Castle Doctrine
Member
The Cult of Kaz Hirai
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It was almost as though the PlayStation Meeting video invite, which Sony published online on Jan 31, had some kind of subliminal message encoded within it. It was as though, somewhere between the video's shapes and sounds, a message lied, feeding into our subconscious minds the thought that Kaz Hirai will save us all.
Because ever since January 31, amid crazed anticipation for the PlayStation 4 showcase, internet forums have stopped publishing unflattering photos of the Sony chief executive and have chosen instead to depict him as a sort of modern-day Moses.
Animated GIFs of the executive now pepper game forums around the world. Most often they superimpose Hirai's face over a particularly dramatic movie scene that appears to have been plucked randomly out from decades of cinema, from Citizen Kane to Total Recall.
His worship is nowhere more obvious than on the gaming forum NeoGAF and its PlayStation Meeting thread, which currently carries over 13,000 posts. Initially filled with the habitual declarations of enthusiasm and animated 'hype' GIFs of people in various states of intense excitement, over time the thread has slowly become something of a Hirai shrine.
"Unlike some other public faces of gaming companies that are either clumsy or insincere, Kaz feels like he's completely genuine," said Tusken77, another of the thread's regulars who created a series of movie images with Hirai superimposed."Of course, being there from the early days and every step of the way with the PlayStation brand only strengthens his credibility. A man in a very powerful position, but also 'one of us'. He's grown alongside PlayStation. He's passionate and understands the hardcore gamer."
Juancho9, another NeoGAF member, added: "We really know nothing about the guy, but I think he's been smart in being vocal and active in at the very least looking like he's interested in what gamers actually want in their video game systems."
Can he pull it off? NeoGAF user Liamario put it best: "I think Hirai and Sony have been greatly humbled as of late, and I think he deserves a chance to prove himself".
Gif by whitehawk