Sony is actively encouraging developers to make stereoscopic games for PS3 - but it's not interested in handheld 3D content, unlike rival Nintendo.
In an interview with the FT, SCE boss Kaz Hirai has talked down the innovation of 3D handheld displays, despite the fact Nintendo impressed the games industry with the reveal of its 3DS portable at E3 last week.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata unveiled his company's 3D device in Los Angeles, saying it was the first time a commercial product has offered 3D content to the mainstream. 3DS doesn't need glasses - unlike 3D content on TVs, something Sony is actively pushing across the entire corporation, from its movies business to its hardware and games ones.
That latter strategy is "coming together really well" for Sony according to Hirai - but the firm doesn't think its suits handhelds.
In fact Hirai says that there are severe usability issues with 3D handheld displays at the moment.

He said: "We want to make sure we get it right as opposed to being there first and - with portables - there's still a lot of tweaking that needs to happen from a research and development perspective.
"We've looked at a lot of the current technologies available and all of them have an issue of perception where you have to hold the console in exactly the right place to get the 3D effect and it's a bit of a challenge to maintain that 3D experience."
3DS was detailed just hours before a Sony press conference that failed to offer any major detail, software aside, on what might lay ahead for the PSP, Sony's handheld games device. It is widely thought the firm is working on a PSP2, but it has yet to officially confirm the device's development.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...P2-development ...

Hideo Kojima has said that Zone of the Enders 3 has been "sort of pushed to the back" due to "various things", meaning we probably won't see it for an age.

For reasons that make less sense than the (underrated) final third of Metal Gear Solid 2, Kojima revealed this in a Ustream fan Q&A session from a hotel bathroom in Paris, as reported by Andriasang.

According to the site, producer Kenichiro Imaizumi said that one reason a ZOE sequel won't be happening any time soon is that Kojima's team would need to stop working on another project first.

Check out our Zone of the Enders 2 retrospective if you're 10 years old and have no idea what we're on about.

As for the Taboo thing Kojima mentioned on Twitter a while ago, he said: "The Taboo is a project for high spec machines that I'm hoping to do myself next. It may or may not be a taboo, but for me, I think it will be quite the problematic game."

Kojima was at E3 this week, although it was producer Shigenobu Matsuyama who introduced the world to Metal Gear Solid: Rising, as Kojima wants to distance himself from it now that he has passed on the torch.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/zo...ed-to-the-back ...

Bungie's final Halo game is a "labour of love" that will "push the envelope as much as possible" without "ruining the core for fans".

That's according to exec producer Joseph Tung, speaking during a behind-closed-doors E3 presentation where Bungie played through the single-player campaign mission The Long Night of Solace, which featured heavily in Microsoft's press conference.

It was the big surprise in the E3 reveal of Halo: Reach, and Bungie used the session to confirm that space dogfighting will be fully playable in four-player co-op - appearing only in a single mission.

"It takes place about midway through the campaign," explained Tung. "At this point in the campaign the Covenant are invading Reach in full force. The situation's getting pretty dire, but the second in command of Noble team has figured out a way to bring the battle to the Covenant."

The mission begins planetside with some classic Halo scrapping against Covenant forces, ably showing off the game's substantially improved visuals. But the shock of the new comes upon boarding the cockpit of a Saber craft, which blasts skywards in a moody cinematic sequence and leaves orbit as control is handed to the player.

The mission was designed by Sage Merrill, Bungie's sandbox designer, whose previous work on Crimson Skies has clearly had an influence.

"We looked at lots of other flight games that were out there," said Tung. "We didn't want to make a flight simulator for Reach, we wanted to make a very accessible, easy-to-use and fun-to-play space mission. Sage did an amazing job in nailing the Saber in that regard."

The Saber boasts regular lasers and targeting missiles, with meters for shield, hull integrity and thruster heat on the HUD. Tense combat ensues in the shadow of the looming presence of Reach, and as a visual spectacle the set-piece is undeniably spectacular.

"The Saber is limited to Campaign," said community writer Eric Osborne. "The whole mission isn't Saber; and there's something after that we're not revealing." Tung added: "You can play four-player co-op and everyone will have their own Saber in campaign."

Reach is Bungie's final game in the series it created, and Tung admitted it is a "sad goodbye" for the studio. "The team is extremely proud of the game. There's always stuff that falls by the wayside, but I think we got everything in that's critical to the game and more."

The studio also confirmed that Reach will not offer Kinect support, Tung explaining: "I wouldn't say it's not suited, but for us Kinect came online when we were already a year and a half into production and it was impossible to think about integrating it at that point."

Once development wraps, Bungie is committed to supporting the game post-launch and, while refusing to be drawn on details, Tung said: "We expect to put the same support into Reach that we did with past games.

"Reach is absolutely a full-fledged project at Bungie. The number of features you're going to see overall is greater than any other project we've shipped."

Halo: Reach comes to Xbox 360 on 14th September.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ha...goodbye-bungie ...

Sussex police are creating a number of iPhone apps for the public, including one to renew your gun license. Unsurprisingly, the plan has some anti-gun groups upset. Lyn Costello, of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), said, "This isn't suitable, especially in light of what happened in Cumbria. We've got to be extra careful giving gun licenses. We have this attitude that gun murders don't happen very often so it's OK to be lax, but it is not OK and we've got to do everything in our power to stop it happening again. We can't put money before life and if you start to do that we are losing our humanity. It is a really stupid idea.''

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/06...ith-iPhone-App ...

Console hardware sales continue to decline in Japan, though the DS remains at the head of the pile for now.

Total sales of the combined DS range - XL, DSi and Lite - came to 24,418, slumping from over 36,000 at this time last month.

Sony's PSP range lurked just behind at 22,380, having been at nearly 32,000 a few weeks ago. The PSP-3000 handheld remained the best-selling single unit, though it was just 1000 sales ahead of the Wii.

It was bad news for Sony's PlayStation 3, which sold just less than 18,000 units despite having been comfortably ahead of the Wii and selling 29,000 units mere weeks ago.

Really suffering, though, was the download games-only PSPgo, which mustered a mere 700 sales. The PS2 and Xbox 360 remain relatively unchanged.

Japanese weekly hardware sales:

PSP: 21,662
Wii: 20,588
PlayStation 3: 17,676
Nintendo DSi XL: 11,138
Nintendo DSi: 10,172
Xbox 360: 3,225
Nintendo DS Lite: 3,108
PlayStation 2: 1,291
PSPgo: 718

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-in-quiet-week ...

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has suggested that the company may consider charging extra for games that "better support" 3D technology.

Speaking at an executive briefing at E3, as reported by website CVG, Riccitello commented: "3D may well be one of the next and most important drivers for growth. [That's] yet to be seen and I don't think it's a 2010 story in any way, shape or form... in a meaningful way."

In this respect his comment echo those of Microsoft UK boss Neil Thompson, who dismissed 3D as "an interesting technology of the future" but currently too expensive for mass market adoption.

However, Riccitiello went further: "As we move through 2011, 2012, it's likely to be an opportunity both for additional growth and perhaps premium pricing for titles that better support 3D."

EA is the first publisher to suggest that 3D titles should be priced higher than normal releases, but it is unclear how seriously Riccitiello was considering the idea.

The first 3D compatible game from EA will be Crytek's Crysis 2, which was demonstrated at the recently concluded E3 2010 event in Los Angeles.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...m-for-3d-games ...

Hideo Kojima is set to announce a major PS3 exclusive at Tokyo Games Show in September.

That's according to a senior US publishing source close to CVG.

We were told at E3 yesterday that Kojima - who made a star turn at the Los Angeles expo this week - will announce a "massive PS3 exclusive that will own the show" in Tokyo.

Details are thin on the ground, but we understand the title will be published by Konami. The publisher oversees Kojima Productions in Japan.

CVG understands that Kojima was keen to show the game at E3, but decided to polish his demo until September "to ensure it's bulletproof".

Kojima was in London this week to sign copies of his latest opus, Metal Gear Soild: Peace Walker on PSP.

His games - MGS: Rising on 360/PS3 and a MGS: Snake Eater demo on 3DS - were the talk of E3 this week, with early indications suggesting Rising will support Kinect on the Xbox platform.

What would YOU like to see Kojima announce at TGS?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...l-rss&skip=yes ...

A small announcement from Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary party is a PSP port of Pac-Man Championship Edition. The Xbox Live Arcade game (pictured) is coming to PSP as a PlayStation Network download.

I saw the game at the event and it’s the same morphing maze and glowing graphics Pac-Man game Namco Bandai released in 2007. No release date info or anything else, but the PSP version at the event appears to be near final if not complete.


http://www.siliconera.com/2010/06/17...-power-pellet/ ...

Some 67 per cent of American households own a gaming console or PC, according to a new survey by the Entertainment Software Association.

While the definition of a "PC used to run entertainment software" is perhaps broad enough to cast some doubt on that 67 per cent figure's relevance to retail, it remains a positive endorsement of games' place in contemporary America.

"Computer and video games are now available to consumers on every screen from smart phones to computers to flat screen televisions. This enables millions of Americans enjoy the immersive storytelling, incredible graphics, and compelling plot lines," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA.

"These works of art are a fun and engaging way to bring people together, especially families who are playing video games together now more than ever."

The ESA's report also posited the average gamer as 34 (but games purchasers as 40) and male, although some 40 per cent of players are female.

In terms of games themselves, the study reveals that 2009's best-sellers chart was dominated by Nintendo's Wii and DS, despite the 360 version of Modern Warfare 2 taking the top spot.

The most popular genre, in terms of sales, was 'action', at 19.5 per cent, closely followed by sports at 19 per cent. Action does not incorporate shooters, which constituted 12 per cent themselves.

The report also suggests parents are coming around to games. 64 percent of them believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives, and 76 per cent have faith in in-game parental controls.

The study also claims that 64 per cent of gamers play with others and that 48 per cent of parents play games with their children regularly, reinforcing the medium as a social one. Further details and statistics are available in the ESA's PDF of its Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry report.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lds-play-games ...