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PlayStation Experience Event 2014 - 20 Years of gaming memories distilled

You're all pretty, girls.

Quick question: now that this thread is active again, I'm contemplating writing up my last part of PSX, which covers morpheus. Are people still interested? Sorry I left it hanging because I ran out of time and people moved on to other topics

I'll gladly read it :)
 

viveks86

Member
Alrighty then. A few friends on twitter are interested as well. Will get cracking soon. Will have something up in the next few hours
 

yurinka

Member
This is the avatar you all have to wear (admirably provided by Ricky_R):

kx6HJNs.png
Ok.
 

viveks86

Member
Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V


The Playstation Experience - Part Balboa (because "VI" is far too many)

Project Morpheus

The queue management for Project Morpheus was some of the best I've seen. They gave out time cards to everyone coming to their stalls in the morning and then people were free to do whatever until their appointment. If not for this, I wouldn't have decided to endure the line for The Order. Next time, everybody should follow this. It really lets people manage their time far more efficiently and see more of the show.

They had a reasonably large booth with about 12 demo areas arranged in 6x2 partitions. Each partition had a display in front for people in queue as well as the public to see what the attendee saw. They had various demoes running and depending on which one freed up, you were directed to that area. You didn't really get to choose which one you wanted to try. From what I could recall, they had that sword training demo that we have all seen (Castle?), the shark demo (The Deep) that I've only read about, a street luge racing demo that looked really cool and a space dogfight. There were a couple more there that didn't seem as much fun. While I waited in line, I asked the representative a bunch of questions
"So.. Is this a new hardware prototype or is it the same one people have seen before"
"Yeah it's the same one"
"Ok. Does 2015 seem like a realistic timeline for release?"
*Squirms*
"Well, the biggest blocker isn't the hardware. It's the content. We are still working hard to get more support for the hardware and line up unique experiences for mass market appeal"
It's probably not happening in 2015, guys :(
I continued probing.
"What target price are we looking at here? $299 to $399 would be ideal. Isn't that what the guys at Occulus are shooting for?"
*Squirms 2: Electric Boogaloo*
"Hmmm, yeah, it's too early to tell, but expect it to be priced competitively to other products in the market"

I was up next. The shark demo awaited me.

I got to the demo station and was greeted by the polite rep. Though I've read a lot about this demo, this was my first VR experience and so I was super excited! He quickly placed the device on my head and it was surprisingly comfortable. It didn't feel non-existent, but hey, for a big ass box strapped to my face, it felt more comfortable than wearing lab goggles. It didn't immediately look right as the image was really blurry. He asked me to move the headset up and down until I could see clearly. When I complied, the image sharpened and he secured the headset at that position. I'm guessing this wouldn't be required for the retail version.

As soon as the adjustments were made, I felt totally immersed. I couldn't see anything besides the static text in front of me. I remember there being concerns about "leakage of light" below, but I didn't see any. So whoever amongst you who had that issue has head dimensions that aren't morpheus-compliant. You might want to get that rectified.

The demo fired up and I descended into the deep in a cage. I immediately noticed 2 issues. The field of view was not nearly covering my peripheral vision. It was just pitch black to the sides. That was a slight let down, but I still felt like I was completely in this virtual ocean, albeit with goggles that restricted my view. Secondly, I could see the individual pixels like I would if I stood too close to a TV screen. I asked the rep about it and he said it was already 960x1080 per eye, but they plan to increase pixel density around the center and decrease it outwards in their next revision, since eyes tend to focus on the center.

The demo had me in a cage with a useless flare while the shark was pounding and chewing on metal. Everyone knows how it plays out, so I won't get into the details. But holy shit, that's the most realistic in-game shark I have seen! Every time it got close, I instinctively flinched. The system had also calibrated my height, so I could bend my knees and my virtual knees would bend too. Input latency seemed tolerable and I could quickly adapt. However, with all the moving and flinching, the system lost sync with my body once and I started seeing my feet even while looking straight. Felt weird and hilarious. That was promptly adjusted and I continued looked around and shooting flares just for kicks. For those few minutes, I was a hapless diver stuck in a cage with a hungry shark gradually unwrapping its gift. It's impossible to imagine what that feels like unless you try out VR for yourself. Minor graphical issues like resolution, aliasing, texture quality etc. become secondary, because your brain is overwhelmed by the sensory overload. Once the demo was over, I asked if anyone had experienced motion sickness and he said in all the demos he has done all year, not one person had it. So that's good news.

I came out as excited as I went in. This could be the next big thing and I would buy it regardless of cost. But it just isn't there yet.

The Uncharted Panel (Watch it here)

It was such a long and grueling weekend that I wanted to unwind by attending the last session at the show and admire Nathan Drake in all his "next gen" glory. The developers were so down-to-earth and quirky. I loved each of their presentations, starting from concept art all the way up to character rigging. I especially enjoyed the shader lady's presentation, because she was totally awkward and adorable. There were a lot of PS3 and PS4 comparisons that really brought to light the amount of advancement in shading and real time rendering. And the amount of detail is just staggering, like how his hair behaves to wind and water, how he has 840 expressions now, how the muscles on his neck move differently with those expressions, or how "wetness" is simulated. Also, they confirmed chest hair physics on Drake and that Druckmann was the one who wanted older Drake to be the smoking hot middle aged man that he is. The ladies (and some men) should be very pleased. I, on the other hand, will pretend like I don't care, lest my ego starts complaining.


Closing thoughts

There's still so much I want to talk about, but I think I've covered the important parts that people would want to hear. The PSX experience was my first ever video game conference and I'm so glad I went for it. It had a couple of issues, like terrible queue management and lack of adequate AAA presence, but there were plenty of games to enjoy and people to talk to. I'm excited for the upcoming games and the next PSX as well. May be I'll do a better job at my impressions too. Bring on 2015!

Verdict: 8/10 will do it again.
 

le-seb

Member
I think I can speak in the name of every person who couldn't attend this event, and thank you for all the impressions and live tweeting, Vivek.
 
Thanks Viveks, I read everything (from 1 to 6) and I thank you for taking the time to write all this. Your impressions got me pretty excited, especially The Order's :)
 
avatar bet only starts on 25th....why are you guys wearing it now. Its like some of you actually want to wear it.

WTF it ends on April 1st.....Verendus please, I thought it was for 1 month.
 
avatar bet only starts on 25th....why are you guys wearing it now. Its like some of you actually want to wear it.

WTF it ends on April 1st.....Verendus please, I thought it was for 1 month.

I actually like the avatar, so I decided I might as well start now. And the bet was for 4 months. If anything, Verendus reduced it :p
 

Verendus

Banned
avatar bet only starts on 25th....why are you guys wearing it now. Its like some of you actually want to wear it.

WTF it ends on April 1st.....Verendus please, I thought it was for 1 month.
It was 4 months originally, but because I felt it was tacky ending it on the 25th, I reduced it to the beginning of the month.

See, I'm so nice. Look at how nice I am. So nice. You know, aside from the whole bet and taking advantage of you thing. Aside from that.
 
It was 4 months originally, but because I felt it was tacky ending it on the 25th, I reduced it to the beginning of the month.

See, I'm so nice. Look at how nice I am. So nice. You know, aside from the whole bet and taking advantage of you thing. Aside from that.

So this is what I get........for having needless faith in SCEJ (aka the devs that brought Knack into this world) . Is this what I deserve?
 

Verendus

Banned
So this is what I get........for having needless faith in SCEJ (aka the devs that brought Knack into this world) . Is this what I deserve?
Faith is something that comes and goes with time. Today it's weak, tomorrow it might be strong. You're just being tested by the Church of Sony Japan right now.
 

viveks86

Member
Thanks Viveks, I read everything (from 1 to 6) and I thank you for taking the time to write all this. Your impressions got me pretty excited, especially The Order's :)

You are welcome! Was fun putting it all together. Hope to do it again when I get a chance. Thanks for reading! :)
 
Thanks man! Whoever took the time and had patience to wade through that verbosity has my gratitude and admiration!
Yah mon. Good write up. Good to see you liked the VR. My time I had with the Oculus was mind blowing. I came away totally excited for its future but realised as well that it is a bit away from seeing its potential. But holy shit at its potential!

Glad you had fun and I can't wait to attend next year.
 
if 80 people are going to do this, it'll be difficult to recognise people from avatars.
We are no longer individuals; we are but Minions of Verendus.

It's like my sensei used to tell me in the jungles of Thailand way back when I didn't exist, "Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds."
Huh. I think that's what my girlfriend was trying to explain to me when I couldn't understand the praise and amazement she heaped upon me after I fixed her alternator using nothing more than a new alternator and some instructions I downloaded from AllData. =/
 

Verendus

Banned
Verendus, you should give us numbers, seriously.
You mean like #1, #2, #3, #4? That's a lot of work man. I finally have the chance to rest a little. Making 80 edits to avatars is something else. I think part of what makes this hilarious is everyone has the same avatar.

People are forced to acknowledge your names now. No more just looking at avatars. Are you convinced by what I'm saying?
 
Now Sony will see our avatars and make Knack 2. This is all going according to Verendus' plan. He knew he could use our hype to fuel the game of the generation. Well played Verendus. Well played.
 
You mean like #1, #2, #3, #4? That's a lot of work man. I finally have the chance to rest a little. Making 80 edits to avatars is something else. I think part of what makes this hilarious is everyone has the same avatar.

People are forced to acknowledge your names now. No more just looking at avatars. Are you convinced by what I'm saying?

Well, you got a point right there. Good thing my name is easy lol
 
I apologise for the old bump, but would it be frowned upon if I backed out of Verendus' bet early (click below) and changed my avatar? It's getting really confusing in The Order topics at the moment, with tons of people rocking this avatar in close proximity. I used to have Calvin & Hobbes and think I would like to try Totoro next.

 

Koozek

Member
I apologise for the old bump, but would it be frowned upon if I backed out of Verendus' bet early (click below) and changed my avatar? It's getting really confusing in The Order topics at the moment, with tons of people rocking this avatar in close proximity. I used to have Calvin & Hobbes and think I would like to try Totoro next.

You know, in Germany we have this saying: "Wettschulden sind Ehrenschulden". Be a woman/man!
We should consider us happy to even be allowed to be in our Master's holy army.

All hail Knack.
 

Hasney

Member
Verendus should let people back out only with a Roman Reigns avatar of their choosing. The kid needs all the support he can get.

Belee dat.
 
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