Watching Sony's E3 Press Conference Live!

I'm so excited. Sony's press conference at E3 is about to start.

Just now, Square Enix's press conference has just finished. They announced Final Fantasy XIII for PS3. Pictures available on Gamespot.
Link to gamespot for pictures of Final Fantasy XIII:
Link 1
Link 2

Ok, I'll start watching the conference streamed from Gamespot, and live-blogged on Joystiq and ?Kotaku. Later!

00:20: I'm watching the following sites/blogs (links to Sony's Press conference follow):
Joystiq
Ign
1up
... and the Gamespot stream

Really hoping to see the new controller & PS3 Videos. Can't wait, I feel like the whole world is anxiously waiting now.

00:53: Oh boy it's starting!!!

2:58: Finally finished watching the live PS Press Conference at E3 2006.

I was ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY. Man, Sony really knows how to make presentations. I was blown away after almost every interval.

Salient points:

1. Hard Disk will come as standard in PS3. PS3 will launch in black.
   
2. Demo of Gran Turismo HD which will be running at 10-bleeding-80p! 1080p! They are hoping to make it online. The game looks REAL, especially the Grand Canyon track. Apart from cars, bikes and scooters are also playable. However, GT HD was probably the least impressive of all the demos (apart from running at 1080p)
   
3. Real time demo of Heavenly Blade. AMAZING! Think God of War but with a female protagonist. Flying moves, chain combos, breakable everything, superb animation -- can't wait for more info! To me the games looks BETTER than the trailer they showed at E3 last year. images via ign.
   
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer -- a ninja-esque Raiden ("this time, it's my turn to protect you [Snake]") with a really cool StarGate like helmet. The trailer ended with Snake pointing a gun to his mouth "It's time for the bloodline to end...". Amazing.
5. Final Fantasy XIII trailer! Again, female protagonist. Action game akin to Devil May Cry. Looks really pretty. Not much real-time gameplay, I think.
6. Fast loading time due to loading data off hard disk.
7. Virtua Fighter 5 (oh boy) is PS3 exclusive, a trailer was shown.
8. Real time demo of Genji. I wasn't too excited about this title as it plays abit like Dynasty Warriors (plenty of enemies on screen, huge boss characters, plays like Onimusha: slash, slash, change characters, slash, slash ... yawn)
9. Real time playable demo of NBA2007 ... the animation is again definitely next gen. Players move realistically.
10. New controller revealed by Ken Kutaragi. What an anti-climax!!! The controller looks absolutely the same;(:( I was actually a fan of the boomerang controller. Sigh. Apparently it's lighter and wireless. Here's the trick:: It senses 6 degrees of motion. Cue demo of Warhawk.
11. Person controlled a jet fighter with the new controller. Moved the controller like a plane. Apparently very accurate control. He looked really silly playing ... interesting. Oh no, sorry Nintendo Wii, I suppose Sony stole your idea and showed gameplay to the world first! Image of controller via Joystiq.
    
12. Lastly, PS3 will be released in November 11. Two different bundles. One with 20Gb Hard Disk, One with 60Gb. Price = Euro 499 for 20Gb, and 599 for 60Gb. Hmmmm that's very expensive (still, we were expecting that price). I'm sure by that time x360 will be much cheaper ... say GBP 350? That's very significant.

Overall I was shocked, amazed and bewildered by the presentation. Bravo Sony! I was especially impressed as:

1. There were MANY real-time playable titles for the PS3 suggesting game development is further ahead than what was previously thought.
2. The games LOOK next-gen. They really do. Unlike early games on the X360.
3. The new motion sensing controller is intriguing. Although I hate it that it looks the same as the current PS2 one. There is some poetry to the fact it's the same though, as now, all 3 generations of Playstation controllers look similar.

That would leave X360 the only console without a motion sensing controller (hmm things may change tomorrow ...)

I can't wait to see presentations from Microsoft and Nintendo tomorrow. They will both be running at around the same time but I'm definitely going to tune in to Nintendo's presentation (and I bet the whole world will too...)

I can now sleep in peace. Good night! ...zzz

ps. For other accounts on the event click the 1up, Joystiq and Ign links above.