The Game Developers’ Conference has come and gone, but we here at TotalPlayStation are still talking about it – Infamous 2, Resistance 3, The Darkness II, and, of course, Shenmue III. But much more than the particulars of this year’s specific show, there are the holistic generalities: what is the role of the conference in the structure that is known as public relations? Just how should the average gamer – and journo – perceive and interact with the event? And should something major be done to GDC, such as stripping the public at large of its access and rendering it a cabalistic, ritualistic affair?

Andy Curtiss
Staff Writer
Our victim… er… topic of conversation? This year’s GDC. It’s come and gone in the blink of an eye. And I know, based on comments I’ve heard, that some of you were more disappointed than others. So let loose – how disappointed are you? Was there anything at all for PlayStation fans to enjoy? Or was it all developer mumbo-jumbo?

Discuss!

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
I actually thought it was a really good show. Obviously, it’s never going to be E3 (or, at least, I hope that’s the case), but there were a few neat reveals that I’m churning through right now and there should be plenty for our readers to digest by the time they hear about our little conversation here. The reveal of The Darkness II took both JD and I by surprise; Digital Extremes is really embracing the comics side of things, and they’ve done a hell of a job with capturing a kind of semi-cartoony, exaggerated feel to the animation and cutscenes. It really does look like a comic brought to life, and any worries I had about Starbreeze not being on the project anymore were allayed by the short little demo they showed us.

Some of the other reveals, like Infamous 2’s Mission Creator, Resistance 3’s multiplayer stuff, just getting the chance to go hands-on with some of the single-player bits of both those games – plus final MotorStorm Apocalypse – seeing what Snowblind has been up to with their Lord of the Rings game, and seeing some indie stuff that we may or may not be actually getting on the PSN was really neat. Personally, I would have liked to have been able to jump into more sessions and just listen to devs talking about their stuff, but, overall, the show was surprisingly packed with updates and new information on a lot of games we knew were coming. E3’s the time for big reveals, but this was at least a nice way to catch up on a bunch of stuff.

Oh, and I need dat NGP action. It looks so very nice up-close.

Ryan Green
Managing Editor
I don’t know. As exciting as new details about Infamous 2 and other properties is, GDC doesn’t excite me. Ever. Ultimately, I care about the games, not what goes into them. I’m not a developer, so extensive talks about how to optimize lighting in a vacuum setting, featuring real-life numbers, means crap to me. Optimize all of the netcode you want; all I care about is the end result. And that is what a lot of people, from the shareholders to the eight-year-old getting his mom to buy him the Halos, care about.

That said, I totally give a crap about mention of Shenmue III. It was just a passing mention, but as a guy that enjoyed the original Shenmue (and narrowly escaped playing the sequel), the idea of bringing the franchise back is cool with me. Bring me HD ports (or even better, remakes) of the bat-crap crazy original entries, or just the conclusion, or something! Don’t just bring Ryo back for another Sonic cart racer – drop his name at GDC, and then produce nothing.

GDC is, at best, a place for developers to tease the on-looking internet trolls like us with the promise of something much greater to come. At worst, it is all about colleagues, friends, and students getting together and sharing great ideas with each other. But that is sort of backwards, isn’t it? “At best” should be the learning, and “at worst” should be the PR nonsense, teases, and everything else that is otherwise meaningless to the people that work on games. Of course, that is sort of a greater problem in today’s conference setting.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
GDC bored me this year. This, however, is not a bad thing in the slightest, for, as Ryan mentioned, the conference should be focused upon game development and should ignore publisher-induced media frenzies as much as possible.

Given that, however, I’m continued to be impressed by the 3DS. Although not major revelations, the announcements of Netflix support, the inclusion of Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16 games for the system’s version of the Virtual Console, and, of course, a new Super Mario game make a very happy handheld gamer, indeed. And I only have a little while left to wait for all the new services…

And Shenmue, one of the biggest – but certainly not the last – disappointments unleashed by the walking accident that is Sega, can remain dead, thank you very much.

Nathan Tsui
Staff Writer
I honestly don’t have too much to say about this topic, because, for whatever combination of reasons this year, I didn’t end up following GDC too closely. It really felt like it was over before I’d even noticed it had started. And reflecting back on it now, I can’t remember a single thing that was announced during the conference specifically, but that just might be my terrible memory.

I actually got to try out the 3DS at the SXSW Interactive thing, and I wasn’t terribly impressed. I played SSF4 3D, but mainly I was testing out the technology. It’s more like looking into a box than having stuff pop out of the screen towards you. The effect is kind of interesting, but it’s somewhat blurry (at least, to me), and I could see it being a nuisance more than anything after an extended amount of play time. In fact, I was able to get my hands on the demo unit so easily because a kid with glasses handed it over to me, saying that it was giving him a headache. I played around with it by looking at it from all different angles and messing with the slider, and my ultimate conclusion was that $250 is way too much for this thing.

And Marc, I oughtta castrate you for those comments on Sega and Shenmue! Damn yoooouuuuuuu!

Ryan Green
Managing Editor
Marc is just upset that he searched for years in Japan and never found Ryo’s home. He wanted to ransack it for the mint condition Sega Saturn inside of it.

There are some really neat ideas that will come out of developers talking about and working on 3D technology. This year, the only thing I remember even close to that was Crytek’s passive 3D engine. Companies are either working on glasses-less 3D or wear-your-own-prescription glasses 3D, but I have yet to find one that didn’t make people sick. Crytek seems like they are on to something, but they still have some work to do there. The 3DS might prove, on a larger scale, that “3D works but who cares?” Like Nathan said, it made him a little sick, and that has been a consistent response from people when using 3D devices. If it, at all, has the potential to make people ill, it might not be worth investing in.

Perhaps GDC this year was a good test to see if developers, save for their publishers, care about the technology.

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
To be honest, if I had my druthers, I’d probably go to GDC over any other “expo”-type event, simply because it is something a bit different. Sure, not a lot of info came out that was particularly titillating for the average gamer (save for the aforementioned Infamous 2 info), but the idea of developers getting together to share their ideas seems like it would have much better far-reaching effects for gamers in the long run. It’s also a much better opportunity for journalists to interact with the people who create the games we love, since they are not inundated with appointments and exhausted from the show floor.

That being said, I can’t deny the dearth of interesting info that came out of this year’s GDC. I think Sam put up a dozen previews here at the site, and while they were informative and interesting, I don’t think any of us got a lot of new info out of them. Even looking beyond the bounds of Sony, there still wasn’t a whole lot out there unless you were totally shocked that Nintendo is making more Zelda games or you
somehow hadn’t absorbed the barge full of information out there about the 3DS.

If there had been information about Shenmue III or even some sort of Shenmue MMO, that would have been pretty thrilling to me, despite
Marc’s stick-in-the-mud opinion.

Sure, GDC will never be the goldmine of new game announcements that E3 is, but, in the long run, I maintain that without GDC to plant the seeds of new innovations and ideas, E3 would never see those announcements, either.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
I think Ryo’s house was washed away in the tsunami. Too soon?

Given the more-or-less consistent sentiment regarding GDC, does anyone think that the conference would be best served by having it be closed completely to the public? Wouldn’t the most conducive environment to collaboration and development be one completely devoid of self-consciousness?

And, just for the record, I do miss my Dreamcast. Samba de Amigo is some of the most fun my wife and I have had with gaming – it’s kinda odd to think that Sega had Harmonix beat by some six years – and Chu Chu Rocket should definitely be a 3DS launch game (space cats in 3D? Oh, yeah, baby).

But one does have to admit that Sega is kind of the leper of the videogame industry – everything it touches tends to implode or otherwise decompose into a stinking heap of flesh. Or something.

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
Yakuza seems to be doing all right for them… it’s pretty much Shenmue for (slightly) less niche gamers.

I like GDC being semi-open. I think that giving a little transparency to the inner working of the industry is nice, and I shouldn’t have to be an “insider” to enjoy a talk form Will Wright about the Br0derbund days…

Parjanya Holtz
Senior Editor
Aren’t E3 and the likes more like GPC in that sense – the Game Publishers’ Conference?

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
GDC is still very much about devs and people trying to break in. It’s “open” to the public in the sense that if someone has a couple hundred bucks, they can get into the sessions and the Career Pavilion, but it’s not like E3 where you have to be a part of the industry to get in. GDC as it is now is fantastic; the press stuff happens outside the conference itself in hotels and such around the area. So it’s actually a pretty decent trade-off right now. The industry can chat about making games with other people that make games, and the press folks can get updated impressions of stuff and maybe take away something from the odd keynote. Win-win.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Winning!

It’s been one week since Sony officially unveiled the next-generation PlayStation Portable, an announcement marked, on the one hand, by familiarity – given that most of the new handheld’s capabilities had been leaked, in true Sony style, across the past several months – and, on the other, by surprise: the NGP? Why not the PSP2? And with all that high-falutin’ technology, just how much is this thing going to cost, anyway?

Such questions, of course, bring up even more queries, such as whether the first PSP was a success or a failure and just how in the world Sony plans on bringing down the DS platform – if they even consider it a threat. The TPS staff has had a full seven days to debate, prod, and eviscerate one another; this is their messy result.

And be sure to check out our expert panel’s take on the Next Generation Portable here.

Dan Hemsath
Features Freelancer
NGP. (I really hope that name doesn’t stick.)

I mean, whatever happened to creative names like “Saturn” or “Genesis”? Oh, yeah… they went out of the hardware-making business.

But back to the NGP: it’s not what I expected, primarily because it seems less “revolutionary” – when compared with the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, with regards to its “we did it first” touch screen and 3D capabilities. Instead, it seems like a more “advanced” gaming device than anything so far.

I spoke with a PlayStation representative yesterday who gave me the down-low about the NGP, and the first thing that I thought of was that it reminded me of a fusion between a PSP and a SixAxis controller. Apparently, the system will be motion sensitive, using SixAxis technology likely in the same ways the PS3 does. Now, all of those old commercials for videogames where the dudes on the couch are moving around with their controllers (or portables) somehow seem eerily more realistic.

When I asked about what all the “squares” and “triangles” on the back were, my representative told me that it was a “touch panel.” Moving your fingers on it would simulate different effects in games, such as pulling an object, sifting through sand, anything. (Interestingly, the front screen was also described as being a touch screen, as well. Hmm…)

There are several other features the NGP will have, she told me, but by this point, the dual analog and 3D had me dreaming about finally playing the ultimate game of Katamari Damacy, rolling up the world around me, using the touch panel for precision “princeliness.”

I think what will make the NGP stand out is what made the PS3 so sought after (Blu-ray aside): it is the culmination of every desirable feature portable gaming has to offer. Here’s hoping Sony markets this well to Western audiences, so that they understand what it is – and why it’s cool – before scanning price points first, and doing so later.

Kyle Heimbigner
News Editor
The “NGP” thing is just its codename.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Yeah, but what are the chances that it’ll stick…?

Ryan Green
Reviews/Previews Editor
Well, did Project Natal stick? Project Dolphin?

Scott Rodgers
Sports Editor
Nintendo Revolution?

Nathan Tsui
Staff Writer
Katana?

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Of course the historical videogame landscape is filled with a litany of codenames, but, if memory serves right, this is the first time that Sony has done so. And the question then becomes, of course, why – especially when this is a continuation of a series of systems?

My only answer is a hunch: Sony is taking this thing very seriously, a guess which is only reinforced by the fact that it took its damn time in even announcing the new handheld. I think they’ve thought long and hard about what they want to do, about what they have to do, and about what will put them in the best position to not only try and get a leg up on Nintendo and its DS dynasty, but also on how to best position itself against the mobile phone manufacturers, as well.

And, in all honesty, my suspicion is that Sony is much more concerned about the latter than the former. There’s no conceivable way that a $300-plus ($350 seems like a number that Sony would delude itself into thinking is feasible) system can take on the 3DS, even if that portable is ridiculously (and stupidly) priced itself. The addition of the PlayStation Suite, for my money, drives this particular point home. If Sony can’t beat Nintendo head-on in the specific gaming sector of the much bigger mobile market, then go for the bigger market; there’s more money to (potentially) be made there, anyway.

My initial response to the NGP – and, granted, this is not after much contemplation upon the matter – is that it will fall flat while the PSS will thrive, to one degree or another.

Agree? Disagree?

Scott Rodgers
Sports Editor
You mean like how the Sony Gem never became the Move, right?

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Gem was never publicly announced by Sony, and it was only one of, literally, several codenames throughout its long lifespan (others include, apparently – because these were never publicly released – Sphere and Arc).

Which takes us back ’round to the question: why? Why give this an official codename? Was Sony’s hand forced before it felt ready? And why not, of course, just PSP2?

Sir Gordon Wheelmeier
Gaming Guru
I’m guessing NGP is a codename in as much as it’s the best thing that Sony could come up with at the moment, and they’re going to see how the reaction to the name is. I haven’t seen too many complaints, so maybe it’ll stick. Remember that Xbox was a codename, but it became so synonymous with the project that it stayed. The same could happen here. Or they’ll just call it the PS3 Portable.

Whatever. The bigger topic is that Marc is right – this thing is going to be so prohibitively expensive that it won’t sell. Period. Sony is going to pitch its price against the iPad and iPhone and similar tech, but that won’t fly. The iPad is, for many people, a notebook replacement, so that $500 is actually on the cheap end of what it’s replacing. And almost no one pays full price for an iPhone or Android device – they’re almost all subsidized at $200.

The other problem is that the mobile landscape moves so fast these days that the NGP’s tech will likely be met or, even, perhaps exceeded sometime in the next 18 months by Apple and Android partners. Keeping in mind that the NGP isn’t shipping for, let’s say, nine months, that closes the gap considerably. When the phone in your pocket, that you’ve already paid for, looks as good as a device that runs $300+ and only plays games, then it’s going to seem much less desirable.

Yes, the tech is undeniably awesome. But the price is really scary.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Is this why, do you think, that Sony simultaneously unveiled the PS Suite – to leverage the gap between it and the rest of the mobile market as a back-door or otherwise back-up plan?

Parjanya Holtz
Senior Editor
The answer is simple: the name “PSP” reminds the general public of the disaster that was the PSP, which is why Sony is trying to shift the focus on the “next generation-ness” of the new device. It’ll be called PSP2 at some point, unless Sony starts thinking that NGP isn’t so bad, after all, but I honestly doubt that. The brand name “PlayStation” needs to be on a Sony Computer Entertainment product for it to be recognized by the most uninformed of consumers.

The other reason may be due to the rumors and leaks that were around for a while before the “NGP” was announced. It’s Sony trying to regain control over what gets out when. Coming up with a codename no one has heard before is quite the smart move in order to capitalize on that urgently needed attention that you get when you surprise people.

Ryan Green
Reviews/Previews Editor
While I agree with your point about “damage control” in regards to calling it the PSP2, I don’t understand why such a notion exists. Given that the PSP wasn’t as successful by any means when compared to the Nintendo DS, it still sold well for Sony and for a launch handheld. On top of that, it had a strong selection of exclusive titles, and much of that exclusivity remains today. I don’t expect to see Disgaea 2 on 3DS anytime soon, especially after how the first one sold (hint: I saw them flooded in bargain bins).

It will most likely be the PSP2, and a later revision will likely be the PSP2 go. Let’s not kid ourselves; this is the PlayStation Portable.

Personally, I won’t buy it until it has a few revisions. That system size is way bigger than my PSP go, and I’m really unsure of how long that battery life is. Like Gordon said, that price point is key. If you remember what Sony actually mentioned so far about the NGP, you’ll notice all of the crazy hardware and some of the franchises that will appear early on. What you didn’t see – which, to me, is even more important than the price – is the battery life. Sony doesn’t get battery life. Nintendo has sacrificed a lot in the name of it, and, to this day, I haven’t needed to charge my Game Boy Advance SP more than 10 times. In the mobile market, three hours of usage is downright pathetic. While the only time I needed more than that with a portable is during a cross-country flight, it needs to be better.

It feels like Sony is going to tech-bomb this platform in the hopes that it will still be valid in a few years, so the investment to the consumers won’t be that difficult to handle. But a unit that bulky, however expensive, and lacking in battery life isn’t going to cut it.

So, in part, that is where the Suite program comes into play. Sony acknowledges the growing mobile gaming market, one that was given new life, in no small part, because of Apple. Having developers jump on board with this new platform and revenue stream will help ensure a longer life for Sony devices and a newfound appreciation for their products. At the same time, it is a necessary means of dealing with those pirates (sorry, homebrewers) who think it is their inalienable right to hack the hardware they are basically licensing from Sony so they can license media to play on it. Now, if you want to develop for portable Sony devices, you have a new means of doing so, in a legally acceptable way.

Ultimately, this is all moot. We are getting more trophies, so everyone should pre-order ASAP! Let’s go, Paji!

Kyle Heimbigner
News Editor
The PSP wasn’t a disaster – it sold over 50 million units worldwide. That’s pretty successful.

Aram Lecis
Managing Editor
Kyle said what I wanted to say – I think it is perceived as a disaster. And as far as software sales go, it is a disaster, since piracy is so rampant. But hardware sales-wise, it was pretty damn successful, for sure.

Perception is important, though, one has to admit.

Sir Gordon Wheelmeier
Gaming Guru
Hardware sales aside, if the games didn’t sell (and they didn’t), then third-party publishers will be less likely to back the NGP with quality titles, and that’s a huge problem.

Remember that this thing will not be cheap to develop for. Outside of ports, it’s going to take a lot of manpower (read: cash loots) in order to develop quality titles for it. If publishers aren’t committed, those games aren’t going to come.

Ryan Green
Reviews/Previews Editor
Gordon is right. My joint venture with Sam, Greeshop Entertainment and Cleaning Service, dropped $20,000.00 to develop for the Mini Status, and we took several cycles to recoup that cost. And we didn’t factor in piracy at all, as it doesn’t exist in Game Dev Story.

It truly is the perfect gaming world. Too perfect.

I don’t think that piracy can be the primary source of blame here. Homebrew and old Nintendo ROMs ruled the roost. Piracy hurt, but, in the end, I put my money on people playing their favorite childhood games portably.

Again, this is where I think the Suite comes into play, as well as the 3G and trophy support. All of these are more diversions for people to not hack it and abuse the system. Give people more reasons to not hack your system, and the amount of piracy should drop. At least, that is what Sony is hoping for.

Aram Lecis
Managing Editor
Oh, I agree one hundred percent, Sir Gordon. But if the boys at Sony are telling the truth that it is a “one week” process to port a PS3 game to the NGP, that could be a huge boost. Or it could make gamers just go “meh.” But I think if Uncharted 3, Twisted Metal, and other AAA titles were released day-and-date on NGP and PS3, not to mention if they port past hits like LBP2, then people will have to take notice.

However, if the damn thing costs as much as my 3DO did on launch, then the whole system is DOA.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
For me, the most telling question is: has Sony learned from its past mistakes? Which leads to a bigger, much more systemic inquiry: can Sony learn from its missteps?

The PSP and PS3 both were literally crippled because of an unrestrained ego that said, “We can release whatever we want whenever we want at whatever cost we want, because we’re Sony – people will gladly pay for it and instantly beg for more.” And, obviously, this just wasn’t the case; finances (and software lineups, something which neither system had until well into their respective lifespans) trump brand loyalty, it turns out. That we went into the Great Recession almost immediately after the PS3’s release was just icing on a very bitter cake.

The simple truth is that we simply don’t know how Sony will respond to failure or other assorted forms of rejection, because the company didn’t start making mistakes of the egotistical kind until the PS2 days; almost literally every single thing the company did with the PSX was spot-on perfect in a way that was humbling to have witnessed and is depressing in its aftermath. Call it the Golden Age of Sony. What the latter half of the PS3’s lifecycle and the launch of the NGP will be called is very much up in the air. To whit:

If the answer to both questions is a resounding yes, then the NGP has, I think, a very good chance of not only imitating the PSP’s isolated, comparative success, but also expanding and expounding upon it, probably to a great degree. (There’s still no way in hell that it’ll best the 3DS, however, no matter what Sony throws at it.) But if the answer is no… then it’s going to be very, very interesting to see what form the PS4 will take next year.

Aram Lecis
Managing Editor
I was going to reply, but then when you said “to whit” instead of “to wit,” the whole thing lost all credence to me.

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
Wait, what, Marc? Can they learn from their past mistakes? Uh, of course – what do you think the majority of this generation has been for Sony? It’s been a constant listening-and-response act from the company, adding nearly every single asked-for feature on the system save for cross-game voice chat and .mkv support.

It’s good to be critical where warranted, but the PSP launched at the exact same price as the 3DS did. Every Sony system, even ones from that Golden Age, takes about two years to really build up a head of steam on the software side, and I’ve little doubt it’ll be different for the PSP2.

If we’re going to sit here and reflect on the success (or supposed lack thereof) of the original PSP, we must take into account the situation on a global scale. Right now, in Japan, over five years after launch, the most successful game release so far this year was a PSP game that sold over three million copies when it hit, and has now sold over four million. There are hardware shortages of the PSP in Japan right now.
The situation might be bleak here for the system, but over there, it’s literally the best-selling hardware week after week – better than the Wii (which, incidentally, is also being outsold by the PS3), and better than even the DS. The PSP is not a failure; it was just never a good fit for Western audiences.

Here’s the thing, though: the PSP2 will be, and it’s because of just one little difference – the second analog stick. Mark my words, the PSP2/NGP/whatever-you-want-to-call-it will be a success – one that even the naysayers can’t try to paint as anything else.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
This is just for Aram.

=)

Aram Lecis
Managing Editor
I thought for sure that link was going to tell me that I was the one who had it wrong, and I was scared to click on it… thank God I didn’t have to deal with that sort of thing – it shatters my giant ego!

The Xbox 360, it goes without saying, is my default system of choice in the current generation. It was the first 256-bit console to launch, it offers superlative online services, and, for at least the first few years of its release, it offered better versions of multi-platform releases (particularly in regards to anything from Electronic Arts, which mainly amounted to The Orange Box in my non-sports gaming collection) – all reasons which made the decision an obvious one, a literal no-brainer.

Which is not to say, of course, that I have ignored the PS3’s software – Uncharted is easily one of the best games to arrive this generation, as are the ingenious LittleBigPlanet and the masterpiece Heavy Rain – or ever failed to rave about the big black box’s absolutely stellar downloadable library, which includes the likes of Echochrome, Pain, and Everyday Shooter (if Halo Wars is the game that I literally have not been able to put down this generation, then ES would easily be my wife’s. We have an affliction, I know). I have always, since my youngest days as a gamer, deliberately collected every (major) console to have access to its roster of exclusives, even going so far as to beg, plead, and torture my parents to purchase the Sega CD for the (now-dubious) likes of Sewer Shark and Night Trap; it’s strictly in the confines of multi-system titles that I’ve favored, usually irrevocably so, one of my babies over the other(s), not unlike Jehovah with Cain and Able.

But something strange has been happening over the past year-and-a-half or so, starting slowly at first but now quickening at an almost exponential rate: I am buying the PS3 version of games, when and where applicable, over the 360. For Batman: Arkham Asylum (August 2009), it was the exclusive downloadable content; for Assassin’s Creed II (November ‘09) and Brotherhood (November ‘10), it was the ability to connect to the PSP game and previous console entry, respectively; for Dead Space 2 (January ‘11), it was the inclusion of a better-looking and -playing version of Extraction (September ‘09), a game I already own on the Wii; and for the upcoming Portal 2 (April ’11), it’s unquestionably the Steam support, something that Microsoft could never allow with its current configuration of Xbox Live. At this rate, I have little doubt that at this year’s E3 presser, Sony will provide me with another two or three games I’ll have to scratch off of the Xbox list and hastily scribble in under the PlayStation column.

Despite my parents having always told me, at every available opportunity, that I was a special boy growing up (the last time, in fact, was just last week), I have to imagine that there are scores of gamers out there that are just like me, that, though it would be near-impossible to make them flip their default settings, they can certainly be motivated to deviate from it, and deviate from it quite often. Though it’s still unlikely that the PS3 will be able to out-sell the 360’s install base by generation’s end next year, there is certainly the very real possibility that Sony will be able to steadily and diligently chip away at Microsoft’s lead, eroding its foundation and doing much to level the playing field at the start of the 512-bit cycle of consoles. Then again, maybe not – I am that sick gamer, after all, who just has to buy the collector’s edition of a title whenever it’s available, whether it may contain a statuette of in-game characters or a deluxe art book or just some fancy packaging. (I’m doubly afflicted, I know.)

There’s also the small problem of MS seeing both revenue and gamer chic slipping through their fingers, one digital drop at a time. Announcing that all Call of Duty DLC would be timed-exclusive to the 360 was a significant step in the right direction – of getting the exclusives pendulum that Sony openly mocked at the beginning of this generation and now has fully embraced to swing back in its direction. Although Sony will shortly have the entirely new venue of NGP-PS3/PS4 connectivity available to it, building upon Ubisoft’s AC example (and, of course, Nintendo’s – with the Game Boy and numerous home consoles – before that), it should be battening down the hatches in anticipation of Microsoft’s inevitable counterstrike.

Although this current generation may be (finally) starting to cool down, the larger battle is just warming up.

It has been declared so many times and from so many outlets that it is almost a truism: 2011 is the year of the PlayStation 3. With so many exclusive games lined up for the next 12 months – even though a good percentage of them, such as The Last Guardian and, just possibly, Twisted Metal, will more than likely get pushed back to ‘12 – and, even more, with such paltry lineups announced thus far for both the Xbox 360 and Wii, there is simply no conceivable way that the next year won’t be dominated by Sony’s little black box.

Except… what does “dominate” mean? Yes, the quantity of Sony’s exclusives roster will more than likely dwarf its rivals’ even after they have been announced (most likely at E3 this summer), and the same undoubtedly goes for its quality, too, but that leaves behind a distinction that holds just as much significance as, say, your buddy’s Gamerscore – pretty impressive within the magical ether that is Xbox Live, but a feat (or is that an achievement?) that dissipates in the wind outside your mom’s basement.

The reality of the situation is that the PS3 is still in dead-last place in America (globally, it fares much better; with a worldwide total of 42 million units, it trails just behind the 360’s 50 million install base – but this is due more to Microsoft’s fundamental inability to penetrate the gaijin-unfriendly waters of the Japanese market than any particular amount of success Sony may have in the other territories), and it’s going to take a lot for the company to crawl out from its perpetual third-place spot. The system has only been the best-selling console for some five months out of its total of 50 on the market; its best-performing titles are routinely outsold by their 360 counterparts. And while Sony has done much in the past few years to close the gap with Microsoft, it is still several million units away just in America – and then it has the juggernaut that is Nintendo to compete with. It’s not an easy road, with or without Uncharted 3 riding shotgun.

Yes, there are a great many expectations for 2011’s undeniably stellar software library to sell some systems and overtake the house that Master Chief built, and some units certainly will be moved, but only up to a very finite point; there were similarly lofty hopes for an explosion in sales surrounding the PS3’s first price drop, from $599 to $499, in July 2007, and following the introduction of the slim model in September 2009. Indeed, in the really real world, outside the influence of Xbox Live or the confines of fanboy forums, having, say, 10 exclusive games rather than four means very little.

The marketing of consoles is avowedly an iterative process – not unlike the art and craft of game development itself, taking one painstaking step after the other ad infinitum – and Sony is, by all indications, just ramping up with the PlayStation 3. But the company will very quickly find itself running out of time well before its strategy pays huge dividends against its competitors: the PS3 has, at best, one-and-a-half years before the next generation of consoles arrives, a launch window that may very well include the arrival of the PlayStation 4… and the starting anew of the battle over sales.

Predictions! Get your predictions here! What will the distant and scary year of 2011 bring – Wii HD? PSP2? Announcements for the Xbox 720? And just what the hell is that damn PSPhone that everyone keeps flapping their damn gums about?

We know. Oh, yes, we know… and that is half the battle.

The other half is a good start.

Oh, yes, it is…

Parjanya Holtz
Senior Editor
Everyone who has been working with and/or for TPS at some point in his or her “career” knows that Marc N. Kleinhenz not only is a hopeless Nintendo fanboy (who sprawls within the realms of a bewildering love/hate relationship with Sony), but he’s also a witch and, henceforth, proud owner of a mysterious crystal ball. To put this into some context, MNK has both successfully predicted that by 2012 California won’t be smart (safe) to live in (which, understandably, is part of the reason why he abhors the idea of living in the Sunshine State so much) and spoiled the next Twilight movie for half the staff. (Except for Aram and Andy, who both had already read the book.)

So, why are we gathering here for yet another group discussion? The answer is simple: Marc likes to see us make fools of ourselves. While he knows what’s going to happen, we speculate wildly on what the new year will have in store for our beloved videogames.

With Sony celebrating the PS3’s fifth – and Microsoft, the 360’s sixth – birthday in 2011, one would think that this hardware generation is about to begin losing its momentum. However, one quick glance at the PS3’s (scheduled) lineup for next year should make every Sony fanboy dance his own name. So what do I predict besides Sony delivering the system’s strongest list of games to date? How about the PSP2 and the PSPhone? Both make absolute sense looking at the most recent developments on the market(s) (the PSPhone will go up against the iPhone, and the PSP2 against the 3DS), plus all the rumors and “leaked” images of both systems popping up on every blog these days pretty much confirm that it won’t be long until we will hear of both. E3 2011. Any doubts?

My other “major” prediction is the surprise unveiling and release of a new independent property that will be exclusive to the PS3. All of Sony’s new IPs have become major successes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they felt comfortable enough to give a studio like Ready at Dawn a shot at creating an entirely new franchise that’s once again exclusive to the PS3. Actually, thinking about the talk I had with Dana Jan [the God of War: Ghost of Sparta game director], I am pretty convinced that it’ll be them becoming Sony’s next big second-party PS3 developer.

I also predict the unveiling of a Wii HD, which will likely be less of a successor and more of a fully backward compatible “pro” version of the current generation Wii — actually quite similar to Sony’s and Microsoft’s redesigns, but with a few more system-enhancing hardware upgrades. The Wii 2 will probably not be unveiled before E3 2012, alongside the PS4 and Xbox 3.

What do you guys think?

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
There will be no Wii HD. Nintendo is following a traditional, old-school philosophy with their systems – just one per generation, thank you very much – and they’ll jump right to the Wii Too (yes, I really do think it’ll be called that). It’s more than likely that Nintendo will “announce” it at next year’s E3, just as they tipped their hand in regards to the Revolution and its Virtual Console at E3 2005, with a full blowout at and release for ‘12. Whether or not the Xbox 720 ships the same year is unknown, although extremely likely.

Another prediction: all three next-gen systems will launch with cameras to complement their packed-in motion controls (and, possibly, their pack-in traditional controls).

One last one: at least a quarter of the 2011 PS3 exclusives, such as The Last Guardian and, just possibly, SOCOM 4, will get delayed until ‘12.

Kyle Heimbigner
Staff Writer
I see The Last Guardian actually finally coming out in 2011. I think we’ll see a lot of it at E3, and then it’ll have a Christmas release. But, yeah, ‘11 is looking to be what ‘10 should have been for Sony. The first half of this year was strong, but Sony’s Christmas has been very disappointing – unless you wanted the PlayStation Move, and even then you are still waiting until 2011 for the good motion games. LittleBigPlanet 2 will be the game everyone talks about next year, too, I think, along with Killzone 3. Most likely, though, LBP2 will get all of the attention – until Uncharted 3 comes out. There is really nothing from Microsoft next year that really makes the 360 stand out like Sony’s lineup of games does.

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
My first prediction is that there is no way it will be called “Wii Too.” That’s way too clever for Nintendo. It will actually be called SDNES, for Super Duper Nintendo Excrement System.

While I do not think we will even see a reveal of a new console in 2011 (maybe from Microsoft, but even that I sorta doubt), I think Paji is right on with the PSP2 for sure. Maybe there will finally be the PSPhone, but even if such a thing does come to pass, I see it going the way of the Microsoft Kin, and I’d be amazed if it did as well as an N-Gage. Sorry – iPhone has that platform on lockdown, and Droid picks up the slack for those nonconformists that now hate Apple as some big, faceless conglomeration that must be stopped (oh, how the tides have turned).

Game-wise, things look a little grim for 2011 right now. Yes, there is a spate of sequels to highly regarded games, but there is a dearth of new IP, and that makes me a sad gamer. I’m not denying that there can be excellent sequels, but you are still just playing a refinement of an existing game, and as I am an aging product of a society that celebrates short attention spans, it is very hard for a sequel to keep me gripped or get me excited. Still, there are always a few surprises that come out of nowhere to be really good games (like Darksiders in 2010), so I’m betting there is something out there. I am excited about Twisted Metal, which clever readers will point out is another sequel… but when you haven’t put out a full console game in almost 10 years, then a sequel is okay.

My only other thought is that we will probably see a decline in the 3D push by late in 2011 (and perhaps motion controls, too), barring someone coming up with an actual “killer app” that makes 3D (and motion) anything more than a gimmick that adds nothing to the gameplay. I’m probably wrong, but I should be right.

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
Oho, I want to get in on this!

I’ll steer clear of new hardware predictions (though the PSP2 is real and the PSPhone is a PlayStation device only in our clever little naming convention-making minds and is an Android device first with the option to play select downloaded PlayStation titles), but I’ll insist this will be the last full-blown year where everyone’s still fully committed to their home hardware (okay, maybe just MS and Sony). We’ll likely see the best-looking, most refined, and most expanded game concepts of the generation in 2011, with 2012 serving as sort of the swan song for our lovable black brick. There’ll be a price drop to $200 to get hardware sales moving at a pace deserving of easily the most impressive year in terms of sheer software output.

3D has definitely become something of a pratfall for Sony. While I love that games are leading the content charge (seriously, I think there’s, like, 20 times more 3D games than there are TV programming and Blu-rays combined), it’s clear that the tech cannot be bolted onto an existing engine and just left at that. Games need to be made for 3D first, and ideally with Move thrown in there, too, to properly show off an interface that uses all the space in front of the player in more than just waggle ways. I think we may see some interesting experiments in both tech, but until they’re standard in the PS4 and every HDTV out there is also a 3DTV (which will absolutely happen in the next few years), it’s a tough sell for all the performance hit and extra dev time it would take to make a “real” 3D game. I fully expect someone like Kojima to really do it all justice in the next few years, and I can’t wait.

I’d say most of the stuff hitting with definite dates already (like Uncharted 3) will stick to their dates. The Last Guardian is very likely an early 2012 game. I just don’t see it making it this year, but E3 is going to be insane. There’s still a lot of stuff that’s unannounced so far (like Lightbox’s Warhawk follow-up), and there will definitely be a full hardware reveal of the PSP2, so I’m pumped. I don’t mind all the sequels right now; this is the point in every hardware cycle where devs leverage the experience and continued refinements to their engines to make the games rather than the tech, and I think we may see plenty of games with the numeral three after them hitting, but they’ll be hands-down the best of their franchises.

When we start to head into new hardware next year (and that’s 2012, at the earliest), that’s the time for devs to start creating new IPs, and Sony has shown that its first-party studios don’t mind making huge leaps into something new. For now, I’m happy to just enjoy the continued price breaks and advances to familiar gameplay and franchises that the end of a hardware cycle entails.

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
I WANT MY NEW GAMES YOU SHUT UP!

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
I WANT THEM TOO BUT I ALSO WANT STARHAWK AND G-POLICE AND COLONY WARS AND OH GOD I CAN’T STOP TYPING IN CAPS SOMEONE HEEEEEEELP ME!

(Also, yeah, the PSN has sort of emerged as its own half-platform, and that definitely seems to be the most fruitful germination point for new ideas – and that’s not a bad way to do it, really. Less risk, possibly better rewards.)

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
I actually think we’ll see a $199 PS3 (and, of course, Xbox 360) at the end of next year, as opposed to ‘12, but – hey – I was wrong about a price drop for the Wii this year, so who knows.

If we don’t see cheaper systems this coming year… then when will the manufacturers introduce the 512-bit systems? Unless, of course, they all take the PS2 route, with the first several years of the new generation being slightly eaten by a more-productive-for-longer older gen?

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
I’d honestly be surprised if we didn’t see E3 announcements of $200 and permanent bundles for the rest of the gen. Any extensions to current prices could be an attempt to offset R&D costs, but, most of the time, that’s all sunk in the hopes of getting it all back over the course of that gen.

Basically, it’s my guess that if prices hold past the middle of this year, tuck in for at least another full year of the current hardware. And, honestly, as much of a spaz as I am about new hardware reveals, I’m okay with a few more years. Let ‘em work out those motion control kinks to see what works and what doesn’t before we end up just grouping them into the next gen by default.

Daniel Hemsath
Features Freelancer
2011 and the future of gaming… let me peer into my crystal ball… I see… goldfish. Oh, wait… this is a fishbowl.

Seriously, though, I’m sure Nintendo will release an HD system, and I’m inclined to agree that it will be backwards-compatible with Wii games (GameCube, who knows) and feature a camera. It seems a little less “revolutionary” than the Wii was, in light of recent motion-gaming advances, but I suspect that Nintendo will embrace the audience introduced to gaming with the Wii, and still surprise us with a trick up their sleeves. The 3DS is already confirmed for 2011, but I think it’s going to be less successful than the DS was – until the inevitable price drop. It seems like too many “non-gamers” see the DS as a toy, not an interactive media device, like an iPhone. Parents won’t shell out $300 (or even $250) for a device that might make their six-year-old throw up; apparently, they might weigh the consequences if it were cheaper, I guess.

Back when the PS3 dropped in price to $300, I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t figure out how they could afford to do it. I heard they were losing money on every system made. So a drop to $200 sounds crazy – but videogames are a dynamic market. Technological advances come up with memory, production, etc. so fast that I doubt Sony really is losing money on the production of their consoles at this time. So, maybe, it’s not so implausible. For anyone who’s been holding out, $200 is the magic price. Heck, $300’s still a steal.

PlayStation Phone – knowing Sony, it’s guaranteed to release next year. Early reports suggest that it will be modeled after (or crafted from the bodies of) the PSP go, which isn’t surprising. After all, Sony has a way of reusing its technology until it catches on; take UMDs and their progenitor, the MiniDisc. But as for the PlayStation Phone’s audience? With iPhones, Droids, and even the Windows Phone 7, the market’s not just saturated, it’s underwater. Can the PSPhone remain competitive – or even dominant – in its arena?

And as far as the PSP2 goes, I’m sure we’ll see it in 2011, albeit as a holiday release. (Wouldn’t that be something?) I’m interested in seeing what really sets it apart from its competitor, aside from being very pretty, I’m sure. I’m honestly hoping it will push for a sophisticated DLC-oriented library, a la “apps,” or other Media Go-styled content; I believe that this is the future of portable gaming, not cartridges the size of postage stamps you’ll lose in-between the cushions of your couch.

And Microsoft? Sure, there’s Gears 3 and Forza 4 (which I’m sure will be Kinect-enabled and big sellers), but what else is there? Is Microsoft really that confident in Kinect that they feel they can coast on it? I can’t even see any significant Kinect games coming out next year that make this accessory a “must have” for 2011; even Child of Eden (which looks slick) is a bit niche. And while I don’t believe that we’ll hear of an Xbox 3 (or 720, depending on preference) or PS4 next year, I’m sure holiday 2011 will determine Microsoft’s future role in gaming – for better or worse – depending on which audience they embrace and which audience they take for granted.

Sam Bishop
Editor-in-chief
Just to chime in one last time on some of this, the PS3 was still losing just a few bucks per unit sold when the Slim dropped at $300, but this was quickly corrected and Sony has been making a profit on the system more or less since it launched. If they do drop to $200, it’ll likely be because they were able to move to a new fab size and maybe squeeze more into less space. Then again, at this point, they really can’t afford to slip any more. The PS2 is dead. The PSP is dead in the States, and the PS3 is chilling in a distant third here, too. I think any future pricing moves will be reactive rather than proactive, but I do still think we’ll see a $200 system. The software isn’t just there, it’s everywhere, so really the only thing holding back consumers seems to be the relative price difference versus the other systems. As long as that barrier is there, no talk of bundled Move controllers or Blu-ray playback is going to knock it down in consumers’ eyes. Two hundo certainly would.

And again, on the PSPhone (sorry I brought it up again), remember that it’s a Sony Ericsson device, not a Sony Computer Entertainment one. It has PlayStation functionality in limited download form, but it’s not a PSP and likely won’t carry the PlayStation name. Sony needs to keep that as pure as possible leading up to the reveal of the PSP2 around E3. The phone may do well (the Xperia devices have been doing okay, I believe), but it shouldn’t be judged by the same metric as normal PlayStation hardware. It won’t get that push, it won’t get that reveal, and (hopefully, in Sony’s mind, I’m sure) it won’t pull focus from the real PSP successor that’s waiting in the wings.

Parjanya Holtz
Senior Editor
Yeah, I think Sam pretty much has it figured out regarding the PSPhone. They want the PlayStation name out there tied to their Ericssons so those will do better, not the other way around. It’s more a marketing coup than a real noteworthy PlayStation release. (Remember, the old Sony Ericsson phones all used to have the PlayStation controller logo already in there, so the interconnection is not entirely new.) However, if they do it right, Sony Computer Entertainment could actually really profit from this. Minis need a push, and in the end it might actually help sell PSP(2)s.

I still stand by my prediction for 2012 being the big year for new console announcements/releases, not 2011, and I still think the Wii HD might actually happen. Nintendo probably sees the PS2 (and especially its later years) as an indicator of how the casual market can help make a console a tremendous success, which is why they’d be stupid not to keep the Wii around for a few more years (alongside the Wii 2). A redesigned HD version might be the way to go, unless they’re afraid it would take away momentum from the Wii 2. Or is their market dominance too frail to pull off such a Sony-ish move? Either way, all three major corporations have a lot of thinking to do regarding the future of their brands. As Sony painfully had to learn, a good start is half the race.