Mark Rein engages in a bit of punditry in this interview at Eurogamer.

Developers did not have finished Xbox 360 hardware last year at E3. So Sony’s actually maybe in a better place vis-a-vis Microsoft in relation to launch.

Yeah, Mark. Except Sony’s launch window was three months ago.

Oh right, I’m talking to Mark Rein.

Yeah, Mark. Except Sony’s launch window was… at least two weeks from the end of April.

Sony’s bold and somewhat random stabs at not really copying Nintendo’s jive continue. A word for it is now necessary, and that word is “flailure”.

flail·ure

n.
A sequence of quick and dirty— but unsuccessful— attempts to provide Wii-like functionality using different methods.

Somehow the magic of the Cell is supposed to allow one camera to do the work of two: looking at a stick and translating successive pictures into motion in 3D space. Which is sort of what the Wii controller does, only this is not as precise and not as included in the console’s purchase price.

Don’t let anything come in between your stick and the camera, like Player Two, your arm, or a preference for playing at night in a living room without klieg lights.

This is great news, because as soon as it’s confirmed that he’s not lying or being crazy again (you have to wonder, since the interview this news comes from also mentions his vision of a “cyberworld”), that’ll be the day Xbox Live becomes free.

I think somebody ought to tell Ken that, though. I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to fight a war of revenue attrition with Microsoft.

Actually, that’s probably been true since Doom 3. But now that that level of technology has caught up with the rest of the industry, we’re seeing more and more screenshots of games using rendering techniques that are tuned for motion looking very bad in a screenshot.

(more…)

From the San Jose Mercury News interview with Kaz Hirai:

Q: What was the reaction to your [E3 2006] press conference about the PlayStation 3?

A: It was a positive reaction.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America’s public relations division has lost their queen bee, Molly Smith, according to an employee leaking to Next Generation. There’s been no official announcement— understandable since, well, the person in charge of making such announcements just quit.

You can see the awards here. Good choices all around, given the glaring omission of the actual game of show, God Hand— which didn’t even get a nomination, not even as a fighting game. I mean, just look at it:

“PlayStation Signature” is the brand name for this officially-licensed line of lifestyle products, and upscale PSP-owners are the target market. Somehow the PS3 is a mainstream item, though. Well, at least I’m sure Sony’s profit margin is better on this item though, in the sense that there is profit.

If saving up for the PS3 puts the watch out of your range, how about the more moderate $300 PSP designer carrying case, or the $130 long sleeve t-shirt?

Check out the full line at Game Watch Japan. You can multiply the numbers below each picture by .0089 to get an approximate price in U.S. dollars.