PlayStation 3 officially launched in Japan

PS3 News | We sum up everything you may or not know about the new console.

The PlayStation 3 has officially launched in Japan, and reports are quickly filtering through on some things that Sony hadn't clarified about the console prior to the launch. We're sure to learn a lot more next week when the PlayStation 3 officially launches in America, PAL gamers waiting for the console are still facing at least a five month wait, at least.

The PlayStation store is fully operational and features a wide range of things to download, including Blast Factor which is 840 yen. You'll require a Japanese credit card to purchase items off the store. The full list of everything currently available to download on the store includes:

GAMES:

Mainichi Isshyou
Ridge Racer 7 demo
Blast factor demo
Blast factor full game

EXTRA ITEMS:
Genji Character costumes (Free)

VIDEOS:
Gran Turismo HD
Afrika
Genji
Casino Royale trailer
Open Season trailer
BluRay Trailers (SWAT, Stealth, Underworld)

The firmware immediately needs to be updated from 1.0 to 1.10. The PSP's 3.0 firmware update is currently set for release at the end of November, it is then when PlayStation One emulation will be possible on the PSP.

One of the biggest games available for the launch is Ridge Racer 7. There are six new tracks in the game: Lost Ruins, Old Central, Mist Falls, Shadow Caves, Bayside Freeway and Industrial Drive. There are twenty more tracks, although these have been ported from Ridge Racer 6 - in fact some of the first few tracks you play in the game will instantly seem familiar. As previously revealed, you're able to save parts of Ridge Racer 7 to the hard-drive and speed up the loading times. It takes a considerable amount of time but you're able to play Xevious while you wait.

The backwards compatibility is far from perfect - with Japanese gamers trying out hundreds of games it seems there are issues with some of them; this is something that is expected to be fixed with a few firmware updates. The Japanese PlayStation 3 can only play Japanese PlayStation 2 and PlayStation One titles, confirming there will be region lock restrictions for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation One games.

Despite what everyone expected, you won't actually need to buy the PlayStation One/ PlayStation Two memory card adaptor unless you want to transfer your save data from your existing cards over. You're able to create "virtual" memory cards for both the PlayStation One and PlayStation 2 on the hard drive.

You're able to multi task with the PlayStation 3. The web browser can open up to 6 pages simultaneously. 64MB memory is always reserved for the browser, the instant messenger and other XMB activities even whilst you're playing a game. If you press the PlayStation button in the centre of a controller in game then you can bring up basic features, although not everything.

You're able to connect USB mass storage devices such as the PSP, but you can't plug and play with devices that have special transfer methods, such as the iPod.

So that's everything that we've found out about the PlayStation 3 so far. 80 000 lucky Japanese gamers now have the console in their homes, and we have to wait five months. We'll update this article as we find out more about the console, so keep checking back.

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35 Comments

DancesInUnderwear

5 years ago

UmbrellaCEO wrote

all sony has done look at its overall growth not look at consumers' point of view.

I know man - its almost as if Sony was a company or something.

Really, what did you expect? Sony to go "oh, hey, you bought a PSP, so we owe you - here, have a free PS3 from us, your bestest friends foreverest"?

iorkara

5 years ago

Cant wait for FW 3.0 for PSP!!!!

InvivnI

5 years ago

UmbrellaCEO wrote

mqphu1 wrote

PS3 is SO different to the Wii.
As an individual gamer, PS3 got my vote. ITS JUSTIFIED the high PRICE.

I agree its different, I'm tempted at PS3 very much unless Microsoft prove me otherwise. By no way is the price justified by Sony, R&D went wrong and Sony went greedy like usual.

Sony will be losing money on the PS3. The issue with the PS3 is that they used brand-spanking new untested hardware (the Blu-Ray) with the console when manufacturing methods hadn't been perfected yet. This is why we have this $1000 price-tag.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

DancesInUnderwear wrote

UmbrellaCEO wrote

all sony has done look at its overall growth not look at consumers' point of view.

I actually I wouldnt expect that, but that would great. I was expecting that if they tend to market things, at least have consumer themselves in mind. You really think anyone would buy a UMD instead of DVD for the same price. Its really unfair to milk out loyal customers, based on losses on some other department revenue and violating loyal customers. It's that kinda moves that shoot themselves in the foot, basically greed. That could easily do great stuff, but when SD 2gb cost more than memory stick, I blame sony. Greed it is.

That being said, I still feel like going for ps3, because of the developers.

Quote

Much of this is Sony's fault, no one told them to use blu-ray or Cell/BE, they could have easily used existing technology and tweaked meaning less R&D, but $4 billion US on development of the cell chip alone and Toshiba, IBM are trying to milk it into the computer industry like EE.

asylum99

5 years ago

David wrote

asylum99 wrote

The Japanese market is not in decline, one only needs to take a look at the sales figures for DS games. The Wii will sell the most hardware and the most software in Japan but the PS3 will come out on top worldwide.

Actually, the Japanese market was in decline for TEN YEARS, and only started to grow again a year ago when the DS took off.

Apart from the DS, it is still in serious decline (ie home console software sales).

Once again, no. Video games are a momentum based industry. If the PS3 stalls in the next year or so, it will die - either quickly (like PSP is now*) or slowly (like Gamecube).

Hate to argue semantics but at what point did I refer to the past?
The console sales are sluggish precisely because of the new hardware launches, why buy milk from the old cow when the new cow is just around the corner, and she's beautiful, shiny and gives you coffee and tea as well

In what way exactly is the video game world a momentum based industry? If it could be categorized into one broad sweeping and highly ineffective statement(which it can't), the video game world would be a cyclical industry, with everything repeating constantly over time.

David

5 years ago

asylum99 wrote

David wrote

asylum99 wrote

Erm, wrong? It has been in decline for TEN YEARS (until the DS). Are you trying to tell me that people have been holding off for the PS3 since 1996?

Quote

In what way exactly is the video game world a momentum based industry? If it could be categorized into one broad sweeping and highly ineffective statement(which it can't), the video game world would be a cyclical industry, with everything repeating constantly over time.

It's momentum AND cyclic. The PS2 was a new cycle that launched off the still running momentum of the PS1. The PSP (like the Gamecube) has lost momentum and will never recover, so Sony and Nintendo respectively can't build on the momentum of either product because there is currently none.

ObsoletE

5 years ago

i love it WHEN mqphu1 posts.
his style OF posting reminds me of SOME political speaker, or something, trying to argue a POINT that no one else agrees WITH.
what's more, randomly capitilising WORDS is fun.
-------------

anyway, if the PS3 HDD has the ability to store virtual memory cards (good move btw), then i hope some video store will rent the cable thing, since you shouldn't need them more than once. (xfer all your saves, then pop them on a USB drive if you really need the space later.)

Daniel_Rehn

5 years ago

Gee,
Its been a while since I "officially" visited this site. I hardly ever make a comment as well, at the risk of being lambasted by someone who has 100x more posts than me and obviously works in "the industry".
Then I read the post by mqphu1. I cant help but feel slightly depressed.
Oh well,
Cheers to all.
Daniel.

asylum99

5 years ago

David wrote

asylum99 wrote

David wrote

asylum99 wrote

Erm, wrong? It has been in decline for TEN YEARS (until the DS). Are you trying to tell me that people have been holding off for the PS3 since 1996?

Again, I ain't talking about the past. Are and is are examples of present tense prepositions, was and were are examples of past tense prepositions,