GDC 07: Killzone Gets the PlayStation Edge

It has been nearly two years since the first footage of Killzone for the PlayStation 3 was shown off at Sony’s E3 2005 press conference. With no consoles of the new generation on the market at the time, the intense trailer sparked a heated debate over the graphical potential of the upcoming hardware. The console launches have come and gone and the world has seen first-hand what the PS3 hardware is capable of, but many were still wondering what had become of Sony’s hype machine of old.

Last night at Sony’s pre-GDC press briefing in San Francisco, Sony Computer Entertainment’s President of Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison, raised the curtain on the first “in-game” footage of Killzone for the PlayStation 3. The intense footage of the game showcased highly destructible environments and a soon to be cliché slow-motion ability a la Max Payne and F.E.A.R., albeit with far nicer graphics.

“Please remember that we’re showing you this footage as an example of our technology,” Harrison clarified. “Keep that in mind when looking at it and don’t think of it as looking at the game directly.”

Phil was talking about an advanced new graphics tool that will simplify development on the PS3 hardware. Dubbed PlayStation Edge, the new toolset includes a couple of important components, including GCM Replay, a powerful RSX profiling tool to help developers maximize the GPU’s performance, and a suite of optimized libraries that will help studios to take advantage of the SPU processes like compression and animation.

Just before the trailer came to a close, the word “E3” flashed across the screen, and Harrison confirmed that the world will see more of Killzone at the E3 Media and Business Summit in July.

AMN will bring you more from GDC in San Francisco throughout the conference, so stay tuned.