Playstation Meeting 2005

This year's Playstation Meeting was an opportunity for Sony to take the stage and discuss topics important to the company's Playstation strategy in a calmer atmosphere than present at larger events like E3 or the upcoming Tokyo Games Show. Unfortunately for gamers salivating for a flood of new title announcements and clips of new footage, the Playstation Meeting is normally greater parts business strategy and year-in-review than it is game announcements. Viewed in that light, however, this year's Playstation Meeting actually had quite a number of new game announcements; not just for the existing Playstation 2 and PSP consoles, but also for the upcoming PLAYSTATION 3. The big news was definitely non-gaming related though, with exciting hardware updates announced for the PSP and significant partnership announcements linked to the PLAYSTATION 3 software development kits.

Let's jump right in.

Since the first day of the Playstation Portable's launch, people have been wondering if Sony would release an update for the handheld containing Internet browser functionality allowing users to surf the web on the PSP. There has been a lot of discussion and debate on this topic throughout the forums of the Internet, and the general consensus has always been: 'sometime in the future.' Well, the future is now. At this year's Playstation Meeting Sony announced that within a week (July 27th to be exact) they will be releasing firmware version 2.0, which includes not only a full Internet browser, but also a service that allows individuals to download TV shows and other video to their memory stick in the high-quality AVC format. Custom wallpapers are also supported with the new firmware, as are a greater range of image file types (.tiff, .gif, .png and .bmp).

It seems that with firmware version 2.0, the PSP will begin to fulfill it's promise of being a unique multi-media device capable of performing a truly incredible range of tasks; something that should no doubt lead to higher sales of the console.

Also on the PSP front, Sony has announced that beginning September 15th the PSP will be available in a new color: Ceramic White. Whereas some electronics tend to look cheaply manufactured when presented in white, the PSP looks every bit as beautiful and compelling as it does in black. The white version will ship with firmware version 2.0 as default and be available for sale initially in Japan.

As mentioned before, the other block of important news concerns newly announced strategic partnerships and licensing agreements related to the functionality included within Sony's PLAYSTATION 3 software development kits.

These announcements are:

* The inclusion of Epic's Unreal Engine 3 in every PLAYSTATION 3 SDK.

* Full inclusion in every PLAYSTATION 3 SDK of AGEIA's PhysX physics library toolset.

* Full inclusion in every PLAYSTATION 3 SDK of Havok's world class physics engine.

With these moves Sony will allow every single PLAYSTATION 3 developer to have access to what are currently considered to be the strongest set of third-party middleware tools available on the market, regardless of the studio's size. What does this mean for us the gamers? Coupled to the power of the Cell processor, we should be expecting some great physics in PLAYSTATION 3 games.

Sony has also announced that they have reached an agreement to acquire Bristol, UK based SN Systems Limited, makers of the ProDG set of development tools. Not only will this grant Sony ownership of some of the most popular development software for both PS2 and PSP, they will be able to leverage ProDG in order to further accelerate gains in PLAYSTATION 3 SDK functionality. Just as with the license agreements already mentioned, PLAYSTATION 3 developers will be able to look forward to a full PS3-centric copy of the ProDG tools in every PLAYSTATION 3 software development kit shipped. With these announcements and the work being done by both Sony and IBM, there can no longer be any doubt that Sony Computer Entertainment is committed to making PLAYSTATION 3 development as easy on developers as possible.

And of course what that results in is games.

As we mentioned before, the Playstation Meeting is generally light on actual game announcements and footage, but there were some notable stand-outs this time. Probably most anticipated among these was the one minute trailer of Capcom's Resident Evil 5. It did not disappoint - this is a great looking game and by all indications will be one of the graphics leaders when it launches. Other notable footage clips were of Koei's Ni-Oh and From Software's newly announced PS3 title, Project Force.

The complete list of PLAYSTATION 3 games featured and demo'd at this years Playstation Meeting were:

*Gundam, by Bandai - The PLAYSTATION 3's first playable demo; in early stages and not yet utilizing any of the Cell's seven SPE's or Sony's provided SDK middleware

*Genji, by Sony Computer Entertainment/Game Republic - Concept CG from the PS3 sequel to the popular PS2 series

*Resident Evil 5, by Capcom - Real-time game trailer for the upcoming sequel to the cult-classic horror series - view trailer

*Dynasty Warriors, by Koei - Game based the Warring States period of dynastic China - demo featured real-time action; Koei let it be known that the character models on screen were comprised of 150,000 polygons

*Endless Saga, by Webzen - New PS3 RPG title revealed by acclaimed Korean developer Webzen

*Lair, by Factor 5 - Featuring what sometimes seemed like a hundred highly detailed dragon models on screen at a time, Factor 5's demo utilized nothing but in-game footage

*Project Force, by From Software - Mech-based action title in the early development stages, but very impressively featuring fully destructible environments

In his closing statements Kutaragi hinted strongly that come the Tokyo Game Show, many more next-gen games would be on display; not only that, but that several of them might be in playable form as well.