Sony kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with an overall glance at their entire product line. Led by Sony of America CEO Sir Howard Stringer, the keynote entailed a comprehensive overview of the entire Sony line, including a heavy focus on HD technologies. However, amidst the new lines of multimedia-capable cell phones, HDTVs and new cameras, the details regarding the PlayStation brand were fairly sparse in regard to new information and announcements when compared to the fanfare paid to the rest of the electronics line.

In regard to the PlayStation Portable, "the point at which portable gaming devices stopped being toys," according to Stringer, the focus during the keynote speech seemed to target more of the system's multimedia capabilities than any upcoming titles for 2006. Integration of the Location Free Player with October's Version 2.50 firmware upgrade garnered the most attention for Sony's handheld during the keynote. A product demonstration showed how the Location Free player, previously a bit enigmatic for most PSP owners, works. Essentially, when using the Location Free's hubs at home, a PSP user with a broadband connection can use his or her system as a TV and watch programs anywhere in the world, or watch video files from their computer.

Most of the focus relating to the PlayStation 3 stemmed from its prominence as a playback unit for Sony's upcoming Blu-ray Disc -- referred to as BDs for short by Stringer -- technology. With research on the technology stemming back over twelve years, Blu-ray has been a long work in progress. Among the many touted features of the format, including its storage size, Stringer announced that the format will also allow for legal duplication of the format for use on licensed machines, such as computers. Blu-ray players will also be backwards-compatible with DVDs. In anticipation of the format launch, Stringer also announced that Sony Home Entertainment will be releasing twenty titles for Blu-ray, including Hitch and Black Hawk Down.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Kaz Hirai stepped out to close out the keynote session with an overview of the PlayStation. The PlayStation 2 experienced another successful year with a 10.5% gain on the previous year and a benchmark 100 million shipped units in only half the time it took the original PlayStation to achieve those numbers. He also delved into brief detail regarding the Cell processor and its use in the PlayStation 3. The PS3 will utilize seven out of the Cell's eight core processors. Before showing a video montage of tech demos, Hirai also confirmed complete backwards-compatibility with both the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

Among the tech demos showed, there appeared to be glimpses of The Getaway's hyper-realistic London, which was shown at last year's E3, as well as an F1 racing title, a few cutscenes for what could eventually become Gran Turismo 5, and the next-gen Warhawk.

The conference, while comprehensive in its coverage of the Sony product line, offered a few details regarding the future of the PlayStation brand, but was minimal in regard to new announcements and developments.

News-Source: http://ps2.gamespy.com"