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DF Retro Extra: Sony at E3 2006 - PlayStation 3's Darkest Hour Revisited
- Thread starter Kenzodielocke
- Start date
You haven't known true hardship until you've experienced using the Playstation Store circa 2007(shudders).
IIRC there was no search function in the Mexican store for a while, lol. And the massive updates one after another, I swear there were times when I'd turn on my PS3, update, and then turn it off. And the download speeds. I honestly didn't enjoy my PS3 as most people seemingly did.
I love the shit out of my PS3 so its really funny to see how badly it started out. Ended up being amazing lol.
"I really hope that Bluepoint take a look at MGS games."
Fucking this.
Awful as the launch was, is it not impressive that Sony was still successful with PS3? In terms of units sold and their strong first party line up of games, obviously the marketshare loss was a blow. And they couldnt compete with XBL.
Comparatively, Wii U or Xbox One dont seem to be making anywhere near the comeback.
Comparatively, Wii U or Xbox One dont seem to be making anywhere near the comeback.
Nowadays the worst they do is show exclusive gameplay of around 6 games, some of which are highly anticipated and people still complain. I got a hard time understanding the community sometimes
Looking at PS2 install base it wasn't that surprising to me that they were able to take some of that success with them on their next console despite everything that didn't make it look special in advance. I remember how many people were impressed by early games like motorstorm even if the trailer was very misleading.
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The PS3 was a terrible console in so many ways. It's easy to forget now that the PS4 basically has feature parity with XB1 at an OS level but there were so many things wrong with it for so long.
No in-game XMB for years (I remember being blown away by the fact that you couldn't check your messages in-game after using the 360 for a year), no trophies for years, no background downloading for years, a terrible store for years (I believe the first iteration was a glorified webpage), no cross-game chat, seemingly constant updates that took seemingly hours to download and install.
At an OS level, the PS3 was a slow, unwieldy nightmare. Sony deserved all the shit they got for that era because despite the dashboard ads and paid-for online they were lapped several times over by Microsoft at the OS level last gen.
The PS3 was not a success for Sony like at all. It doesn't matter that they have sold around 90 million consoles because they have lost billions with the machine. It was a financial disaster for Sony.
I don't think E3 2006 was that bad, just an example of one of the first viral meme videos, they cherrypick a few cringe moments out of an hour & make it look bad overall, the real killer was 599 US DOLLARS & that alone.
I still remember people defending $599 price tag because PS3 was going to get FF13, Versus 13, Kingdom Hearts 3 & DMC4 as exclusives, good times.
I still remember people defending $599 price tag because PS3 was going to get FF13, Versus 13, Kingdom Hearts 3 & DMC4 as exclusives, good times.
I like how easily amused John is by RIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACER so many years later. :P
It's really interesting to think about how PSP actually shipped more units than the 3DS, yet despite that it's thought about some kind of failure. I guess that's the stench of the Vita. Really unfortunate (for Sony) how deeply they mismanaged their portable side of the gaming equation.
It's really interesting to think about how PSP actually shipped more units than the 3DS, yet despite that it's thought about some kind of failure. I guess that's the stench of the Vita. Really unfortunate (for Sony) how deeply they mismanaged their portable side of the gaming equation.
Having just watched this, it really was just a bad show from beginning to end. The pacing was atrocious, the downgrades from the previous year were obvious and they spent so much damn time on numbers that only mattered to investors. FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS was the rotten cherry atop a shit sundae.
Losing Sony is best Sony. Sony bounced back hard with the PS3. I firmly maintain the opinion that PS3 went on to become the best home Playstation console. I'm very, very sad Sony did not attempt to salvage the Vita the way they did with PS3.
Oh, and fuck paid online. Fuck it fuck it fuck it. Fuck it 10 years ago on the 360 and fuck it now on sadly every console.
PS Plus on PS3 was the goddamn greatest, but sadly Sony has tarnished that legacy with what they turned it in to on PS4. In reality it was nothing more than a trojan horse. They made PS Plus so good on PS3 so that when they locked online behind it with PS4 there wouldn't be backlash.
Oh, and fuck paid online. Fuck it fuck it fuck it. Fuck it 10 years ago on the 360 and fuck it now on sadly every console.
PS Plus on PS3 was the goddamn greatest, but sadly Sony has tarnished that legacy with what they turned it in to on PS4. In reality it was nothing more than a trojan horse. They made PS Plus so good on PS3 so that when they locked online behind it with PS4 there wouldn't be backlash.
They mismanaged it by releasing Vita. Writing was on the wall even before release of Vita. Nintendo went completely all in with 3DS and still it didn't match the hw sales of even PSP that was on auto pilot for most of its life just gen before. I don't see anything that would had changed the outcome of Vita.
Alright, I never had that many friends so that makes sense.
Matchmaking and lobbies have nothing to do with PSN though, that's all on the servers of the game that you were playing. Same goes for Xbox Live as well. Xbox Live and PSN accounts are just a single sign-on method for game publishers' servers. Once you're logged in it's all on the publisher, and Sony/MS no longer have any power over your gaming experience.
As far as I know, The 100 friendlist limit didn't crash anything except one game when it came out near the end of the lifecycle. Also it was a hard limit based on the PS3 online infrastructure. And seriously...who really needs 100+ friends on a console? I mean I have like 150+ right now and I think maybe 10% come online at a reasonable timeframe and most are dormant now with hiding online presence. Most of the complaints I hear in here are not from people who used the system for any length of time. Mandatory installs? Nope. Hard to code? Yep. But Sony's first-party studios also have a collective where they share information on programming for their systems. They share that with third-parties as well. It's better than the way other companies do things related to programming for their console (from what I've managed to look up online). Shitty online? Anecdotal, at least for me. Trophies? Ok? It's still not industry standard with all the different storefronts now on PC. I never once had a PS3 server issue anywhere I lived in TX at the time (moved several times from rural to urban and back; not to mention how many times I just took my PS3 when I travelled). Complaining about BLuay speed these days and comparing it to 360's DVD drive? I mean that's just silly. Without the blu-ray in the PS3, physical media would be barren these days if HD-DVD won...blergh. A lot of these complaints I've read so far are mostly BS or anecdotal at best.
I think the key difference is that arrogant Sony was actively trying to push bizarre shit all the time because no one could stop them.
Modern Sony is more like apathetic Sony. They get more shit for what they don't do, rather than what they do.
It almost tanked half the gaming industry, so i don´t quite agree.
I've just watched the whole thing for the first time and yeah by today's standards this would've been an atrocious conference. That pacing. Never watched the original conference in its entirety, so it was interesting. I do remember how much more slow paced these were back in the days... it's still rough.
Even back then, the games which were being shown didn't excite me at all to be honest. Aside from the muddy, grey and bloom-ridden visuals, many of the titles aren't that appealing: FF XIII, Resistance, Uncharted etc. all had arguably better sequels. Of course we didn't know what to expect back then but I'm glad nowadays games are visually and conceptually way more appealing. I adore MGS4 but it really needs a colour palette update.
Superb commentary as always, I love the chemistry between dictator Alex, John and Rich. Did John also secretly tease a MediEvil retro or what was going on there? :o
Even back then, the games which were being shown didn't excite me at all to be honest. Aside from the muddy, grey and bloom-ridden visuals, many of the titles aren't that appealing: FF XIII, Resistance, Uncharted etc. all had arguably better sequels. Of course we didn't know what to expect back then but I'm glad nowadays games are visually and conceptually way more appealing. I adore MGS4 but it really needs a colour palette update.
Superb commentary as always, I love the chemistry between dictator Alex, John and Rich. Did John also secretly tease a MediEvil retro or what was going on there? :o
All three DF guys are based in Europe (although I guess John was still living in the US back in 2006?) and none of them remember Europe getting the PS3 four months late due to production shenanigans? 😨
Now I do wonder when exactly they announced that, though. I had thought Europe being PS3-free for Christmas 2006 was part of the whole package, but apparently not so.
Now I do wonder when exactly they announced that, though. I had thought Europe being PS3-free for Christmas 2006 was part of the whole package, but apparently not so.
If you were one of the first 100 or so who bought it at the oxford street virgin at launch you got a massive sony bravia tv free too.
That bugged me for years as that's where I'd have bought it if I had the money, but it was so expensive I give it a miss lol
Came here for these. So glad it's still like yesterday for some of us.
There's also the Spider-Man font and the banana controller.
You might say that's arrogant Sony at their best. They were sure better than blowhard Don Mattrick in 2013.
DF Retro is one of my favorite video series ever. Thanks John/Alex/Rich for the reminiscing!
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I respect your opinion but I completely disagree. And despite absolutely loving every other PS console, I was not a fan of ps3 at all.
You're citing a game which released at the absolute end of its cycle to justify your purchase? There are many sticks to beat it with, but its not one of them.
Also, the bit about worse 3rd party games is simply untrue. In fact just dig up Digital Foundry videos from that era and you'll find games ran better and looked better on it. You also missed out on some of the great exclusive games ever made.
The ramifications it had on Japan alone were staggering. The irony of Microsoft focusing so much on getting Japanese support so much that generation may have wound up being the thing that helped to keep them afloat during the transition to HD game development is palpable.
If you think this was bad, read EGM's interview with Jack Tretton (SCEA's President at the time) from Feb. 2007 which was an absolute trainwreck.
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=234479
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=234479
The PS3 was in a rough place between 2006 and 2009, and it's weird to see people claiming otherwise. The "PS3 chalkboard" existed in the first place because sales were not high enough and most Japanese developers were not migrating their core games to the platform. It did eventually recover and do pretty well all things considered, but the start was rocky to say the least.
Lol that conference is still hilariously bad.
But the ps3 was such a premium and exciting system. Coming home with a ps3, a couple games and a Blu ray movie for the first time was awesome.
But the ps3 was such a premium and exciting system. Coming home with a ps3, a couple games and a Blu ray movie for the first time was awesome.
they close out the video with one too
Loved watching this, and loved the 360 one they did before for E3 2005. I wasn't in the States so while I've seen clips of this before, obviously because of memes, I never saw the whole thing.
I remember it basically turning around when it finally got a price drop. I think that was the time when they started selling the slim, but it's been so long...
The peak transfer speed difference was 16 to 9, but that translated to less in real-world usage, especially since the drives were CLV / CAV respectively IIRC.
More importantly that delta was relatively small anyway - the generation before - Xbox had a nearly 3x faster drive than GCN(and 30% faster than PS2) and still most games installed data to its HDD regardless - that's what happens when you have a built-in storage in every device, software actually uses it.