E3 2006: Sony unveils the real PS3 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on May 08, 2006

News: The PlayStation is dead! Long live the PlayStation!

The Sony Press Conference is just ending after starting a bit late and from the early reports it went very well. Joystiq and IGN had running diaries of the show and we hit the highlights:

Sony started with a look at the PS2 and assured all of us it wasn't going anywhere just yet. 216 new games will be released for the PS2 this year with more to come in 2007 and beyond. Sadly, there are no "surprise" titles. The PS2's time is past.

Next they quickly went over the expansion of the PSP and revealed a few new titles that should be of interest:

Planet PSP: Interactive City Guide

Talkman

Ape Academy 2

B-Boy (a breakdancing game)

LocoRoco

150 other PSP titles should be available by the end of the year if those don't tickle your gamer bone. For those that would rather play catch up, the PSP Greatest Hits line will begin later this year with the following titles:

Ape Escape: On the Loose

ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee

Twisted Metal: Head-On

WipeOut Pure

Then we move on to the big guns. The PlayStation 3. Here's what we know: it's still on track for a worldwide release in November, every system will come with a removable hard drive and full backwards compatibility (with standard def to HD upscaling).

This is all well and good, but the games are why we're excited for the PS3 and things are looking up so far.

A Gran Turismo demo was impressive (but not that impressive said Joystiq) and the next-generation EyeToy was shown during a demo of card battling game Eye of Judgement.

The PSone download service was next on the docket and, not surprisingly, it showed Ridge Racer running in full PSP glory.

The PlayStation Online service was also touched on and Sony execs have said it will be free to use but buying new items for games or new levels or new games themselves will cost money. This can be done with both a credit card and a gift card known as The PlayStation Card.

Genji 2 and Heavenly Sword rounded out the playable demos.

The Sony show closes with the world premiere of two titles: SCEE's gangster and guns saga Eight Days and Naughty Dog's untitled next project which right now could be called "Dude Running Through a Forest". The last game of the night from Sony is Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man.

They close out this portion of the show with a reel of third party clips. No real surprises, but some nice stuff.

Moving on, the Sony execs reveal the next-generation of sports games with an EA Sports presentation. A quick glimpse at Final Fantasy XIII follows that. Then, there's a display of military might with the new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer.

Now the moment we've all been waiting for. The controller and THE PRICE? Yes, that's right, the controller and the price.

The controller is shaped like a standard PS2 controller, but with a twist. Motion sensors can be used to control movement in some games. Up, down, left, right. The Sony execs fire up Warhawk and show us how it works.

But then they went where we never suspected. The Price. The PS3 will ship on November 17 for $499 (with a 20 GB hard drive) and $599 (for the 60 GB version). Too rich for my blood.

That's it, that's the end. It may have gone on for a long time but Sony sure blew us away at the end.

Our own Adam Woolcott will be back later with detailed impressions of the Conference and all of us here at Gaming Target will be back with more E3 coverage soon.