GDC 07: Phil Harrison's GDC keynote
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 7th 2007 at 1:45PM }
Stay tuned, as we've taken our seats. The conference will take a few minutes to begin as the massive auditorium is currently being filled.
- LittleBigPlanet is being shown: cute furry animals playing with soccer balls!
- Time Magazine on display: the person of the year is YOU. That's what Game 3.0 is all about.
- Home appears as an additional XMB icon.
- Download new items from the Playstation Store to customize your in-Home avatar.
- The avatar customization tool is quite complex: much more so than anything on Nintendo Wii.
- The virtual keyboard still sucks: Phil Harrison types "ho" instead of "hi." Headset use is probably better.
- Various arcade games: they're still part of the 3D environment of Home: you can tilt your view, and feel like you've never left Home.
- Pop in a memory stick to use photos of your own in Home.
- Let's get meta: watch a video on a virtual TV from Home, on your TV. Casino Royale is shown. Official movies and user generated content can all be seen in this "unbreakable" virtual television.
- Remember the Grouper purchase Sony made a while back? This YouTube-like site will integrate into Home, allowing people to share videos through this virtual community.
- Home will allow you to display your gaming
achievementsaccomplishments through a virtual trophy room. Unlike the 360, each trophy will be embodied in this virtual world: eventually, you'll amass hundreds, if not thousands, of trophies to proudly showcase in Home. - You'll be able to get pets soon. Will they be sentient, independent pets that act as a "HUD" of some sort?
- Private beta is happening now. Public beta of Home will begin April.
- SingStar is being shown: 144 songs available to purchase, with more obviously coming down the line. Very sleek presentation, incorporates video previews.
- Purchase begins PS3 background downloading. Yay!
- Playstation Edge development tools are being discussed. They will be free--immediately. (They used to cost thousands of dollars before. This will definitely get more developers interested.)
- LitttleBigPlanet is back. It is absolutely beautiful, with great animation and wonderful motion blur. The sense of physics is fantastic. The game allows you to easily create your own levels and share them online. People can play through user-generated content, rate it, and vote for their favorites.
- The game comes from the creators of Ragdoll Kung-Fu. I guess their talks with Nintendo didn't work out, huh?
- EyeToy will allow you to create your own images for use in-game.
- Four player game of LittleBigPlanet is being demonstrated. Because the entire game is driven by physics, players must move objects and cooperate with each other to overcome obstacles. For example, the tiny characters push a giant orange in order to get to higher ground. In last night's demo, they were able to work together to launch a character with incredible velocity.
- Jetpacks? YES! Can this game get any cuter/awesomer? LittleBigPlanet is going to be an incredible hit with the girls, the kids, and the kids at heart. It's like a Nintendo Wii game ... but with actual next-gen graphics.
- Demo of the game will be available via Playstation Network and BD-ROM later this year.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean @ Mar 7th 2007 2:24PM
I wish they'd have released this now rather than waiting til the fall. It'll give microsoft and Nintendo time to copy the idea if it appears that it is going to be popular. That being said I just don't feel too excited by the whole thing but I guess that's cause I'm more interested in playing games. For social interaction I'd rather actually be in the same physical room as them rather than meeting up in a virtual world. But I'm sure I'll enjoy myself when it finally drops this fall.
Jay @ Mar 7th 2007 2:27PM
GO SONY!
Hopefully those who bought the Wii will now wonder why they bought a children's toy.
Liquid @ Mar 7th 2007 2:49PM
LittleBigPlanet and home are f***in amazing.....
jeez call me impressed....
home alone would of done it :)
alejo @ Mar 7th 2007 2:54PM
LittleBigPlanet looks amazing + I have to try the singstar thing....
Not a fan of virtual worlds, though
Shear @ Mar 7th 2007 2:55PM
YAY! GO ON!! My PS3 is awaiting new downloads!
WARHAWK!
Shear @ Mar 7th 2007 2:56PM
No updates yet? C'mon mannn
GRT @ Mar 7th 2007 3:03PM
Public Beta in April? Sweet!
Now that the keynote is over I can go pick up my copy of Motorstorm. It's a good Sony day!
tom @ Mar 7th 2007 3:05PM
Well done, Sony! This is the kind of stuff that makes me all girly with excitement and gets me warming up my credit card for my eventual $600 purchase. As much as Sony has screwed up with the launch of the PS3, it's stuff like this that's going to get me to buy one. Now, i just need some compelling games to compliment the compelling hardware/OS. :D
S_F @ Mar 7th 2007 3:09PM
So the rumor about an update on the 8th isn't true ?
Sam @ Mar 7th 2007 3:14PM
Are you people serious? One crappy children's game that is no better than Viva Pinata and you get second life and peole are happy?
Wow now that I see that there are going to be NO GOOD GAMES coming out for this POS box I bought, I am going to trade this thing in for a 360.
I am baffled that I am the only who realizes that this "Home" crap is nothing but a glorified minigame aimed at little kids. They want to create another myspace rather than make good games. Well have fun with your Mii in Home while I am playing Gears and H3 later.
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 7th 2007 3:58PM
YEAH, I'M PUMPED!!!
So far Sony is hitting it out of the park. Home run!
HOME is looking amazing. I want to populate into that 3D world now!!
Also, LBP looks amazing!! PaperMario to the 10th power!! The first thing that grabs you is the graphics and the physics...I'm telling you, the PS3 is a physics monster. The artwork in that game look awesome.
Tony @ Mar 7th 2007 4:14PM
"The avatar customization tool is quite complex: much more so than anything on Nintendo Wii."
I'm down with the rest of what's said, but what exactl shows this off? I mean, all I can watch is the trailer, but it really barely even showed this off at all. Most of the choices were the set kind of stuff you could do in any comparable character creator in a game.
It didn't seem more "complex", it just has a more realistic appearance.
Unplugged @ Mar 7th 2007 4:22PM
Damn, I feel so horny after I saw that. I'm almost crying, it is to beautiful, tell me I'm not sleeping.
Watch out Sims fans, you're just about to spend 600$ on the ultimate console.
g3RC4n @ Mar 7th 2007 4:23PM
i'm really looking forward to getting a ps3, but i'm going to wait till 45nm ones come out, seeing as ff13 or mg4 will be out around then
scrappy_guy @ Mar 7th 2007 5:11PM
So no upscaling for PS2 games...? I was hoping the misreport for God of War 2 was that it would actually run upscaled at 720p on the PS3. And along with #9, so there's no update on the 8th?
chuckbeaudry @ Mar 7th 2007 5:12PM
"2. GO SONY!
Hopefully those who bought the Wii will now wonder why they bought a children's toy."
Color me impressed. I am a Wii owner and could find nothing positive about the PS3, but this is some great news for Sony. Now if they lower the price a smidge, I might buy the sucker.
Joey_Numbers @ Mar 7th 2007 7:43PM
xbox live has been owned!!
we are getting a free MMO!!! they get nothing!! and they have to pay!!! hahahaha.
Brandon @ Mar 7th 2007 9:47PM
You gotta love how trolls come to PS3fanboy and talk about how they are going to trade in the fictional PS3's they all supposedly own. Seriously, you can spot someone who never owned the system from a mile away.
Sam @ Mar 7th 2007 11:46PM
@ 20
I am very sorry that you need to inflate your PS3's small ego by thinking that I don't own the POS as well. I plan on trading mine in at Game Stop tomorrow. Worst $642.89 I ever spend even. Yes I still have my receipt because I hope to convince them it is broken and get a new one that I can return to walmart for store credit. I'm not going to let GS make another penny out of this glorified grill that I purchased.
Have fun playing the Sims Online for $650 bucks kid. Too bad you won't have anyone to play it without because (making the HUGE assumption that you have friends) all of friends will be on 360 live or playing party games on the Wii.
rfom @ Mar 8th 2007 8:10AM
Sam, Sam, Sam
Do you realise you are becoming a laughing stock with every line
"plan on trading mine in at Game Stop tomorrow. Worst $642.89 I ever spend even."
hahahaha - ya right scum like you own a PS3
"Yes I still have my receipt because I hope to convince them it is broken."
Difficult. With your 360 would be easy - 20% failure rate?
"Have fun playing the Sims Online for $650 bucks kid. "
Well Thats USD650 for free MP, no-defect, 1000-game plus BC, far better games coming up (not the same old alien shooters you get on 360), far bigger hard disc, HDMI, Blu-Ray AND what you call "Sims Online"
You got pawned mate
"Too bad you won't have anyone to play it"
30 million xbots but ONLY 6 million Live (less than hald likely to be Gold)
by the time PS3 hits 6mn, it will have more connected user (free online) than xbots
pawned again mate
Virtua Fanboy @ Mar 8th 2007 8:34AM
Yay Sony! Way to get off your ass finally. No really, I mean that in a good way.
Not to troll on this site but, you people claim that Xbots have no life and you cheer at this? Talk about not having a life. This thing is gonna be a pedofiles dream come true. Chester the child molestor is licking his lips as we speak, lol.
BTW, Sam you don't own a fucking PS3. Your on a PS3 site, quit making us Xbox guys look like idiots.
sonyguy @ Mar 8th 2007 12:45PM
The ps3 still sucks. I have a computer I would rather buy according to Toys'rus the toy of the year. The Wii is less powerful and still rocks. Here's how I see it. Psp vs Ds the ds wins because of innovation. Wii vs ps3 the Wii wins because of innovation. Go back to the drawing board Sony.