I was hoping that the PS3 would be released in all territories before I started a new thread but alas it is still a few weeks away and the last thread became enormous so I guess it's time to start a new thread with news and rumors starting from the Game Developer Conference 2007. I don't expect much from Microsoft and Nintendo at this conference (they will likely wait until E3 in July before announcing anything.) Sony on the other hand has one region left to try and get hype for the release of their Next Gen system. So I expect much of the Next Gen news at this conference to be from them.
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http://www.gdconf.com/

http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2007/
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GDC: Build a game for XBLA

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=73705
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Nokia giving it another shot

http://kotaku.com/gaming/n+gage/nokia-unveils-ngage-30-241566.php
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What Sony has planned for GDC.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-05-2007/0004539214&EDATE=
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Sony is open to changing the Sixaxis controller.

http://www.gametrailers.com/viewnews.php?id=4203
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South Park HD
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/03/05/south-park-hd-free.aspx

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GDC: Sony to reveal episodic PS3 games

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=159313
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More HS
http://eu.playstation.com/playstation3/index.html?locale=en_GB§ion=44

http://www.playsyde.com/news_4070_en.html
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GDC 2007: Lost Odyssey this Christmas, Blue Dragon in August

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3157756

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Sony to Add Online Bells and Whistles for PlayStation 3

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/arts/design/07game.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

http://www.gamedailyxl.com/2007/03/07/gdc-sony-pre-keynote-reaction/

http://www.gamedailyxl.com/2007/03/07/gdc-gdc-07-impressions/
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Live coverage of the keynote address.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=73821
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Trailer for Home.
http://www.gametrailers.com/downloadnew.php?id=17559

screen of Home.
http://photos.digitalrave.net/images/204home1.jpg

http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps3/games/features/images/104768-10-1.jpg
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The new E3: non-American press not allowed
http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives/005292.html
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The new E3
http://www.e3expo.com/
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Sony showed Killzone...kind of
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3157798

http://www.gamereactor.se/nyheter/9917/Killzone+uppvisat+p%E5+GDC/
english translation
Doesn't match the E3 2005 trailer. "It doesn't look bad in any way, but Sony has placed themselves in a situation in which people will be disappointed when they see Killzone next time."


I took back what I said mostly because I remembered last year at GDC Ninja Theory showed a demo that looked like it was last generation but had like 2000 characters on the screen. Even though what is being discribed isn't exactly as intensive as that but it would be best to wait until E3 before passing judgement on its graphics. I doubt this game will be coming out this year but if it does Sony would be out of their mind to try and go up against Halo in the same year for a second time.

Killzone will probably make its full graphical appearance at E3.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/770/770996p1.html

Gamespots take
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/killzone2/news.html?page=1&sid=6166930#comments
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Home press release

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Announces Ground-Breaking, Next-Generation 3D Online-User Community for PLAYSTATION(R)3 - 'Home'

Free Download to Allow Broad User Interaction in Highly Detailed Community Environment; Opens Door to User-Created Content, Collaboration and Commerce

TOKYO and SAN FRANCISCO, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind 3D online user community service for the PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system. The service, known as "Home," will enable users to create their own avatar and explore a real-time virtual community, as if they are playing a detailed 3D game for PS3. The service will become available globally beginning in fall 2007.


Home will be demonstrated at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California on March 7 as a key element of SCEI Worldwide Studios' President Phil Harrison's keynote presentation titled "Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3rd Age of Videogames."


Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the PLAYSTATION(R)Network. It allows PS3 users to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their own personal spaces to others in real time. Home will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION(R)Store and will launch directly from XMB(TM) (XrossMediaBar) on PS3.


With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user's preference, users can explore the 3D community that is Home -- a sleek, modern environment featuring spacious common areas; custom spaces dedicated to specific games; and personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture, art and other items -- even a different view from their windows. They can also show their personal video, pictures and other digital media content found on their PS3 hard drives in their apartments. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.


Sharing continues in the "Hall of Fame," where users can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones for the games they own as well viewing the trophies of other users across the PLAYSTATION Network and for other games they've yet to purchase.


"This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences," said Izumi Kawanishi, Corporate Executive and CTO Software, SCEI. "While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment."


Home will go into a closed beta test this spring with a full launch targeted for later this year. By having a broad range of business partners participate in Home -- from 3rd party publishers and developers to brands outside traditional gaming categories -- along with a powerful selection of upcoming game software titles for PS3, SCEI will continue to expand the horizons of networked entertainment and vigorously promote PS3 as the next generation computer entertainment platform.
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Also a press release for LittleBigPlanet

Sony Computer Entertainment Unveils Two Innovative User Community Titles - 'Home' and 'LittleBigPlanet(TM)' - Supporting Its Game 3.0 Vision Announced at GDC 2007

New Developer Tools and Technologies Also Introduced for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM))

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) unveiled two unique PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) titles: "Home," a real-time, networked 3D avatar- based community that serves as a meeting place for PS3 users from around the world, and "LittleBigPlanet(TM)," a community-based game where users play, create and share what they build with other worldwide PS3 users. These new networked titles are part of the "Game 3.0" vision introduced during a keynote by Phil Harrison, President, Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE).


The power of consumer creativity via Game 3.0 leverages trends such as online collaboration and user-generated content with the goal of creating an engaging new experience in interactive entertainment and new streams for creative game development. In contrast to the current game development and publishing paradigm, Game 3.0 reverses the trend of "pushing" content dictated solely by the developer, and puts the spotlight back on the consumer, encouraging them to become part of the game creation process. What is different is how this can be applied to an even broader degree creating new business models that expand the audiences and scope of interactive entertainment.


"Technology innovation is part of the culture at SCE as evidenced by our influence on real-time 3D computer graphics and the optical disc format in the 1990's, to the more recent innovations such as Cell Broadband Engine(TM) computing and the use of Blu-ray in PS3," said Phil Harrison, president, Worldwide Studios, SCE. "Our vision for the future, Game 3.0, will continue our track record of industry advancement by leveraging the convergence of technologies, from broadband and video chat to supercomputer-speed processors, to make gaming more interactive and dynamic than ever before."


Demonstrating this vision of Game 3.0, SCE today unveiled a new real-time 3D avatar-based community and communication service for the PS3 platform. The new service, Home, puts users into a real-time, networked 3D community, where they can interact, join online games, communicate, share content and even build and show off their own personal spaces. Home will be available this fall as a free download from the PLAYSTATION(R)Store. Other notable features include:


-- Making your own personalized 3D character or avatar. These realistic
human characters are highly customizable with different body types,
skin tones, ages, clothing and accessories, creating a unique
personality for each user.
-- Exploring the 3D community that is Home -- a sleek, modern indoor space
featuring spacious common areas, retail shops, game lobbies and
extensible, customizable personal apartments.
-- Communicating with others through text, audio and video chat, along
with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.
-- Being assigned an apartment in Home where others can be invited to join
you as you show off your own style in an area you can personalize
yourself with furniture, art and other items. You can even show your
video, pictures and music content stored on your PS3 hard drive.
-- "Hall of Fame," where you can display new 3D trophies that will be
unlocked through in-game milestones in PS3 games.



Another innovative example of the Game 3.0 vision is a brand-new community-based world called LittleBigPlanet. LittleBigPlanet starts with players learning about the powers of their chosen characters to interact physically with the environment. There are obstacles to explore, items to collect and puzzles to solve -- requiring community-based teamwork and brainpower. As players begin to explore, their creative skills grow and they will be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings -- the first step to sharing them with the whole world. Ultimately, levels of the game will be user generated on a worldwide scale and will change everyday as players create, publish and share their own levels.


Users have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to play. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet universe to come and explore their "patch," or they can go and explore everybody else's. Other notable features and characteristics of the community-based game include:


-- Players craft their own individual experience. There's not just one way
to play.
-- Unlimited possibilities for user-created content -- players can
customize everything: their characters, the landscape around them and
their own "patch" on LittleBigPlanet.
-- Players discover and win new skills and items to aid them on their
creative journey.
-- Online and offline multiplayer modes -- work as a team or get
competitive.



A fully-featured sample version of LittleBigPlanet is expected on the PLAYSTATION Network this fall, with a full version expected to be made available in early 2008.


Simplifying Development for PS3


SCE also introduced advanced graphics tools and technologies for PS3, including PLAYSTATION(R)Edge -- a new set of cutting edge technologies that will be released to PS3 developers via the existing developer support network. Exploiting the technology of its highest performing games, SCE has chosen to create specialized systems that demonstrate best practices in making use of the Synergistic Processing Unit (SPU) in the Cell Broadband Engine, and utilization of the RSX(TM), a graphics chip co-developed by NVIDIA Corporation and SCE for PS3. With industry-defining features, a tool for RSX performance analysis, GCMReplay, is used extensively in the tuning of first-party titles and was also unveiled.
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Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction screens

http://sylphys.ddo.jp/upld2nd/game2/src/1173271483192.jpg

http://sylphys.ddo.jp/upld2nd/game2/src/1173271575581.jpg

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Home explained
http://threespeech.com/blog/?p=313
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After Halo 3 expect Halo to become an episodic series
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/peter-jackson-working-on-episodic-halo-content/
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Tech from the makers of LittleBigplanet

http://ati.amd.com/developer/siggraph06/Evans-Fast_Approximations_for_Lighting_of_Dynamic_Scenes-print.pdf

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lord Dorkus,

Sony removes PS2 chip from PS3 for Europeans. It is very likely that other regions will follow.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUST1687920070309
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Microsoft presentations at GDC. Includes talk of Directx 10.1

Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Game Studio, interview and links to video interview.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158031

I don't know about you guys but this year I feel like my pockets will be seriously hurting and that I won't have enough time to play every game that I want to. My purchase plans for the year have been made and I have yet to hear of E3 announcement rumors like what game Team Ninja will have for the 360 if any at all this year.
Here is what I plan on purchasing:
Halo 3
Blue Dragon
Mass Effect
Eternal Sonata
Lost Odyssey
Forza 2
PGR4 (Really wished they'd push this into 2008.)
GTA4
Crackdown (out but I have yet to purchase. Partly for the Halo 3 beta.)
Army of Two
GRAW 2(out but have yet to purchase.)

Almost all of these will be coming out after June. Worst of all 4 of them are RPGs. E3 is bound to have games coming out this year to add to this list. I'm hoping that they spread 2008 out a bit.

http://ir.capcom.co.jp/english/news/html/e070320.html

to add to this information.

The reason why GTA4 is going to have a simultaneous release is because even some at Sony don't think there will be a big enough install base on the system to sustain such a huge IP this year. This is true for GTA4 and it is probably the reason for the above and...

Edit #1: I meant for this year.
Edit #2: Now in english
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The Namco IP doesn't appear to be Tekken, or Time Crisis. It is Ace Combat 6. Still disappointing to me but I will hold out hope that a "Tales of" game will be on the way for sometime in 2008.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lord Dorkus,

European PS3 BC details
http://threespeech.com/blog/?p=346#comments
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Ace Combat 6 scan.

http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=73ace360combatql3.jpg

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More GTA4 stuff
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4517/gta4smallxf4.png
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Old PS3 Motherboard
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/1111/ps3_32.jpg

New PS3 Motherboard
http://www.hwupgrade.it/i.php?img=Componenti6.JPG

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OK this news will make some people mad.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/?WT.svl=nav


http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/03/27/the-one-about-the-xbox-360-elite.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/default.mspx

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lord Dorkus,

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/trailer_splash.html

[quote]OK this news will make some people mad.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/?WT.svl=nav[/quote]

I should be furious, but I'm not?

I guess it's because I don't have a HDMI TV and the old X360 is still compatible with new games...

Paying ridiculous amounts of money for a crappy 120GB hard disk, only because M$haft wants DRM for goddamn save games, that part miffs me...

Sega Nights sequel for the Wii.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/777/777522p1.html
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Rachet and Clank trailer. The game will feature Texture streaming which according to Insominac is the reason Gears of War looks so good.

http://www.playsyde.com/news_4163_en.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lord Dorkus,

spring update features leaked
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13197/Xbox-360-Spring-Dashboard-Update-Features-Leaked/

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http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360s-qwerty-thumb-keyboard-is-official/

Halo 3 Multiplayer beta
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=MPBetaAndVidocRelease

As of now the only way to get in on the Beta is to buy a copy of Crackdown that comes with a beta invite.

Rumor:Sony drops 20gig version of the PS3 in North America.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158656

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R600 news
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6903

Scan from PSM talking about the GDC Killzone presentation. The screens are from E3 2005 CG trailer.

http://i13.tinypic.com/30w800p.jpg

Only 32 vendors listed so far for E3. Last Year they had 400.

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/23-04-2007-5297.html

Monolith Soft (Baten Kaitos, Xenosaga) sold to Nintendo

http://ir.nikkei.co.jp/irftp/data/tdnr2/home/oracle/140/2007/241b063/241b0630.pdf

BOO