Late Night Consoling

GameSpot has spoken with Sony Computer Entertainment America president Kaz Hirai, following a recent Yankee Group report predicting that Sony will lose North American market share to Microsoft in the next generation while Nintendo holds steady. Currently, Sony controls approximately 56% of the North American market, and some 50% of the worldwide market. "We don't plan on ceding any of the market share to our competitors, especially after the cycle has gone deep," said Hirai.

Speaking about the console's planned launch shipments, Hirai claimed that the company has "always talked about shipping 2 million units worldwide within the calendar year." Oddly, however, that number is half of what Hirai himself promised during the company's pre-E3 press conference this year. At the time, he said that Sony would ship 4 million units by the end of calendar year 2006, with half available on launch day. He added today that Sony has not yet set a date to begin manufacturing PS3 units.

Hirai did not have a list of what games would be available at launch, noting that a final lineup should be locked down by about a month before the console's November 17 release.

The exec confirmed that the PlayStation Network Platform online service will go live on the console's launch day, declining to give a specific feature list. PS3's online plan also includes downloadable media such as movies and music. Hirai noted that though Sony is a major content holder of both mediums, it may hold back in deploying such services until it can offer a fuller range of content from other major studios and labels.

Regarding PSP, Hirai contested recent rumors that of a redesign or price drop anytime soon. "We don't have any plans to redesign the PSP at this point in time," he stated. On price, "[There are] no adjustments on the horizon as far as PSP goes." In regards to the plans for PlayStation games playable on PSP, Hirai stated that Sony is hoping to launch the service this year, "as close to launch as possible"--presumably referring to PS3's launch. "Some of the games just don't translate well onto a PSP environment," he warned, in regards to what will be available.

Finally, Hirai expressed Sony's support for the ESA's recent announcements on a smaller E3.

Official Xbox Magazine UK revealed that Battlefield series developer Digital Illusions CE is currently working on a new title for Xbox 360 entitled Battlefield: Bad Company. Shacker and DICE employee aavenr confirmed that the game is in the works for PlayStation 3 as well. Few details are currently available regarding Bad Company, other than that it will feature a complete single-player campaign and will be a separate title from the upcoming Battlefield 2142.

Sega has released ten pieces of downloadable content for From Software's mech action title Chromehounds (X360), available via Xbox Live. Unlike last month's small Chromehounds content pack, which was available for free, these pieces of content come at a price.

Five new weapons are available for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25) each, and three new spacers are available for 60 Microsoft Points ($0.75) each. A G1500-based generator is available for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25) and a winter camouflage pattern is available for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25). Altogether, the new content works out to a total of 880 Microsoft Points ($11).

Electronic Arts today announced that it has signed an agreement with Epic Games that will see several next generation games from EA outfitted with Unreal Engine 3. Epic's popular engine will be used alongside EA's own in-house development tools. Presumably, the announcement applies to games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. "We're obviously thrilled to license Unreal Engine 3 to EA, the world leader in our industry" said Epic VP Mark Rein. "They have extremely talented development teams, and weÂ’re excited to see how they apply our technology to their high profile game projects."

Electronic Arts and Microsoft today declared that in the small town of Madden, Mississippi, August 22, 2006 has been declared "Maddenoliday." That day marks the release of EA Tiburon's Madden NFL 07 on Xbox 360, and in celebration Microsoft will be giving an Xbox 360 to every resident of the town--all 74 of them. From 9:00-10:00am CT that day, residents of Madden and environs will gather to play the football title on Xbox 360, joined by NFL players Jerry Rice, Warren Moon, and Marshall Faulk.

1UP has an interview with Capcom's Hideki Kamiya, designer of Resident Evil 2 (PS1, N64, DC, GCN, PC), Devil May Cry (PS2), Viewtiful Joe (PS2, GCN), and Okami (PS2), each of which has been highly acclaimed. Kamiya notes that, much to his dismay, he has never been able to work on a sequel to any of his games, even though all of them save Okami have had sequels produced by Capcom; none of the immediate sequels to Kamiya's games have been as highly praised as his work. He notes that, unlike as with film directors, gamers frequently pay little attention to who is behind the games they play. "I'd love for gamers to look at the games more carefully and realize who's making them," he said. "That would help a lot."

Traveller's Tales and LucasArts send over a developer diary about the humor in the upcoming LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, NDS, PSP, GBA, PC).