The rumored Playstation button has been confirmed true as pictures of the PSP 3000 begin to surface. The button is said to simply act like a guide button and will bring up the X-cross media bar in-game and in-movie. This is an interesting feature for the PSP, but definitely not a huge advancement that will displace the DS as the leader in the market. Check out more pics after the break.

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The internet has been abuzz these past few weeks with rumors of a new PSP. Some said it might solve the oil crisis, others said it could change the course of history, and others said it would just include a built-in mic. The last would prove to be the closest and who would have guessed that?

Sony announced the PSP 3000 today at Leipzig. The new PSP will look identical to the PSP 2000, but will have two new features: a built-in microphone for use with Skype and Go Messenger, and a better LCD screen with more vibrant colors and less glare. The system is set to launch in Europe on October 15th for 199 euros, while the PSP 2000 will fall to 169 euros. The system will be available as parts of various single-game bundles with games like FIFA ‘09, Harry Potter, Buzz! Quiz Master and others.

There is no word on US details, but we should except them very soon.

Update: Sony has confirmed that the PSP 3000 will be hitting North American shores on October 14th. A PSP core pack will be available alongside the single-game bundles, which will include a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo and a PSN download code for Everyday shooter.

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Even though E3 has ended, Rotpod’s coverage does not stop now. Over the weekend and even into next week we will be wrapping up all of the news from the recently downsized convention, as well as bringing you countdowns and best of show lists nonstop. But until next year, we will miss you E3, we will miss you dearly.

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This story is confirmed by Kaz Hirai in this interview, where he states that Sony is, “No longer in production [of the 60GB SKU in North America]“. I’m not sure this is the smartest move Sony could have made here, especially with the potential that the cheaper 60GB had to sell in North America. Sony just doesn’t want to be in the multi-SKU game when it comes to the PS3 I guess.

Image Thanks to Joystiq! 

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During an interview with Gamasutra, the recently appointed Senior Vice President of Marketing for Sony had the following to say about Microsoft and the Xbox 360:

I don’t want to be argumentative, but I take issue with Microsoft either having a long tail, or being profitable, because they’ve never done either. They’ve never made a dime in this business, number one, and number two, they’ve never had a tail. They’ve never been successful enough to have a tail! So the notion of a back half of the curve doesn’t exist for them. They stopped the Xbox and I kind of feel for the guy that bought an Xbox the month before they said ‘we’re out of business, we’re moving on.’

The reason I get a little emotional about that is it’s in stark contrast to our approach. If we’ve got something that says PlayStation, we’re going to stand behind it for 10 years, and deliver games like God of War II in the 7th year of the cycle.

Wow. But wait, here comes the good part:

With the Xbox 360 you’ve got an inconsistent design, some have a hard drive, some don’t, and none of them have Blu-Ray, and the HD-DVD will be out of business in a matter of months. Is this a 10 year product? And by the way, it doesn’t even work. Do they want to be selling it for 10 years and refurbishing them all for 10 more years? I don’t think that’s a 10 year product. You could disagree with me, or they could disagree with me, but I’d put that up against the PS3 any day.

Thats some pretty big talk for a time when the Xbox 360 is clearly winning against the PS3, especially with all those big titles right around the corner. Although some of his statements have some merit, he definitely is not in a position to be talking about the issue like this. Even though Blu-ray is ahead, I’m pretty sure that it is way to soon to be calling a winner of the HD format war, and I promise you that HD DVD will not be dead in a matter of months. I also think that Mr. Dille is focusing a little to much on the PS2 vs Xbox and PS2 vs Xbox 360, when the question is about longevity of next gen consoles. I do believe the PS3 is destined to get better after what I have seen at E3 this year, but MGS and Killzone are the only current exclusives it has that I believe can challenge the core of the 360 lineup. You could disagree with me, or they could disagree with me, but I’d put that up against the Xbox 360 any day.

Maybe he just needs some sleep

Gamasutra’s Interview with Peter Dille

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Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix, announced yesterday that the upcoming rhythm game Rock Band will get new downloadable content every week after it is released this fall. This DLC will range from single songs to play all the way up to full albums such as ‘Who’s Next’ by the Who, which will be ready for download the week after the game’s release. All of this extra content means that there will be no reason for players to stop rocking out once the game hits shelves.

Image Via: Joystiq

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In order from least to most 1337 of what has happened so far at this year’s E3.

• 10. Wii Zapper – An accessory that will work with the Wii Nunchuck and Remote that will transform them into a “Light Gun” of sorts.

• 9. Metroid Prime: Corruption – The game is starting to really shape up. It seems that it may be true that this game will prove the Wii Remote can be used as a controller that works smoothly without glitches.

• 8. Mario Cart for the Wii announced – This is one of those games that was definitely being developed, and we all knew it was. The game will come with a steering wheel designed for the Wii remote

• 7. New PSP redesign announced – The System will have a faster UMD drive, the capability to output video, and it will be lighter and slimmer from the original. It is not a major redesign, one that I will definitely not buy, but a redesign nonetheless. There will also be a Star Wars Edition PSP for the upcoming Battlefront game, which will have a Darth Vader Mask on the back.

• 6. Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360 – It will have a Halo color scheme, with Master Chief green as it’s main color.

• 5. Metal Gear Solid 4 coming 2008 – This was announced during the Sony press conference. At the end of the new trailer, “Simultaneous Worldwide Release — Early 2008,” appeared. Apparently the game will answer many questions raised by the other games in the series.

• 4. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune slated for release during the holiday season – This game may be one of the better games coming out for the PS3, and anyone who is planning to get, or has, a ps3 should definitely pick this one up.

• 3. PGR 4 does, indeed, have motorcycles available to be used – Character models and motorcycle models look quite good. Gameplay is not finished being developed, as of yet, but the game is starting to shape up, and it looks as if it will be a must-have game for the 360.

• 2. Wii Fit Announced – Most of us new that this was coming, and here it is. A game developed for the Wii that will help keep you in shape. The game has a pad on which you stand on that will measure resistance that you are carrying and will make up exercises for you.

• 1. New Killzone 2 Trailer released – The game looks amazing, and will definitely be the PS3’s killer-app. Graphics look amazing, and in my opinion look better than the visuals in HAZE. This game may change how people look at the PS3.

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After Microsoft’s E3 keynote last night, they let out a bunch of new content onto the markplace and arcade. Here is a list of all that stuff.

NCAA Football 08 Demo
Play as the Michigan Wolverines against the Trojans of Southern California in this demo of NCAA Football 08. The most complete college football game ever is in stores July 17th! Note: to shorten the download time, this demo does not include the full play-by-play audio which is found in the complete retail product.

Blue Dragon Demo
The Blue Dragon Demo is available! Play the grand adventure in two dungeons filled with Mecha Robos and Ancient Monsters!

Ace Combat 6 Demo
A massive enemy swarms over the city, shattering the peace. Amidst the chaos a pilot takes to the skies. Against countless enemies and cannon fire, he heads into the fray. ACE COMBAT 6 CAMPAIGN MODE DEMO AVAILABLE NOW! A full scale war unfolds against a backdrop of breathtaking vistas. Detailed cities and sweeping landscapes reach out as far as the eye can see. Experience the roar of acceleration as you carve through swarms of enemy pilots, twisting missile trails and shattering explosions. Download the ACE COMBAT 6 CAMPAIGN DEMO, and strap yourself in for the next evolution in ACE COMBAT! (English Voice/Subtitles)

Arcade

Sonic The Hedgehog
Rocket Sonic, the fastest blue hedgehog on earth, through hair-raising loop-de-loops and dizzying dives past bubbling lava, waterfalls and on as you gather up Rings and stop Dr.Eggman’s (AKA Dr. Robotnik) schemes for world domination!

Golden Axe
Three mighty heroes have a score to settle with the evil Death Adder in this classic action game. As a powerful fighter, a female amazon, or a mighty dwarf, you’ll fight through Adder’s henchman with weapon and magic attacks or ride the fearsome, fire-breathing dragon.

Game Trailers

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox 360 Games Montage
Civilization Revolution
Games For Windows Montage
Too Human
PGR4
Xbox LIVE Marketplace Montage
Lost Odyssey
Viva Pinata Party Animals
Mass Effect

Theme

Halo Wars
Based on the Halo universe, Halo Wars introduces a new landmark in the strategy genre. Halo Wars places the player in command of human UNSC armies as they deploy for mankind’s initial deadly encounters with the Covenant Empire. Halo Wars marks the debut console offering for the Xbox 360 from world-class developer Ensemble Studios, creators of the multi-million unit selling Age of Empires series.

Looks like it’s going to be a great run through the end of the year for the Xbox owner.

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MP3 

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At least something unexpected was revealed at Sony’s E3 Press Conference that Unreal Tournament III will be a PS3/PC exclusive till ‘08. Which is pretty cool because the game looked really good during the  Sony E3 Press Conference. This coupled with Killzone 2 and MGS4 still remaining a PS3 exclusive (as of now) helps the PS3 gain at least a little ground that it has lost over the year to the Xbox 360. Sony also stated that the entire Unreal Engine has now been optimized for the PS3 giving all games that use it an advantage. So, now the question is: Is the PS3 finally getting better?

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Jack Tretton- Showing Home -11:33

Jack Claims New kind of Conference – Talks about stage- Nervousness -11:35

Plans to Focus On Software This E311:35

50 Titles on All Sony Platforms To Be Shown During Conference 11:36

PSP and PS2 Games Shown – Nothing special 11:42

Sims 2 Cast Away on PSP – 11: 43

FFTactics PSP and Castlevania – 11:33

Back to Home With Jack He walks outside and makes ridge racer joke to kaz’s avatar- 11:45

Kaz on stage in pink shirt – 11:47

New PSP – Visualy Identical – Lighter and slimmer faster and more efficient – Video Out wow – 11:48

Kaz outputs spidy trailer from psp to big screen 11-49

Games output to tv – 11:50

PS3 RemotePlay – Any Hotspot Acces to PC Also Remote – 11:51

Silver PSP, Ugly Comes With 1gb mem stick- family guy – 11:52

Chewie!? – 11:53

I Dobut it Peter Mayhew – 11:53 – Battlefront edition PSP

199 For Battlefront PSP, White With Vader, comes with PSP exclusive Battlefront 11:55

PSN Segment Begins 11:56

Phil Harrison Enters 11:57

Phil Blathers About PSN Network Filesize 11:58

New Game – Echochrome – “Few Graphics Lots Of Gameply” 11:59

Echochrome is odd, white background – Lots of Stairs- Objective Seems to be to get to Black Fuzzy Objects 12:01

1080p wipeout w/ online multyplayer on PSN 12:01

Warhawk And Ps3 Socom to be available on PSN and Blu-ray 12:02

Pain Trailer- Interesting, Warhawk Interview , shows Air, Vehicle and Foot Combat – 12:03

Socom Confrontation – Graphically Nice comparison b/t ps3 and ps2 Maps

Harrison Goes Back To PSHOME – Fall Rollout 12:06

Home On Mobile Phone – Sony Erricson Obviously -12:06

Talks about home spaces and new home square – 1208

MAny Public spaces have a Slight Japanese theme – Singstar in harrisons home space 12:09

Singstar “Biggest Music Game” 12:10

Photo From Phone is on Harrisons Wall 12:11

Mobile – Home – Internet – Sony Uses “Regular Web Browser” 12:11

Bluray or HD games Luanched from home – Social Networking Site Forhome users 12:13

New Motorstorm map – Phil Races With Friends 12:13

Phill Crashes and Quits – 12:14

Differnt Home Spaces For Fans Of Diferent Games – Im totaly spending all my time in the mgs one 12:15

Finaly PS3 Segment – They want more of an installed base – duh, Talks about 80gig ps3 – it comes with motorstorm 12:16

Price Drop Doubles ps3 sales at top 5 Retailers 12:17

Jack Brags About Blu Ray, Blockbuster 2:1 sales ratio over HDDVD 12:18

15 First Party Exclusives – 120 Blu Ray Games to be released12:19′

NCSOFT ( city of heros people) Is now an Exclusive PSN partner 12:20

Ubisoft – Haze – PS3 Exclusive 12:21

Haze is Futeristic Shooter – Looks Nice Graphicly – playing dead – Stolen from MGS 12:22

Haze actualy Looks Quite Nice – Multiplayer I hope 12:23

Epic Games – Unreal Enige Optimization For PS3, And Cell — Unreal Tournament 3 PS3 Exclusive This Year – Nice Looking – 12:26

3dParty Games Show 12:28

COD4 – Still Looks Nice, Assassins creed – BAd Music In Backround – Kane And Lynch- Looks The Same as 360 12:28

RE5 – Nice Lookin game There – Burnout Paradice MAdden 08 12:29′

Good Ammount Of Gamply Footage From Potter And Simpsons 12:30

Guitar Hero 3 and MOH Airborne – More Rockband – Im Getting Sick of That Game 13:32

3d party Exclusive 3:32 -

And its Meatal Gear Solid With Kojima On Stage! 3:32

Metal Gear 20th Aniversary – Happy Birthday 3:33

Kojimas Grand Finale For MGS Series 3:34

End of Snakes Charicter – All Secrets Will Be Known 3:35
New Kind Of Stealth 3:35

New Trailor – All Ps3 Realtime Footage 3:36

Wow – Mission to Kill Liquid Snake – Myryil – Snake On Assignment

Cambell In Command – Not aMilitary assignment

Naomi Is Back

Nanomachines seem to kill everyone – or make them Go Crazy – Metal Gears fall from the sky

Meryl Dead? -Liquid uses nanomachines to contol whole armys

Ninja Radiden, ass kicking – now in fight with VAMP

Long Crazy Sword Fight With Vamp – Radien Stabs Vamp through his own stomach -I Hope Raiden Dies-Early 08 release

All In Realtime On PS3, Exclusive Mentioned Again 12:42

17th in tokyo – Demo to demonstrate MGS4 12:43

Kojima will “see you in tokyo” 12:43

1st Prty Games

Ratchet And Clank – 12:45

Folklore -RPG If your into that kind of thing 12:47

Heavenly Sword – action Game- Female PC 12:48

HS is story Driven and has fights with thousand of participants- Needs Bluray 12:49

NBA 08- Yawn 12:50

Little Big Planet – Allows gamers to both Play and Create 12:52

Naughty Dog – Uncharted – Actually look Good Graphically – 3000 character anims “Naughty dogs best game ever” 12:55

Infamous – Looks Cool – Nice Atmosphere – Looks a bit like Crackdwon 12:56

GT – Bestselling Racer series of all time – GT 5 Prologue – Full Online Multiplayer- WOW Great Looking cars! 12:57

Jack Wrappes It up with another Bizarre Home Segment-Wait its the realtime killzone trailer12:58

What a good looking game – Game dev is really short and awkward 1:04

Now Back To Jack – He Talks About 1000% less arrogantly than last year.

500 Games on Sony Platforms – Buses Are Outside, Use Side Exits

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12:15 – Nintendo keeps pushing how popular the console is with all age groups. And how succesful their console is because of the reality that it’s sold out everywhere

12:16 – Reggie states that their are only 60 games for the Wii, is it me or did anyone else think it was a lot more.

12:18 – Reggie begins talking about how everyone is becoming a gamer and how they do have 3rd party developer support. They have also put together this quite disturbing video montage about the Wii…

12:20 – The Wii Zapper is announced… Basically the wii mote mounted on a gun form mold and their is a place for the nunchuck. This is good for games like RS: Umbrella Chronicles, Medal of Honor (WITH MULTIPLAYER<3).

12:22 – It will be bundled with a variety of games this year and will also available for MSRP $19.99.

12:23 – Ninja Gaiden for the DS!!

12:23 – Dragon Quest for the Wii early next year and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games footage.

12:25 – Super Smash Brothers Brawl is coming out December 3rd, 2007. Get Ready!!!

12:27 – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, has full touch controls. The game seems fun with moving and everything done with the use of the buttons. The tactile controls seems to make puzzles more interesting. But, it is also much more fast-paced than previous Zelda games.

12:31 – Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is live and being played. The controls seem to be really intuitive and not glitchy or spastic as I really expected.

12:33 – Reggie claims that audience is expanding, and thus begins yet another montage.

12:35 – Reggie is talking about Wi-Fi and online play. Cross fingers for online play in some more games

12:36 – New Channel called ‘Check Mii Out’. Basically where you can share your Mii’s with other people.

12:38 – Finally online play: Pokemon Battle, Mario Strikers, Fifa 08, DragonQuest, Guitar Hero 3. All these games feature online play. Reggie makes a pun, “Rock out into the Wii hours of the night”.

12:39 – MarioKart Wii will also have online play!!! Mariokart will also feature a wheel accesory. Making the Wii a really big accesory console. This wheel will also be packaged with MarioKart for early 2008.

12:44 – Iwata is talking.

12:47 – Still talking….

12:53 – Brain Age 2 will be released here in the US on August 20th

12:54 – Super Mario Galaxy will be release here in the US November 12th

12: 56 – A Wii and DS Sims game will be release called MySims.

12:57 – OMG OMG OMG High School Musical.

12:58 – Like Brain Age, there will be a vision training game that is already available in Japan. And now they are going to be a lot of intellectual games. Like, MyWord Coach and even MyLife Coach( I don’t even know).

12:59 – Yet, another news montage…

1:00 – “WiiFit is it”, finally the WiiFitness game. You seem to stand a pad and it calibrates according to that and then you move your character like that.

1:03 – MIYAMOTO!!!!!!! He seems to be really impressed with WiiFit. There is now a demonstration going on, but the demonstrator seems to really suck.

1:08 – The game comes with a Wii Balance board, which is basically the controller for the game. By measuring the weight shifting for the controls. It is also wireless.

1:10 – Seem to be weighting Reggie, Miyamoto also owns him by choosing light clothing instead of heavy.

1:13 – Reggie gets BMI’d and also gets a little insulted at the same time.

1:15 – Reggie also owns Miyamoto in a headbutting soccer game in WiiFit.

1:17 – Nintendo Press Conferences ends with yet another video montage.

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As I am still oozing over the Killzone 2 trailer, these Devil May Cry 4 screenshots popped up. As you may or may not know, Devil May Cry 4 was recently moved to the X360 as well as the PS3, signifying a major lose for the PS3. But, does that even matter when a game looks this good. Check out all of the screens after the break:

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The things that immediate grab me about the trailer are the amazing facial animations, and the great lighting effects. The game is also genuinely the best-looking console shooter to date rivaling even Crysis. One thing you will also notice from the trailer is that the game lacks an HUD which is a radical departure from standard FPS’, but one that might be welcomed. This game is turning out really well and brings my respect for the PS3 back to a more respectable level.

Update: The game was also playable at the private Sony Party, and is said to have been just as stunning with great weather, fire, and environment effects. The game also showed great AI and very realistic point-shots. An interesting fact is that the one level that was played at the party was a full 2GB, which inevitably involved a lot of work and time which can clearly be seen as this game looks and feels amazing. I’m really looking forward to this game now and you can also download the trailer above from PSN later on in the week.

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If the Xbox 360 Elite and Pro versions had a spartan baby, it would be the Halo 3 edition SKU. Instead of just being a Pro or Elite console with a green shell, this console will have features inspired by both versions. First of all, it will come with a Halo themed 20GB HDD, but don’t let that drive you to believe that you wont get some good stuff that the elite has to offer. HDMI for instance will appear when this console drops in september, and it will come with a Halo themed Wireless Controller, Wired Headset, and Play and Charge Kit. It wont come packaged with the Game however.

So if you are looking for a 360 with an HDMI port, but dont feel like you need the 120GB of space, look for the pricepoint of this SKU to be somewhere in between the Pro and Elite consoles. It looks damn sweet too!

Image thanks to: Kotaku.com

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Here comes a bit of an opinionated editorial on the keynote which just finished up. After LiveBlogging that whole thing, I really want to get my thoughts out on the content of the conference, instead of just giving you the content itself. If you have yet to hear the news, check out the LiveBlog itself.

Rock Band

Although we did not get a real good look-see at this title, we did watch Peter Moore and friends play through a full song and it’s looking pretty good. Nothing about this title is really surprising, but seeing it in action really reassured me that a title of this calibre could work, and work well. The Karaoke seems to work surprisingly well with the rest of the instruments, and jamming with three of your buddies on this title looks just as fun as it sounds. Overall, I was happy with what I saw of Rock Band, and there were no disappointments for me.

Assassin’s Creed

I was shocked in both a good way and a bad way when I saw the live gameplay of this highly anticipated title. First off, the scale of the playable and rendered space is mindblowing, and knowing that I can visit all that I can see is always a great feeling. This is especially so when the objects in the distance are as detailed as they are with Assassin’s Creed. The Graphics are looking incredible as well, and I really have no doubt that this title will end up being one of the most beautiful pieces of console software this year.

Now onto the stuff which worried me. For a game that is supposed to be quite close to finished, there are some physics and fighting elements are really bothering me. If you have seen the keynote, you may have noticed the hay issue at the beginning of the gameplay demo. When the player dove down off of a huge building straight into a wheelbarrow of soft hay, the character simply disappeared into the lump. That’s right, there was no hay displacement to speak of, and At’lair really did just disappear into the stack. Later in the mission, the player was seen on a roof attacking someone who should have fallen off to hit the ground. Instead, the enemy dropped off the ledge and stayed laying on top of the air. When I saw the defeated foe sustained in mid air during their demonstration, I was honestly scared. That was the only time (other than the animation of pushing a guard off) in the demo that someone was knocked off of a building, and it just didn’t work. Uh-oh. Another thing which bothered me took place during the big fight scene near the end of the gameplay showing. We witnessed the player hurling an enemy into what looked like a wooden fixture, and seeing the logs collapse and fall onto the guard, they quickly all fell flat as he lay near them. One last thing I saw was in the chase scene. While the chase dynamics look amazing, I did see alot of the same falling animations every time the player knocked a civilian out of the way. Parkour in the game, however, looks fantastic.

Now I realise that these a just a few kinks that Ubisoft has time to work out, but it seemed like alot to see in just a short gamplay demo. As a gamer who is anxiously awaiting this title, I have complete confidence that all of these glitches will be fixed by release. Even if some of them are visible when the game ships, I don’t believe it will be enough to drag this game down from greatness.

Grand Theft Auto IV

While most of the GTA IV content of this keynote consisted of ‘Take that we’re better’ comments directed at Sony, I really do think some good points were made. Peter Moore really wanted to make sure that you knew that the Xbox 360 version is the only way for you to get the ‘full GTA IV experience’. He is referring of course, to the fact that the downloadable episodic content will only be available over Xbox Live, which is a huge factor separating the two versions of the title. More importantly however, Mr. Moore put many Xbox 360 players fears of iffy GTA IV graphics compared to PS3 versions to rest when he stated that both of the trailers consisted of live rendered footage captured from an Xbox 360. This are looking very bright for this title on the 360 right now!

PGR 4

Bikes. That was the major theme surrounding all of the PGR 4 news at this years keynote. While at first I was skeptical about motorcycles being included in Project Gotham, after seeing gameplay footage of them in action, I can safely say: I still am. As you may have read on this blog previously, bikes get kudos by doing ‘bike tricks’. You know, wheelies, leg tricks ect. All of these things however seem to significantly slow the rider down as they rack up the points. Is this going to be conducive to competitive racing? I’m sure it wont matter that much online, as the focus is always on the win, but in singleplayer it seems like my freedom to play PGR like PGR might be challenged. I’m still up in the air on this one though, and I think I will be until its release this fall.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat

There is almost nothing bad I can say about this game. It looks great, it adds great new content to the series, and it looks like it plays very well too. It seems like the realism is really starting to soak into COD with this latest installment. In the gameplay demo shown during the keynote, we witnessed the player taking orders from a squad leader, who advised what action to take and gave the player options in ever, I really just see a game which is still being worked on as we speak. Speaking just about the footage shown in certain situations. This creates a whole new way for gamers to become immersed in a Call of Duty title, as the way you respond to the commands you are taking is actually extremely important in the outcome of the situation. What can I conclude about this game, and it’s upcoming Xbox 360 only multiplayer beta? It’s looking damn sweet! Damn sweet!

Halo 3

Were you really expecting me to write about a Microsoft press event without mentioning Halo 3? Allthough the trailer which ended the keynote did show some awesome new features and footage, I was a little underwhelmed by the amount of other info we got. Not much talk on the subject of Halo 3, just alot of video to keep us guessing. Now I know that Halo 3 will not be released with graphics that match those of the beta, but what I saw tonight did not look all that much better than what I was running last month. I don’t take this as indication of sub par graphics howtoday’s trailer, I do think it needs some work. Do I think that work will be applied to the project? Yes, I have all faith in Bungie to deliver the best Halo 3 experience possible when it is released.

That’s about it for my response to the big games featured in the media conference tonight. As for games like Mass Effect, Too Human ect., I left those out because their coverage was limited during the keynote. Now onto the other elements of the event.

Surprise Game Announcements

Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 was the big surprise at this years press conference, and boy was it one. I really did not see this one coming in a million years, and I am super excited for the trailer coming out later this month on the XBLM. This was the only featured game during the event which will not be coming out in ‘07, so we were lucky to even get a glimpse of gameplay. From what we saw though, this game is gunna look good!

The other surprise which was a little less exciting, was the announcement that the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta which will be for Xbox 360 gamers only. While this isn’t huge, it is still pretty cool, and if you want more info be sure to hit up charlieoscardelta.com and the COD 4 beta forums.

Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360 Console

Three words: No – big – deal. This special edition console gets added into the ever growing collection of Halo 3 collectable stuff to throw your money at. It will match the Halo 3 wireless headset and will come with a spartan green (also known as barf green) controller. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly think this thing is pretty cool, but no word on whether or not it will have the features of an elite or a pro console, and what the price will be.

Disappointments

There were numerous things that I expected that were covered in the conference, and there were a couple things that didn’t make an appearance which I thought were surefire announcements. First off, I was really hoping to see Dead Rising 2, but I guess I’ll have to wait longer for this hopeful. No price cuts either, but I think I understand why. In a sense, having to drop the price of your system may look like a sign of weakness or defeat, and Microsoft just doesn’t have to do that with the Xbox. Plus, can they really afford if they are going to blow up to a cool billion with their new warranty? Does this mean we wont see this in the future though? I think not. Sooner rather than later, I think the price will go down.

MGS4 not yet announced for the Xbox 360. I still think it’s coming, but I was hoping we would get a definite announcement this year. I guess we will just have to wait on this one as well.

That’s all I got people. There is what I think about this year’s Microsoft E3 keynote. Questions/Comments? The comment bank is begging for your input! Feel free to post it!

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• Some lguys are playing the halo theme for the intro – 11:32pm
• Peter Moore: ‘Greatest Linup in Video Game history’
• Live Rock band gameplay – Peter Moore is Playing guitar, and seems to think hes the singer as well -11:39
• Viva Pinata: Party Animals Trailer unveiled – Party Game Based on show -11:44pm
• New Mass Efect Trailer kicks ass – Comes out November – 11:46pm
• Peter Moore: “More games will sell this year then music”
• Xbox 360s outselling Ps3s 2 to 1 – Xbox 360 has sold more games sinec wii and ps3 release than other two consoles combined
• Peter moore: ‘Xbox 360 driving hte industry’
• Peter Moore: ‘biggest holiday season ever = Halo 2, Madden 05, GTA: SA – this yearXbox 360 is only console that all 3 franchises are on
• Spiderma: Friend or Foe – Splinter Cell Convivtion -Bioshock -Orange Box – Rock band – gameplay shown among others in giant holiday game montage – 1155pm
• Scene it coming to XBox exclusivly 1156pm – includes new controller with buttons designed for complete idiots and HD movie content
• Naruto trailer – part of family games segment – 1159pm
• EA Games this year willrun ‘twice as fats, twice as smooth as last year’ – Reggie bush comes on stage with 2 contolers, about to play
• Reggie Bush wont STFU about being a pro – playing madden with exec
• Trash talk abound during madden 08 reggis vs random exec
• Reggie bush looks away as he runs 45 yrs into enzone – exec speaks ebonics to Mr. Busch
• Xbox Live gets 7 million users – ‘10 million by next e3′
• Xbla Montage – includes – sonic, war worlds, bomberman, geon, wing commander: arena, tack and field, golden axe, space giraffe (wtf), marathon durandal, switchball, tetris splash, – 1206am
• SONIC AND GOLDEN AXE AVAILABLE TONGIHT ON XBLA w00000t!!!!!
• Movie on XBLM montage
• Wow like 25 new movies coming tongiht in HD
• All curent disney movies coming to XBLM
• Canada and Europe getting HD downloads –> didnt have them?
• Elite coming out in Europe
• Enter Shane Kim
• Kim: ‘This year, games from Microsfot games Studios had highst reviews’
• PGR4 OnStage Gaming Demonstration
• Bike gameplay demoed –> tons of manufactureres –> kudos gained very much at the expense of speed –> most tricks slow you down
• PG4 to features vid and pic sharing called – PGR on demand
• New PGR4 trailer shows off tons of weather effects and bik vs car races
• 360 exclusive List Odyssey Trailer unveiled
• Gears of War Pc Announced – kim: ‘Clearly news hard to keep a secret’
• Enter Clify B
• Cliffy B plays his friend Rod over GFW Live
• Clifford Bleizinski shows off brumak battle
• new maps and gametypes exclusive to PC GOW
• brumak battle is pretty kcik ass
• enter peter moore
• GFW adopted bysega, eido, thq –> 12 titles on GFW ;live by the end of year
• 60 GFW games this year
• Moore: ‘bioshock is exclusive for both 360 and GFW’
• Call of Duty 4 Trailer -GFW and Xbox 360 – Chyrnoble
• Enter Infinity Ward Execs to talk about COD4
• Exec: ‘Going deep and hard with COd4′
• Jason West playing COD 4 Live
• advanced super awsome camo in game – player takes orders from a squad leader
• player given option – let enemies pass or take them out quietly – advised not to shoot thru window
• COD 4 Beta exclusive to Xbo 360 – check it out at charlieoscardelta.com
• Splinter Cel: Conviction XBOX 360 EXCLUSIVE
• PeterMoore is Back
• GTA IV Trailer # 2 Shown -> Real-time footage from both trailers rendered on Xbox 360, not PS3
• GTA IV Episodic Content means ‘Cboc 360 is only consolewhere you can get the full GTA IV experience’
• Virtua Figher 5 Only Online for Xbox 360
• Resident Evil 5 in game footage trailer – coming 2008 – full trailer on XBLM later in July
• Enter Ubisoft execs to talk about asasins creed
• Assasin’s creed being played live –> city = jerusilem
• At’lair jumpsjoin from 75 ft into pile of hay – hay doesnt move at all
• Player pushes guard off of ledge to distract guards of pallace in order to gain entry
• Player kills guy on building – guy falls onto air and is sustaned floating in the air – not a great thing for a techincal demo
• fighting dynamics looking great, general physics not so great so far, like at all.
• chasing is sweet – again, physics are not amazing right now – at’lair seen running thru ropes ect, pushing people into the same falling animation over and over
• Halo 3 Trailer? Extremely well rendered CGI scene
• Halo 3 Special Edition Console Announced – Nice Colors – no new hardware
• Tons of Amazing Excluisives for 360 and GFW – ‘best holiday lineup ever’ (couldnt agree more!)
• New Halo 3 Trailer: Brute talking shit about humans – brutes beating on humans – gameplay montage – chief standing with elite – tons of cool stuff

Wrap up:

Big Games this Holiday Season: Halo 3, Bioshock, Assasins Creed, Mass Effect, COD4 among tons of others

Surprises: Resi 5, COD 4 Beta, Halo Green Xbox, No price drop (as of yet)

Summary: Not much more than expected, but a sweet conference none the less. Alot of great gameplay footage and demos, and everything is looking good!

Quotes in this LiveBlog are sometimes rough interpretations of actually quotes. Please do not cite these ‘quotes’ as what hte speakers said exactly

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The Official Playstation blog announced today that PS3 owners will get to download the much awaited MGS4 trailer from the Playstation Store as soon as Sony’s E3 conference ends. It is reported to be in HD with 5.1 surround sound and will definitly be a great addition to any eager MGS fans’s video collection.

via – Playstation.blog

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The real question is: How will this compare with Blitz?

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Everything but MGS 4 is here, but fret not, a new trailer is on it’s way and will be shown at the Sony keynote tommarow. Other than that, you can expect the following to be unveiled at the Konami press conference:

• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP; Fall 2007)
• Contra 4 (DS; 2007)
• Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 (PS2; Fall 2007)
• Dewy’s Adventure (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Fishing Master (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Hellboy: The Science of Evil (working title) (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP; 2007)
• Konami Kids Playground (PS2; Fall 2007)
• Silent Hill Origins (PSP; Fall 2007)

[Via: Joystiq]

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Check out the official Xbox.com chatpad page here.

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Gamerscore blog has been hanging around the Microsoft guys while they set up for their big Press Conference tonight, and they may have made an intriguing discovery. The snapped some photos of the stage setup, and there appear to be four different types of 360 SKUs on display. From the pics posted on their Flickr, we can see the Core, Premium (Pro), and Elite models, and the fourth has a black finish which looks much darker than the elite. Perhaps a shiny finish?

Could we see a super 360 coming out to replace the Elite’s price range, as the Elite drops to $400? Maybe one with HDMI 1.3, more USB ports, an internal HD DVD drive?

Who knows? We will find out tonight when the press conference begins!

Update: I actually can’t tell which of the two black/gray Xbox 360’s is the elite, as the elite looks gray in the light and black in the dark. Perhaps this new SKU has the same shell as the elite did, but I don’t think that there would be two elite’s on display at once.

Final Update: New Xbox 360 is special edition halo xbox 360. It is spartan green with orange highlights. No word on whethe or not it is elite or pro.

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IGN was able to play a demo of  Assassins’s Creed today and their was a lot of praise for it. They say that the way you can interact with the world in so many ways is amazing, with the ability to climb or interact with anything that is two inches or bigger. Another major feature of the game was the scale of the city that the demo was in. The city is described as being huge and beautiful with so much to do. After reading the preview and checking out the new screens, I am more excited for this game than ever.

via[IGN]

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“Since Metal Gear Solid was born for the PlayStation, we would like to keep it a PlayStation game. But we might have to take some steps,” Kitaue said in an interview with Yahoo! pre-E3 2007. That statement could signal definite loss of the PS3 in the console war, because it hints at the loss of the only major exclusive title that the PS3 has left to offerto gamers. In the interview with Yahoo, Kitaue expresses his disappointment in the PS3’s sales and how he fears this would hurt his product, MGS4, if it was released as an exclusive Playstation title. He also does not see much to be excited about with the PS3’s new price drop because he explains that it only made way for another, more expensive model. Even though this could end up being a really sad day for PS3 gamers, the game is still slated for March 2008 as an exclusive title on the PS3.

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As E3 begins today, RotPod will be in full force to bring you the latest and greatest news from the event. So get ready for a 3 days worth of all the gaming news and podcasts you can handle. Check back at the blog for all the updates and tune in for a podcast every day covering the major keynote of the day and all the other news. So, I hope you guys are as excited for E3 as we are

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