Sony Says PS4 is "First and Foremost" a Game Console

[RJ 17]

Now all they have to do is confirm they have no nefarious plans in regards to used games or always-online and they will have sealed the deal. The road to victory has never been so crystal clear for them... we can only hope their executives will see the light!

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Microsoft has bent itself over a barrel with it's pants down just BEGGING Sony to.....kick its ass. If Sony plays its cards right, it can surf this wave of MS Hate all the way to the PS4's launch and make an absolute killing. It still blows my mind how MS could have fucked up the XBone/XBone's reveal as royally as they did. Granted, this is the wonderful company that brought us the glorious Windows 8 OS, but even so! You'd think they'd learn that no matter how much they try, no matter how hard they push, they cannot stuff failed products down the throats of their consumer base. Windows 8 was/is a train wreck but damnit, come hell or high water, they're going to try to convince us that it's awesome. It's going to be the EXACT SAME THING with this XBone. "Kinect was a product that absolutely failed. Nobody wanted the damn thing, we literally couldn't even give the things away.......LET'S MAKE IT MANDATORY! Oh! Oh! Even better! Let's make 80% of the XBone's launch titles Kinect games! Yeah, maybe THAT'S what the problem was...people actually want the Kinect, but we just didn't give it a good foundation on the 360 to start from!"

It really just blows my mind how terrible the XBone sounds like it's going to be. But maybe this is all just part of the cycle...the winner of last generation's console war will be the loser of the next generation's console war. The PS2 was vastly more popular than the Xbox, then out comes the PS3 trying to get ahead of itself and it falls flat. The 360 (at least to my understanding) was the more popular console this go around, and now it's time for MS to try and get too big for it's britches and fall flat on its face...and into a vat of acid....that's filled with acid-proof sharks....that have frickin' lazers on their heads.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

It's pretty depressing that we're at the point where they have to reassure us that their games console is primarily for games.

 

[vid87]

Good on them for keeping their finger on the pulse of gaming better than some of the competition.

I'm reminded of Bob's Game Overthinker segment on Sony's victory with the PS1 when Nintendo screwed them over in their partnership, leaving the gaming equivalent of the plans to the Death Star behind. The point was that Sony actually had no business being in gaming since it had no experience, but succeeded because they were lucky to get the right tech, and, more importantly, they analyzed and exploited the weaknesses and arrogance of their competition.

Even if the PS4 doesn't essentially change the world, I could honestly understand if Sony won this "generation" since their rivals are an out-of-touch iron-fisted basket case and an old-timer who's main contribution to the new cycle was a goddamn game pad they called a "console."

 

[Roxas1359]

Aslong as the PS4 doesn`t have less features than the PS3 i`m fine with Sony. Having a browser is nice and using it for movies and music is allright. What i don`t need and want are a tv-station and getting paranoid from being watched by Kinect.
My only concern with the PS4 is the price tag since i won`t be able to spend 599bucks (amazon preorder price) and that i´m still waiting for bad surprises from their side. Atm it all sounds allmost to good to be true.

That's just a placeholder price that Amazon uses until they get the actual price and release date of the console. If Amazon's placeholder price were true for the PS4 then that would mean that the $900 placeholder price for the Xbox One is the actual price of the console.

OT: It's like the other companies are just wanting to let Sony win this race. Well we still have Nintendo, and I think that they're purposely falling behind so then they can start spamming blueshells, but the Xbox Box one keeps on falling further behind with hopes of getting the lightening. All the Xbone keeps getting though is Thunder Cloud.
...okay I'll stop with the Mario Kart metaphor for the console wars.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

If you want to reassure us, just come out and say you aren't blocking used games and won't do always online.

This. This is what I want to hear from them. Come on, Sony--just do those two things and this'll be the shortest console war of all time.

 

[SecondPrize]

I still don't get how the xbone is meant to be synonymous with all in one. All in one means all in one. One just means one. The xball would have better suggested what they were trying for.
Also, yeah Sony, we know. We knew when you showed more than a couple games at your press conference, and when you spent so much time getting developers to talk about developing games for the PS4. You might as well have announced that you're not going to kick puppies.

 

[Grabehn]

I love how they're looking for good PR because of the dumb XboX TV thing. What nonsense is this you speak of? A VIDEOGAME console focusing on GAMES? OH MY!

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

This was the very first thing I thought about when the next-gen stuff was revealed. The PS3's tagline was "It does everything" while the 360 was the Halo box. Everyone (especially Microsoft) laughed at the PS3.

Now they have switched places, but up until this point I have yet to have read a single news outlet call them out on it.

 

[6_Qubed]

THE MONTH IN GAMING:

GEARBOX ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE BORDERLANDS 2 BY UNLEASHING MADMAN ONTO GAMING COMMUNITY
Prospects optimistic.

MINECRAFT STILL STUPID-POPULAR
Notch picks out design for new mansion.

MICROSOFT FILLS BARREL FULL OF FISH, HANDS SONY A RIFLE
Sony obliges.

I STILL DON'T HAVE A PROPER COMPUTER FOR PC GAMING
And my birthday was this month, too. :c

 

[Baresark]

Haha, ever since M$'s big reveal conference, it's so easy for Sony to look good to gamers. All they have to do is say they are doing the things that M$ isn't (read: everything that concerns actual gamers) and they look awesome.

 

[Lightknight]

Whether or not you're a jaded college of business graduate like me who sees dollar signs in the eyes of every company, this is a good sign. It's showing that Sony is actually listening to "the internets" and is mobile enough to respond rapidly and positively. This shows that Sony thinks the way to win this generation is to give us what we want within their means to give it. You have to reward companies when they do that because, believe it or not, modern companies have forgotten that they're in the business of making customers happy. Sony seeing this as an opportunity to gain market share is them being savy and the key being customer satisfaction is exactly where we want them to be.

If they can just come in at a reasonable price then there's no real problem that I can see yet. I am somewhat concerned that Microsoft is trying to lure Sony into having a high price point with the $900 (£600) Xbone preorder in the UK Amazon site. I can't see Microsoft thinking that pricing is a good idea but the kinect plus machine may really be that expensive in the first iteration.

This is why companies are cyclical in their ability to hear consumers. When they need market share the key is making consumers happy. When they have market share then they view that as the opportunity to bleed their market dry. This is particularly evident when there's only a few players in the market. We really need companies to stop dropping the ball and start playing to win the war. Having multiple generations of making us happy will only bury their competition and make us actually stalwart fans. Giving up smaller and short-lived victories for a good name and long-term profit.

 

[JetFury]

Really hope Sony doesn't mess this up. If they don't have drm or game restrictions they have a clear cut path to victory. They should anyway after how badly Microsoft did

 

[AkaDad]

Fun Fact:

Anyone who uses the term "master race" sounds like a Nazi.

If Sony is smart, they won't implement the prove you're not a pirate before we allow you to play games policy, and the somehow we have the authority to charge fees for used games policy.

 

[Timmey]

Whether or not you're a jaded college of business graduate like me who sees dollar signs in the eyes of every company, this is a good sign. It's showing that Sony is actually listening to "the internets" and is mobile enough to respond rapidly and positively. This shows that Sony thinks the way to win this generation is to give us what we want within their means to give it. You have to reward companies when they do that because, believe it or not, modern companies have forgotten that they're in the business of making customers happy. Sony seeing this as an opportunity to gain market share is them being savy and the key being customer satisfaction is exactly where we want them to be.

If they can just come in at a reasonable price then there's no real problem that I can see yet. I am somewhat concerned that Microsoft is trying to lure Sony into having a high price point with the $900 (£600) Xbone preorder in the UK Amazon site. I can't see Microsoft thinking that pricing is a good idea but the kinect plus machine may really be that expensive in the first iteration.

Agree with most of what you say but you have to realise those figures are place holders, those are NOT the price of the consoles.

 

[Mr. Q]

As long as Sony doesn't do anything to screw the pooch at E3 and neither Nintendo or Microsoft pull off a Hail Mary play to win back the fans, then Playstation looks ready to reclaim its crown in the console wars.

The ball is in your court, Sony. Make it count.

 

[Gray Firion]

Well they've already tried motion controles and all in one entertainment center, so all they have to do is just keep doing what they're doing.

They do seem to have gone down all the roads that lead nowhere don't they? ^^

If they did learn from their mistakes then the PS4 might indeed do better than the PS3 did.

 

[rob_simple]

I don't think that's necessarily true. I don't think most gamers want a purely gaming-only console, and nobody here thinks the PS4 doesn't also have the ability to play movies and TV and browse the internet and have apps on it and serve other purposes beyond video games (especially since the PS3 already does all of that). But gamers want a gaming console with multimedia features as an addition that supports its primary functionality of playing games - that is, making an already attractive gaming console more functional - and not a multimedia box that also plays games as an afterthought. Sony isn't changing their tune here at all.

Listen, most people out there have a computer right now. At least, those that would be interested in buying a game console. (Most, not all, I know.) I have a computer TO DO all of that non-gaming stuff. I use my computer to browse the internet, watch DVDs, do my social media (though my phone covers that more anymore).

I don't want a game console to do that. You know what I want my game console to do? Play games. That's it. Nothing more. This is the reason I still go back and play my Dreamcast, GBA, Gamecube, and PS2 on a regular basis. They knew how to not suck at what they were.

I'm inclined to agree with you, because it's mostly how I feel too, but it's perhaps worth considering that our opinion no longer reflects the majority.

Hell, if the PS3 couldn't do it, I'd never have started buying Blu-Rays and I wouldn't have signed up for Netflix because watching on my laptop screen or going through the hassle of connecting my laptop to the TV and then running the laptops sound through my DVD player...it's just not worth it. With the PS3 I can go into Netflix and have hundreds of great shows and (mostly average) films at my disposal in seconds; it's a brilliant feature that I couldn't get as conveniently anywhere else.

That being said, while the multimedia aspects of the PS3 really can be very useful, they aren't what should sell a console; it should always be about the games.

 

[Lightknight]

Agree with most of what you say but you have to realise those figures are place holders, those are NOT the price of the consoles.

Of course, but there's a reason why they chose those figures. It's a bad decision to price your system too high because consumers will be upset when they see them. It's bad to make the price too low or the real price will shock potential consumers away because they feel lied to.

So that price is either close or it is serving a purpose. If it's close then the system is pretty darn expensive. If it has a purpose then it may be to lure Sony into thinking they're safe to charge more than they were going to for their system.

Gaming consoles have a history of announcing crap like this to screw with their competition. It also has a history of ruining the companies that try them. Remember when Sega tried to pull that with their Sega Saturn release date? They announced that it would be available on September 2th, 1995. This "tricked" Sony into announcing their PS1 release would be on Sept 9th.

Then, come May 11th at E3, Sega suddenly announced that their system would be available as of that day and that consumers should run out to buy them "now". This so confused the market and customers that the system didn't even sell 80k units by the time the ps1 was released and the ps1 sold over 100k in the first weekend. This and not the dreamcast was the death blow to Sega (they lost $268 million and had to lay off 30% of their workers). It just took them awhile to bleed out. They sold less than 10 mil units worldwide and only around 2 mil in the US (Their Sega Genesis had sold more than 40 million with more than 22 million sold in the US).

This attempt at misdirection is more prevalent than you may realize. Everything they release is carefully combed over like a chess move. Only here Microsoft looks like they're sacrificing their Queen because she said something snarky rather than sacrificing to get something more beneficial.

 

[TelHybrid]

I do love how Sony's got such good press right now. It's as if people have completely forgotten about the fact they removed an advertised feature of their console (other OS) and also stored people's details in plain text files, which made them easily accessible during the whole hacking thing.

Meh, companies can do anything they want these days. I'm not judging honestly, I still have my PS3 haha.

 

[QUINTIX]

Yeah, but

edit:ninja'd