I will be sitting here hunched over my keyboard to give You the first full list of Sony’s show. Well a comprhensive list anyway. But first lets take a look at what Microsoft stole off Sony (and if you believe all the doomsayers declaring the end of the PS3).

Yesterday. The show got off to a great start. Microsoft showed great innovation to give Xbox gamers a game entitled Lips. Great concept, but Microsoft will sue anyone who calls it a Singstar™ rip off. They produced an exciting show off, for this, umm. (DONT SAY IT) game, duffy sang her own song which will feature in said game. Which she failed to hit the right notes much of the time. I in particular thought it was a great show.

This brings me to the end of the show, (i really dont want to put to much of MS in here) Where they brought out the president of Square-Enix, to showcase the exclusives that they have tied up to he Xbox. 1 of them is an exclusive only for the Xbox. The Last Remnant will be coming to the PS3 a little bit later. So he thanked the and Yoichi Wada walked off stage. Then as they were about to wrap it up. He came back into shot and tapped Don on the shoulder and with a big smile on his face declared he has one more big announcement. And thus millions of PS3 owners hearts sank. They knew what it was. The camara panned out to show the entire audience and the big screen to showcase Final Fantasy XIII. After 2 minutes or so. The trailer stopped. Light came on and with shock and awe the audience clapped hard. I will agree it is a major coup for the Xbox. Bu not one to destroy PS3 as many are saying. They have not even wanted to know about today at Sony’s show. No all that is happenig to them is the slow demise of their once cherished consoles.

I say this is to be expected. Third party companies spend millions on their games so it makes sense they release it multi platform. This is the reason so many projects get canned. This is the reason so many (albeit small) companies collapse. What most forget is that the PS3 will still have the game. And the PS3 version was in development way before the Xbox version. So this could be the first port to Xbox from PS3. As we PS3 owners have had to put up with so many ports thus far. It’s about time Xbox gamers had our ports. And hopefully it will be the first of many as more and more developers harness the capacity of the PS3 then port it over to the Xbox. With the boundaries pushed more we will see many more great games on the horizon.

This brings me to the show in 20 minutes. A lot of people are hoping news on the much tired of hearing about Home™. Yes about time they did give us a time frame on this. And then the romours are awash of God of War 3 at the show. Plus the PlayTV. And future firmware updates. Well all i can say is watch this space. As i believe it will be something special. Only if they can get Rick Astley to do a rick roll on Microsofts arses. Now that would be something special.

1. The introduction is much more impressive than Microsofts. The doom sayers better start begging for forgiveness
2. Jack Trinton? begins with the history of Playstation. Hints at more exclusives. And a funny guy.
3. IBM uses the PS3’s cell processor which was developed solely by Sony.
4. 75 Titles  in 2008 which are exclusive. First and third party.
5. Shows a trailer for resistence 2. Looks really impressive. Especially the 300ft Chimera monster. Going up a clcok tower as big as a monster is a foolish thing to do. Run Forrest run. Nice new trailer. Risistence 2′S Ted Price talking in depth about the game. New monsters. New angle on multiplayer. Refer the game to scale. Have they played God Of War or ICO?
6. Next up is talk on user generated content. Yes it is Little Big Planet. They will tie up the social experiance with gaming with the game with an exclusive level they make. And with Alex Evans playing it for us. And the features. The options are great with their own basketball outfit on. And a gimmicky show off with tables showing the figures on the gaming industry. Yes it does look like a cool level. Included in the level is the first line up for the PS3 platinum titles which include Resistence fall of man, Motorstorm, Oblivion, Warhawk, Call of duty 3, assains creed, Ninja gaiden, Fight night round 3 and rainbow6 vegas. And going by the Little Big Planet. If this is what we can do it is going to be a great game indeed. Coming october.
7. Onto the PS2 now. In 2008 130 titles due for PS2. Looks like we wont be seeing the last of PS2 for a while. With new titles as such As singstar pop vol 2. Yakuza 2. And the multiformat EA sports games.
8. Buzz quiz  coming to the psp.
9. With more singstar games coming to PS2.
10. PS2 bundle with Lego Batman. Autumn
11. PSN up next. Lets hope some diverse games are coming.
12. Linking network with the sites. U.S only so far.
13. Content downloaded so far 180 million.
14. Ratchet and clank quest for booty. Downloadable game. Looking really good. Will Get those mouths whetted for now. Coming in summer.PSN
15. PSN showcase. revelealing more psn titles. Including. Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Pixeljunk Eden, Pain Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse Ragdoll Kung Fu.
16. Gran Turismo T.V. We are getting Top Gear and much more. Nothing new.
17. Home. There to bring it all together. But when? More publishers on board. And brands such as Nike. Trailer. Themed home spaces. Nice touch.
18. PSN Video download service has all the major plaers on board and is open to all film studios. T.V episodes are 1.99. films range from a few prices. All portable to PSP. Very easy to use. As is the original store. This is the same as that. Preview content. before you buy. To rent it is from 2.99 dollars. Watch as you download. HD and SD. Will be available dependeing on film. Availble from tonight. American store. Nice surprise.
19. PSP. More packs to be released. Including American footbal. And Rachet and clan pack.
20. New “Franchise” on PSP. Resistence Retribution.
21. Patapoon 2, Locoroco 2, Star Wars Unleashed, Madden 09,  NBA 09, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman and Buzz Quiz Master Just some of the games coming this year for PSP.
22. Woooooo back to PS3. Talking now about the record and upload from your games to youtube. Playstation Life.
23. Sony Online giving us DC Universe Online and The Agency. Jim Lee talks about the future of MMO’s on PS3. Play as either hero or villan. Trailer. The Flash, do not want. Impressive trailer. No word on price on subscriptions. Shame.
24. 80GB PS3. Same Price as 409GB PS3. UK?
25. Devs talk about the cell proccessor and capabilities of the PS3. According to them. The future really is Playstation.
26. First party releases are being talked about now. And some Third party releases Including. Little Big Planet. Motorstorm Pacific Rift, Quantum Of Solice, Resistence 2, Ghostbusters,  The Agency, Naruto, Mirrors Edge. Resident Evil 5, Singstar, Guitar Hero 4, NBA09 The Inside, Buzz quiz T.V, Killzone 2 too name but a dozen or so.
27. God Of War 3, Trailer Nuff said. wow just wow. The beginning of the end. Not for sony but Olympus.
28. inFamous. Giving us an in-depth look at the world of the city. Kill or help it’s up to you. An ordinary Joe consumed by his own power.
29. One more game for us. The secret game. Zipper Interactive the developer. Exclusive. 256 server online games. 8 player squads. You grow into the leading role due to the growth of your character. TRAILER. This is what online gaming should be. Titled M.A.G.

So that was an impressive Conference. If the doom and gloom continues. Then these are just fussy people. Before you saw the line up for releases for the PS3 note he said exclusives. Weather they are timed or not. Thats one heck of a line up of exclusives for us. The M.A.G game looked like a system seller.

And then God Of War 3. Like i said nuff said. That’ll be your system seller. And it looked awesome. I truly can not wait for the future. Doc fire up the DeLorean.

Upon my arrival home today I was greeted with a brand new hard-drive which I’ve been waiting two weeks for. As I type this my PS3 is backing up all my game-saves and other bits and pieces ready to be restored in about two hours. This will finally mean I won’t need to worry too much about install data or user-generated content filling up the memory.

Staring at the loading bar on the screen is as much fun as playing Turning Point: Fall of Man but it did get me thinking. I managed to get my PS3 on the day of release so obviously, I managed to secure a 60gb. It’s still the largest of all PS3 SKU’s in the UK but in the long run, it’s not going to be enough. As I said, I’ve had mine since launch but it only took me four months to fill the HDD to bursting point. I’ve had to resort to using an external HDD for some install data and all my music and videos. With that in mind, I must have used – if you count what I had to delete just to save – roughly 150gb.

Now, the expected life of the PS3 is said to be 10 years but through the power of quick math that means we need a HDD with the capacity to store 1500gb worth of data. Thinking more into that, if we were to get multiple internal HDD’s (to reach 1500gb) with a limit of (for e.g.) 250gb we would end up spending around £300 – that’s nearly $600! Todays technology doesn’t support anything close to 1tb of memory on a 2.5″ internal HDD so unless a new way for us to save our information is introduced our pockets are going to be hit.

Notice all the above is just approximations though. We still haven’t got our hands on Little Big Planet etc. With all the customised content that will be readily available it could mean the rough size needed of our HDD could be much more.

Let’s move this all to one side and think of suitable ways to solve the problem. One solution could be online memory cards, a place on Sony’s servers that you could maybe rent annually. They’ve already applied this method loosely on Warhawk and a lot of online games. Your statistics, clan information, overall points, achievements etc are not stored on the console. Instead, the PS3 accesses your information from their servers. There would be no need to worry about purchasing a new HDD every 12 months and severely limits the chance of a corrupt save file.

The second option could be that Sony release their own brand of external drives which allow you to store games and game saves on. It would be a simple case of plugging in the correct drive for which ever game you wish to play and swapping it whenever the need be.

Of course, I’m no expert in this area of technology but I am aware that something needs to be thought up. I’m a pretty avid fan of Sony and own a fair few games. I don’t trade-in or sell and keep everything I purchase – most of the time. So, if my HDD is getting full in little to no time then I’m sure some of yours are.

Tell me what you think the best strategy for this problem is. While it’s not a big one yet – it will be soon. Also, if you have any tips on saving space then leave a comment.

Every week we are going to search the web for good looking PS3 Themes that will look ´da bomb´on your PS3.

This week we visit Resident Evil 5, this great theme has a good icon design and the background is great.

[PS3Themes]

I found out a few hours ago that your only allowed to submit one image for the competition. How gutted was I? Very! So, I had to set up another account and delete my old one. At least now I have a half decent entry.

Tell me what you think but instead of putting the comments on this site put them here!

Or you could be really nice and vote for me…I’ll be your best friend!!!

I wrote this before Metal Gear Solid 4 came out, i had to otherwise the whole thought into this post would have been blown apart.

What i want you (the reader) to do is imagine any situation you have been in with a family member or a friend during playing a game. 

 ”How can you sum up the emotion that games can deliver. Is it in the cut-scenes. It would suggest so, as in my whole gaming life the only time you get to really connect with the character/s would have been in the scenes that tells you the story. Why, who, where and of course when. The 4 fundamental questions which drive the game on and make you carry on until the end. There have been some instances where the game just bores you and you give up. But i want to write about the games which make you, not need, but want to carry on until the final moments”.

“I have asked this question to a forum which i am a part of. The answers i had was all about the cut-scenes. Not only the cut-scenes. But it was also about the the game creating atmosphere. They make you jump, how can any one forget when the first time they played Resident Evil. Walking through the quiet corridor when the camera shifted and the dogs came jumping through the windows. Or even walking through a dark cramped mansion with only the flicker of your torch, and the protection of a camera as you did in Project Zero”.

“Some games deliver a sucker punch in the mid-gut a moment of clarity that just takes your breath away. In recent months Call Of Duty 4 did this the set-pieces. That story was in a word sensational. In a lot of peoples minds, no other game gave you what COD4 gave you and that was clarity. Be it wanting revenge for the way Jackson dies(the American character you control). Or the way Infinity Ward made you control him to his untimely death just after you successfully rescued a chopper pilot. It was never meant to be this way”.

“The only game i have ever played that came close enough to the want issue was Ico. It was an arty game that made you not only need to advance, but want to save yorda. There was no way you wanted to leave such a fragile thing alone in a daunting castle, with the evil that lurked inside and the creatures that were sent to capture her from your grasp. Leaping over gaps, and the way Ico encouraged her to follow you even though the game gave you the feeling that she was scared and always considered the options. When she finally (and gracefully) jumped it was such a draining situation you could relate to when the boy with horns threw himself to grab her arm if the gap was to great”.

“In the moments of calm outside, when the game gave you some time, Just watching Yorda run around chasing birds made the whole nature of the game feel like a natural one. You could just run around with her for a while. In fact as long as you wanted. As it being still just a game you needed to trigger the aspirations to come after her. You did have time to play and make a virtual friend in the gifted being. Lets not talk about the beach, i dont fancy reaching for the kleenex tonight”.

“I have only used a few games to pin point some issues in the raw emotion as i have only used the games i have experienced myself. There are games with intense action, giving you R.S.I. There games that frustrate the hairs to sweat. And there are games with an awe inspiring feel to them”.

“There are games that actually do give you raw emotion. These are the games that help you to connect to other people”.

Thanks to my fellow gaming guru I had to rush around and design a character for the comp for you all to look at. It was supposed to give you inspiration but will more than likely make you want to out-do it (which won’t be hard)!

Here it is. Point and laugh as you please!

Also, tell me what you think. I’d love to hear what ideas you all have up your sleeves. I compiled a short list to help you all along.

• Nariko (Heavenly Sword)
• Nico Bellic (GTAIV)
• Kaz Hirai (I don’t need to tell you who he is!)
• Nemesis (Resident Evil 3)
• Solid Snake (MGS)

You can vote for mine here: CLICKEDY-CLICK!

Pardon? What’s that? Oh, PS3 is going to smash Xbox Lives Gamer Cards to smitherines? Damn right!

Good ol’ Sony has released a press statement today regarding ANOTHER new feature for the PSN. Going by the name EDGE, it’s a service that makes collecting those elusive trophies all the more rewarding. Here’s the full details:

“PlayStation Edge comes with a seamless integration into the already widely popular PlayStation Network® and will allow PlayStation®3 owners to use their trophies earned to receive free gifts and discounts on PlayStation Network by going to the PlayStation EDGE panel located in the PlayStation Store. Trophies may be accumulated by playing games and meeting the required critieria, 50 points will be rewarded for a platinum trophies, 30 for gold, 20 for silver and 10 for bronze. Rewards will be given out in exchange for trophies accumulated via playthrough.Due to this, a new feature has been included with firmware 2.4 whereby game saves will be tied to the console and be non transferrable in order to create fairness. Once enough trophy points are accumulated for a chosen item, players points will be automatically tallied and deducted via PlayStation Network and the item shipped out or debited straight to your account if it is a digital reward such as a discount or free download. All of these features can be enjoyed on one single system with multiple accounts, although saves will be tied to accounts.

PlayStation EDGE looks to improve the connection between gamers and spur exciting contests whereby players will be rewarded in game for accomplishing tasks, and also translate it into the real world in the form of free rewards. Rewards will vary from limited items to discounts or bonuses on the PlayStation Store.”

It seems Sony are really pulling there finger out recently and there doing a fine job of making it’s PS3 users happy! I can’t wait to get my hands on this. What do you lot think of it?

Metal Gear loves to be a little naughty for the sake of humour and teenage boys and thanks to Games Radar you can check out some of the best bits here.

(Source: Gamesradar)

As we all know the upcoming firmware 2.40 will contain the highly anticipated in game XMB, but will this keep the gamers happy? If so what will we cry out for next?

Firmware 2.40 will be available in July sometime and will include XMB, nothing has been officially detailed as of yet of what the firmware will be packing and how much we will be able to access from in game XMB but just the words in game XMB seem to have got everyone excited. Ever since the Playstation 3 was released gamers wanted in game XMB, the equivalent of what the 360 version has, we want XMB with full functionality.

That said, after many months waiting for in game access, say we receive it and love it and it is perfection, what else will we expect from the Playstation3, what else can Sony do?

Firstly i would like to see the promised video store for Europe and not just North America, then there is HOME due for release in September with rollouts starting from sometime in July with a Gmail roll out system. The browser Sony has for the PS3 needs to be rethought, i know we aren’t on a PC here but i would like to access my hotmail for the least, maybe a partnership between Sony and Firefox? That would be great, specially design fully functional browser which can access any website and view any content with problems, how about some third party created freeware for the PS3? Maybe a mad Paint program, or little mini games like pinball or a great live messenger service to rival MSN?

In a nutshell the Playstation 3 still isnt perfect and after the in game XMB is released Sony shouldn’t think they can sit there happy they have done a good job, gamers will want more and expect more, come on Sony what else have you got up your (often delay-able) sleeve???

What would you guys like to see?