Everyone please celebrate what Sony just did for consumer rights, privacy, and decency. I'm really proud of them for that sucker punch they landed on Microsoft tonight.

It meant a lot to me personally and I want to let the world know!

That was huge.

I honestly didn't expect them to do what they did. No DRM or Always Online AND a cheaper price. Genius. However I think you could probably have just posted this here.

PS4....I need one NOW. What they did was amazing.

I wouldnt really consider it greatest of all time per say but it was still pretty great.

the energy from that conference was unbelievable when they announced their policies.

glad to see it created probably the greatest roar from the crowd in about my 7 years of watching these conferences.

Well I'd say it was enabled largely by Microsoft; though frequently the best outcomes are generated by exploiting the incompetence of your peers so that's fair enough. I will say I've never had any urge to buy a console at launch until now; even knowing that most of the games probably aren't going to be great for a few years.

@mrfluke: I know, that was such an amazing moment.

I really thought it sucked. Like, really bad. Worst conference of the day by far.

Everyone's celebrating them...for keeping things the same.

Shows how bad MS fucked up.

I was too occupied to watch anything AND I MISSED ALL THE DRAMA!! I feel cheated!!! :)

Video/Music Unlimited and Sony Pictures thingy was a bit lame in comparison to everything that happened afterwards.

PS4: we've changed nothing, and that was enough. The only way to win was not to play. Kudos, Sony.

It's all about the last 20 minutes. What a show stopper. Think about what that does for next gen! It offers choice!

@spraynardtatum: kinda the only thing running through my mind after that announcement of their policies

sony is going to be rolling off the greatest press conference they probably ever head, or in the last 10 years, they better not blow it now.

While a lot of what they said was good (and sure stuck it to MS) I didn't come out of the press conference wanting to buy their console, which can't be a great thing. Both MS and Sony failed at dropping the bomb that would make me buy their console, as they both focused on one big shooter to be their big new thing.

Just out of curiosity is there a place on this site (or elsewhere) to watch all of the stage shows?

@extomar: Not that I"m aware of. There are tons of clips that you can find though.

@extomar: gamespot has it.

On principle, yeah. Some old school Nintendo energy from the crowd there. Sony really seemed to do what they needed to do.

Nah. PS+ being required to play online is a negative for me. Still better than Xbone though.

And I'll wait till it transitions to its inevitable 'slim' and 'reliable' version.

In the name of Kaz of the House Hirai, the First of His Name, Lord of the Three PlayStations and Protector of the Cell, I, Jack of the House Tretton, Lord of SCEA and Warden of PlayStation Plus, sentence you to die.

Game-wise, there was nothing that blew my mind (except for the sheer amount of quality coming up).

And it's been a while since I could recall a "megaton" announcement. But their "Disc based games" slide, followed by the price, ending with the "we believe in trust" statement and sharing video... Felt like this:

Funny how most people missed the announcement that you have to pay for MP and game updates for PS4

@brihar78 said:

Pretty sure they're just accepting it as an acceptable loss because that same service comes much cheaper than Live and gives you free games. Pay walls for online were obviously the least of everyone's worries going into these conferences.

I dunno, doesn't seem like a big deal.

@brihar78: i heard it but i don't feel like i'm getting robbed like when i was paying for live

There will probably be multiple HD uploads on YouTube by tomorrow.

Only in this weird Internet hive mind can it be awesome when a company stands up, promises to let people publish games on their console, and to deliver the same experience you've had for seven years, so long as you're also willing to also pay an annual fee.

Honestly, I love the contrast though. Intelligent publishers will sell on Bone new for 45 or 50 with no resale rights, 70 everywhere else. Or something like that. And control and scale down the price over time. It just seems off to me: publishers wanted to change the model; it is breaking them. Sony can go on about championing games, but that was really an "FU" to the people who make games, even if it is to the benefit of used-lovers such as myself.

As a student of open markets, this sets up a fantastic exercise with a lot of moving parts. Personally, I don't think Sony really knows what they're doing; they can likely end up in Nintendo's position, trying to pump out first party stuff with little or badly priced third party support. They're revving the crowd, but the Ubis, EAs, SEs, Activisions and so forth could just as easily kick them to the curb over this.

You have to pay for game updates too? lolwut?

Its not 100% clear - it appears that you have to be a Playstation Plus subscriber for online multiplayer (not sure about updates). Unlike Xbox Live, you do not have to be a subscriber to access other services such as Netflix, however.

Oh - and Playstation Plus is the fucking best thing ever, so I'd say it's a pretty fair choice.

As to the OP, I would say it was the single best press conference I have ever seen - and I've been watching them since they started being posted to the internet.

Given how many games arrive on shelves in a near broken state that need day zero updates to make it even function, I'd say that it is a huge drawback if you need PS+ to get those updates.

@tangoup: What they are referring to is automatic updates. IE updating whilst you're not using your console for the 10 most recent games you have played (I believe that's how it works now).

Without PS+ you just update how you used to... when the game boots, it checks servers, identifies there's an update, downloads and installs then completes the boot.

Ah, fair enough.

It was a great moment. Loved how Tretton just switched from this humble kinda guy to just ruthlessly stomping Microsoft and rubbing it in as much as possible.

Alright, so I'm probably going to receive a ton of flak for this comment, but other than Sony standing up for consumers (which is awesome), what Sony showed at their press conference game wise was so-so. Probably just me, but a lot of the exclusives for PS4 just aren't for me. Granted, I will probably buy both eventually, but I really think (depending on game release dates) I will be getting an Xbone first. Either way, congrats to Sony for "winning" the show by appealing to consumers and dropping the mic on some of the crazy stuff Microsoft has shown.

I'm glad they did it, but saying that their console will do things exactly the same as every other console ever (except for the new xbox), is hardly "greatest ever" material.

That being said, there was enough Adam Boyes to put it somewhere in the top five.

I agree with a lot of this, except the game pricing differences between platforms...that isn't going to happen, especially any sort of new game price reduction, lol. However, Sony did shun the wishes of the big publishers last night, and they could see a pretty big deficit in game offerings vs. MS come half way in this console cycle because of the huge bargaining advantage MS will have with pubs. Exclusives maybe, probably, and I would guess timed exclusives will become the norm for big multi titles. It's like Sony went hard to win the first couple hands in a poker one on one with MS, but what will happen later in the match? They sure were clever though, sneaking in the $60 per year subscription price for their online service, nor any info on the $399 sku, right behind their bold announcements concerning DRM and used game policies. What video game sites, and our own Scoops, need to find out now is what do these big publishers have to say about all this. Ball's in their court now. Go get'em Patrick :).

I'd rather have free online service than be able to resell games. I suppose that's just a PC.

I still think Sony announcing the PS2 was bigger.

All very good points. At the same time, however, given the roars and cheers consumers were giving, the grips of cash will be thrown at Sony, especially early in it's cycle. Those big publishers won't want to sit around, pouting and doing nothing. They're going to say "Well shit, guess we're gonna have to go with the flow, I guess." Sony played a very risky hand, but I think this show payed off for them. Publishers need consoles to put their games on, and so far, I think Sony is already moving consoles.

Sure, you can call it an internet hive mind or whatever if you take everything out of context. However considering the way microsoft was going and the publishers putting pressure on the console manufactures (as you outlined in your own post) i think what they did WAS in fact special, completely against the grain of what most people expected. and price cuts on xboxone games at launch? You crazy, son.

Also i think your underestimating what an initial head start in sales can do for a console in the long run. Just look at what happened with the 360 last gen.

Publishers will follow the install base. Used games or no used games they aren't going to ignore half (or possibly more than half) of their possible customers.

Greatest season finale ever.

No doubt you're right on how things could possibly play out. I don't mean hive mind in a bad way, it was just really clear from the clamor that media really has it in for MS because of all of the piss-poor media handling and messaging. I just thought it was funny that people were going nuts over the "megaton announcements." The frenzy does drive clicks though, so I understand why media could be so engaged in the positioning and console war mentality.

I agree, the likelihood of seeing real price differences is probably less than a coin flip. However, there were some discussions about allowing publishers to manually control and slide price, so I'm hopeful that they'll at least be able to position older titles as competitors in a growing market versus full priced new entries.

Being able to curb used games, piracy, and other revenue sucks is a major deal to developers and publishers though. Maybe they don't cut prices, maybe new games will be 60 on Bone and 80 or 90 or PS4. I don't think that this will be the case for everything, but the point is that multiplatform games are now genuinely different propositions for a publisher. More than anything, I'm just interested and curious to see how this plays out.

Wait, they said that it's PS+ for online multiplayer, not for accessing other online services (e.g. media, or even for some F2P games)

PS+ is very interesting proposition, I've been subscriber when they originally offered it, and now I have quite a number of Vita games and I don't even own a Vita. Now I'm just afraid, since I don't really have time nor HDD space for all the free games.

Haha - yeah, I had to upgrade the HDD on my PS3 literally because my old 60gig would have been filled with free games from my first month of PS+ membership alone. Chucked in my Laptop's old 750gig hdd and it works great.

But yeah - those posts were from well before everything was clear. They have since confirmed that many F2P titles and MMOs won't require a PS+ sub (which will be decided on a case by case basis) - starting with DCUO and Planetside 2, I believe. Also, updates are totally fine, you don't need a PS+ subscription, what you get with PS+ are automatic updates (so updating while you're not using your console).

I'm so happy Dual Shock 4 impressions have been unanimously positive, that the PS4's HDD can be changed, and inFamous Second Son looks fantastic. Also - MGS5 for PS4 day 1 motherfucker.