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PlayStation Day 2008

SCE president Kaz Hirai and SCEE's David Reeves addressed the media at the London event

Feature by Mark Androvich Contributor
Published on

Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Kaz Hirai and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves have addressed the media at PlayStation Day 2008 in London, which Reeves said he hoped would become an annual event.

A summary of the most significant announcements follows:

  • During his keynote address, Reeves announced the sales figures for Europe with Sony having sold 12 million PSP handhelds, 48 million PS2 consoles and 5 million PS3 consoles.

    He said he was particularly proud of PS3 sales which were achieved in a similar time frame as the PlayStation 2, despite the significantly lower price of that system. Reeves also noted that the PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 in Europe since October 2007.

  • Reeves confirmed that Europe will be getting the Metal Gear Solid 4 hardware bundle which was previously announced for the US and Japan. The packaging shown, however, suggests that the European bundle will include a 40GB console in piano black rather than the special steel grey colour of the US and Japan bundled consoles.

  • Hirai revealed that LittleBigPlanet will be released in October. He also confirmed that PlayStation Home will be open to the public towards the end of the year - apologising for the delayed release, but reiterating that he won't open up Home until he's "completely happy with it".

  • Killzone 2 received a scheduled release date of February 2009.

  • Insomniac's Ted Price showed footage of Resistance 2 and told the audience that MyResistance.net is set for a total overhaul.

    According to Price, the revamped site will offer "the kind of social features you'll find in sites like Facebook" - all of which will be tightly integrated within the game.

  • Motorstorm 2 is now titled Motorstorm Pacific Rift, and will feature "ultra-aggressive AI" and loads of attack maneouvres. The game will also feature four player split-screen racing, interactive vegitation and 16 tracks with up to 20 vehicles - including a new monster truck class.

  • Sony is teaming up with Nissan to offer what's being billed as the "ultimate competitive driving test."

    The grand prize of the Nissan GT Academy competition, which begins on PSN on May 23, provides two contestants with four months of real-life race training followed by participation in Dubai's 24-hour race in January 2009.

    According to Reeves, every round of the GT Academy will be filmed and made available on the PlayStation Network.

  • Reeves also announced that PlayTV will launch in September at a price of EUR 99 (GBP 80). The box allows PS3 owners to record TV shows on the console's hard disk while watching another TV channel at the same time.

    Meanwhile, the PSP video on demand service, Go!View, will be available in the UK on June 30 and for selected countries in mainland Europe next month. Reeves said that it was "no secret" that Sony was keen to launch a similar service for the PS3 but had no further announcement to make.