Appollowexx
Member
With the PS4 most likely revealing on Wednesday 20th February 2013, I thought it prudent to make a thread where we can look back and discuss the highs and lows of, in my opinion, the best overall system this gen.
Please keep all discussion civil and friendly
YEAR 0 - THE BEGINNING: May 16th 2005 (E3)
Sony came off the huge success of their second home console the Playstation 2, with the announcement at E3 2005 of its successor, the Playstation 3.
You can watch the SONY E3 2005 CONFERENCE here.
The original console looked very similar to the first iteration released the following year, however it was silver instead of black in colour, and the controller was vastly different. Although it featured the standard button layout of its predecessor, the shape of the pad itself was radically different, mimicking that of a boomerang.
Original concept design shown at E3 2005:
The console promised ridiculously high specs when first unveiled. These included:
- 2 HDMI ports (later cut to 1)
- 3 Ethernet ports (later cut to 1)
- 6 USB ports (later cut to 4)
It was also announced that the system would feature hyper-realistic CG quality graphics and Blu Ray playback. Blu Ray at the time was very early in its infancy and it seemed very risky and needlessly expensive to add in such a drive when DVD was still predominant.
Sony revealed games in production for the system at the conference too. Their first party showings looked incredible and overshadowed Microsoft with its fairly poor, comparably, Xbox 360 showing. However, it was soon proven that these 'gameplay trailers' were nothing more than CG videos produced by an advertising studio for Sony's conference.
The original 'gameplay' videos:
- KILLZONE
- MOTORSTORM
Sony came blazing out of the gate hot off the success of the worlds most popular and influential games console with a system that promised to be insanely powerful, stuffed full of the latest tech (WiFi, HDMI, Blu Ray, Cell Processor) and showcasing too good to be true visuals. E3 05 went down like a storm and although Sony wouldn't launch alongside Microsoft in November 2005 they had the public's vote... until...
YEAR 1 - RIIIIIIIIIDGE RACER: (E3 2006)
SONYS E3 2006 PRESS CONFERENCE the low points of possibly the worst E3 Console showing of all time. Not Konami levels of bad, but it's worse when you factor in that this was the final E3 BEFORE the PS3 launched.
It now became clear that while the PS3 was still a bit of a graphics powerhouse, it was no where near the level originally promised and sat fairly equally alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360. The controller had now reverted back to the original design, although it contained a motion control 'waggle' gimmick dubbed 'sixaxis'. This was a feature that was shoehorned haphazardly into a number of early titles but has since, thankfully, been dropped from most games.
The biggest shock came from the announcement of the console's price point. $599 US dollars. The only person happy with this price was this guy:
Still there were some exciting announcements -
FINAL FANTASY XIII
FINAL FANTASY VERSUS XIII
METAL GEAR SOLID 4
While there was definitely a backlash and this event had hurt the PS3 and Sony's reputation, people were still very much excited to get their hands on the final product come November 2006.
THE LAUNCH (11th November 2006 JP / 17th November 2006 US / 23rd March 2007 EU)
2 SKUs 20GB and 60GB. Both BC with PS1 and PS2.
The Launch Commercial
THIS was a launch commercial. Prepare to be scared...
Big First Party launch titles
Resistance: Fall of man
Motorstorm
Big Third Party launch titles
Madden NFL 07
Call of Duty 3
Riiiiiiiidge Racer 7
Other launch window games:
Full Auto 2
Fight Night Round 3
F1 Championship Edition
Genji: Days of the BladeMarvel Ultimate Alliance
NBA 2K7
Need for Speed: Carbon
Untold Legends
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tony Hawks Project 8
YEAR 2 - Bad Ports and Nothing Worth Playing (2007)
Technically year one because the system had been out all of 2 months by early January. This is where the drought that almost every system ever released begins to go through. The problem was that the 360 had been out for over a year and so that system was now getting it's first wave of AAA games that really showed off the systems power. The PS3 didn't yet have its Gears of War or even Lost Planet and so was relegated to down ports of older 360 titles that developers dumped on the system without attempting to fully understand its architecture. That and the fact Sony just hadn't made the system easy to work with meant a string of shoddy ports for the first few years, with few games measuring up, let alone surpassing their Xbox counterparts.
Alongside bad ports of older 360 games such as Splinter Cell, FEAR and The Godfather. There were some decent games released in 2007 for the Playstation 3.
My PS3 picks from 2007
Warhawk (August 2007)
Heavenly Sword (September 2007)
Folklore (October 2007)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (October 2007)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (November 2007)
TRAILER
Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank and Heavenly Sword were the first games to really show the PS3's inner potential, something that many 3rd party teams were having trouble tapping into.
YEAR 3 - KOJIMA STAYS, WADA BETRAYS (2008)
Console wars happen every generation, none seemed quite so heated however as during 2008. 360 had won many devote Sony fans, brand loyalty was at an all time low and it seemed as though everyone (aside from the more level headed 'normal' gamers) wanted their pound of flesh. 2 titles that were exclusive to PS3 at this time were Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII.
There was a whole back and forth - will they stay exclusive or not?
MGS4 ended up coming out to universal critical acclaim in June 2008, it is to this day a PS3 exclusive and won NEOGAF game of the year. To coincide with this came the release of a pretty sexy gunmetal grey PS3.
FFXIII however did not meet a similar fate, instead going multi platform - announced to great surprise and shock at MS E3 2008.
Link to the announcement HERE.
At Sony's E3 conference Killzone showed back up, as KZ2, and made gif history when it looked almost too good to be true. Example.
2008 was a good year for PS3, many would argue it's most defining year, and saw the release of a number of excellent titles from different genres.
My PS3 picks for 2008:
Devil May Cry 4 (February 2008)
GTA IV (May 2008)
MGS4: Guns of the Patriots (June 2008)
Siren: Blood Curse (July 2008)
Dead Space (October 2008)
LittleBigPlanet (October 2008)
Valkryia Chronicles (November 2008)
Mirrors Edge (November 2008)
By the way, this is the year Sony phased out the 20 & 60GB SKUs and replaced them with a BC-less 80GB SKU. So no more PS2 games on your PS3
Playstation Home
In December 2008 Sony launched the BETA phase of it's new social network facility on PS3; Playstation Home. In home you can customise an avatar to look like a digital 'you', spend money on virtual furniture and living accommodation and meet up with other Home users to play Virtual Chess. You can also go to a room in the cinema building to watch trailers. It's every bit as fun as it sounds so try it out!
YEAR 4 - SLIM NEW LOOK: 2009
On September 1st 2009 Sony launced the PS3 slim, which, as the name implies, was a far trimmer, sleeker looking model. It packed a 120gb, 160gb, 250gb, 320gb HD and retailed for $299.99.
Kevin Butler
2009 was a good year for Playstation as Sony finally realised how to market the console to the masses without freaking them out, or leaving them scratching their heads, going ''WTF was that''. They constructed a series of short comedy sketches featuring actor Jerry Lambert as hapless Sony executive Kevin Butler. These ran for the next few years and while overused, were mostly key in the rebranding of the platform.
HERE is an early Kevin Butler ad.
Sales really began picking up after this model launched, the new ad campaign launched and the games coming out were really showing off the PS3s raw power when developers learned clever ways of multitasking via CELL.
Oh and this
came out.
My PS3 picks for 2009:
Killzone 2 (February 2009)
Resident Evil 5 (March 2009)
Infamous (May 2009)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (August 2009)
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (October 2009)
.jpg)
Uncharted 2 (October 2009)
2009 also saw the emergence of the HD Classics range from Sony.
These as the title suggests - were HD versions of many of Sony's much loved PS2 classics. The trend began with the successful re-release of games such as God Of War and Sly Cooper. Since then we have seen thrid party developers also releasing ports of their PS2 titles (Notably Metal Gear Solid and ZOE from Kojima Productions).
And at GDC 2009 the Move controller was shown...
YEAR 5 - MOVIN' ON UP: 2010
The Move controller, which was Sony's answer to combating the popularity of Nintendo's Wii Nunchuk, finally launched in the US September 19th 2010.
Playstation Plus
Playstation Plus is, in my opinion, one of the greatest network features to ever grace a console. To break it down for those not in the know:
- you pay a subscription (In the UK it is £11.99 every 3 months)
- for your money you get access to early demos / PSN games
- Free avatars and dynamic themes
- Free retail games (5 a month, 1 changes every month * I think)
- Access to BETAs months before anyone else (Recently GOW Ascension)
The system launched on PSN on 29th June 2010 and has grown from strength to strength. It is likely PS4 will use PS Plus as a major selling point.
My PS3 picks for 2010
Darksiders (January 2010)
Bayonetta (January 2010)
Heavy Rain (February 2010)
Final Fantasy XIII (March 2010)
God of War III (March 2010)
Nier (April 2010)
Red Dead Redemption (May 2010)
White Knight Chronicles (August 2010)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (October 2010)
Vanquish (October 2010)
Gran Turismo 5 (October 2010)
Finally 2 of the PS3's biggest games of the generation had released. GT5 and FFXIII. While neither lived up to the crazy hype levels that had built over the years leading to release, I enjoyed both just the same.
YEAR 6 - THE BIG THREE AND FREE GAMES: 2011
For me 2011 was all about 3 big first party games. Guerrilla Games launched the anticipated Killzone 3. Sucker punch launched the much hyped Infamous 2, and Naughty Dog dared to face the near impossible task of topping Uncharted 2, with the release of the series third entry - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
The Playstation Network Hack Fiasco
April 20th 2011, Sony shut down the PSN due to an ''external intrusion on the system''. This meant that, until the problem was resolved around six weeks later, gamers were without online play, access to demos and other media services online. Sony shortly after announced that potential payment details may have been stolen as the outage was the result of a group of hackers, as passwords had been worked around, potentially millions of users may have had their credit card info leaked. Sony advised people to change all payment and password detail.
Obviously people were outraged by this (myself included). As way of apology, Sony announced a "Welcome Back" program, 30 days free membership of PlayStation Plus for all PSN members, two free downloadable PS3 games, and a free one-year enrolment in an identity theft protection program.
They even apologised at E3 live on stage.
My PS3 picks of 2011
Killzone 3 (February 2011)
Motorstorm Apocalypse (May 2011)
Portal 2 (May 2011)
Infamous 2 (June 2011)
Shadows of the Damned (June 2011)
Catherine (July 2011)
Child of Eden (September 2011)
Resistance 3 (September 2011)
Batman: Arkham City (October 2011)
Sonic Generations (November 2011)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (November 2011)
YEAR 7 - SUPER SLIM, NOT SO SEXY: 2012
PS Store Redesign
In 2012 the store was redesigned to keep up to date with the look of the interface found in SONY's new smart TVs and other products like the XBOX 360. I personally dislike the new design as it makes things much harder to find and search for.
The store began out in 2006 like this and was terrible.
It then changed to this and was great with some issues.
It now looks like this and is functional but annoying to use.
In October 2012 Sony launched a PS3 Super Slim model for a RRP of $279.99. However, many, myself included, regard the design as far less visually pleasing than past iterations. Still, it's a decent price and it wasn't exactly hideous.
My PS3 picks of 2012
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (February 2012)
The Darkness II (February 2012)
SSX (February 2012)
Resident Evil 6 (October 2012)
PSN and the rise of the indie developer...
As I come to the end of the thread it's worth noting that PSN (and XBLA for that matter) has become a fantastic place for older PS1 classics to release, as well as excellent original content. Throughout this generation we have seen some amazing indie games release for anywhere between $5-20. Personally the top 5 original downloadable games on PSN this generation have been...
- Journey
- Super Stardust HD
- Wipeout HD
- Limbo
- The Unfinished Swan
Video of select PLAYSTATION 3 EXCLUSIVES over the years.
Second video containing more PLAYSTATION 3 EXCLUSIVES.
YEAR 8 - THE FUTURE... (2013 - ?)
This year the PS3 is winding down as we prepare for the imminent announcement of Sony's powerful next generation console. It's the end of an era. DLC is becoming more and more important to developers, Free to play is featuring more and more, advertising, motion control, Digital Downloads...
It's not clear yet whether the PS4 will be what gamers such as myself want or perhaps a machine tailored toward being a more casual all-in-one media centre. I think the games will still be there, and most importantly, will remain fun to play.
Let's also not forget that Sony has the following, amazing looking games, releasing this year on PS3.
God of War: Ascension (March 2013)
The Last of Us (May / June 2013)
Puppeteer (Fall 2013)
Beyond: Two Souls (2013)
A fitting send off for a fantastic machine that's no doubt humbled Sony and gotten them to take a hard look at how to proceed for the future.
Please keep all discussion civil and friendly
YEAR 0 - THE BEGINNING: May 16th 2005 (E3)
Sony came off the huge success of their second home console the Playstation 2, with the announcement at E3 2005 of its successor, the Playstation 3.
You can watch the SONY E3 2005 CONFERENCE here.
The original console looked very similar to the first iteration released the following year, however it was silver instead of black in colour, and the controller was vastly different. Although it featured the standard button layout of its predecessor, the shape of the pad itself was radically different, mimicking that of a boomerang.
Original concept design shown at E3 2005:
The console promised ridiculously high specs when first unveiled. These included:
- 2 HDMI ports (later cut to 1)
- 3 Ethernet ports (later cut to 1)
- 6 USB ports (later cut to 4)
It was also announced that the system would feature hyper-realistic CG quality graphics and Blu Ray playback. Blu Ray at the time was very early in its infancy and it seemed very risky and needlessly expensive to add in such a drive when DVD was still predominant.
Sony revealed games in production for the system at the conference too. Their first party showings looked incredible and overshadowed Microsoft with its fairly poor, comparably, Xbox 360 showing. However, it was soon proven that these 'gameplay trailers' were nothing more than CG videos produced by an advertising studio for Sony's conference.
The original 'gameplay' videos:
- KILLZONE
- MOTORSTORM
Sony came blazing out of the gate hot off the success of the worlds most popular and influential games console with a system that promised to be insanely powerful, stuffed full of the latest tech (WiFi, HDMI, Blu Ray, Cell Processor) and showcasing too good to be true visuals. E3 05 went down like a storm and although Sony wouldn't launch alongside Microsoft in November 2005 they had the public's vote... until...
YEAR 1 - RIIIIIIIIIDGE RACER: (E3 2006)
SONYS E3 2006 PRESS CONFERENCE the low points of possibly the worst E3 Console showing of all time. Not Konami levels of bad, but it's worse when you factor in that this was the final E3 BEFORE the PS3 launched.
It now became clear that while the PS3 was still a bit of a graphics powerhouse, it was no where near the level originally promised and sat fairly equally alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360. The controller had now reverted back to the original design, although it contained a motion control 'waggle' gimmick dubbed 'sixaxis'. This was a feature that was shoehorned haphazardly into a number of early titles but has since, thankfully, been dropped from most games.
The biggest shock came from the announcement of the console's price point. $599 US dollars. The only person happy with this price was this guy:
Still there were some exciting announcements -
FINAL FANTASY XIII
FINAL FANTASY VERSUS XIII
METAL GEAR SOLID 4
While there was definitely a backlash and this event had hurt the PS3 and Sony's reputation, people were still very much excited to get their hands on the final product come November 2006.
THE LAUNCH (11th November 2006 JP / 17th November 2006 US / 23rd March 2007 EU)
2 SKUs 20GB and 60GB. Both BC with PS1 and PS2.
The Launch Commercial
THIS was a launch commercial. Prepare to be scared...
Big First Party launch titles
Resistance: Fall of man
Motorstorm
Big Third Party launch titles
Madden NFL 07
Call of Duty 3
Riiiiiiiidge Racer 7
Other launch window games:
Full Auto 2
Fight Night Round 3
F1 Championship Edition
Genji: Days of the BladeMarvel Ultimate Alliance
NBA 2K7
Need for Speed: Carbon
Untold Legends
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tony Hawks Project 8
YEAR 2 - Bad Ports and Nothing Worth Playing (2007)
Technically year one because the system had been out all of 2 months by early January. This is where the drought that almost every system ever released begins to go through. The problem was that the 360 had been out for over a year and so that system was now getting it's first wave of AAA games that really showed off the systems power. The PS3 didn't yet have its Gears of War or even Lost Planet and so was relegated to down ports of older 360 titles that developers dumped on the system without attempting to fully understand its architecture. That and the fact Sony just hadn't made the system easy to work with meant a string of shoddy ports for the first few years, with few games measuring up, let alone surpassing their Xbox counterparts.
Alongside bad ports of older 360 games such as Splinter Cell, FEAR and The Godfather. There were some decent games released in 2007 for the Playstation 3.
My PS3 picks from 2007
Warhawk (August 2007)
Heavenly Sword (September 2007)
Folklore (October 2007)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (October 2007)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (November 2007)
TRAILER
Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank and Heavenly Sword were the first games to really show the PS3's inner potential, something that many 3rd party teams were having trouble tapping into.
YEAR 3 - KOJIMA STAYS, WADA BETRAYS (2008)
Console wars happen every generation, none seemed quite so heated however as during 2008. 360 had won many devote Sony fans, brand loyalty was at an all time low and it seemed as though everyone (aside from the more level headed 'normal' gamers) wanted their pound of flesh. 2 titles that were exclusive to PS3 at this time were Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII.
There was a whole back and forth - will they stay exclusive or not?
MGS4 ended up coming out to universal critical acclaim in June 2008, it is to this day a PS3 exclusive and won NEOGAF game of the year. To coincide with this came the release of a pretty sexy gunmetal grey PS3.
FFXIII however did not meet a similar fate, instead going multi platform - announced to great surprise and shock at MS E3 2008.
Link to the announcement HERE.
At Sony's E3 conference Killzone showed back up, as KZ2, and made gif history when it looked almost too good to be true. Example.
2008 was a good year for PS3, many would argue it's most defining year, and saw the release of a number of excellent titles from different genres.
My PS3 picks for 2008:
Devil May Cry 4 (February 2008)
GTA IV (May 2008)
MGS4: Guns of the Patriots (June 2008)
Siren: Blood Curse (July 2008)
Dead Space (October 2008)
LittleBigPlanet (October 2008)
Valkryia Chronicles (November 2008)
Mirrors Edge (November 2008)
By the way, this is the year Sony phased out the 20 & 60GB SKUs and replaced them with a BC-less 80GB SKU. So no more PS2 games on your PS3
Playstation Home
In December 2008 Sony launched the BETA phase of it's new social network facility on PS3; Playstation Home. In home you can customise an avatar to look like a digital 'you', spend money on virtual furniture and living accommodation and meet up with other Home users to play Virtual Chess. You can also go to a room in the cinema building to watch trailers. It's every bit as fun as it sounds so try it out!
YEAR 4 - SLIM NEW LOOK: 2009
On September 1st 2009 Sony launced the PS3 slim, which, as the name implies, was a far trimmer, sleeker looking model. It packed a 120gb, 160gb, 250gb, 320gb HD and retailed for $299.99.
Kevin Butler
2009 was a good year for Playstation as Sony finally realised how to market the console to the masses without freaking them out, or leaving them scratching their heads, going ''WTF was that''. They constructed a series of short comedy sketches featuring actor Jerry Lambert as hapless Sony executive Kevin Butler. These ran for the next few years and while overused, were mostly key in the rebranding of the platform.
HERE is an early Kevin Butler ad.
Sales really began picking up after this model launched, the new ad campaign launched and the games coming out were really showing off the PS3s raw power when developers learned clever ways of multitasking via CELL.
Oh and this
My PS3 picks for 2009:
Killzone 2 (February 2009)
Resident Evil 5 (March 2009)
Infamous (May 2009)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (August 2009)
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (October 2009)
Uncharted 2 (October 2009)
2009 also saw the emergence of the HD Classics range from Sony.
These as the title suggests - were HD versions of many of Sony's much loved PS2 classics. The trend began with the successful re-release of games such as God Of War and Sly Cooper. Since then we have seen thrid party developers also releasing ports of their PS2 titles (Notably Metal Gear Solid and ZOE from Kojima Productions).
And at GDC 2009 the Move controller was shown...
YEAR 5 - MOVIN' ON UP: 2010
The Move controller, which was Sony's answer to combating the popularity of Nintendo's Wii Nunchuk, finally launched in the US September 19th 2010.
Playstation Plus
Playstation Plus is, in my opinion, one of the greatest network features to ever grace a console. To break it down for those not in the know:
- you pay a subscription (In the UK it is £11.99 every 3 months)
- for your money you get access to early demos / PSN games
- Free avatars and dynamic themes
- Free retail games (5 a month, 1 changes every month * I think)
- Access to BETAs months before anyone else (Recently GOW Ascension)
The system launched on PSN on 29th June 2010 and has grown from strength to strength. It is likely PS4 will use PS Plus as a major selling point.
My PS3 picks for 2010
Darksiders (January 2010)
Bayonetta (January 2010)
Heavy Rain (February 2010)
Final Fantasy XIII (March 2010)
God of War III (March 2010)
Nier (April 2010)
Red Dead Redemption (May 2010)
White Knight Chronicles (August 2010)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (October 2010)
Vanquish (October 2010)
Gran Turismo 5 (October 2010)
Finally 2 of the PS3's biggest games of the generation had released. GT5 and FFXIII. While neither lived up to the crazy hype levels that had built over the years leading to release, I enjoyed both just the same.
YEAR 6 - THE BIG THREE AND FREE GAMES: 2011
For me 2011 was all about 3 big first party games. Guerrilla Games launched the anticipated Killzone 3. Sucker punch launched the much hyped Infamous 2, and Naughty Dog dared to face the near impossible task of topping Uncharted 2, with the release of the series third entry - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
The Playstation Network Hack Fiasco
April 20th 2011, Sony shut down the PSN due to an ''external intrusion on the system''. This meant that, until the problem was resolved around six weeks later, gamers were without online play, access to demos and other media services online. Sony shortly after announced that potential payment details may have been stolen as the outage was the result of a group of hackers, as passwords had been worked around, potentially millions of users may have had their credit card info leaked. Sony advised people to change all payment and password detail.
Obviously people were outraged by this (myself included). As way of apology, Sony announced a "Welcome Back" program, 30 days free membership of PlayStation Plus for all PSN members, two free downloadable PS3 games, and a free one-year enrolment in an identity theft protection program.
They even apologised at E3 live on stage.
My PS3 picks of 2011
Killzone 3 (February 2011)
Motorstorm Apocalypse (May 2011)
Portal 2 (May 2011)
Infamous 2 (June 2011)
Shadows of the Damned (June 2011)
Catherine (July 2011)
Child of Eden (September 2011)
Resistance 3 (September 2011)
Batman: Arkham City (October 2011)
Sonic Generations (November 2011)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (November 2011)
YEAR 7 - SUPER SLIM, NOT SO SEXY: 2012
PS Store Redesign
In 2012 the store was redesigned to keep up to date with the look of the interface found in SONY's new smart TVs and other products like the XBOX 360. I personally dislike the new design as it makes things much harder to find and search for.
The store began out in 2006 like this and was terrible.
It then changed to this and was great with some issues.
It now looks like this and is functional but annoying to use.
In October 2012 Sony launched a PS3 Super Slim model for a RRP of $279.99. However, many, myself included, regard the design as far less visually pleasing than past iterations. Still, it's a decent price and it wasn't exactly hideous.
My PS3 picks of 2012
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (February 2012)
The Darkness II (February 2012)
SSX (February 2012)
Resident Evil 6 (October 2012)
PSN and the rise of the indie developer...
As I come to the end of the thread it's worth noting that PSN (and XBLA for that matter) has become a fantastic place for older PS1 classics to release, as well as excellent original content. Throughout this generation we have seen some amazing indie games release for anywhere between $5-20. Personally the top 5 original downloadable games on PSN this generation have been...
- Journey
- Super Stardust HD
- Wipeout HD
- Limbo
- The Unfinished Swan
Video of select PLAYSTATION 3 EXCLUSIVES over the years.
Second video containing more PLAYSTATION 3 EXCLUSIVES.
YEAR 8 - THE FUTURE... (2013 - ?)
This year the PS3 is winding down as we prepare for the imminent announcement of Sony's powerful next generation console. It's the end of an era. DLC is becoming more and more important to developers, Free to play is featuring more and more, advertising, motion control, Digital Downloads...
It's not clear yet whether the PS4 will be what gamers such as myself want or perhaps a machine tailored toward being a more casual all-in-one media centre. I think the games will still be there, and most importantly, will remain fun to play.
Let's also not forget that Sony has the following, amazing looking games, releasing this year on PS3.
God of War: Ascension (March 2013)
The Last of Us (May / June 2013)
Puppeteer (Fall 2013)
Beyond: Two Souls (2013)
A fitting send off for a fantastic machine that's no doubt humbled Sony and gotten them to take a hard look at how to proceed for the future.
