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E3 2005 Coverage To save us time, we are using a "newspaper" format yet again this year (i.e. most of the articles on one page). This section will be updated often, so be sure to hit your browser refresh button to get the latest serving of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PSP E3 goodness.
Friday May 20, 2005 (Expo - Day 3) First Look: Bully for PlayStation 2 and Xbox (9:58 P.M.) Rockstar Games sent over one screenshot for its upcoming game, Bully. Here is their desciption of the game: Stepping off the beaten path into brand new comedic and dramatic territory, Rockstar announces Bully. An exaggerated take on life in the schoolyard, Bully takes place at fictitious Bullworth Academy, a corrupt and crumbling cross between a boarding school for rich kids and a reform school for delinquents. The story follows teenager Jimmy Hopkins as he tries to survive his crooked classmates and superiors, and navigate the school's tricky social hierarchy. Rockstar Vancouver has created a sprawling campus environment to support a deep and humorous storyline, and an endlessly compelling and open-ended gameplay experience. Bully is scheduled to be available this October for the PlayStation 2 and XBox. We'll have a more detailed preview at a later date. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
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Tony Hawk's American Wasteland E3 2005 Trailer (5:40 P.M.) Posted a nice high quality Tony Hawk's American Wasteland trailer. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Thursday May 19, 2005 (Expo - Day 2) Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows E3 2005 Trailer and Screenshots (5:40 P.M.) Got some new E3 screenshots and a new high quality trailer from Midway today. Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is based on the popular arcade game from 1985, which was also released on the NES in 1987. This modern update has single-player, a co-op mode for up to 4 people (just like in the classic version), and an online mode. Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is due out Winter 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 | Screenshot 6 | Screenshot 7 | Screenshot 8 | E3 2005 Trailer (18 MB) -Matt C.
The Suffering: Ties That Bind E3 2005 Trailer and Screenshots (5:12 P.M.) Got some new E3 screenshots and a new high quality trailer from Midway. The Suffering: Ties That Bind is due out Fall 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 | Screenshot 6 | Screenshot 7 | Screenshot 8 | Screenshot 9 | E3 2005 Trailer (30 MB) -Matt C.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks E3 2005 Trailer and Screenshots (3:45 A.M.) Here is the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks E3 2005 Trailer and a few new screenshots for your viewing pleasure. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is an action/adventure game with a mix of traditional MK fighting. It is due out Fall 2005. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 | E3 Trailer (41 MB) -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Wednesday May 18, 2005 (Expo - Day 1) Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend E3 2005 Trailer (4:06 P.M.) Take a look at the Tomb Raider Legend E3 2005 Trailer. So far, the game is looking great now that Crystal Dynamics has taken over the role as series developer. E3 2005 Trailer (7 MB) | First Trailer (28 MB) -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Shining Force Neo E3 Screenshots (3:30 P.M.) Sega of America sent over some new E3 screenshots of Shining Force Neo coming to North American PlayStation 2s this Fall. Previous Shining Force games were strategy RPGs, but Shining Force Neo takes a different route as a fast paced action/adeventure title (hence the word "Neo"). Don't worry, Shining Force Neo promises to still provide huge battles that the series is known for, along with 50-100 hours of gameplay (according to Sega), high quality anime cutscenes with full voice acting, 11 unique characters, 70 different weapons, and more. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Shadow the Hedgehog E3 Screenshots (3:15 P.M.) Sega of America sent over some new E3 screenshots of Shadow the Hedgehog coming to the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube Winter 2005. The video trailer will be posted later tonight. Keep your eyes peeled for a preview of this game soon. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 | Game Trailer (133 MB) -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
First Look: True Crime 2 for PS2 (2:57 P.M.) Here is the first look at True Crime 2, which is coming to the PlayStation 2 later this year. We don't have much info regarding this sequel other than that Marcus Reed is replacing Nick Kang as the main character, and that the game will take place in a different city. Enjoy the teaser trailer below. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for PS2 (2:45 P.M.) The first X-Men Legends was widely considered to be a worthy X-Men title, so it's not surprising that X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is on the way. This action RPG allows you to work in teams of four mutants, with the ability to instantly switch between them at any time. One of the biggest changes is the new online multiplayer modes. Activision plans to ship X-Men Legends II 4th Quarter 2005 for the PS2 and PSP. A more in-depth preview will be available at a later date. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Game Trailer (7 MB) -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Ultimate Spider-Man for PS2 (1:39 P.M.) In Ultimate Spider-Man, you play the role of Spider-Man and Venom. It features an original storyline written and illustrated by the team behind the best-selling "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic book series. As you can see in the images below, Ultimate Spider-Man has a more comic look to it. We will have more information at a later date. Also look out for the high-res trailer for this game later tonight. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Game Trailer (326 MB) -Andrew K.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland for PS2 (12:17 P.M.) Activision doesn't care if you're tired of Tony Hawk games, because it is set to release another one before the end of the year in the form of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo handhelds. This time, instead of spanning across many cities, American Wasteland takes a Grand Theft Auto type approach with one very, very large Los Angeles "skate world". As a young rebel skater, you must prove yourself to Tony Hawk, local pros, and legendary skaters and participate in the construction of the ultimate, trick-filled skate park. Some new features include the ability to ride BMX bikes and a two-player co-op classic mode. As with previous installments, American Wasteland will be playable online. We'll have more details once Activision sends it to us. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (11:35 A.M.) Here is a quick look at Call of Duty 2: Big Red One for the PlayStation 2. This time you are a part of the American 1st Infantry Division (aka Big Red One). More information later. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Game Trailer (6 MB) -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
New Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Screenshots (4:00 A.M.) Here are new screenshots for Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. This Final Fantasy VII action RPG spin-off stars the mysterious Vincent Valentine and takes place about one year after the events of FF7: Advent Children. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 | Screenshot 6 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Tuesday May 17, 2005 (Press Conferences - Day 2) First Look: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo for PSP (11:55 P.M.) One popular question I receive is whether or not Sony is making a SOCOM game for the PlayStation Portable. Looks like fans will get their wish, because Zipper Interactive is currently hard at work on SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo for the PSP. SOCOM PSP is based off of SOCOM 3 for the PS2, but rest assured that it won't be a simple port. Players who buy both games will be able to link up his or her PSP and PS2, and swap data between the two. What you do in one game will affect missions in the other. There will be 14 single-player missions in all. The PSP obviously lacks dual analog sticks, so a auto-aim/lock-on system will be in place. To prevent the auto-lock system from making things too easy, you still have pay attention to your stance to get get best accuracy. You can also manual aim if needed. Other changes include a reduced team size from four to two people. Your teammate can be ordered pretty much the same commands found in the other SOCOM games (fire at will, regroup, cover target, kill target, hold position, etc). Also look forward to a multiplayer mode via ad hoc mode for wireless LAN games and infrastructure mode for online battles. No word yet on how many players you'll be able to play with wirelessly. Expect a more proper preview of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo soon. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 | Screenshot 4 | Screenshot 5 -Matt C.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories announced for PSP (6:00 P.M.) Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Rockstar confirmed today that Grand Theft Auto is still coming exclusively to the PSP in the form of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. As you can tell by the title, the game takes place in Liberty City and will feature the same criminal and adult-oriented gameplay from previous games. Even though it takes place in the same city, Liberty City Stories will not be a rehash of Grand Theft Auto 3 when it is released in the US and Europe sometime around the European PSP launch this September. Sorry, screenshots have not been released. More information later. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Metal Gear sequels announced (5:12 P.M.) Konami Digital Entertainment America announced a new internal development studio within the company today, called Kojima Productions, which will be under control of Hideo Kojima. Joining Kojima will be producer Kenichiro Imaizumi, director Shuyo Murata, and character designer Yoji Shinkawa. Hideo Kojima is the creator of the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid franchise, so it isn't surprising that the new developer's first three projects are Metal Gear related. "Hideo Kojima's creations are world-renowned for their incredible high quality," said Kazumi Kitaue, Executive Corporate Officer in charge of America and Europe at Konami Corporation. "Konami Corporation constructed Kojima Productions in order to further promote his creativity. Konami will continue to develop new and exciting game content in order to offer innovative, interactive entertainment for the next generation of game consoles. Fans from all over the world will have their eyes focused on the new adventures Hideo Kojima is creating in MGS4." The most anticipated project is Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PlayStation 3, which we knew was in the works, but Konami made it official yesterday at Sony's pre-E3 press conference. Metal Gear Solid 4 will star Solid Snake and take place after MGS2, and fimilar characters will be making a return -- including Meryl Silverburgh (and maybe Raiden for a small role). He also dropped hints that the game will be more about action than stealth, with a "no where to hide" theme shown in the funny MGS4 teaser trailer. There are also plans for an online battle mode. And yes, Kojima will be directing Metal Gear Solid 4, despite reports that he was giving the majority of the project to someone else. "Consolidation within the Konami Corporation has brought about a new evolution for the Japan West Team," said Hideo Kojima, Corporate Officer at Konami Corporation. "We will be making a fresh new start as Kojima Productions." We will emphasize creativity and deliver extremely high quality productions. I believe that creating games that maximize entertainment value is essential to the growth of the video game industry. We hope you will look forward to Metal Gear Solid 4 as the first of many new endeavors from Kojima Productions." Another upcoming title is Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence exclusively for the PS2, which is intended to be the ultimate version of Metal Gear Solid 3. Many people had problems with the camera in MGS3, so except a new 3rd person camera system. New game modes will be available, including an eight player online mode. As a bonus, MGS 3: Subsistence will come packaged with the Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake games that take place after MGS3. Playing those classic games again should be interesting. PSP owners can look forward to Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (yes, it's still a card game) in the near future with some sort of connectivity with MGS4. Metal Gear Ac!d 2 incorporates a completely new graphics engine and a new tutorial stage has been added. More info later as we try and process all the info we are getting from Konami. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
Monday May 16, 2005 (Pre-E3 News) First Look: Warhawk for PS3 (11:15 P.M.) Sony showed off a brief video of Warhawk running on the PlayStation 3 today. If you've been gaming for at least 10 years, you'd probably know that Warhawk was one of the best PS1 games back in 1995. A sequel is finally in the works after all these years, and you can see some screenshots below. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
First Look: Vision Gran Turismo for PS3 (11:00 P.M.) Sony and Polyphony Digital showed off a brief video of Vision Gran Turismo (Gran Turismo 5) running on the PlayStation 3 today. So far, it's not as impressive as we thought it would be, because the cars look no better than Gran Turismo 4. Infact, we have the feeling they used the exact same models from GT4 for this video. With that in mind, the purpose of this demo was to show that there will finally be more than 6 cars on the road at once and all the people on the side are 3D. And the pit crew looked and moved amazingly realistic. We can't wait to see what the weather effects will look like. Here are some high quality images from the video that they released. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
First Look: Killzone 2 for PlayStation 3 (10:47 P.M.) By far one of the most impressive games at the pre-show was Killzone 2 running on the PlayStation 3 hardware. Killzone 2 simply puts all other war games to shame, including the original Killzone. There are many characters on the screen at once (each with realistic movements), explosions are massive, and the physics are quite convincing. The amount of events going on around the player is astonishing. Will the final game look this good without framerate issues? We don't see why not. Other games at the pre-show proved that the PS3 can display and control many characters on the screen at once and it is designed to handle things such as explosions, fire, and smoke. Some people are saying that the game will look good, but will probably be too scripted and linear. We also have a feeling that this might end up happening. But at this stage, we don't care. We'll worry about that later. We just want to see more Killzone 2 footage. Here are some high quality images from the video that they released. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
First Look: Tekken PS3 (10:39 P.M.) Sony and Namco showed off a brief video of Tekken running on the PlayStation 3 today. The footage was not mind blowing, but a Tekken game running on the PS3 hardware should look nothing short of stunning. Here are some high quality images from the video that they released. -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
First Look: Devil May Cry 4 for PlayStation 3 (10:30 P.M.) Sony and Capcom showed off a brief video of Devil May Cry 4 running on the PlayStation 3 today. Here are some good quality images from the video that they released. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | Screenshot 3 -PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
New Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children E3 2005 Trailer (11:45 P.M.) Square Enix released a new Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children trailer at its press conference today. If you've seen the previous trailers on this web site, you'd think that Square would not be able to provide any interesting new footage. Fortunately, this isn't the case. This E3 2005 trailer is probably the best one yet. At the end, it says that there will be a simultaneous DVD release between Japan and the U.S., but this might not be the case. There is word that the U.S. date might be a couple weeks after that. Nonetheless, you will not be disappointed by this promotional video, so check it out. Broadband and dial-up versions available for download. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children E3 2005 Trailer -Matt C.
Sony reveals official PlayStation 3 details and screenshots (5:34 P.M.) Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. confirmed at its pre-E3 press conference today that its next-generation console will be called the PlayStation 3. This comes to very little surprise, but Sony's next console did not have an official name until now. It was also confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will be backward compatible with PlayStation and PlayStation 2 software, and it will have a Blu-Ray disk drive. Blu-Ray discs can hold around six times more data than DVDs (a total of 54 GB to be exact). The drive can also read DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-Video, CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), and DualDisc (DVD side). In addition, Sony reiterated that the PlayStation 3 will feature the Cell processor running at 3.2 Ghz. Backing up the processor will be 256MB XDR Main RAM running at 3.2 GHz, and 256MB of GDDR3 video RAM which runs at 700MHz. Although there will be a bay for a removeable 2.5-inch HDD, slots for compact flash memory (Type I, II), SD standard/mini cards, and Memory Stick (standard and Duo versions) will be available. Also expect to see no less than 6 USB 2.0 ports (4 in the front, 2 in back). Wireless devices is all the rage these days, so Sony has allowed the PlayStation 3 to support up to seven Bluetooth controllers at once. If you cannot use wireless for whatever reason, you can still connect your controller the traditional way via one of the USB ports. The PSP (PlayStation Portable) can also be used as a PS3 controller or as an extra screen, but instead of Bluetooth, it uses Wi-Fi. The PS3 will be released around Spring 2006. Sony usually determines a suggested retail price at the very last minute so the cost of the system probably won't be revealed until next year. Note: The PlayStation 3's design might change slightly between now and its release one year from now. This includes the odd looking controller, which isn't as large as it appears in the pictures below. More info later.
Official PlayStation 3 Specifacations
Games Announced and/or Shown at Pre-E3 Conference: Devil May Cry 4, EYEdentify, Fifth Phantom Saga, Fight Night Round 3, Final Fantasy VII: Technical Demo for PS3 (not a game in production), Formula One, Getaway 3, Heavenly Sword, Killing Day, Killzone (aka Killzone 2), Motor Storm, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam World, Oh-Ni, Tekken (aka Tekken 6), Unreal 3.0, Vision Gran Turismo (aka Gran Turismo 5), Warhawk (aka Warhawk 2).
-PlayStation Pro 2.0 Staff
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