We’ve covering Sony’s GamesCom Press Conference Live. Unfortunately, you need to refresh the page to see our updates. This time around, no one is streaming the conference live so you will have to make do with text-based commentary. The conference started just before 5:50PM BST and lasted just under an hour. The PS3 Slim is officially revealed along with the price cut. So all the rumors were true after all. Firmware 3.0 was also mentioned with some of the new features.
PSN cards for Europe will be out in September and the Video Download Service will launch in a few selected countries in November.
17:48
The conference starts with a message: “Welcome to the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe press conference at gamescom 2009!”
17:49
Sizzle reel plays showing off some upcoming games, including Heavy Rain and God of War 3.
17:49
GT5 and Uncharted 2 footage shown in sizzle reel too.
17:50
Andrew House, President of SCEE is now on stage.
17:51
House is hoping to show everyone PlayStation’s bright future.
17:52
PSP and PS3 have continued to push boundaries.
17:53
House wants to go through some stats before continuing.
17:54
Sales of PSP have continued to grow at a very healthy rate with 52.9 million globally (17 million in SCEE territories).
17:55
There are now 23.7 million PS3s in peoples’ homes worldwide and the SCEE install base has exceeded 10 million.
17:56
27 million PSN users worldwide (11 million in SCEE territories). 560 million global downloads.
17:57
Home is proving very popular and we’re determined to continue adding content to the service.
17:58
SingStar coming to PlayStation Home.
17:59
SingStar on Home will include music quiz, a video jukeboz, an interactive dance floor and “more to come…”
18:00
Audi will be bringing content to Home. Will full Audi space expected by end of the year.
18:01
A Home update will also be coming in September, which includes a shrinking potion, and other additions.
18:02
House has just announced Firmware 3.0 – animated themes, a What’s New section and some other great interface changes. Battery meter moved!
18:02
There will also be direct links to various TV services on the XMB, iPlayer in the UK on XMB.
18:03
PSN Cards coming to Europe too! €50 and €20 denominations.
18:03
PSN Cards out in September.
18:05
Video Download Service available later this year. VidZone will be expanding to other European countries. Trailer of Video Download Service is shown.
18:06
Will support downloading to PS3 and PSP. With both SD and HD content.
18:06
Video Downloading Service will come to UK, France, Germany and Spain in November.
18:07
Will expand to other countries in 2010.
18:08
Andrew House is introducing the Digital Reader, coming to US and EU in December, for PSP.
18:08
Graphic Novels, Indie comics and local comics too. Will launch with 100’s of comics available, with new ones being added each month.
18:09
Ira Rubenstein, of Marvel, now takes the stage to discuss the Digital Comics service. They will include Marvel comics like Spider-Man and X-Men, plus Transformers, Archie, Star Trek…
18:10
Demo of service is shown off.
18:11
“More publishers will be announced soon…”
18:12
PSP Digital Reader won’t just for comics. Details at a later date.
18:13
House is bringing up new stuff. Eye of Judgment and LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival are both going to be on show floor this week.
18:14
Smaller games coming to PSP. Will be exclusive to PSN Store and will have 100MB size limit.
18:15
15 new games available at launch on 1st October. 50 titles coming in 2009.
18:16
Tetris and Fieldrunners, are two examples.
18:17
PSP 3000 is getting some new colours – Turquoise Green, Lilac Purple and Blossom Pink. Looks way too girly!
18:18
People who register their PSP Go between the 1st and the 10th of October will get a free digital copy of GT PSP. Cool!
18:19
EyePet will be retailing for just under 50 euros and will be bundled with the PlayStation Eye.
18:20
Uncharted 2 trailer on screen. Drake falls over some snow. Impressive trailer!
18:22
Heavy Rain time (no not the weather!). David Cage, of Quantic Dream’s, is now coming on stage.
18:22
Cage asks: “How far WOULD you go, to save someone you love?”
18:24
Cage introduces a new character for Heavy Rain. The character lost his eldest son in a crowd two years ago. The kid was hit by a car and killed.
18:25
Heavy Rain is a story of guilt, love and redemption. Now a trailer. “All the images in this trailer are real-time 3D and fully interactive.”
18:27
Another great trailer comes to an end.
18:28
Heavy Rain is not based on repetitive patterns and violence. Hoping for it to be a milestone in this new industry direction.
18:29
Andrew is back on stage to tell us that the Motion Controllers, which will be fully shown at TGS later this year. It’s a developer update for now.
18:30
There are some great examples of upcoming motion controller content being shown off. Yay for party games!
18:31
Kaz Hirai takes the stage.
18:32
Kaz talks of E3 and TGS and calls GamesCom a “third major date on our gaming calendars.
18:33
Kaz has something to show us. He walks over to the unused podium at the side of the stage.
18:34
He picks up the new, slimmer PS3! Available from 1st week of September.
18:35
Description: Its a PS3, but slimmer! Smaller, lighter and all the same features as the current model. It will be available for €299 / $299 / ¥29,980.
18:36
Price for all current models has been dropped.
18:36
Kaz leaves the stage, to thunderous applause
18:37
House is back on stage: “PlayStation is a company with a bright future”
18:37
House says his goodbyes and the conference comes to a close.