GDC 06: PS3 due "early" November, Warhawk playable at E3

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Though no major bombshells were dropped at Sony's highly anticipated keynote address at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, several key pieces of information were revealed.

Foremost among the revelations was a further clarification of the release date of the PlayStation 3. About halfway through his presentation, Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison revealed that the next-generation console will launch worldwide in "early November." Previously, the console had a more general "November" launch window.

Secondly, it was confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will be playable at E3 this coming May. Though widely expected, the news was confirmed by Dylan Jobe of Sony Computer Entertainment's Incognito Studios. After presenting a high-definition, real-time demo of the forthcoming remake of Warhawk, the developer commented that the game would be playable at the event, meaning there will be PS3 kiosks on the show floor. Whether they will contain the finalized hardware unit or a SDK, as the Xbox 360 did at E3 2005, was not specified.

Sony also revealed at the presentation that God of War 2 will indeed return to the PlayStation 2, and that Ratchet & Clank is coming to the PS3. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price also announced that the shooter I-8 has been renamed Resistance: The Fall of Man, and that it will be available by the end of the year--placing it square in the middle of the PS3's launch window.

For more news from the event, check out GameSpot's GDC 2006 page.