Sony CEO Kaz Hirai: PS4 is first and foremost a game console

GillianSeed79 said:
Well, for starters, you can actually, in my opinion, see some parallels to the Xbox One's announcement messaging and the PS3's messaging. Part of the reason I was so turned me off by the PS3, despite being a huge PS2 fan at the time, was Sony's positioning the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player first and a gaming machine second. That also drove up the price. I was really angry with the $599 price, because it always seemed like the only reason it was so expensive was because of Blu-Ray. The cynical side of me always looked at that as Sony trying to use the PS3 as a trojan horse to win a proprietary format war for movies and that they were essentially exploiting the PlayStation brand to profit from a feature that gamers really didn't care about. It's especially relevant, since, at the time, we were seeing consumers transitioning more to streaming media like Netflix for movies instead of physical media in the same way that Xbox One's reveal focused so much on television and smart tv functionality when so much of their core audience is moving away from live televison and cable. You can make the argument that a lot of people probably bought a PS2 as a cheap DVD player, but that was at a time when we were transitioning from VHS to a format that provided a vastly better experience and movie rental places were still relevant.

When the PS3 rolled out, people weren't going to buy it for $600 just for better looking movies, especially when there was strong competition from streaming media. It's why, for the most part, 3D HDTV's pretty much failed. Consumers who went out and bought an HDTV a few years earlier at expensive prices - probably the first huge transition in a new TV format adoption since the introduction of color televisions - weren't going to line up to buy 3D HDTV's a scant few years later at prices double what they paid for for their HDTV.
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I see what you're saying, but I think it's more about MS trying to integrate its new platform more harmoniously with a television that has a broader set of users in the household and not just the game room TV or in the bedroom. It's about having a unit in front of a wider audience, tempting them with wares from movies to television shows to games to apps. No spending two or three years building cred with more gamer-only crowd until you then introduce yourself to their parents, the little siblings, and non-gaming SO. By four years in, most consoles are at the full reach of their development, hitting second sequels of new series, and offering more T-rated and E-rated games than M-rated ones and branching out into other genres that aren't so adrenaline-fueled a little more. I don't believe that MS is late with their approach, nor do I think streaming is the only television most people watch. It's certainly the future, but I have a difficult time seeing television lose its billions-strong viewership and relevance inside of the next decade or more as it could be suggested. Remember that MS stated their intentions for this new console will be to appeal to emerging markets for consoles and those people aren't quite where the US is with streaming popularity. By the time MS' work on integration is mature with the constant updates with X1 over the years, the possibility of streaming taking over could be a reality, but the X2 will be ready to sell. That said, the current system can still enjoy all the streaming you can handle as it is.
 
Neuromancer said:
You had my curiosity. But now you have my attention.
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django-gifs-13.gif
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
Sony and Kaz have it right.

The demographic that is going to pick up a $500 console isn't the same as the demographic that is going to pay $200 for a subsidized phone, or $500-600 for a tablet.

Microsoft is gambling that the markets are similar in the sense that there's somehow a demand for an entertainment device that seemingly does everything. Ultimately though, all of the things the Xbox One does that are appealing to this audience are already done better by phones and tablets, and they have the major advantage of mobility.

It's a huge risk that, in my view, is unlikely to pay off.

Sony's strategy is that the kind of audience that picks up a $400-500 device for their TV is going to be your hardcore gamer. And as a result, they made the system as powerful as possible for a reasonable price target and power footprint, coupled by a very large push by their first party studios.

Microsoft is gambling that their gaming strategy will be "good enough", and that the core will come along for the ride anyway. This is an arrogant view to take, and there's a large danger of them losing out on the marketshare they gained this previous generation.

Must I remind them that one of the primary reasons for the Xbox 360's success was the momentum they established early on by offering a better value-proposition to the core vs. Sony: 1) Cheaper system, 2) Similar Power, 3) Better games library (early on). Sony's system was expensive, sacrificed gaming a bit to brute force Blu-Ray into homes, initially had very few exciting exclusives.

It's amazing how Microsoft has seemingly taken Sony's playbook on how NOT to release a console.

Given that even with all of these advantages, Microsoft is still in third place this gen, they're going to be left behind globally next-gen, IMHO.
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Yep, not really understanding why Microsoft is so arrogant at this point. They have none of the benefits they had this generation such as launching a year earlier, getting better multiplatform titles(now sony will get the superior 3rd party ports), and cheaper price(tbd but rumors point to the ps4 being cheaper than the xbone) and even after that PS3 will still outsell the 360 worldwide this generation. Most consumers when faced with the decision to pickup the Xbone or the PS4 will go PS4.
 
Dunlop said:
I said outside of gaming circles (people reading forums,gaming sites).

I received my 2nd e-mail today from them which means millions of people have as well
http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/xboxone/meet-xbox-one

The seed is already being planted, people will start talking about it

They have been just as active if not more on social media

It might not be the message you want to hear but lets not pretend they are sitting on their asses
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yeah but they are emailing you each category that's under the xbox one hub site.

Meet Xbox One
What it is
What it does
How it games

it's their way of constant reminding for stuff that's already there and it allows them to send out more emails rather than say we just announced the xbox one. for more information please go here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xboxone
 
Jac_Solar said:
We, as gamers, shouldn't really be concerned with those kinds of things though. We shouldn't ask for whatever seems to be necessary to make it successful-- we should be asking for games, and just trust Sony to know what's best. If they do decide to push Live TV in combination with games? Great. It's not an issue unless they decide to focus 90% on non-gaming stuff, or make it more about other stuff.

I wouldn't mind if Sony appealed to the core gamer, and *then* to the more casual crowd. The casual crowd probably won't know or care about the PS4 release, so it makes a lot of sense to first appeal to the "core" gamer (I don't like that term anymore.) in order to build up the install base, and then to the casual crowd.

But it's not something we should concern ourselves with until it becomes a major issue (IE: Xbox One used games, Kinect, always on, etc.). Sony has been good to gamers for a long time now with PS+ and how they've (so far) talked about the PS4.

The PS4noDRM initiative is, however, a good idea, since it's such an important issue, and they need to be fully aware of how the gamers feel about it.

(I bought a used PS3 quite late into the cycle and have a couple of games for it, but my main playconsole is the Xbox 360. I've gone through 3 Xbox 360's or so, I have the most games for the Xbox 360, and I prefer to play on the Xbox 360, so I guess if anything I would most likely be biased towards Microsoft/Xbox.)
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I feel bad for having made a hit and run troll post that was responded to so earnestly. You're right, the TV stuff probably doesn't matter in the long run. We need to see the games and get the details on the DRM stuff on both systems before any of us can make an educated consumer decision.
 
BoboBrazil said:
Yep, not really understanding why Microsoft is so arrogant at this point. They have none of the benefits they had this generation such as launching a year earlier, getting better multiplatform titles(now sony will get the superior 3rd party ports), and cheaper price(tbd but rumors point to the ps4 being cheaper than the xbone) and even after that PS3 will still outsell the 360 worldwide this generation. Most consumers when faced with the decision to pickup the Xbone or the PS4 will go PS4.
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I think we should atleast wait until they show the launch lineups first.

The DRM stuff withstanding that is where Sony can slip up.

At the moment none of the games that we know of yet are system sellers.

and since GT6 is a ps3 game I wonder what they will have as their defining game...Uncharted didn't move Vitas and the most interesting game for the vita IMO : Gravity Rush was delayed.

The same of course goes for Microsoft, since I doubt they can pull Halo 5 out of their ass, Forza isn't gonna do it (I think)...

It's gonna be interesting. I wonder if MS is banking on dudes buying it to play COD...which would be rather silly because it is coming to the 360 too lol.

But yeah the Launch Games are what will push them out the gate...and thus it's far too early to state who is gonna start off hot.
 
Neuromancer said:
You had my curiosity. But now you have my attention.
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(I know, off-topic, but 'dis going to be good) I'm guessing it's going to make the Off-Topic Creep Shots thread look like child's play or a simple small skirmish compared to the culling that may come. The chaff that will be thrown asunder like barley struggling against a farmer's scythe will, hopefully, strike fear into all those that venture into GAF with dubious motives. I'm guessing the amount of greyed out names will be akin to a virtual Arlington National Cemetery when it was first established and the dead were buried on the front lawn of Robert E. Lee's estate. It's been seven to eight years since new consoles were introduced. This kind of thing only comes around now once or twice a decade. E3 usually provides a high body count, but I'm thinking this might be somewhat historic.

One does not simply enter the realm of the blood god with ulterior motives, especially not now. I certainly do not wish banning on any member of GAF, but if there are virals among us take heed. Be afraid. Tis almost mercy to be slain by the blood god. Thy account death will be quick and painless. It's when the detective GAF Kraken is let loose before your account death that you will wish that you never were a viral.

I'm just kidding, but seriously, please don't try to pull viral shit on GAF marketers. It never ends well for you.
 
bishoptl said:
We note.

We notice.

Hey, would anybody be interested in a thread where I detail some of the social agency email addresses that have come up during my offsite research into some of our more recently vocal members?

It's fascinating.
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Oh god, please let this happen, lol.

chicko1983 said:
Not that I work for anyone in the games industry, but is he allowed to check where people work? Is that not an invasion of privacy?
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Why wouldn't he be allowed? if you sign up with some sort of work email it isn't hard to find where you come from. And there is a reason they do this, it is so we don't get a bunch of people coming in shouting off their opinions, putting down others or spreading rumours when they come from rival companies.
 
Knux-Future said:
I think we should atleast wait until they show the launch lineups first.

The DRM stuff withstanding that is where Sony can slip up.

At the moment none of the games that we know of yet are system sellers.

and since GT6 is a ps3 game I wonder what they will have as their defining game...Uncharted didn't move Vitas and the most interesting game for the vita IMO : Gravity Rush was delayed.

The same of course goes for Microsoft, since I doubt they can pull Halo 5 out of their ass, Forza isn't gonna do it (I think)...

It's gonna be interesting. I wonder if MS is banking on dudes buying it to play COD...which would be rather silly because it is coming to the 360 too lol.

But yeah the Launch Games are what will push them out the gate...and thus it's far too early to state who is gonna start off hot.
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Well COD won't matter as it is coming to PS4 as well(most likely as the superior version since the hardware is superior). PS4 will have all the major 3rd party titles like BF4, COD, Watch Dogs, etc with the best versions of those games. It's up to first party at this point and Sony's first party stable has proven themselves to be great so Killzone, Infamous, Drive Club, and Knack should all be good and be available at launch or launch window, although I doubt Knack will do that great sales wise. MS has Forza and Quantum whatever. I expect there to be some heavy Kinect integration in many of the early Xbone games coming out, so won't interest me much as a hardcore gamer.
 
-Yeti said:
Lol, yep.

If Don Mattrick were to say what Kaz said now, he would be called a liar.
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Mattrick had a chance to say what Kaz said, and he blew it. He has had many chances so far, and he has blown all of them. If anything, he's not giving anyone a chance to call him a liar.
 
Fi Fo Nye said:
Mattrick had a chance to say what Kaz said, and he blew it. He has had many chances so far, and he has blown all of them. If anything, he's not giving anyone a chance to call him a liar.
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Mattrick said he was making a billion dollar investment on games and got "lol kinected/TV shows "
 
Marty Chinn said:
It's amazing how everyone is stuck on this focus part like they can quantify how much each company has focus on what aspects of the system when Microsoft has only had an hour conference, and neither Sony nor Microsoft have unveiled everything about their system. There's still a lot that we don't know about the PS4 or Xbox One but yet we can make these conclusions on what the focus is when we don't even know what the focus of their respective launches are yet.
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It's really not amazing if you actually think for a second and realize that this is not only about the Xbone reveal, which was pretty telling anyway, but by looking at their shift in focus since around 2010 this gen. As soon as they introduced Kinect, there has been a clear lack of commitment in releasing/investing on quality first party content. That change was established even more now by their system's specs and their strategy behind it. Then we have a reveal that goes completely in line with the decisions they've making since then.

With all that in mind it's rather difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt. They not only have to show a lot of games on E3, but they have to convince me that they will keep releasing them deep into next gen.
 
bishoptl said:
We note.

We notice.

Hey, would anybody be interested in a thread where I detail some of the social agency email addresses that have come up during my offsite research into some of our more recently vocal members?

It's fascinating.
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I think it'd be good to post such a thread, and I think it'd also move all the kerfuffle over this post (which you mentioned that you regret causing ITT) into that thread instead. :-)
 
bishoptl said:
We note.

We notice.

Hey, would anybody be interested in a thread where I detail some of the social agency email addresses that have come up during my offsite research into some of our more recently vocal members?

It's fascinating.
Click to expand...

Oh please, do it.
 
Heretic said:
Microsoft = Reveal additional features then games

Bad.



Sony = Reveal games then additional features

Good.




Both = Games + Additional Features
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You assume parity between these things which may be untrue. Features for one seem to be a higher percentage of the total than for the other. So they are qualitatively different. Consequently, because they are qualitatively different it's inappropriate to force them to conform to some hypothetical quantitative equation.
 
scandisk_ said:
I remember bish exposing someone back then (dude signed up using his corporate email)
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I don't think its bad when people sign up, but don't pretend like you're just some rando gamer when you do it. I've mentioned many times and in many places that I'm at MS (WP team). When I signed up it was with some other email because I wasn't an employee at the time, but there's nothing wrong with using corp email accounts to sign up. Just be up front about who you are so you don't come across as a sleezeball.
 
lastflowers said:
I don't think its bad when people sign up, but don't pretend like you're just some rando gamer when you do it. I've mentioned many times and in many places that I'm at MS (WP team). When I signed up it was with some other email because I wasn't an employee at the time, but there's nothing wrong with using corp email accounts to sign up. Just be up front about who you are so you don't come across as a sleezeball.
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There are plenty of people in the industry that are regular posters, so no, it's certainly not bad when those people sign up. In fact, that's one reason why NeoGAF is so popular. As long as there's no hidden agenda, there's nothing wrong with it.
 
bishoptl said:
We note.

We notice.

Hey, would anybody be interested in a thread where I detail some of the social agency email addresses that have come up during my offsite research into some of our more recently vocal members?

It's fascinating.
Click to expand...

tumblr_lc19wgcB4i1qe0eclo1_r7_500.gif


Bish:You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down...
Viral: What one?
Bish: What?
Viral: What desert?
Bish: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.
Viral: But, how come I'd be there?
Bish: Maybe you're fed up. Maybe you want to be by yourself. Who knows? You look down and see an Xbox One and a PS4 console, Viral. They are crawling toward you...
Viral: Console? What's that?
Bish: [irritated by Viral's interruptions] You know what a PC is?
Viral: Of course!
Bish: Same thing.
Viral: I've never seen a PC... But I understand what you mean.
Bish: You reach down and you flip the PS4 and Xbox One over on their backs, Viral.
Viral: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Bish? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Bish: The Xbox One and PS4 lay on their backs, their bellies baking in the hot sun, beating their legs trying to turn themselves over, but they can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
Viral: What do you mean, I'm not helping?
Bish: I mean: you're not helping! Why is that, Viral? They're just questions, Viral. In answer to your query, It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?
 
genjiZERO said:
You assume parity between these things which may be untrue. Features for one seem to be a higher percentage of the total than for the other. So they are qualitatively different. Consequently, because they are qualitatively different it's inappropriate to force them to conform to some hypothetical quantitative equation.
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Can you list ALL the features of each system?
 
Interesting I hear him say that as ps1 , ps2 and ps3 were pushed as "computer entertainment systems" not game consoles which have always had the "kiddy" stigma that Sony and Microsoft want to avoid.
 
lastflowers said:
I don't think its bad when people sign up, but don't pretend like you're just some rando gamer when you do it. I've mentioned many times and in many places that I'm at MS (WP team). When I signed up it was with some other email because I wasn't an employee at the time, but there's nothing wrong with using corp email accounts to sign up. Just be up front about who you are so you don't come across as a sleezeball.
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Yeah, and if your job is game related you usually get a tag stating so, like Shahid from SCEE got recently.

I'd love to see that bish thread but if it realizes I hope it won't be a tar and feather thread, but one which exposes practices in general.
 
DMPrince said:
yeah but they are emailing you each category that's under the xbox one hub site.

Meet Xbox One
What it is
What it does
How it games

it's their way of constant reminding for stuff that's already there and it allows them to send out more emails rather than say we just announced the xbox one. for more information please go here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xboxone
Click to expand...

I'm sure the 3 people who read their spam will be very excited.
 
Wait, is GAF cheering for a mod to violate the privacy of people that post here? Seems a bit hypocritical.
 
WinoMcCougarstein said:
Wait, is GAF cheering for a mod to violate the privacy of people that post here? Seems a bit hypocritical.
Click to expand...

If their sole/main purpose of being here is viral marketing/spreading bullshit then I dont take issue with it honestly. I guess it is abit is hypocritical, but those kinds of posters are not needed.
 
bishoptl said:
We note.

We notice.

Hey, would anybody be interested in a thread where I detail some of the social agency email addresses that have come up during my offsite research into some of our more recently vocal members?

It's fascinating.
Click to expand...

You know the rules about teasing. Spill it or I'll ban you.
 
GillianSeed79 said:
tumblr_lc19wgcB4i1qe0eclo1_r7_500.gif


Bish:You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down...
Viral: What one?
Bish: What?
Viral: What desert?
Bish: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.
Viral: But, how come I'd be there?
Bish: Maybe you're fed up. Maybe you want to be by yourself. Who knows? You look down and see an Xbox One and a PS4 console, Viral. They are crawling toward you...
Viral: Console? What's that?
Bish: [irritated by Viral's interruptions] You know what a PC is?
Viral: Of course!
Bish: Same thing.
Viral: I've never seen a PC... But I understand what you mean.
Bish: You reach down and you flip the PS4 and Xbox One over on their backs, Viral.
Viral: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Bish? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Bish: The Xbox One and PS4 lay on their backs, their bellies baking in the hot sun, beating their legs trying to turn themselves over, but they can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
Viral: What do you mean, I'm not helping?
Bish: I mean: you're not helping! Why is that, Viral? They're just questions, Viral. In answer to your query, It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?
Click to expand...

Fuuuking brilliant!!! LOLMAO!
 
As someone who lives in a country that doesn't get any of these tv/movie services (not that i'd care about them anyway) and games are his foremost priority,i'm very happy to hear this.

Just confirm that you are not going to support any kind of shitty DRM practise and i'll be there Sony.
 
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