PlayStation Meeting 2013

[The Mask of Norro]

The social stuff is pretty cool, and the only real innovation that I liked from it. The "Spectator Mode" is genuinely great, though has potential to just dissolve into nothing but awful videos of adolescents swearing over an FPS, so it'll be interesting to see if Sony give any kind of incentive for gamers to provide something of quality.

Nintendo doing social gaming works, because they have a very friendly, hands-on image, whereas Sony are very cold and impersonal, so I can imagine it just being left up to the users to produce whatever they like, whereas I'd prefer the odd contest or suggestions being thrown out there as to what gamers should be sharing, to get the ball rolling, and to move it into a more interesting area.

The idea that load times won't exist just seems unbelievable to me. Will believe it when I see it.

The fact that they did a "reveal" press conference without even showing us the console rings alarm bells. I don't really know how to feel about that, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth if nothing else. The fact that there's no release date or price given is disappointing too, though I expect that's more a case of playing their cards close to their chest so they can undermine any announcements Microsoft might make, and that makes sense. But from a consumer perspective, and from a "major announcement press conference" perspective, it absolutely sucks.

Lack of backwards compatibility is awful, particularly if PS4 continues to use Blu-Ray. Hopefully they come up with some form of "registration" system, where you can register your PS3 games to get a free - or at the very least, discounted - download of them to play on the "Cloud". I fully expect that won't be the case, though.

Even the game reveals were nothing too special. A lot of "oooh, pretty" footage of games we already knew existed, or else were dead certs to be coming to PS4 anyway. And all very Playstation. The only surprise was Diablo 3, a game that was released last year and was largely underwhelming. Yes, it's nice that they're bringing it to a console, but it's not a game changer. There was a complete lack of innovation, or really anything more than a glorified tech demo.

Like I said earlier, HD graphics and existing franchises just are not enough to sell a new console any more. Sorry to keep banging on about the WiiU, but it's my frame of reference, and the only available "next-gen" comparison I can draw; if you look at the trailers for WiiU games, the reveal of the console, the launch titles, and pretty much everything around it, every little thing was about how the games used the hardware, what the hardware was capable of, and what you could potentially do with this hardware.

In comparison, the PS4 "reveal" was little more than shaking a shiny ball in front of you. Only they didn't even do that, they just described the shiny ball.

Nintendo did this with the Wii U in E3 2011 and no one batted an eyelid. Microsoft did this with their Xbox 2000 reveal as well. They are saving the big guns for this years E3.

Yeah, you're right, they did do it at E3 2011... and the system then came out in Winter 2012.

Sony is marketing the PS4 launch for Holiday 2013. They have announced a new console due for release by the end of this year and we don't even know what the thing looks like. I'm sorry, but it's not a smart marketing move at all when it's this close to the planned launch.

I love Sony to death but I've got to echo Skummy here. The conference was largely underwhelming, promised only a small number of innovations that caught my interest and, overall, left me concerned about Sony's viability in the market any longer. They need the PS4 to be a success-- the Vita isn't doing anything for them and they're still climbing out of a deep financial hole they've drilled themselves into right now, and if the PS4 repeats the same patterns as the PS3 then I'm worried we'll see Sony go third party within the next couple of years.

[TCO]

Yeah I really think not showing the physical console was a mistake. If they had shown it, the image would be plastered all over media sources worldwide. It doesn't bother me in the slightest and I was very impressed by everything I heard about the console, but it really needed a visual aid.

[Herr Matzat]

[Dan]

I am a bit miffed that they didn't show the console. I can understand why they haven't done it.

Also, here's a quick recap for people you didn't see it last night.

[therockbox]

Have you guys seen this? :lmao:

[deli]

It's fucking brilliant though isn't it?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I am a bit miffed that they didn't show the console. I can understand why they haven't done it.

Also, here's a quick recap for people you didn't see it last night.

Have you guys seen this? :lmao:

BAH GAWD!

[King Ellis]

allPS4announcementtheabridgedversion.com?

[TKz]

Jesus you guys are jaded.

"THIS CONSOLE GENERATION HAS GONE ON TOO LONG, WE NEED NEW CONSOLES"

"THAT'S IT!? FUCK THIS SHIT."

The only thing I'm bothered about is that it's not backwards compatible. I get why they're doing it, to avoid people buying PS3 copies of games instead of PS4, but it sucks that I have to keep ANOTHER Sony console around in case I feel like playing an old game. The only thing that really bothers me is the lack of PSOne classics and the like carrying over... but the only games I need copies off are FF7-FF9 and XHD, which I'll apparently be able to have on Vita anyway. And the only PS3 games I've not bothered to trade in are FFXIII and FFXIII-2. And MGS4, but I've not played that once since beating it.

I pre-ordered mine on Shopto this morning, so I've definitely got one come the time. Same with a copy of the new FF. Having to save up £400 over more than six months isn't too bad.

[MalaCloudy Black]

If rumors are to be believed, part of the reason there's no backwards compatibility between PS4/PS3 is because they use different processing architectures. Seems like that's just a rumor right now though.

[deli]

I think that was confirmed somewhere.

Also, you can preorder this at ShopTo?

[apsham]

The reason that it's not going to be backwards compatible is one hundred percent to do with the fact that they call sell you the game again on the PS4 cloud - it's sad but true, same reason that they took both hardware and software emulation out of the PS3. It wouldn't bother me all that much if they you know.. actually did something interesting with it all instead of taking ages to even start PS2 Classica and then do few and far between releases.

Meh, I guess I'm just starting to become really jaded with consoles. I'd just like for ONCE to be able to keep all my stuff centralized to one location. If I had the willpower to save enough for a good desktop...

[King Ellis]

It went up like right as the announcement finished.

Game is taking pre orders for £20 apparently.

[zero]

Jesus you guys are jaded.

"THIS CONSOLE GENERATION HAS GONE ON TOO LONG, WE NEED NEW CONSOLES"

"THAT'S IT!? FUCK THIS SHIT."

All we really saw was target footage and a bunch of games that are also coming out on PS3/360/Wii U/etc.

I think we can all agree the share feature has potential, as does playing games while downloading them, but are those things really worth a $400 - $600 purchase this year? Sony has bungled their two previous launches and this tepid unveiling has me concerned for round 4. Yes, they have to save something for E3, but at that point, why not just do all of this at E3? This was purely to get the jump on Microsoft, but now they've opened themselves up to the criticisms they've faced this morning and given MS plenty of time to make adjustments to their inevitable unveiling.

These two (technically three) companies are competing for who gets my money first. I eventually wind up with all three systems, but I'm already so cynical about this next-gen that stuff like "social! cloud! socialcloud!" doesn't really help. Time does suggest we're supposed to have new consoles now, but I'm not really seeing or hearing speculation about stuff that's really going to change the industry. The leap from NES to SNES was huge, games went from something slightly above Atari to something so innovative that it's still the basis for most of our "simpler" games. Then SNES to PSX/N64 was our transition to 3D, a major revolution for gaming. PSX to PS2 saw consoles budding as media centers and the slow birth of online play, and this gen was the natural evolution of that, plus motion gaming (which the jury's still out on) and HD.

My 360 and PS3 are media centers, I play them both online, I download games on them... but what's the evolution this time? Again, sharing video of a sweet Borderlands headshot is fine, but is that a selling point for a brand new machine? Games that are slightly prettier than the extremely gorgeous games we have now? Sony did a lot of talking about how creativity is thriving, but all I saw were the same shooters, dungeons and dragons, run-from-the-cops games I play now. Where's the evolution of AI? Where are the games that challenge the idea of what a video game can be? What's the last truly innovative thing we've seen from this industry? If you'll pardon the pun, where's the game changer?

And I realize that's a hefty burden to lay at Sony's feet, but they're first out of the gate and I expect more from them.

[Plubby]

You want Sony to tell us what new games will be made?

Damn right, that's a hefty burden to lay at Sony's feet. There were...how many...game companies at the announcement that should be getting this instead?

[TKz]

A big thing about the announcement of the PS4 now was to get that out of the way so the focus can be on the games at E3, rather than have it be this plus a little bit more. They do it separately, they're able to give twice as much information in the long run, instead of being limited to the amount of time they'll be allowed at E3. I don't really understand where you want this game changer in terms of AI to come from, as surely that's not down to Sony? The tech they're presenting is already out there, it's not Sony that hasn't advanced this stuff, it's the developers of the games.

I'm pretty sure unveiling wasn't the hard sell of the console, this was "Yes, there's going to be a PS4, it's going to be like this..." E3 was always when they were planning on going all out.

Personally I'm pretty psyched for the whole thing, mostly because of what it means for developers not being held back by the PS3 and 360's tech. I mean, I've started the transition to PC gaming pretty heavily lately, so it'll be nice to see more impressive games that aren't being held back by "But can this 7 year old hardware run it?"

[zero]

You want Sony to tell us what new games will be made?

Damn right, that's a hefty burden to lay at Sony's feet. There were...how many...game companies at the announcement that should be getting this instead?

Sony does have first-party developers. Good ones. Great ones. They're the entire reason I own a PS3... I expect big things from them.

And it's not just about "what new games will be made," it's about what the hardware means for new games. What will these consoles do that can't already be done between existing platforms? Other than prettier graphics? Obviously it will get to the point that the existing consoles just can't hang with technology, but considering how well the PS2 hung in there, I don't think we're there yet. Or even close.

[apsham]

And at the same time - it's Sony's event so it's in their best interest to get the developers there.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

I wonder sometimes if the amount of exclusive games the ps3 has is at a detriment to sales over all.

They have a crap ton more than Microsoft, so the choices of software are more spread out.

But most Xbox players enjoy a decent online experience too, which balancs that out.

I dunno. Just a thought.

[gunnar hendershow]

Getting my fill of all the PS4 details. Pretty interesting, it looks like a definite step in a pretty neat direction for games. I look forward to grabbing one in a couple years when I'm out of school. Until then the backlog of PS3 and PC games will keep me busy!

And, yes, it's impossible for me and likely a whole huge number of other people to justify purchasing either the PS4 or 720 at what will be their launch prices. We do need new consoles, but more in the vein that there are new technologies that need to be implemented and less in the traditional vein of a total and complete overhaul. It's sort of the catch, since the gaming market is designed towards total overhauls even though technology has now reached the point where the changes aren't like the leap from 16-bit to 3D, they're more like the changes from Facebook in 07 to Facebook today.