After rumour and counter-rumour (and we've learnt not to post those any more!) it's now official.

Haze has become a PS3 exclusive and the Xbox 360 version has been dropped completely. The websites of Free Radical and Ubisoft and the official Haze site all now only list the PS3 version of the game.

Another exclusive in the PS3's cap - that makes 16 by my reckoning between now and March 2008.

Bring on the nectar!

Check out this shaky-cam video of the actual gameplay from Leipzig...

Labels: Haze, Leipzig, news, Playstation 3, PS3, video

We've been a bit quite around PS3 Attitude whilst we gather all the nuggets of information from Leipzig and get the lined up. Liveblogging and updating the site around E3 taught us a few lessons about time management...

So, how good were the predictions and what does the future look like for the PS3, especially in the UK and Europe?

Predictions 1 & 2 - "Europe will get a video on demand service for the PS3 and PSP" and "The PS3 will gain Freeview in the UK."

Sony announced PlayTV for the PS3, a twin-tuner Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) receiver and software bundle that allows you to turn your PS3 into a full-blown PVR, recording and playing back TV programs. PlayTV allows you to record one program whilst watching something else, and you can control it via Remote Play on your PSP too.

In addition, we heard the official announcement regarding Sky's joint venture with Sony which will bring on-demand programs and video to the PSP platform.

PlayTV launches in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France in 2008. Whether the Sky venture makes it's way to the PS3 is debatable - I can't see why Sky would allow their content on a PS3 that supports Freeview or vice versa.

Prediction Score - 10/10

Prediction 3 - "A 120Gb PS3 model for Europe instead of the 80Gb model they launched in the US."

Sony's David Reeves has said, whilst at Leipzig, that this is possible.

"The difference between 60 and 80GB is very small, we just feel that going up 20GB is not worth it," Reeves told Norwegian website Dagbladet. However, "If you go to double it, it's worth it", he added. "So maybe you'll see something a little bit later."

So whilst they didn't announce it at GC 07, there's a good chance this prediction will come true in the near future.

Prediction Score - 6/10

Prediction 4 - "Sony will announce at least six new exclusives."

David Reeves went on record saying that Sony were not going to launch any further titles at GC 07 because consumers are already anticipating a heavy few months and they can't necessarily afford any more titles right now.

And yet with the PS Eye they announced three new titles exclusive titles that are supported by the device! Operation Creature Feature, Trials of Topoq and Aqua Vita are all coming along soon.

However, they didn't announce the titles we expected and seem to be leaving them until the Tokyo Game Show...

Prediction Score - 2/10

Predictions 5 & 6 - "The PSP will get access to the Playstation Store/PS3 Friends/PS3 Chat" and "The PSP and/or PS3 will get a Skype client"

Whilst Go! Messenger is only for the PSP and it isn't by Skype, the PSP is getting a chat and messenger system that will make use of the Go! Play camera and a headset. In conjunction with BT, the PSP will become a viable VoIP solution.

I still believe the PSP will access the PS3 Friends system at some point, but it is sensible to make this interface with PlayStation Home for that functionality in the same way Phil Harrison showed use via mobile phone.

Prediction Score - 5/10

Prediction 7 - "Sony will launch a 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook' style system"

They didn't announce anything like this. This will probably be serviced by the PC web-based interface to PlayStation Home that they announced at E3.

Prediction Score - 1/10

Prediction 8 - "SCEE will announce the SixShock controller. Or RumbleAxis. Or whatever you want to call it"

Also didn't happen. In an interview with GameSpot, David Reeves said that any rumours about this coming along are just that - there are no announcements regarding rumble now or expected any time soon.

Prediction Score - 0/10

Prediction 9 - "Sony will launch a PC client to access and chat with your Friends"

GC 07 was not about Home at all. Sony's strategy, it seems, is to split up announcements between E3, GC and TGS. This means that since all the Home announcements were at E3, we need to wait for any extra details - especially since they're still in beta right now.

However, we know from E3 that a PC web-based service will allow access to Home, and so therefore will allow access to your Friends via PC.

Prediction Score - 4/10

Prediction 10 - "Sony will allow you to live videoblog using a PSP with a GoCam! direct to your PS3 hard drive and consequently to your Playstation Home space"

Again, because of no Home news at GC 07, we're not sure. But since Go! Messenger was launched, it's not such a leap of faith to make it connect to the Internet like Go! Cam and send your stuff up to the PS3. Certainly, Go! Messenger has connectivity to other devices such as PCs build in, so I'm calling this one a fairly accurate prediction!

Prediction Score - 6/10

Not a bad score overall - check back for more GC 07 roundup news soon.

Labels: Leipzig, news, Playstation 3, PlayTV, PS Eye, PS3, PSN, PSP

You may remember we came up with a bunch of predictions to see what would and wouldn't happen at Leipzig. Here's a quick reminder of the items we came up with ready for us to follow up once we have the full reports back from the show:

1. Europe will get a video on demand service for the PS3 and PSP - we already know there's a new service on the way, so this wouldn't be a big leap of faith.
   
2. The PS3 will gain Freeview in the UK. This is one of the main rumours and there ain't smoke without fire. Freeview, for those that don't know, is the UK's digital terrestrial television service. It would turn the PS3 into a PVR with access to over 30 channels for free.
3. A 120Gb PS3 model for Europe instead of the 80Gb model they launched in the US. This is a popular rumour right now. Personally, I couldn't give a fig - I can already upgrade my PS3 to 160Gb for £65 or so without invalidating the warranty.
4. Sony will announce at least six new exclusives. In an interview with ThreeSpeech David explains that at their regular quarterly worldwide meetings they usually see just a few great titles. But right now he can "hand on heart, say that there are six or seven such games, coming in the next 18 months, which are absolutely spectacular." I'm guessing that two titles from each of the last three quarterly meetings will have made it through to the launch list by now.
5. The PSP will get access to the Playstation Store/PS3 Friends/PS3 Chat. When they added PSP Remote Play via the Internet, where you log in using your PS3 email address and password, it was a clear indication that some of the PSN features could be accessed directly on the PSP without having to connect to your PS3 at home.
6. The PSP and/or PS3 will get a Skype client. We know that the PSP firmware has had a 'notion' of Skype compatibility for a while, so this wouldn't be a great leap.
7. Sony will launch a 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook' style system that allows you to connect to new PS3 Friends by using the 'six degrees of separation' rule. Basically, you'll be able to meet new friends by getting introductions through your existing friends. This will expand your network and ensure that the profitable "you MUST get Super Stardust" messages are pushed across the network as fast as possible.
8. SCEE will announce the SixShock controller. Or RumbleAxis. Or whatever you want to call it. Personally I've not missed rumble at all, so I'm not sure I care as much as everyone else on the 'net seems to about this.
9. Sony will launch a PC client to access and chat with your Friends. Since the PS3 chat client appears to use Jabber as its basis this wouldn't be a big development issue. In fact I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself anyway using Jabber, but haven't been able to yet.
10. My last prediction - Sony will allow you to live videoblog using a PSP with a GoCam! direct to your PS3 hard drive and consequently to your Playstation Home space. No basis for this prediction - I just think it would be cool!
    

Check back over the next few days to see what happens and what doesn't!!

Labels: Leipzig, news, Playstation 3, PS3

Take a look at the official blog for the Leipzig GC today. There's a whole bunch of excellent pictures showing the nearly-completed stands for the show including the main PS3 stand, Time Crisis 4, Ratchet & Clank and a PlayStation Network space.

Labels: Leipzig, news, Playstation 3, PS3

Maybe it's just not 'fanboy' enough for some, but I'm still of the opinion that no one company 'won' at E3. All three main players came with new and exciting developments that mean us gamers are going to be very happy this year.

Now SCEE's David Reeves is popping up in interviews all over the place, MCV and ThreeSpeech to name just two. And his message.

Get ready for war. The real battle starts now.

"There will be absolute fireworks at peak, that I can promise you. We will be doing things no-one has seen yet for both PS3 and PSP."

At the Leipzig show next month (which we'll be covering, naturally) Reeves expects to announce a whole cavalcade of incredible features for the PSP and PS3.

So, let the rumour-mill commence. I'll start you off with my list of ideas, and explain them - it'll be fun to see what really happens:

1. Europe will get a video on demand service for the PS3 and PSP - we already know there's a new service on the way, so this wouldn't be a big leap of faith.
   
2. The PS3 will gain Freeview in the UK. This is one of the main rumours and there ain't smoke without fire. Freeview, for those that don't know, is the UK's digital terrestrial television service. It would turn the PS3 into a PVR with access to over 30 channels for free.
3. A 120Gb PS3 model for Europe instead of the 80Gb model they launched in the US. This is a popular rumour right now. Personally, I couldn't give a fig - I can already upgrade my PS3 to 160Gb for £65 or so without invalidating the warranty.
4. Sony will announce at least six new exclusives. In an interview with ThreeSpeech David explains that at their regular quarterly worldwide meetings they usually see just a few great titles. But right now he can "hand on heart, say that there are six or seven such games, coming in the next 18 months, which are absolutely spectacular." I'm guessing that two titles from each of the last three quarterly meetings will have made it through to the launch list by now.
5. The PSP will get access to the Playstation Store/PS3 Friends/PS3 Chat. When they added PSP Remote Play via the Internet, where you log in using your PS3 email address and password, it was a clear indication that some of the PSN features could be accessed directly on the PSP without having to connect to your PS3 at home.
6. The PSP and/or PS3 will get a Skype client. We know that the PSP firmware has had a 'notion' of Skype compatibility for a while, so this wouldn't be a great leap.
7. Sony will launch a 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook' style system that allows you to connect to new PS3 Friends by using the 'six degrees of separation' rule. Basically, you'll be able to meet new friends by getting introductions through your existing friends. This will expand your network and ensure that the profitable "you MUST get Super Stardust" messages are pushed across the network as fast as possible.
8. SCEE will announce the SixShock controller. Or RumbleAxis. Or whatever you want to call it. Personally I've not missed rumble at all, so I'm not sure I care as much as everyone else on the 'net seems to about this.
9. Sony will launch a PC client to access and chat with your Friends. Since the PS3 chat client appears to use Jabber as its basis this wouldn't be a big development issue. In fact I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself anyway using Jabber, but haven't been able to yet.
10. My last prediction - Sony will allow you to live videoblog using a PSP with a GoCam! direct to your PS3 hard drive and consequently to your Playstation Home space. No basis for this prediction - I just think it would be cool!
    

So, there you have it. 10 predictions. Let's see how many come true but, more importantly, let's see how many more you can think up (add yours to the comments, and remember to show your 'working out')...

Labels: Leipzig, news, opinion, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, PSP