Sony isn't joking around either, the PS3 is the focus of the conference. More details as the come, but be sure to check out the linked stories below for full PS3 coverage from the SCEI event.
Seriously, this system looks amazing.
The fact sheet shows that Sony not only brought serious hardware to the table, it shows that they have a plan. Most consumers probably don't know this, but the DVD standard is on the verge of being replaced, and there are two contenders to the title: Blu-Ray, by Sony / Matsushita, and "HD-DVD," by Toshiba. Sadly, Toshiba is about to get slapped, because they don't have a righteous game system to pimp their standard. Sony does, so the PS3 will contain Blu-Ray capability, which more than doubles the storage space of a conventional DVD (Think of the map sizes! Oh, my God.) and will conveniently play ALL PlayStation 1 and 2 games. not like the XBOX 360, which will play the "top-rated" XBOX titles.
Sony went with Nvidia to provide the GPU for the PS3, and the final product looks incredible. At the press conference at E3, Sony ran gameplay footage of Killzone 2, which looked better in-game than the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie did. Kevin Pereira of G4TV said the magic words: "HALO killer." Then, he said "XBOX 360 killer."
After seeing the demonstrations, I'm actually inclined to agree. M$ just didn't bring anything to the table that was impressive enough to overcome the utterly incredible power of the Cell processor, and certainly nothing that looked as good as the lineup of launch titles the Sony people brought to E3. This one is gonna be on my entertainment center 6 months after it releases.
6 months, because I want a little pad so they can iron out the bugs. Every new console launch has a few problems, but by 6 months, I won't have missed much, and most of the problems will be fixed. Sony's strategy to get Blu-Ray into the homes of America seems likely to work, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, yeah. And if you get two HDTVs, you can play your games across them both in 32:9 panoramic view from your PS3. Wow.
