LittleBigPlanet - the reason to buy a PS3?

Some people think that I'm a Nintendo fanboy. I don't think that's accurate; I really want to like the PlayStation 3, but I feel like every time I start to get interested in it Sony have to go and ruin it for me. There isn't a single game being released on 23rd of March in Europe that I would spend £40 on, let alone £425.

And so it is with extreme caution that I must express my interest in LittleBigPlanet. Let me summarise the game for you: tiny rag-doll characters running about in a fully furnished, user created world with realistic physics. And I really think it's the user created part that's important. It reminds me of Line Rider to a degree. Anyway, watch the video below:

While it still might not justify the £425 price tag, a few more games like this might convert me. What do you guys think?

SCEA's Tretton Responds to Critics, Says PS3 is 10 Year Investment

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Tretton hoists his black monolith - Image courtesy GamePro

Sony CEO responds to critical bloggers

SCEA CEO Jack Tretton's recent soundbite offering $1,200 for any PlayStation 3 still sitting on store shelves made him the Internet Man of the Hour on gaming blogs and cartoon sites.

In a more recent interview inside the April issue of GamePro, Tretton responds to criticism from Internet blogs with a  little criticism of his own, saying, "We have a new phenomenon as well in recent years, something we didn't have during the PlayStation or PlayStation 2. And that is everybody is a journalist - if you have a PC, then you're a journalist. There are a lot of people weighing in with opinions who are just individual consumers, a very small and vocal group of consumers, that just want everything for free. I'd love that to be the case, but that's not how the world works."

Despite critics' observations that the PS3 is selling slower than the competition, Tretton expressed much pleasure in the sales performance of the new console, pointing out that the PS3 reached a million units sold faster than the uber-successful PS2. "But [critics] are microscopically looking at the first sixty or eighty days," he said. "In reality, the fact that people were paying thousands of dollars for the PS3 on eBay supports the message that they see the value in it and they want it."

One topic of constant debate amongst bloggers is the high price of the PS3. Tretton said nothing to argue against that sentiment, but added that it's costing Sony a pretty penny too. "$599 is a lot of money, but it's the world's worst-kept secret that we're selling it at a significant investment from Sony. The consumer is investing for $599, but we're investing along with them," he said. "We're hoping that investment will return profitability to us over time as we manufacture more and more units."

 "For [$599], the consumer will see that paid off in time in spades. You could get a machine that costs less money, but if you're not happy with the games or if the system becomes obsolete in less than five years, you won't think about how much you saved but how much you wasted," Tretton states. "Those PlayStations and PlayStation 2s paid off for ten years, and [so will the PS3]. I'll stack our $599 price tag and our technology against our competition all day long."

GDC: PS3 is "best machine"

Former Shiny Entertainment boss Dave Perry has praised Sony's PS3 hardware, describing it as "the best piece of hardware, without question" - but claims that it will be years before developers tap that power.

 

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Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz at GDC, Perry said that he hasn't seen "a single game that shows me the power of PlayStation 3."

 

"I haven't seen anything even close to what the machine's capable of doing," he claimed. "So that's the sad part for Sony - I feel really bad for them that somebody hasn't really stepped up to show us the hardware all singing, all dancing."

 

 

New PS3 Controllers Coming?

There's an interview with Sony's Jack Trenton, conducted by the lads at GamePro, hinting that the the company might be looking to launch new PS3 controllers and peripherals. Jack highlighted that Sony is weighing out certain changes that could be made to the typical PS3 controller, in an effort to answer the needs of gamers in the US.

Vicious Sid: Would Sony ever consider releasing an updated "pro" Sixaxis controller, maybe with offset analog sticks and rumble support at a slightly higher price?

Jack Tretton: We used to have a narrow approach to controllers. If you really wanted to [move outside the standard controller], we left it up to third party manufacturers. But now we're moving to a regional approach. You will see peripherals coming from SCEA that will address the interests of the U.S. consumer. I don't have anything to tell you specifically, but we're certainly open to changing the Sixaxis controller if it addressed North American gamers.

I'd sooner think about getting more triple-A PS3 next-generation titles out, than worrying about the PS3 controller. Forget it guys, Nintendo beat ya to it.

Sony reportedly to cut PS3 cost with cheaper chips

TOKYO--Sony plans to lower the production cost of its PlayStation 3 game consoles by using less expensive chips, aiming to turn the operations profitable between September and next March, the Nikkei business daily reported Friday.

 

Starting with the European version of the PS3 that is set to debut on March 23, the paper said Sony plans to use a chip that can handle only the graphics of predecessor PlayStation 2 instead of the current chips that can handle both the computing and graphics functions for the PS2.

 

Sony's game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), will distribute compatibility software on the Internet so that users can play PS2 games on the PS3, it said.

 

Officials at SCE were not immediately available for comment.

 

Sony said last month the European version of the PS3 would play fewer PS2 video games compares with models launched in Japan and the United States as software would take over some of the functionality that was originally taken care of by dedicated chips.

 

Sony loses money at first on each PS3 sale due to high production costs.

 

The company has said it aims to bring the negative PS3 margin to a break-even point toward the October-March second half of next business year by component cost savings on chips.

 

Sony also said last month it would cut back on future chip spending and may not produce advanced chips used in its PS3 in-house, adding that investment in chips would come down significantly from the $3.9 billion allocated over the three business years from April 2004.

 

Sony is already producing the cell chips, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip," for the PS3 using 90- and 65-nanometer circuitry and plans to move on to the 45-nanometer level by 2009. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

 

Narrower circuitry enables a smaller chip to be used and helps manufacturers cut per-chip production costs.

 

Improving profitability in its chip division is important for Sony, which targets an operating margin of 5 percent in the business year from April, up from an estimated 0.7 percent in the current year.

GDC07: PS3 LocoRoco Coming?

At this week's Game Developer Conference, Sony dropped some not-so-subtle hints about the future of the LocoRoco franchise. While the PSP version was a very minor hit, Sony remains committed to the series and it should come as no surprise that they'll continue with more hypercute blobby platforming.

So what's in store for the next LocoRoco? Don't be surprised if it turns out to be a PLAYSTATION 3 title. As everyone and their mother noticed, during the PlayStation Home Hall of Fame demonstration, the only game not already confirmed for the PS3 to be represented by a trophy was, of course, LocoRoco.

On top of that, series creator Tsutomu Kouno, after doubly confirming a sequel, said during yesterday's GDC snoozefest session "I would like to use a new way of playing the game for the next version of LocoRoco." But after refusing to confirm on what platform it would appear, added "I'm not going to betray your expectations." Good enough to say "confirmed"? No. Good enough for a Kotaku rumor with a question marked title? You bet.

We'll put a fiver on LocoRoco HD showing up in the PlayStation Store with SIXAXIS motion control this year. Any takers? (Please note that bets will not be honored.) Michael McWhertor