I am thrilled to officially announce my new role as a PlayStation Family Ambassador. We have been a PlayStation family for quite some time now and it is by far our favorite gaming platform. When I was asked to come on board, I didn’t need to think twice. Ambassadors have been given access to a PlayStation 3 with Move, and will be checking out new games as they come out.
As the first step of the process, we were invited out to Foster City to meet with PlayStation execs, tour the facilities and have some time to get to know each other a bit better.
We had some time to chat with Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. He gave us a fascinating overview of how he came to Sony and how his path paralleled the growth and progression of gaming in America.
The thing that I was most excited to check out was the new PlayStation Vita. It has a 5-inch OLED screen, front and rear cameras, front and rear touch panels, and dual analog sticks. I can’t even begin to describe how gorgeous the graphics are on this handheld. In addition, you’ll be able to some of the same top-end games from your PS3 on your PS Vita. The PS Vita will also have social networking apps, so you can stay in touch. There will be a Wi-Fi version and a 3G/Wi-Fi version. If you’re familiar with some of the augmented reality-type games on the Nintendo 3DS, you’ll be able to experience that with the PS Vita, as well.
As you can probably expect, I had a lot of questions about PlayStation Move and its application in educational environments. I know the possibilities are there, but I haven’t seen a lot from PlayStation about their vision in that area. I got some good feedback around that and am hoping to be able to share a little more on progressive uses of that equipment in the near future.
They also took us on a super-secret tour, but if I told you about that I’d have to kill you and that wouldn’t be all that productive for me. Suffice to say that we had a chance to talk to some folks who make the games the wonderful experiences we often take for granted. Honestly, it was a dream come true for a gamer and PlayStation fan like me.
So, most of my reviews and content around PlayStation will end up on Quirky-Tech, but I will cross-post some back here as well.
Disclaimer: Sony paid for my travel and lodging and provided some PlayStation products for our use. There was no promise of a positive review and no additional compensation. The opinions contained in this post are my own.
