When Ken Kutaragi announced his retirement recently, it seemed the desire for people to score a quick ‘gotcha’ managed to hide the fact that one of the most important men in the history of gaming had laid aside his analogue sticks.
OK, so it’s fair to say he was a tad eccentric at times, but it was his insistence on implementing a big idea that got Sony into gaming in the first place. Of course it helped that Sony only developed their own console after Nintendo betrayed them on their joint SNES-CD project by going with Phillips the night before the Sony-Nintendo collaboration was officially announced, but Kutaragi correctly noticed that cartridge games systems were on their last legs, and that Sony had the knowledge to go it on their own without Nintendo.
Anyone who isn’t a businessman probably won’t care much about that, though, and even the numbers of PlayStations sold is pretty irrelevant as well, though each sale represents a gamer who probably had an incredible experience with their console, if me and my friends’ experience is anything to go by.
In fact, the one thing that makes the PlayStation stand out for me is that I’ve probably wasted more time playing various iterations of the PlayStation than any other console series, and that’s against some pretty stiff competition, from every other major hardware manufacturer. Ken Kutaragi might be the father of the PlayStation, but to me he was the father of a thousand ill-advised late nights, nearly-missed assignment deadlines and supposedly ‘wasted’ time. Would I take any of them back? Not for a second, and for that Three Speech salutes you Kutaragi-san.
By Chris Blenkarn
Lots to tell! We’ve just got out after two days of presentations from the PlayStation team on what’s in store on the PS Network, among other things! So, keep an eye out on Three Speech over the next week or so for interviews with David Jaffe (God of War/Calling all Cars etc), more info about LittleBigPlanet and Warhawk (which is looking great by the way), new downloadable titles and plenty more exciting announcements.
With Resistance Fall of Man’s huge success and Rachet And Clank hotly tipped as one of the next big titles to blow us all away, you can appreciate that the Insomniac team are a busy bunch at the minute.
Well, not only have we managed to pin them down, we’ve also been granted the opportunity put some questions over to their development team. And, because we’re so nice over here at Three Speech, we’ve decided to offer this opportunity back to you guys.
So, have a think and let us know what questions you’d like to ask the developers over at Insomniac? Obviously we can’t guarantee that we can get them all answered, so make sure they’re good!
Let us know by posting a comment, or e-mailing us at [email protected].
We’re looking for Three Speech regulars who’d like to be among the first in the UK to get their thoughts on the PS3 up online and out there, sharing them with the rest of the web. If you’ve a console on pre-order and would like to share your first thoughts, we’re looking for reviews to run on March 23, 24 and 25. Also, we’re after photos and video clips, so fling it all our way. We’ll aim to reward contributors with freebies and opportunities in coming months too.
If you’re interested, drop us an email at [email protected]
Following his keynote at GDC, Phil Harrison stoped off at 3Rooms in London to offer guests of Three Speech a hands on with LittleBigPlanet and a stroll around PS3’s virtual world, Home.
Read more…
Hope all attendees had a great night. Here’s a couple of links to coverage. More content about the event to follow -
www.playthree.net/index.html
www.petecullen.net/?p=176″
www.tomkiss.net/games/threespeech-threerooms/
For those of you attending tonight, here’s the lowdown -
7pm: Arrival and drinks in bar
7.20pm: PS3 Multimedia Demonstration (by SCEUK representative)
7.50pm - 8.30pm: Phil Harrison with a GDC update & question-and-answer session
8.30pm - 10.30pm: Software playtesting on the first floor.
10.30pm: Close
Have fun.
Thanks for the responses showing an interest in attending the next Three Speech event over at PS3’s 3Rooms venue in east London on March 13. Here’s a final call out for anyone who’d like to be considered. Should be plenty of post-GDC topics and news to discuss.
Contact [email protected]
Just a quick one to say that we can now confirm Phil Harrison will be attending the Three Speech event at the 3Rooms venue in London on March 13. A presentation/Q+A of some form will take place - we’ll confirm exactly what as soon as we have more details!
Three Speech bounces back to PS3’s 3Rooms venue in east London on March 13 (early evening onwards). Post the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco and just prior to the European launch of the PS3, there should be plenty to discuss and show off.
We’ll load up more details of the event as soon as they’re pinned down. Meantime, we’d like those who’re interested in attending to drop us an email. Travel and accomodation costs will be covered for those coming from outside of London (sorry, but only for those within the UK). Those who didn’t attend gthe previos Three Speech event will have priority this time around.
[email protected]
Here’s the vid from our last event -
