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10 years ago today, Sony invited everyone to a Playstation Meeting...
- Thread starter AuthenticM
- Start date
I still cannot believe this is how they announced their dumb fucking superhero videogame.
RIP Ryan
This is where Square Enix showed Agnis Philosophy for the second time. Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 were shown E3 2013.
The conference had a weird energy because Sony higher upside like Andrew House genuinely thought that PS4 was probably the last console they will make. And on then software side they rolled out sleep deprived dudes who were probably worried about their jobs because Sony was looking to make cuts. Which in Evolution's case unfortunately came true.
It was wild and the start of me moving from 360 to PS again. Really didn't think Sony could pull it off and they did
That's the one hahaha
Man... that was wild lol
The PS3 (and the generation as a whole) was truly the worst console experience I've had by far. It was a generally miserable time for anyone who enjoyed Japanese games, especially RPGs.
Especially Square Enix ones.
The PS4 was the massive turnaround I needed. It ended up being my favorite console since the PS2.
The PS5 isn't there yet but it's been very solid as well.
Especially Square Enix ones.
The PS4 was the massive turnaround I needed. It ended up being my favorite console since the PS2.
The PS5 isn't there yet but it's been very solid as well.
A lot of the sales were based on hype and the strength of the PlayStation brand (plus the all-timer fuck-up list that Microsoft put together), so sales were in many cases base on potential rather than the games that were around at launch.
The other thing to remember, though, is that most of the launch games really were visibly superior to every comparable game on every console at the time, so it wasn't just the exclusives that were selling it, it was everything. For anyone coming from a generation of 720p 25-ish FPS games, the PS4's launch line-up was a huge step up. Games like Assassin's Creed IV and FIFA and CoD were on a bunch of other platforms, but the PS4 beat every other console version, in most cases decisively, and those were among the biggest names in the industry. Those superior multiplatform games were at least as important as the exclusives.
For weeks from the moment the rumors of the announcement started to swirl around, up to the specs reveal, I was very nervous, because the generation was potentially going to be divided between one console with fast but small pool of RAM, and another with slow but big pool, making the game development a bit of a mess for another entire gen.
The specs were known online and pretty much considered confirmed, but when the 8GB GDDR5 appeared onscreen it was a huge win for Sony, because they had managed the 2 best possible specs for RAM. There was a high chance they would only end up with 4GB, but some people believed only a last hour development by Samsung made 8GB possible. The console ended up with 16 (!) modules of 4Gb each to make it possible, 8 on each side of the motherboard.
And since someone brought up Misterxmedia... Those were also dark times, because the whole discourse about a secret plan by MS to destroy Sony and reveal a hidden GPU to destroy PlayStation later morphed into the very first mainstream anti-MSM anti-establishment conspiracy theory I saw online during that decade (some people believed mainstream gaming press refused to talk about the hidden GPU because they were bought and paid by Sony). It was a rabbit hole that morbidly I witnessed some people fall online into and never come back from.
The specs were known online and pretty much considered confirmed, but when the 8GB GDDR5 appeared onscreen it was a huge win for Sony, because they had managed the 2 best possible specs for RAM. There was a high chance they would only end up with 4GB, but some people believed only a last hour development by Samsung made 8GB possible. The console ended up with 16 (!) modules of 4Gb each to make it possible, 8 on each side of the motherboard.
And since someone brought up Misterxmedia... Those were also dark times, because the whole discourse about a secret plan by MS to destroy Sony and reveal a hidden GPU to destroy PlayStation later morphed into the very first mainstream anti-MSM anti-establishment conspiracy theory I saw online during that decade (some people believed mainstream gaming press refused to talk about the hidden GPU because they were bought and paid by Sony). It was a rabbit hole that morbidly I witnessed some people fall online into and never come back from.
There was something about "the cloud" giving the console more horsepower. Giant Bomb were spit-balling during the pre-reveals around this time ten years ago.
Nothing inherently wrong with launch hype - we are in that cycle now with Nintendo - but the sites like GB were keen to parrot whatever random marketing double-talk was going around.
Netflix was going to subsidise our Xbox Live so we could all watch House Of Cards!
Holy shit, lmao. I haven't thought about that dude in years.
So many Banderas and Kaz gifs out there, but this one for sure one of my favorites.
many tech/gaming journalists were underwhelmed by the conf. like "meh, it's just a console" ... because they genuinely expected the PS4 to be some sort of gaming phone/tablet/Ipad-thingy or somethin'.
OP
OP
I was introduced to these gaming forum communities around this time and joined the old forum just before this event aired. It was a friggin' magical time, watching everything play out.
It's been amazing to watch Sony build off of that over the last decade to the heights they sit at now, and they're still climbing. One can only imagine how batshit crazy things would've been for the start of this gen had the pandemic not knee-capped them both in terms of hardware and software production. Although the silver lining may be that remote work and WFH may be factors that help to build an even stronger PlayStation in the long run.
It's been amazing to watch Sony build off of that over the last decade to the heights they sit at now, and they're still climbing. One can only imagine how batshit crazy things would've been for the start of this gen had the pandemic not knee-capped them both in terms of hardware and software production. Although the silver lining may be that remote work and WFH may be factors that help to build an even stronger PlayStation in the long run.
My god, where does the time go
I remember me and all my friends were watching this, texting about the event and how much pressure it put on Microsoft for their next Xbox.
I remember me and all my friends were watching this, texting about the event and how much pressure it put on Microsoft for their next Xbox.
I was all-in on PlayStation back then, hah. That show was pretty hype. Funny enough, that's when I discovered The Witness, which has since moved its way into my top 3 all-time games. I remember Blow making some awkward joke about following up all of those Killzone explosions š
It's interesting to see how the brands have changed from now to then.
It's interesting to see how the brands have changed from now to then.
PS4 was hype, ps5 not as much,
The lead up to this gen was underwhelming compared to what happened back then
The lead up to this gen was underwhelming compared to what happened back then
Looking back, almost every game revealed in that conference and the subsequent E3 straight up sucks. The new Killzone and inFamous killed their franchises, Deep Down disappeared, Street Fighter V lacked content, Driveclub launched in a terrible state and spelled the end of the studio, FFXV was the biggest wet fart in history, KH3 disappointed, The Order 1886 was a tech demo.
You have to be there to understand what Bloodborne meant for PS4. Before Bloodborne I used my PS4 exclusively for Battlefield 4.
You have to be there to understand what Bloodborne meant for PS4. Before Bloodborne I used my PS4 exclusively for Battlefield 4.
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This guy is still waiting for the hidden GPU in the external power-supply.
So it's been 10 years since the great gif wars
Yep, this reveal is still goddamn bonkers to this day:
Sony copied pages out of the 360 playbook and took a gamble on 8GB of ddr5 and it paid off. Mattrick was always a horrible fit for xbox and it makes you wonder why they even chose him. It would have been an interesting generation had the ps4 been stuck with 4GB of memory.
Had to look up Misterxmedia and that dude was still active in 2022. I wonder if he ever found the sauce.
Had to look up Misterxmedia and that dude was still active in 2022. I wonder if he ever found the sauce.
The memery and shitposting around it was fun (if toxic af in hindsight), but I actually recall the reception being kinda subdued for the PS4, with many suggesting they'd handed the generation to MS on a platter. Only for the polar opposite to happen...
You know, I don't think I watched this conference. It was where Sony showed the controller but not the console itself, correct?
Oy, don't remind me. I don't have the endurance for those half-decadelong announcement-to-release cycles anymore.
Oof.
Street Fighter V was revealed in 2013?
No, the generation is Microsoft's lose was largely American Video Games media's attitude before this conference. 8GB GDDR blew a hole into that idea right away for the most enthusiasts, but American Media kept hoping that MS will respond accordingly since they still had couple of months before their announcement at that time. When that didn't happen, and their reveal was a disaster, American Media still couldn't wrap their heads around it and started writing "Sony Too" articles. It was all very embarrassing. However, for most enthusiasts it was clear which direction the winds were blowing.
By the way American Media embarrassing phase didn't end even after all the so called 180s by MS. They tried arguing that people could see the difference between 720p and 1080p. They tried to argue that MS was going create utopia of sharing games and ability to resell digital licenses and what not, but consumers stopped them. Meanwhile, forgetting that if MS did have anything like that they would have announced it instead of taking PR beating left and right and eventually reversing course.
Also, not all American Media was like that. Giant Bomb's coverage was nice and they actually broke the 180s.
I remember I was tutoring a class in college during the presentation, so I refreshed GAF whenever I could to see updates. 8 GB of GDDR5 was crazy to see; as far as I remember, nobody thought it would be that high. And then the Killzone money shot. That was a fun time.