PS3 Fanboy

After today's big announcement, the PlayStation.Blog has been updated with further clarification of the price drop and 80GB launch. As well as this, the blog gives us some more information about what we will be getting out of E3 as console owners, and when. The keynote speech, as well as being put up on the PSN for everyone to download, will have a live feed, starting half an hour before the speech, (11am pacific time) at the official US PlayStation website.

As well as this, at least some of the content we are expecting to see on the PSN in terms of trailers and videos will be put up shortly after the keynote address. No word of any demos, but we wouldn't be surprised if Sony pulled one or two out of their hats. Perhaps the subtly hinted imminent Heavenly Sword demo? Regardless, we're going to be inundated with content. Seybald states that there is far more to come this week that we currently aren't aware of, including more "Inside the Developer's Studio".

It looks like we're going to be glued to the PSN this week, what about you?

Ryan Hamlyn, associate producer on Lair, has written a post on the PlayStation.Blog explaining that the game is nearing completion and on track for its August 14th release date. Hamlyn has been playing the game for a while now and claims that the more he plays this game, the more fun he's having.

The post also includes a short explanation on how they developed some of the larger creatures for the game, including the "Spiderwasp" shown above. It may be hard to see clearly at such a low resolution, so check out the official PlayStation.Blog Flickr account (just goes to show that Sony truly appreciate Web 2.0) , where all the screenshots from the "Inside the Developer's Studio" feature have been put up at full resolution. Simply click "all sizes" above the picture to view it in different sizes, including 1920x1080.

Finally, the official Lair website is up, with exclusive new videos and "other cool content". It's pretty exciting to see the first non-launch AAA exclusive for the PS3 nearing completion. We just can't wait to finally play it.

Analogy alert! Dave Karraker recently slapped a new post on the official PlayStation blog regarding developers' complaints that the PS3 is hard to develop for. His stance on the issue is thus: "Since PS3's Cell processor allows MORE features -- better physics, more complex graphical processing, lighting or sound, etc. -- there is inevitably going to be more cost in supporting those extra features. It's not that PS3 is harder to write for, it's just that you can do more with it." You know what? That sounds like a valid claim. We're seeing some very amazing things come out of the PS3 as of late.

Going further down the post, Karraker talks more about the SPU's in the PS3's Cell. These are generally considered the most challenging point in a developer's learning curve and Karraker responds by giving us some Confucius-laden wisdom: "SPUs are not 'normal' processors like the PPU. There is a trade-off between performance and versatility. A Ferrari is not the best car for a visit to Home Depot." We know we'd never roll into Home Depot with our Ferrari. You can't fit anything in those cars! But what does Karraker mean? Is the SPU worthless for ports, at least making them far more difficult to program, or games that take place in big, empty warehouse stores? No matter the case, we're glad Sony's got a blog to support their baby. We know we've needed the reinforcements.

[via Gamasutra]

Sony has been going full throttle on it's new PlayStation.Blog with some of the biggest names at the company doing regular posts. This time, the president and CEO of SCEA, Jack Tretton weighs in with an interesting post about the past successes of the PlayStation brand and some of his thoughts of the future. It's interesting stuff and definitely worth reading. He also gives game-starved PS3 owners some good news by implying that the drought is almost done:

"We have more than 15 games coming from our own internal studios alone this year for PS3. Our third party partners will weigh in with a host of great games giving us more than 100 titles by year end on that system alone."

Later on in the piece are hints that we're in for some cool surprises at E3 too, stating that not only will we see new stuff on the known titles like Ratchet and Clank or Heavenly Sword, but also they will announce "a few surprises we have up our sleeves that no one has seen." Intriguing and exciting stuff and we'll find out in less than a month! Anybody want to start the random unsubstantiated guessing on what they're gonna show? I say ... Killzone Bowling and Barbie's Xtreme SOCOM Adventures.

[Via N4G]

Uh-oh ... are the PlayStation Fanboy blogs in trouble? Sony has thrown off their gloves, and they're ready to go head-to-head against us in the blogosphere. The top people from Sony Computer Entertainment America will be sharing their thoughts on the state of PlayStation, and will undoubtedly leak a few secrets along the way.

The PlayStation.Blog will feature "product news and title announcements to developer updates and industry opinion posts – all of which will come straight from the people here inside SCEA who are working, thinking and playing with this stuff every day." (Editor's note: it's two words, Pat.)

Of course, we kid about this whole "competitor" thing. We've pushed Sony incessantly on getting more proactive with the gaming community, and it looks like they've finally taken our advice. This is a step in the right direction, and we can't wait to find out more from the PlayStation.Blog.