Steinberg hints at a few upcoming PS3 features

by Nick Doerr { Apr 6th 2008 at 4:00AM }

Scott Steinberg seems to be in a PR overhaul lately, popping up in several interviews. This latest installment has what some would call a challenge to the competition, but we won't focus on that flamebait comment. He talks about how Sony hasn't had a big keynote speech this year yet -- he feels the Blu-ray victory is good enough for now. We're personally expecting a big one at E3. He hints also that movie and music download services may be coming soon -- perhaps also to be covered at our expected E3 speech?

Big name titles, he says, will keep momentum going for the PS3 this year, but he also mentions the possibility of more downloadable PS-One and PS2 games on the PlayStation Store. Steinberg says there are "on-going sessions" to get more third-party titles up on the store, so who knows, before the end of the year we might have a much more impressive library than we do now. Maybe it'll almost rival the insane selection available on the Japanese store.

Speaking of games, there's no open Home beta now because Sony has set the bar so very high, they don't want any more people to see it until it meets their standards to get into the public eye. We'd like to see more PS-One and PS2 games on the store, and an open beta for Home would be nice. We'll see what happens this year!

Tags: home, playstation-home, scott-steinberg

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Thoas @ Apr 6th 2008 5:22AM

PS3 owns 08.

Daniel @ Apr 6th 2008 5:33AM

oh yeah, definitely. Big things coming real soon...Sony is teasing us, trust me.

Ysleiro @ Apr 7th 2008 10:39AM

Guys I don't own a ps3 (yet). And I consider myself a gaming fan.

With that said I would like to let you know my opinion.

Scott Steinberg is a BS'er, thats what he's paid to do. For him to say that the xbox blew its wind in 07 means he doesn't stay up on gaming news. The xbox has a pretty sweet line up this year too.

If anything I think the PS3 (we won't know until the year ends depending on certain variables) outsell the X-box this year due to MGS and blu ray. But the it's not DEAD.

Sony should fire Mr. Steinberg and hire more game devs. That will do the gaming community some good.

Chris K @ Apr 6th 2008 2:54PM

IN-GAME XMB PLEASE!!!!

redpill @ Apr 6th 2008 5:53AM

sounds like home is quite a far way off :( but with gta4 coming then mgs4 not to long after plenty to keep the thumbs busy

Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 6th 2008 6:24AM

Sadly I agree. Home is taking quite a bit of time, but it makes sense that they wouldn't want to screw this up because this is their only chance to rival and even dethrone XBL.

Damian @ Apr 6th 2008 7:10AM

Am I the only one who still doesn't get how downloadable movies are in any kind of position to take off yet? If they're DVD quality, they'll be typically 2-3GB, which even with fast broadband connections still take a while to download, and it wouldn't take many of them to fill most people's HDs, bearing in mind the things we already have on them. (OK, you can put a new one, but most people aren't going to do that).

And then, if this is the HD era and we're getting the movies in hi-def, they could easily be 20-25GB in size, yes? Which means an eternity to load, more space on the HD than many people have left (I've got 20GB spare of my 60GB) - and most people's ISPs will penalise them under 'fair usage' policies... mine did when I downloaded loads of PSN content on the PS3 launch weekend, although they retracted the penalty on appeal.

Someone tell me what I've missed.

Eggy @ Apr 6th 2008 7:26AM

I agree. TV shows and music might work, especially because alot of people don't have cable but might want to watch a certain show. Same for music if it can be transfered from the PS3 to a MP3 player of your choice.

Movies however are just too large with the current HDD sizes and connection speeds.

sean @ Apr 6th 2008 7:44AM

im kinda with you. but i have about 22 movies on my PS3 and its only taking 11-13 gigs. so its not that bad.

the video streaming from my laptop is saving me a lot of time getting these to my PS3. i download em on my PS3 in like only 5-10 minutes.

Ron @ Apr 6th 2008 7:55AM

HD Video on Demand for services like XBL, Apple TV, etc use very aggressive compression in order to provide HD video. This can result in lack of detail, color, and visible compression artifacts. The compression can get an 'HD quality' movies to sizes that are easily streamed with 8meg lines. Lately internet speeds have been rapidly increasing, and even in my extremely rural area 6-8megs lines will be a reality by years end.

HD VoD providers are not trying to out perform/shine physical media like Bluray and once HD DVD- they are not capable of doing so at this point. But they do offer an alternative HD experience that provides a comparable picture from the convenience of your home to the average consumer.

Maestro @ Apr 6th 2008 10:01AM

They aren't looking at you buying the movies. If you are downloading movies from PSN it will be to rent. Therefore they will vanish off your HD and space is not an issue. As for size, the entire video does not need to be downloaded for the movie to begin.

yomama07024 @ Apr 6th 2008 11:07AM

The movies would probably stream from their servers so you don't have to download them to your harddrive.

dave @ Apr 6th 2008 10:13PM

"If they're DVD quality, they'll be typically 2-3GB, which even with fast broadband connections still take a while to download"

What you've missed is DIVX. That will allow HD material in 2-3GB, and regular DVD quality in under 1GB. Well, the HD video would be nicer at 4-5GB, but it still could be done pretty well for 30% less size. I've got some 720p divx files that look awesome, last for 45 minutes, and are around 2GB.

James @ Apr 7th 2008 3:00PM

A big fat "meh" to DivX -- you'll get better PQ out of AVC for a given bitrate. I Handbrake DVDs to AVC at ~1500-1800 kbps, and can't tell the difference from the original when I play them back. If you can get DVD quality in ~1.2-1.5 GB for a movie, with a fast, free transcoder, think what they could do if they really took their time about it. I bet you could get it down to be indistinguishable from DVD in about a gig per movie. The HD downloads on XBLM are ~2-3 gigs now, and I don't hear many people complain about those.

Now, I have a 20 gig model, so space is at a premium, but at least unlike with the 360 I have a decent upgrade path available to me. If I need more space, I can always tack it on. Plus, they could let people store their downloads on an external hard drive, if it came to that. They certainly have options.

sean @ Apr 6th 2008 7:46AM

o forgot to say they are all DVD quality to.

Mythagoz @ Apr 6th 2008 8:10AM

"PS3 is the hub" says Scott Steinberg. For me at least it's more like, "PS3 WAS the hub".

My belief in it's ability to be the hub stopped with 2.20 cutting me off from the contents of my 750Gb drive without warning or explanation (then or even now).

Screw the "In-Shirt XMB" t-shirt. I'm going to get a big one made up with just the PS3 silk background. Then I can walk around and wave it gently over my pounch for weeks on end, the whole while saying nothing, explaining nothing, just flapping in the breeze like my PS3 struggling to boot with my 750Gb drive after swallowing 2.20.

JayD-1K @ Apr 6th 2008 9:01AM

i thought there was a size limit on an internal hdd? isn't like, 500gbs? that might be why you're PS3 is having problems!?

Tranando @ Apr 6th 2008 10:57AM

Cough** UNSUPPORTED CONFIGURATION Cough***

Why is that Sony's fault?

Mythagoz @ Apr 6th 2008 8:13AM

That's supposed to be "paunch" not "pounch", certainly not to be confused with "pouch".

Ayrkain @ Apr 6th 2008 11:55AM

Whew... Thought maybe you were a kangaroo there for a sec.

Seriously, how do you have it hooked up? Maybe there's a workaround.

stargateheaven @ Apr 6th 2008 8:22AM

In this article, what does it mean "downloadable ps1 and ps2 games"
could we ever download ps2 games?

Liquid Ocelot (call me Liquid) @ Apr 6th 2008 10:13AM

Why not? I wouuld guess the only reason PS2 games aren't downloadable now is becuase the PS2 is almost 8 years strong, and still going. PS1 isn't being made, so it's good to have them. It's different with Xbox and their Originals on 360, cuz nobody plays Xbox anymore. It was pretty much abandoned. :)

stargateheaven @ Apr 6th 2008 11:45AM

well also, not all PS3s can paly PS2 games.
Talking about ps3 features, when are we getting a CLOCK?

Popfrogs @ Apr 6th 2008 3:48PM

A clock? I have this crazy thing on my arm called a "watch". I wear it every day, it's quite handy.

stargateheaven @ Apr 6th 2008 4:26PM

I don't wear a watch. Plus, why would I want to look away from my beautiful PS3/TV.

Besides, why do we even bother entering the clock at the beginning when first setting up the ps3 if it doesn't do anything? (Wow, I last saved at 5:03, big deal.), the point of a clock is to tell the time. With PS3 being such a powerful device, I'm sure a clock is no problem.

LJ @ Apr 17th 2008 6:34PM

@Popfrogs:
Thanks for the sarcasm.. Maybe when you grow up you'll realize thats unecessary for a mature man.

Anyways, a clock would be nice. Actually the complete main screen lacks important information that should be displayed:

Clock
Date
HDD space
PSN Loggin status
Internet connection status
Many other things..

Myke @ Apr 6th 2008 12:09PM

I can't wait til E3 and see what Sony has up their sleeve. W/ HOME, movie service, and other aspects coming, this will be a great year for the PS3.

Kruegmeister @ Apr 6th 2008 12:19PM

Why do we Need Home to have a Bar set so High?
Can't they get to releasing it and add the High Bar stuff down the road with updates.
Come on Just Release it already...

PS2 Downloadable Games... Does that mean the 40Gig is getting Backwards Compatibility??? I think it should.

linebeginstoblur @ Apr 6th 2008 1:51PM

I think someone said that Sony's looking into developing a PS2 emulator that wouldn't require the Emotion Engine or Graphics Synthesizer. Sure, it's mostly just a rumor for now, but I do think that they could do it eventually. It's funny to see them talk about how great the Cell and RSX are, yet they seemingly can't do anything the EE or GS do.

bluefrog @ Apr 6th 2008 2:11PM

"You don't get a second chance to make a first impression" rings true here. If the beta crashes (which it apparently does), and has design flaws (which it apparently does), then it could turn some people off of using it. I was in the Warhawk beta and I can't tell you how many times I heard people complain about things on the beta, and then followed it up with "and there's no way I'm going to buy this when it comes out." These people obviously failed to understand what a beta is; they thought they were playing a "preview" of the game, and that everything should work perfectly.

Right now Sony has a diverse group of people working with the Home beta and providing feedback. They participate in server load tests (which I understand resulted in lockups and crashes), and provide feedback on the design of the Home square. I expect Sony wants to iron out some of the issues before letting tons of people use it because they want our first experiences to be positive ones. I remember my first experience with Warhawk - crashed 2 minutes into playing my first game, followed by another crash 5 mins into my second game...and so on.

I'd love to play with the Home beta, but I want it to be a lot more stable before I set foot in my own apartment.

Gord

Fraser JK @ Apr 6th 2008 1:22PM

Who cares... all I want to do this year in terms of gaming is play GTA4, MGS4, Killzone 2 and Resistance 2.

The rest is just to fill in the gaps between those four titles!

Popfrogs @ Apr 6th 2008 3:53PM

I'm all for adding features but what makes me nervous is Sony accidentally breaking things with firmware updates (2.20 and mpeg problems) then not acknowledging it. The Sony blog should mention "by the way we know there's a problem, update to fix it coming next week". Right now there's still goofiness with DivX, where two movies from a codec standpoint look identical, but only one of them will play on the PS3.

I'm not complaining, but with Sony's blog getting popular, you'd think they'd try and communicate more with the public when it comes to problems.

jrh @ Apr 6th 2008 5:48PM

Nobody wants 2 buy or rent movies. I had like 50 movies on my PS3 til it restored itself. Now I have over 500 DVD quality movies on a 500GB external H. Its always plugged N my PS3 along with my Eye Camera which leaves 2 open usb ports. Now Y would I wanna buy movies(My bad RENT) off the PSN. As long as Ares and other p2p sites R open i'm GOOD!! It might take a while 2 download movies, but when U get ur library built up like mine u'll appreciate the time spent. Movies on demand, no scratched discs, no "Can I borrow that?" But if I was 2 buy a movie it would B a Blu Ray... Y buy Dvds?? PSN:JRH7783

Da @ Apr 7th 2008 12:13AM

Because some of us actually support film companies.

kentuckyfried @ Apr 7th 2008 4:39PM

Hey, which case are you using?

The first one I picked up from Fry's wasn't working, I have picked up a few others but haven't tried them quite yet. The only hd that works so far is my 30 gb iPod..which I don't exactly want to use for movie playback.

tony @ Apr 6th 2008 11:35PM

i'm excited but have you ever noticed that the people that represent gaming companies always look weird or overweight.

Popfrogs @ Apr 7th 2008 6:52PM

Gabe Newell, we're looking at you.

Niels R. @ Apr 7th 2008 2:18AM

PSOne games on a PS3... I don't get it...

But hey, I like it if they keep expanding the media features for the PS3 (and in combination with the PSP).

reakt @ Apr 7th 2008 6:53AM

Home beta this, Home beta that, blah, blah, blah. SCEE have been promising this for many months. Some of us are tired of waiting for it. When it eventually arrives I might have to boycott it like I did with PAIN (another promise from Sony that took far to long to materialise in Europe).