The PS4 will help the industry with one of its biggest problems.

Recently, Sony has gone ahead to announce its new PS4 system to the delight of many and fear of some. With this new announcement, several new features were introduced to the gaming world that many gamers are excited about. Take features like the ability to see friends playing through real-time streaming to videos posted on facebook and you have a seriously socially-connected device.

This feature really will take word of mouth to the next level. It doesn't take a crystal ball to realize how well does social media impact a business.

Now gaming has had a completely major issue, (Sony in particular has had real trouble with this) in which hardly most hobbies and other types of entertainment don't really have to deal with. And rightfully so, because industry-wise it just makes so goddamn sense, it only makes sense to the select few. And I'm talking about.. you guessed it: Shitty "journalism".

Remember when the PS3 came out? Opening up a gaming website or a game magazine those days was the equivalent of buying a car magazine only to open it up to find articles upon articles saying:
"DONT YOU DARE BUY A CAR!!"

Wtf?!

Now.. I can understand if there was a whole wealth of car manufacturers (and they are of course), but in the case of gaming there were only 2 true next gen systems at the time because there was only 2 companies making those. If you are anything close to being a gamer, why the hell would you want to have less choices or have your whole hobby's lively-hood riding on the hands of just one company?

It's the equivalent of movie enthusiasts actually wanting all movie studios other than paramount to go bust. It makes no sense.

Not good for gamers, not good for the industry but it sure was hell of good for the bunch of BS websites and "journalists" who got a bunch of clicks from gaming fans. And in turn, advertisement dollars.

But it happened in videogames. Now of course there was some things to gripe about back in those days, it took sony a while to actually make psn as awesome as it is now. Thanks to how a great live was (isn't competition great?).

Sony's famous $599 announcement was back then was for gaming media the equivalent of the Harlem Shake is now for youtube. If you had a game website, you had to make sure you present to the fans and make sure they get annoyed as hell about it. (I hate the Harlem Shake dang it)

But here is the real kicker folks: in an age when kids parents happily purchase a 600 dollar ipad for little 2 year old jimmy, paying more than 400 bucks for the console of your dreams grants you a place in the hall of shame, congrats! Your a complete sucker for wasting that much money. And who pushed that thought into your heads? Gaming Media of all things.

If you are reading this you are a gaming fan. And most likely you would have all the cool gear and stuff you can afford. Sure $599 is a lot for the common folk but they are not like you, tell a real car nut if they wouldn't buy a ferrari or a badass car if they could. Of course they would. And game system launches are always with us in mind.

Back when the ps3 came out I would have great friends of mine who were into movies who purchased it just because it was a 600 buck blu-ray player. And blu-ray players would cost 1g back then, hell I made a 1300 dollar pc at the time just for gaming. Which a lot of people do that, but other standards have been made in place for console gaming.

$250 for the best handheld ever? Hell no! Lets get a kindle instead so we can play angry birds and see pics of other people's food on facebook! No wonder gaming companies wanna flock other to that side, the grass seems just greener over there.

And that's what is happening right now.

You have been made to believe that meanwhile your pc gamer friends who have that envious 2,000 dollar PC or have a cool but unneeded car are their hobbies and respective "hobbyist friends" heroes, you are a dumbass if you spend too much on yours. And to top it off the people who got that into your brain are douchebag fanboys and people who actually got the same system for free because they write about it and even possible make more money than you. Thanks.

I've been recently noticed that I don't actually "need to go for gaming websites less and less these days, and sony might deal the killing blow on this.

Thank goodness for sony, because if the amazing features turn out to be true, then all these damage dealing shitty ass websites who contribute nothing but shit to the world of gaming have serious issues to deal with.
Reviews? F-- that, try this instant demo right now and make up your own mind.
Stategies? check out people play right now.
Upcoming games? Hell you can view videos and pre-purchase games, have them ready for download day 1.
And now the gamers themselves will be part of gamings own "gaming media" and possibly the main source of advertisement for everyone else, I know I'm sure to share that cool headshot I did last night.
Good Move Sony.

[DragonKnight]

I suggest you go through your blog and look for instances where you misused "it's." "It's" is a contraction that stands for "it is" and not the possessive term "its."

For example, your title should read "The PS4 will help the industry with one of its biggest problems."

I decided to make the comment here rather than report your blog because, although there are some minor grammar issues, I find no reason to report the blog on something silly like that. We all make those kinds of mistakes.

On Topic: I personally think that the increasing focus on social aspects in gaming is becoming a crutch for lack of imagination in other areas, and that that's an industry wide problem. Facebook is irrelevant to gaming in the same way that Myspace is irrelevant to social networking. That's just me though.

[lex-1020]

Agreed. It's a good blog with a few grammatical mistakes.

"And rightfully so, because industry wise it just makes so goddamn sense"
"It doesn't take a crystal ball to realize how well does social media can impact a business"

It is a good topic though. This "console war" is ridiculous and is going to end with one company having a monopoly in the industry. Why are we asking for less choice?

[Garrison]

"This "console war" is ridiculous and is going to end with one company having a monopoly in the industry. Why are we asking for less choice?"

I am sort of baffled on this myself. I don't think any reasonable person who enjoys videogames would want that.

Gamers aren't asking for less choice, only fanboys are.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Whatisit you sayin?

[maniacmayhem]

@Dragon

You could have PM'd him instead of outing him in the posts.

On Topic:
I do agree with you about the social part. I think it's more of a gimmick than anything else. What happens when the fad of Facebook diminishes just like Myspace?

[DragonKnight]

Yeah that's true. That's my bad.

[Derekvinyard13]

We never had Facebook on our old consoles and never should

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Then you don't worry about Facebook. I don't even use Facebook, but what I don't understand is why so many focus the social aspect of PS4 on Facebook alone. It seems clear to me that the revamped PSN itself should be the focal point of the social networking. If it isn't livestreaming, its the friend stream on PSN, if it isn't the friend stream, its cross video chat or hot potato with the virtual controller or sharing items for games through the network. You get the point.

[rainslacker]

I personally don't see how the social aspects will really change actual game play, and to that end they aren't that interesting to me.

However, from a marketing standpoint I think it's a brilliant move on Sony's part to open up the world of gaming. Nintendo did this with the Wii and making it more accessible to the mainstream, and for that they should be given props. Sony on the other hand is going to be taking gaming and making it less of what it has been, a kid's hobby(perceived not factual), and make it into a socially acceptable past time.

Social media, such as Facebook or MySpace, may die out one day, but I don't think it should be considered a fad. It's been around over a decade, and has only gotten bigger. The need that people have to connect with others is huge, regardless of medium, and in this case the online aspect is just a means to an end. None of this will die out within the PS4's lifetime at least.

In the meantime, there is no reason to not take advantage of it. Luckily for me, not being terribly social online, it is optional, and will remain so until there is a compelling reason game play wise for me to change my outlook on it.

[Kratoscar2008]

Well i take a good advice when the the one who correct me doesnt sound like an ego boosted douche.

You kind of sound like that no offence, you must realize not many people talk english so be mindful of that okay ;).

[DragonKnight]

No I know. It wasn't my intention to come off as arrogant. I really was just trying to be helpful.

[Kratoscar2008]

@A draginknight

Thats cool be sure to correct me when you can :)

[steve30x]

@ DragonKnight : So reporting his blog for a few Gramatical errors is being helpful? I know you didn't but if you did you would be an even bigger douche than you were by correcting him in such a rude manner in public.

[Sleet]

What an arsey comment.

[Garrison]

Thanks for the approval DragonKnight.
I know you were trying to help and that's perfectly fine. English is my second language but I do the best I can and hope to get better over time. Sure maybe the approach wasn't the best but it is alright. =)

On topic: I for one think that by focusing on the social aspect of gaming, this approach will bring the industry to be more of the socially acceptable form of entertainment it needs to be. Gaming will always need new gamers, and it's getting those gamers sure enough. But they aren't buying consoles, they are playing on their ipads and facebook browser games.

[DragonKnight]

Thanks for not insulting me the way some have chosen to do. In the future I'll be more discrete. Your blog deserved the approval based on its content anyway. You do very well with your English, to the point where none would be able to say with 100% certainty that you do not speak it natively without you volunteering that information.

On Topic: It may have the effect of bringing gaming into a more acceptable light, but it may also have the effect of reducing the quality of gaming as well. I hope that doesn't happen.

[thorstein]

I was also thinking the same thing. How did this get approved? "Industry wise?" No capitalization, profanity, and rambling tangents. I am not really sure what the "problem" is that he is referring to and why is there a crying baby as a pic?