PlayStation 3 gameplay preview
By Paul Miller 
posted November 1st 2006 10:01PM
posted November 1st 2006 10:01PM
While Ryan was busy at SCEA playing with the shiny box itself, our NY peeps headed over to a little Sony event where we could get a bit of quality gameplay time. Sony had a good majority of their launch lineup on display, and seeing all the games in the same room gave us a solid impression of the varying quality of the titles. The good news is that all that horsepower isn't just being wasted on 1080p, a lot of these games looked dang impressive, though +$200 impressive might be stretching it a bit. Unfortunately, a few of the games looked no better than their Xbox 360 counterparts, and we're not sure how noticeable some of the differences would be without a fancy, bigscreen 1080p setup. There's also the question of the controller -- Sony's SIXAXIS controller feels just like the Dual Shock of yore (minus the shock, of course), and this blogger finds fragging quite a bit more attainable on that cozy Xbox 360 controller from Microsoft. Keep reading for pics of all the games, along with some of our impressions.
Nice enough vibe, though we've gotta say 1080p could use a bit more legroom than was provided by these displays.
Look how much fun we're all having!
Ah, Peter Rojas in his element: Call of Duty 3.
Or is he?
Yeah, Sony wired up all their controllers for the showing -- don't they trust us?
Graphics def seem a step above the Xbox 360 version, from what we can tell from the internets and our own experience.
Ruh roh! Peter blames the controller, but you can always track him down on Xbox Live for a bit of CoD2 to see for yourself.
Full Auto 2: Battlelines, a PS3 exclusive (for now), featured some pretty intense action and medium-spicy graphics.
No complaints here, MotorStorm looked dang impressive and quite entertaining -- next-gen all the way.
We didn't stick around here too long, but Genji looked just passable in the eyecandy department.
The graphics here make it abundantly clear where the money is in the video game industry.
Pretty, but you'll pry NHL '95 out of our cold, dead fingers.
How come games involving giant and powerful mechs always have to be so boring?
Halo killer? Who knows. Sexy? You betcha.
How come games involving our childhood heroes always have to be so boring?
Sony's version of NBA action looks quite pretty as well.
Graphics are great, animations are superb, "nail the trick" is amazing, and we still suck at skating games. As a side note, the game can be controlled with the SIXAXIS' tilt features, but it's nearly impossible and much less accurate to do so.
Why is everyone so shiny?
Alright, that's it. Nothing really blew us away, but it wasn't a bad showing for Sony by a long shot.
That looks so badass.
Instead of writing comments to "make us jealous", why don't you say something (a little review) about the functionality of SIXAXIS?
Looks nice, but I'm curious to see how they look on regular TVs.
Fishes,
narco.
thanks ,with you help,I will turn good,sometimes I come here,every times I get the different thinks,the site is very useful,why less body come here,as all,thanks to author,if you want to buy cheap laptop battery,please click here
http://www.uk-laptopbattery.com
else if you want to buy battery from uk ,click here
http://www.ukbatterystore.com
I wonder which of those games actually use the tilt sensing (Other than the skateboarding one)
actually motorstorm also uses the tilt function nba 2k7, resistance fall of man and few others, the number of games that is using that feature is growing also.
graphics are hot cant wait to get my ps3.first to comment!!
dam i thought i waz first i guess i will have other chances
Meh.
To the uneducated...the PS3 actually has more computing power, but in terms of actual graphics power? The 360 trumps it. So don't expect PS3 games to look any better, the only reason they do now is because of development time. A whole year extra of development time.
You are joking... right?
You don't think all that computing power might just be contributing to the graphics capabilities of the PS3!
This page is very very useful,if I can see the builder of the site,i must say thank you face to face,it helps me a lot
uk battery to click http://www.ukbatterystore.co.uk
Sweet. I really hope I get a PS3 @ launch. I'm camping with some friends outside Best Buy.
I dont think ive ever seen a room full of so many KDL40XBR3s.
youve, obviously have nevervisited my basement, ...my dream basement that is
Do those edges on the graphics look jaggy to anyone else? They need to turn on their 8x AA settings ;)
Ah, never mind. It's the image resizing in the HTML. Viewing the full image reduces the jagtastic edges. I was worried there for a second!
Looks like the 46XBR3 that's going to be as hard to find as the PS3s this Christmas.
so somehow every other reviewer says COD3 for the 360 looks better than the ps3 version side by side... but engadget somehow thinks different? Uh ya uh huh suuureee
i find it funny that this blogger says COD3 looks better on PS3 when all game sites say the Xbox 360 version is better.
"To the uneducated...the PS3 actually has more computing power, but in terms of actual graphics power? The 360 trumps it."
How so? PS3 is far more powerful, they have the same amount of memory, PS3 supports higher video formats, and PS3 can read Blu-Ray.
"So don't expect PS3 games to look any better, the only reason they do now is because of development time. A whole year extra of development time"
That doesn't make much sense. Don't expect the PS3 to look any better because they've had an extra year of development...but the 360 is the system that's had the year of extra development time. I think you may have confused something here.
PS3 launch titles blow 360 launch titles out of the water. To me, that's the most accurate measure of the systems' current abilities. Plus, I don't think the fact that PS3 has much more potential for improvement is even arguable.
@Mitch
No, the PS3 is not significantly more powerful than the 360. The 360s gpu is far superior to the PS3s aging PC GPU tech, while both CPUs are comparable. And the 360 supports 1080p also, but that doesn't mean a damn thing because neither console will push out good graphics at that resolution anyways.
As for blu-ray, who cares? Both blu-ray and hddvd will be dead in a few years. And games simply don't need 50 gigs of space, unless you want 10 hour long cutscenes in final fantasy XXXXVVVIII
i dropped by this event today from 6-8. have to admit the graphics were pretty nice and slick but after an hour or so playing with most of the titles, that is the only thing that stood out = oh that and the smoking hot girls that sony had working the room. sixaxis, for all of you that asked, feels exactly like the ps2 controller (very light w/ bigger R2/L2 buttons). def. not dropping 599 on this (even if i could get my grubby hands on one)
COD3 is gonna be sick
Haha, I knew this would happen. All the major developers out there said Ps3 won't be any better than Xbox 360. Even the man himself, Kuturagi said the MGS4 demo could be run on an Xbox, and the guy who made Ninja Gaiden, I forgot his name. He made a good point. It was easy to make PS2 games look nice compared to PS1 because it was a 10X increase in power and graphics, however the difference between Xbox360 and PS3 are somewhere close to 1X, which means the same. He said you need atleast 4X to easily show improvement in graphics and power.
This is so funny, because I remember when Xbox1 came out and everyone said MS wouldn't survive, well look now, they made a system that competes and even wins on many levels against Sony, especially in terms of price, availability, and # of games.
Enough of the fanboyism, coming from someone who will probably own both eventually.
I own a 360, those who think the ps3 launch titles outweigh the quality of the titles 360 has to date are smoking crack or something. The ps3 has motorstorm and resistance as the only 2 worthy to purchase exclusive launch titles at release.
Who cares which one is more powerful, since in reality the only thing that makes the console is exclusive games.
So enjoy your fanboyism and fighting amongst yourselves, but this christmas season, I'll be sitting at home, playing gears of war while watching hd-dvd's on a unprotected screen over vga at 1080p, while you will be standing in the cold, freezing your ass off to get a ps3. I personally will wait at least until the summer.
Also, as a programmer let me say this, regardless of there power, the 360 makes way more financial sense to develop for then the Playstation 3, because the 360 is in sync with windows technologies such as DirectX, game studios can find talented people more easily. This translates into higher quality software.
Some games will look better on a ps3 then on a 360, but others will look better on the 360.
Those who doubt the 360's competence, I do urge you to play any of the following
dead rising
project gotham
Saints row
ghost recon
All of those games exhibit serious traits which classify them as serious next-gen material. Most ps3 launch titles do not even match the quality of these great, 360 titles, plus the 360 controller is way better then the ps2 controller with button placement and good analog triggers and vibrate. I haven't tried the sixaxis yet so I can't really compare, but it definatly has serious competition from the 360 controller.
They might not be in 1080p, but for most that are reading this, 60% of you probably can't even do 480p, stuck in the old interlaced world, so stop pretending like it matters. If you have a 120" projection screen like I do, then yeah 1080p matters, but anything less then 50" 720p is good enough.
I agree with this guy, he's got a godly point.
But I must point out one thing... please, PLEASE, work on your grammar. You're using the word "then" in place of "than." They are two completely different words.
hey Peter!!!
i have a question.. are those XBR3's 40 inch? or 46 ?!!
Thanks :D
what do you mean the consoles can't push 1080p? why wouldn't they? my first gen gf8600 card can run UT2k4 fairly nice at 1280x800 which is right between 720p and 1080p, why is it unreasonable for something 2+ years newer and software written specificaly for the gpu to hit 1080p?
First generations PS3 games won't be as great as 2nd generation x360 games, which is fairly obvious. But during the life of the consoles the x360 is going to hit its limit much quicker than ps3, and two years from now ps3 games will be looking a LOT better then what x360 games could manage. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, just compare halo 1 with halo 2, and you'll see what development time and more knowledge of the hardware does to overall graphics. If you've played neither...take a look at screenshots.
lol yes lets believe the idiot that thinks the ps3 performance is godlike... when on the other hand developers left and right (Besides sony's studio) are all saying the ps3 and 360 are a wash performance wise
And yes bluray is a waste just as hddvd would be for games atleast, with procedural synthesis and texturing, only wasteful crappy developers like sony's studio would need more than 8 gigs of space, hell roboblitz fit an entire UE3 game into 50mb of space god forbid they did an 8 gig game.
nomi, are you a developer?
otherwise shut the #$#4 up cause you have no idea what youre talking about.
Nomi: you seem to forget the ps3 games didnt just enter production the ps3 was supposed to be out A YEAR AGO! First gen ps3 games have as much dev time as second gen 360 games if not longer... so learn what your talking about before you spout stupidness.... stop guessing and listening to sony fanboys, how about believe the developers that are working on the consoles which say ps3 performance = 360 performance nearly identically.
How about a comment from someone that was actually there. I got my wristband at 5:55pm and was promptly allowed in at 6pm. I was really hoping to demo Gran Turismo HD since I knew that was supposed to be THE tech demo that really put the PS3 ahead of the pack.
Long story short, I was EXTREMELY disappointed. No, I am not a xbox360 fanboy, or a fanboy of any type. I barely have enough time to play my xbox360 as it is, and when I do it is mainly to kill an hour or so, not dive head first into a 40+ hour game. So here is my mini-review of the PS3:
The Controller: Sucks. The R2/L2 'triggers' are worthless buttons, your fingers slip off of them and they are hard to hold. After using the xbox360 controller for the last 6 months it just feels right using the analog pad since it is located where you would actually put your thumb. The Sixaxis doesn't improve on the PS2 controller and it still feels odd trying to use it, especially when I demo'ed NFS: Carbon. I hate this controller.
The Games: Of the games I played (and wanted to play) I was fairly disappointed. I did enjoy the new 'slow-mo control of the skateboard' feature in Tony Hawk, but like I just mentioned, it was awkward to use the analog pads and made it funky. I got a change to try the tilt control with the Tony Hawk game and saw it as a novelty, not something actually useful. NFS:Carbon just looked bad. I would expect more from the PS3 than the xbox360, but after playing the demo on both systems I can say that the graphics in general for that game are crappy. Motor Storm just seemed slow, not framerate wise, just speed wise. As if you were stuck in first gear. All in all, not very impressed.
All in all, my time slot was 6 to 8 and I stayed from 6 to 6:45. I had seen enough. If you are a die hard Playstation fan then me telling you not to buy this system will mean nothing. But if you can take anything away from my hands on experience, let it be that you should WAIT TO BUY THIS THING. It doesn't look or play any better than the xbox360 at this point, and with all the problems that everyone seems to imagine will arrive on launch, let everyone else get the crap systems and buy it a couple of months down the line when there are more games, more blue-ray movies and in general... a 3rd party controller that works.
I had a PS1 & PS2 and loved them to death, but at this early stage in the "Console Wars" my money is on xbox360 and the Nintendo Wii.
Well your analysis of the controller is far from impartial. I think the xbox controller is too fat and clunky and all the buttons are in the wrong place, because i always use a dual shock controller, and that's what i'm used to. You're just saying the same thing in reverse; you're used to the xbox controller so the playstation one feels uncomfortable.
"PS3 launch titles blow 360 launch titles out of the water. To me, that's the most accurate measure of the systems' current abilities. Plus, I don't think the fact that PS3 has much more potential for improvement is even arguable."
Umm... no. My sister works for Tips and Tricks and has played the PS3 launch titles. She's said that the PS3 launch titles weren't very impressive, and the best ones are coming out for the 360.
The PS3 has potential to improve?! Wow! That would make it just like every other console; now wouldn't it?
Anyways, the upcoming 360 titles (Lost Planet, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Guitar Hero 2, GTA 4, Halo 3, and more) pwn what the PS3 has to offer, so there's really no incentive to buy a PS3 on launch day, unless you really want a self loading blu-ray drive.
whoever said that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD doesn't matter and will eventually fade away obviously doesn't have a big screen. I only have a 46" DLP and after watching HD programs for a while now, I can't wait to upgrade to Blu-Ray. DVD image quality suck on big screens! As for the PS3, I think it's worth it. Being able to play games in 1080p and a Blu-Ray player (and yes, Blu-Ray will win the format war) for $599...sign me up. Can't wait til 1117.
People shouldn't expect that titles available on both the 360 and the PS3 would look better on one of them ATM. Why? Well first, it makes no sense for a developer to spend more money on creating different elements for the same game. And second, why risk upsetting either camp until one of them is proclaimed the next-gen-winner.
I use an xbox (original) controller and a PS2-like controler from logitech and I can say without a doubt that the move from the PS2 controller to the X-Box one was the easiest I have ever had, even my old trustworthy mega drive (aka Genesis) controller seems strange now that I've had the X-Box ones in the hand... I'm actually thinking of buying a 360 controller for use in my computer (replacing the Dual Action I currently have) since it's so much better for my hands... It's the right size, it doesn't have 2 strange "horns" trying to get inside my hand insteed of doing their job of holding my thumb when using the analogs.
But this is just my opinion having used controllers since the Master System era (I think I used them all except for the N64 and Gamecube ones).
I never ever comment to any posts ever. I let all these people keep talking about stuff they don't even understand and just laugh. But for once decided to say something. I have owned every videogames system pretty much ever released(yes i had virtual boy, neo geo pocket, wonderswan except no cdi) and I got my 360 from the Zero Hour party last Nov. I am a huge fan of all consoles and will buy a PS3 asap and a Wii two days later. I don't get why so many people are bashing the PS3! It offers way more to me as a gamer and video/audiophile than the 360. Come 11/17 my 360 will most likely be start collecting dust and become like my gamecube that has a few good exclusives to play once in awhile. PS3 will become my primary everything system, bluray(most important), DVD, and online gaming. I will buy all the games I would have bought for 360 on ps3. HD is extremely important, especially when you have a Sony True 1080p 60" SXRD TV. 360=NO HDMI,so NO 1080p no True HD lossless audio, fall update was worthless. The PS3 will also upscale DVD's which is a major bonus for movies that won't need to be purchased again on Blu-ray. 360 is a great system and it lasted for one good year as my primary gaming system. Can't wait for 11.17 and 11.19....fight on
Nice Post , i as well had 360 since launch and has a Pre0order for PS3 .. I also enjoy the new Sony 60" SXRD XBR2 (amazing Tv ) .. But you were wrong when you said "The PS3 will also upscale DVD's " ... It will not , i am pissed off about that fact but sont has said it will not upscale dvd's or games ... Look back a weeks worth of engadget post and you will see the story
ok, COD3 looks better on ps3 because they have nice freakin 1080p sets going on. it's not like the developers make the games different for the two systems, they just use different coding to make it compatible for the specific console. one is not better than the other unless it comes down to how smoothly it runs. you all crack me up on why it even matters if one is SLIGHTLY better looking. if the games have been in development the same amount of time, then they will look the same. otherwise, one might have a bit more detail. get over this petty war and just play the games people.
wow most of you guys are idiots. IF someone wants to buy a ps3 at launch, so what? would you call people that bought a 360 at launch an idiot or those who are buying a Wii at launch.
some people might want resistance or heck even oblivion on their ps3. Even though I have a 360, i am considering buying any multi-platform games for the ps3 only. I only keep my xbox for lost planet and thats about it
So you are basically getting a different Xbox with a Sony brand on it, no rumble feature, and wiimode knockoff and an unproven disc format that will eventually loose like all sony's format....
Wow I think the level of misinformation, half truths, and untruths have reached a new high hear on engadget. You pseudo developers and self proclaimed "experts" really reveal your idiocy on boards like this to those in the know who actually work in the industry.
Plain and simple the 360 and PS3 are both great systems each with its pluses and minuses. Let me dispel some myths
#1 Disc space MATTERS!
#2 Easiest to develop for...Wii, 360, PS3 in that order...P.S. - none of them are impossible or highly difficult to work with.
#3 Graphic performance is a wash...for now. IMO PS3 games at the very least look as good as their 360 counterparts. In years to come the scales likely tip to the PS3...
#4 The sixaxis doesn't suck...but they should have kept the "boomerang"..trust me you guys would have loved it. Unfortunately fanboy whining killed what would have been a great controller.
#5 Wait and see. Developers have some amazing things in the works for all the consoles, so quit the fanboy sandbox fighting and go with the system that most interests you.
Blu-Ray in the long run will be worth it
and about this Extreme fanboyism please stop it getting old now (Although it never stops)
If you cant afford PS3 dont bash it, if your regretting your Purchase dont bash another console
Both Consoles will be same nothing different only thing is the Exlusives Jeez its gettting sad and a waste
Some guys dont even know the PS3 Structure or the Xbox360 for that matter and still say this is better and this is crappier
Just dont!
I dont know the structure of the PS3 and Xbox360 but do I say its better than that one no!
It's common sense learn it.
Jeez
/endrant
Nice Article EG
From what I understand the PS3 and the 360 are graphically on-par. The PS3 has more raw CPU processing power where the 360 has more available RAM to process with.
The majority of developers were quoted saying these kind of canceled out either being "stronger."
I work at a startup games company, and although I can't say I know much about PS3's hardware, I can tell you with certainty that PS3 won't have the plethora of games that the PS2 had. Why? The people at Sony are being complete snobs about "allowing" people to make games for the PS3. We're working on a UE3 game and sure, it's not a AAA game like Gears of War. But it's certainly a fun and entertaining game. There is no way we'd be able to get the game even working on last generation systems, but when we submitted our game for Sony approval, they had the nerve to suggest we try making it a PSP game instead of PS3 game.
The funniest change request Sony made was asking us to try making playable NPC characters. Apparently the people at Sony don't know what NPC stands for. Additionally, a PS3 devkit currently goes for around $30,000 apiece. Compare that to around $10,000 for the debugging 360 devkit (regular playtesting 360 devkits cost around the same as an actual 360) and it becomes obvious that 360 games are much more affordably playtested and developed on the 360. Microsoft has also been very supportive of our game from the get-go.
Will the PS3 eventually have better games? Unlikely. Will it have more games? Not a chance.
Yeah. uh. I dont think that the publishers whose games people are MOST pumped up about (EA, Rockstar, Atari, ect) care about the price point of the dev kits, expecially when the Playstation brand already has the upper hand as far as market share goes.
So, if PS3 looses developers like you, what are we loosing a few medeocre games that end up in the 19.95 bin? Not that worried about that.
Funny how so many people are trying to tell me not to buy a product because they dont want to/cant afford to buy it. Sorry, if I listened to people like you I wont be driving a BMW, afterall the toyota camry has heated seats too, and cost less!
Lets see, the ps3 has the same graphics as the 360, with a better potential to get even better, comes with bluray, HDMI, 1080p support, more harddrive space, and free online game play? Hmmmm, sorry folks, I am getting it as soon as I can!
And please, continue the bashing of the ps3, I kinda like it cuz it is improving the chances of me picking this badboy on launch day :)