ports of PS2 games, but our sense is that publishers are shifting gears and putting limited resources toward next-gen development at the expense of the PSP. We will fill that gap. There is a real opportunity here to bring gamers content to that platform which is different.”

Further commenting on D2C’s decision to throw support behind Sony’s handheld, he explained, “For us, the PSP offers a platform that users look at as more than just a game machine. At GDC we will officially announce D² Comics, which will offer interactive comics for PSP users. These comics give writers and artists the opportunity to play at being movie directors, panning a scene to create a sense of motion, and letting the user dictate the pacing or let it run on its own.”

D2C has entered into a multi-format collaboration with comic book writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre) called Strange Cases. Strange Cases will be available in print from Image Comics and a digital video download format from D² Comics this fall and be released as an episodic game in 2008, something which Orr sees as a natural fit for his company.

“On the episodic side… there are a lot of consumers who love sci fi and horror, but who are intimidated by the top games in the genre or simply don’t have the time. We are all fans of these genres as well, so to us it’s an ideal fit,” he stated.

Commenting on episodic content in general, Orr offered his thoughts on the future of the medium, noting, “The challenge is how to develop the underlying engine and not charge 50-70 dollars for the end result. We have a solution to that in our proprietary Hydrant Technology. But the challenge is to keep scope in a manageable format, as well as cost in a manageable form. The temptation is to create the next great thing.”

“I think in our target segment,” he added, “greatness is not determined by scope, but by delivered quality - high quality in spoonfuls. Like anything else, there is risk, and the challenges exist at all levels. The high end game is like the movies, and episodic is like television episodes. The cost differential is huge, and there is quality TV that is every bit as good as or better than the movies.”

Shifting gears to talk about D2C’s efforts in creating social sports games, Orr explained, “In the case of sports, we have a reputation for success in this area. That said, we see a gap in the market, which focuses on low end free PC games and the high end games from EA, Sega, and others. Because of this, we see an opportunity in the middle, to bridge this gap.”

Upcoming releases from D2C include a series of real-time strategy sports games called Chalkboard Sports, which will also take advantage of the company’s emphasis on user generated content, though specifically what this content will consist of remains uncertain.

“Well, I have to be careful with what I say here so as to not give anything away that we’re not ready to talk about yet. For example, with Chalkboard Sports, players will be able to create content that allows them to personalize the experience, up to and even including putting themselves in the game,” Orr offered.

“Other than that,” he continued, “I cant really talk to that part of what we’re doing just yet, but it’s obvious that we see the power of the medium. If you give the consumers the right tools, and frame them in the way that they can get excited about the experience, then they can tailor the experience. I believe that we have the foundation for something that can be very successful.”

Finally, Orr capped off the conversation by summarizing D2C’s mission within the video game industry, commenting, “Go back to the early roots of video gaming, when games were easy to pick up and play, and emphasized the fun, as opposed to the highly complex games we see now,” he added. “These are sorts of games we are looking at. We want to create games that will be easy for anyone to pick up, and be more real-time strategy oriented rather than action or simulation.”