GDC 2011 (PS3 news)

I've gathered news about what Sony revealed at this years GDC. There weren't any big surprises this year but at least a few new interesting details about upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive games. And some news about Sony's new handheld device NGP.

inFamous 2 "Play, Create, Share"

And just like that, inFamous 2 joins Sony's "Play, Create, Share" suite of games by allowing players to make their own missions. Developer Sucker Punch unveiled the surprising new feature at GDC. Using the new creation tool, you'll be able to create "any" kind of mission. Creators have "access to the same set of characters, creatures and props" that the designers have.

A "limited" public beta will be available in April. Details on how to get in will be announced on the game's official website in two weeks, on March 14th.

Resistance 3 multiplayer details

Insomniac Games has dropped the first details on the multiplayer component in Resistance 3, and those hoping the developer would reach MAG levels of simultaneous combatants after the 60-player Resistance 2 should probably be seated. Rather than escalate, the game's online offering will be more intimate, maxing out at 16 players -- eight on eight in any mode.

The dev says the move is about making the competitive experience more "personal" -- not for any technical reasons. After playing a few matches at tonight's preview event, we found the sole map being demoed, a prison in the Republic of Chad (all the multiplayer stages are set outside the US), nicely sized for the player count. Admittedly, the action was considerably tame compared to the massive battles of the previous game in the series.

Insomniac revealed -- and we tried -- some active and passive multiplayer abilities, the former represented by health/ammo drops and an electrified shield; the latter are always-active "stat buffs," such as making yourself more accurate when shooting while running. The final element we saw was the Berserk, which is rewarded for kill streaks and made our Chimeran character temporarily invisible.

Objective-based modes are to be revealed later, giving us hope that the developer has some fresh ideas lined up for them.

PlayStation 3 stats

During the PlayStation Network Analysis panel at GDC, SCEA digital distribution manager Pierre Gravereau provided some platform stats to attendees, revealing worldwide sales of 47.9 million PS3 consoles. More than 80 percent of consoles are connected to the internet and have spawned 70 million PSN accounts.

Gravereau boasted about the success of PSN in 2010, saying traffic to the PlayStation Store increased by 60 percent compared to the previous year and Sony subsequently saw a 70 percent spike in revenue. Even without exact hard figures, it's quite a dramatic upstick.

NGP at GDC 11

This slide, shown during Sony's Next Generation Portable GDC panel, shed some light on NGP's still-mysterious storage details. Unlike the experimental PSP Go, the NGP doesn't sport any internal storage. Things like save data and patches will be stored on the actual game cards themselves which, notably, will be offered in both 2GB and 4GB varieties, with 5 to 10 percent of the storage allocated to the aforementioned data. On a 2GB card, that leaves 1.8GB to 1.9GB for game data; on a 4GB card, that leaves 3.6GB to 3.8GB.

That puts the NGP's game media storage size between that of the PSP's, whose UMD discs range from 900MB to 1.8GB, and the PS3's, whose Blu-ray discs hold up to 50GB, though "many PS3 games" (i.e., multiplatform titles) remain around 9GB, thanks to the Xbox 360's DVD-ROM size limitation. Of course, this leaves the NGP with far more storage per game than a "10MB phone game."

But that's not all! As previously suggested, the NGP has another storage option, simply called "removable memory" in this presentation. "Cards will be large to support a variety of downloaded content," the slide says. This includes games available over PlayStation Network; and, thankfully, Sony says it's implementing a "single submission for both formats" to streamline the process of getting games approved for both card-based and downloadable releases.

We're hopeful this streamlined process obviates current embarassments like the continued absence of high-profile games in the PSN catalog of PSP titles, which has crippled the appeal of Sony's PSP Go handheld.

Game Developers Conference 2010 (PS3 news)

Sony's biggest announcement at this years Game Developers Conference 2010, was their motion controller, now with an official name. It's called "Move" and I think that's a great name, but "Arc" would have been more unique. I'm going to write a summary of what happen during Sony's press event.

Below are some of the highlights from GDC 2010.

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide studios was excited to share the official unveiling of the PS motion controller and its games. They'll later show some of the games available during the device's Fall launch window. People will be able to try them out after the presentation. The type of games they can create with it are amazingly diverse, it's Precise, Responsive and Ultra sensory. PlayStation Move is announced as the official title of the device.

Peter Dille, senior VP of marketing and PSN discusses the PS3's momentum this year, with the price reduction and game like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves giving the system a big push. The system experienced a 50% growth in software sales in 2009 (versus 2008), but Sony isn't content with that. Dille describes MAG and Heavy Rain as innovative products that continue to push the PlayStation brand. He also thank the press for giving Heavy Rain a chance and some glowing reviews. Other examples trotted out to prove Sony's success: MLB 2K10 and a "little" product called God of War III. He says that Gran Turismo 5 will ship this year, and it will be worth the wait.On to PlayStation Move: "It's fast, precise, and accurate." It also seems to be sporting two separate pieces, including a nunchuck-like component to be held in your alternate hand. The "starter" kit will start under $100, that's one PlayStation Eye, a game, and the PlayStation Move. Advantages of the technology? Accuracy and precision, which translate to a more exciting challenge for the gamer, Dille says. A fighting game is being shown, another game translates movements with both devices to a bow-and-arrow game, and another clip shows two players going at it in table tennis. Ah, here's the obligatory golf game. Sword and shield action game is shown. Another montage reveals a lightgun-esque shooter, a dancing game and what appears to be some first-person horror game, where the Move functions as a flashlight.Next up is Scott Rohde, VP of Worldwide Studios. He was there to demonstrate the precision of the PlayStation Move, both "fast and subtle" motions. Sports Champions is shown, which has a sub-game called Gladiator Duel. Both are working titles. It's an arena fighting game. He moves his right hand to swing a mace, and can do attacks at various heights. The movements appear quite responsive in the game, even if the fighting appears a little rote and simplistic. He swings both his arms upwards, which initiates a jumping attack. Next up is Sports Champions: Table Tennis and it looks a lot like Sony's take on Wii Sports. A game called Move Party is shown. The game looks like a silly party game, right now, you could see someone wield a razor and cut a cartoon character's wool hair. They showed a LittleBigPlanet demo, there's new material in the game that will interact with the Move. You point at the screen and maneuver the material to create a bridge or a ramp. It seems that if an object is made of the material, you can pick it up and move it around on the screen. Motion Fighters (working titles) features "next-gen graphics and speed," apparently. The Eye detects where you are in 3D space, and each controller mimics your arms' motions. Dodging, punching and ... dirty moves. These motions are pretty violent, he's locking someone's neck under his arm and wailing on the poor man's head with the other arm.

There're an additional accessory for the Move called the "PlayStation Move Navigation Controller". You can play through SOCOM 4 if you have this thing. You can take cover and aim quite efficiently with the Move. Aim seems to benefit the most, obviously. The tech was integrated into the game with very little overhead, apparently.
Peter Dille returned to the stage and said that virtually every third-party publisher will support the Move, including Activision, Capcom, WB Games, Namco Bandai, Square Enix, Ubisoft, EA, Disney, Konami, Sega, Crave and Tecmo Koei. In addition, 36 publishers and third-party developers will support it, and according to a press release, in fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform.