Did Sony Make The Right Call By Being First With The PS4?

eGamer writes: "Of course, the PlayStation 4 has been the buzz of the gaming industry for some time now. There are many, like myself, who are highly optimistic about the console, and many others who don’t feel the same, or still feel that Sony not showing the actual console was a very bad thing. But the topic that hasn’t been discussed all that much is, whether or not Sony made the right call to reveal the PlayStation 4 first to begin with, and that’s what I want to touch on a little bit today."

[StrongMan]

Yes. Sony hit a grand slam and set the bar so high that no one can even come close to topping it. Add in the fact that the hardcore gamers belong to Sony now since it's competition abandoned us, the ball is clearly in Sony's court.

[Karpetburnz]

very true, and what they showed was only the beggining. Imagine what they have for E3, I cant wait.

[darthv72]

you cant really say "grand slam". their announcement was very good but we know nothing of the other team. So if you want to keep the baseball analogy going then this is spring training and sony is only doing batting practice.

The grand slam will come when the teams take the field and the bases are loaded. its too early to say one way or the other.

The "bar" as you put it wasnt raised by sony but simply the natural progression of things. Generally console development takes its queues from the Pc side at the time and then adds onto it to extend its relevancy.

so while the norm for PC graphics cards are 1gb+ in memory and pc memory is easily 4gb+. It was only natural to double that amount and unify it for the purpose of an extended amount of time on the market.

consoles have a 5-6 year cycle before rumblings of new hardware start making noise. obviously these companies will want to keep their current platform going for as long as it remains profitable but even they know that perception catches up with time.

what once was ground breaking becomes common place. We become conditioned to seeing things over a period of time that loses its impact from the 1st time ever seeing it. Take toy story the movie for example. Many may be too young to remember when it first came out but it was ground breaking for its time. Now, CGI is so common place that it is expected that the next movie to use the effects will be better than the previous release.

But what we miss out on most is the finer details of things. Those are the points (I believe) the next gen will actually be focusing on more than ground breaking new visuals. Essentially, giving more detail to even the smallest of things happening on screen that they become the focal point of what we will gravitate towards when watching/playing.

We have already seen the big effects in games like killzone and uncharted. this time around, the games will go back to those same formulas but instead of seeing bigger things, we will all of a sudden start noticing the smaller details because they will be what stands out. Not just the skin tone of an NPC but how about perspiration on the character in environments where the temperature is warmer...or you start seeing the environment around you change to each subtle difference that happens.

No doubt the next gen will be better than current but if people are thinking the leap is going to be this big revolutionary change, they are mistaken. It will be the sum of all the little things that make up the evolutionary change that consoles/games have been experiencing over the last many years.

[EasilyTheBest]

I not sure if Sony has made the right move or not. I think Microsoft has their own plans and are quietly very confident.
I hope to see all Windows 8 games and sum apps working on the new Xbox. Also Windows Phone too perhaps. It will have an instant marketplace.
I sure the new Xbox will have a similar controller to the 360s but it can split into two half's and can be used with kinect etc. The tv ads for this alone could sell a lot of consoles.
I think MS has had their own plan all along.

[B1663r]

Kinect is probably built right into the New XBox controller. That way it can capture facial expressions. Also a huge amount of the development on the Kinect has been as a 3d scanner, and Kinect embedded right in the controller would make it the game makers 3d scanner of choice. Also you will be able to set it under your TV, to enable touch screen functionality, or on your coffee table, so you can touch screen in the air from your couch. Then it will still have the fallback where you can point it at your dance floor for dance games.

Avatars will be gone in favor of 3d scans of the user. I suspect at their reveal they will scan someone in with the new Kinect controller, and then they will play a casual game with that avatar.

I also suspect the New XBox will replace the Bing screen with a virtual avatar. That you have a conversation with to conduct your searches.

Here is the hitch though... It wont launch until next year. So the PS4 will get one Christmas on the market by its lonesome.

Everyone (Google, Apple, Samsung, not just Sony) will spend the next decade trying to catch up...

[dolkrak]

@B1663r Right now that's more like MS spent the last 10 years trying to catch up to Apple and Google. And soon playing catch up to Sony in gaming too.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I think MS tried to tackle to much in the past two years. Kinect was a surprise hit so MS had to cater to that. People were doing more than gaming on Xbox so MS had to cater to that.

The hardcore still wanted their games and yes MS did cater to that despite the lack of new Ip's. As I said before, MS with the 360 doesn't have enough studios/resources to give everybody what they want.

Seeing how Kinect was a hit they couldn't completely drop that market so they supported it. Last year was the worst year for Kinect the device is limited and MS knows that.

Its really annoying when people say MS abandon the hardcore when that's not completely true. "Abandoning" is to completely leave something or someone. The real reason people don't like MS in that field was due to the lack of original retail Ip's. MS is uses Gears, Halo, Forza while Alan Wake, Fable and a RARE project are being made for next gen. Original exclusvie arcade download titles keep the Xbox great.

Like I said MS tried doing to much at the same time they'll have a clear focus on everything next gen. Entertainment, Kinect and most importantly the exclusive new core Ip's

As with Sony and showing the PS4 I think it was a good idea, but I ultimately don't think Sony is truly satisfied with the PS3 for some reason. They seem rather aggressive in releasing brand new hardware only to "eventually" forget about the PS3 in the long run.

Its a little suspicious other than that I'm looking forward to PS4. New games, possible new studio an Uncharted tease, brand new Ip tease, Driver Club, Infamous, Kill Zone shown off. Other social features Gaikai all of it can't wait.

[LackTrue4K]

I think they did great!!
Just take a look at the top of N4G, it's all ps4 and nothing about Xbox/Microsoft.
Expect the same thing when MS has there info ready!! Great times are just months away, can't wait!!! :D

@TheKayle..."money talks means nothing"?!
Money means nothing to you?!?!?

[IRetrouk]

Sdf load of bull, you know it, i know it and anyone else that has been here from 06 onwards knows it too.

[IRetrouk]

Just to clarify, i lost my bubbles years ago for daring to mention how many times i went through rrod, never ever have they went back up, if this site was sony land would i not have got more bubbles for being pro sony??? And not liking the 360 all that much back then???

[miyamoto]

yes

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

StrongMans post, his "sony hit a grand slam", and his way more agrees than disagrees with everyone backing him up saying true.. you're right, they did.

Just shows that the real 3 letter of this site isn't N4G, but more SDF.

LMAO, they hit a grand slam. Holy hell.

[Scrupuless]

Ya there is that possibility, or there is the reality that sony has more fans period. Butt hurt much??

[DigitalRaptor]

Yes Scrupuless, that midnighter fellow is butt hurt and nothing more.

He was able to revel in Sony's faults and shortsightedness this gen, but with PS4 there's really nothing valid that he will be able to put across to downplay Sony. Maybe backwards compatibility, but what's that when new games are coming out and PS3 is still being supported well?

As for N4G, yeah Sony does more as a gaming company, they have more platforms to support and make more games, and as such more news stems from this. Fans will follow the news.

[MysticStrummer]

Personally as a Sony fan and MS hater (not 360 hater... MS hater) I would have been happiest if MS had announced first. Then Sony could have adjusted their PS4 specs and announced better tech soon after (adding more memory or something relatively simple like that). I would have found that hilarious, but the way Sony did it was probably best. They'll release bits of info throughout the rest of the year, and keep people talking about their product, while MS will always be perceived as playing catch up, unless their tech is head and shoulders above Sony's, which I doubt. The tech is likely to be pretty equal. Besides the subjective opinions about exclusives, MS's one trump card is people's loyalty to XBL, so we'll see if 720 has enough features to justify paying to play online for another generation.

[Chaostar]

I thoroughly agree with the writer and, in all honesty, I'm still a little shocked that MS hasn't done one single thing to try and steal some of the hype.

Besides a couple of snarky comments about Sony not showing the actual console, MS has been deathly silent. They either have something very special lined up and are overly confident of their success or Sony actually caught them off-guard and they're just not prepared enough to respond.

[Tody_ZA]

Great to hear =) As a PlayStation owner and fan myself, while I don't think Microsoft are unprepared right now, there was news going around the internet that they were caught off-guard by Sony's early reveal, and that would make sense since it was practically at the beginning of the year, miles before E3.

[SolidStoner]

well said! I think Sony did the right move... and I would even want Microsoft to take PS4 specs and make next x box the same... that would not hurt gamers! Games would look awesome on both consoles, hell why not play against each other online x box vs playstation... that would be awesome, to be fully connected with everyone! PS4 still would have its epic exclusives and it would stand out as always!

[first1NFANTRY]

great points by everyone BUT the sole reason i want M$ to match Sony's hardware specs is because i want multiplats devs to finally take advantage of the blu ray medium and overall better experience,

Too much have we seen games with potential fall short because they catered to the weaker platform.

In my opinion Sony has been serving alot of humble pie the majority of this gen. I think it's time they played dirty for a change.

[MikeMyers]

It was the right move for Sony but it might not be the right time for MS. You have to look at things from various perspectives. Sony got a lot of attention for the PS4 and rightly so, it sounds like they are definitely on the right track.

Microsoft is playing it smart right now because you don't want to make an announcement just because the other guys did. They will do it when they feel it's the right time. I think when Nintendo revealed the Wii U there was a bit of a mixed bag because they were not very clear at the time what the Wii U was or the specs.

The next Xbox needs to come out strong. Microsoft needs to show software that gamers are going to be interested in. That's the caveat. You have to ignore the online chatter. Remember, that's where the real hardcore crowd resides and isn't necessarily where they need to focus all of their efforts to.

The PS4 is getting a lot of positive feedback from the media and the developers and that's always a good sign but it isn't any guarantee for its overall success.

[TheKayle]

they just showed not other things happened (well no real console show but ...) both console will be realeased same time window.....so this hype "money talking" mean nothing...

ihmo when the xbox will ger showed the hype will go all on ms coz is the "new player on the ground" while ps4 is something that we already know everything about

[Tody_ZA]

Not necessarily, because firstly Sony has yet to show the actual console (which will generate excitement because it will be like people can attach a face to a name now) not to mention that they most definitely have a full software line-up planned for E3.

From an objective point of view, they've kind of stolen the thunder a little bit now because the hype for MS' conference, if we factor the games out, is more on "how will they respond to Sony?" and not on the buzz of next-gen being something completely new.

It adds some pressure to Microsoft. While I am positive that they will respond accordingly, the last few years of the Xbox 360 does have me worried about games and that's what I want to see most (exclusives, new IPs) because I dominantly buy a console for games.

[Minato-Namikaze]

You know everything about the ps4? Then by all means please give us more details........

[TheKayle]

yeah pretty much WE know everything...

the tech inside the controller
the tech and the spec inside the dual camera that r
Dimension Approx: 186mm x 27mm x 27mm (width x height x depth)
Weight Approx: 183g
Video: Video Pixel (Maximum) 1280 x 800 pixel
Video Frame Rate 1280×800 pixel
640×400 pixel
320×192 pixe
Video Format RAW, YUV (uncompressed)

(is a low spec version of the kinect eh)

the tech inside the ps4 (type of cpu gpu and amount of ram and gpu ram and other processor like the zlib decompressor)

the amd jaguar 4+4 cores
the bandwith (176gb/s) and type of ram (gddr5) the amount of cu (16 indipendend programmable to calculate physics or rendering) and rops (32...r too much for a console that target at 1080p ...i think it cost more to put some out in customizations than have it and not use it..and if u r asking urself 32rops mean 4kgaming no is impossible if not a 6fps with this hardware maybe MAYBE upscaling everything) and how they work on that gpu..
we know the PEAK performance that can do something like 1.83tf on the gpu side and 100 gflop the cpu =1.84 tf for the entire system....(we r talkign about PEAK perfomance...real world performance...around 1.6tf ..(coz u need to take in consideration a big problem that ala pc architecture have ...ram latency gpu stall cpu stall etc etc)
we know will have a version of opencl that is comparable to dx 11
an audio processor that can stream 200 cuncurrent audio files
we know the blueray speed is 6x

the only thing that we still dont know is if the 4+4 jaguar will be clocked at 2ghz istead a 1.6 (as we knew) and the amount of hd space
ah and yeah..for all the apple lovers....we dotn know the shape of the box....lol

what u need to know more minato?

the problem is that we really dont know nothing about next xbox if not a old document leak from 1 year ago...:(...the official 2010 MS yukon one that point a scalable system with 2 gpu and some rumor from 1 year superdae leak with that low spec

@gamerelite

no im hyped for the "HARDCORE GAMER" share button and the freakingimmick sculpting game from mediamolecule lol ;) troll go in your cave

@minato

to your point 2 im sorry for u then coz sony is copying a dual camera that is juts a kinect with lower specs than the kinect2...(mediamolecule demo should u make understand something)

kojima is multiplat now.......im waiting for naughty dog too.....santa monica is losing their appeal ...to me

[Minato-Namikaze]

1. only if MS matches or exceeds those specs will be excited.
2. Never mention the kinect to me for ANYTHING game related cause its not good for me and what i play.
3. Specs are nice but until we see real world applications those are nothing but words. When i see what Sony santa monica, naughty dog, and kojima cooks up for the ps4 then we'll know more about what this system can really do.

[Why o why]

caught us all on the back foot.....

the same feeling I get when theres a major update for my galaxy s that I forgot was coming .....sad I know but I dont care the excitement is exciting especially since this may be the last gen im gunna be truly into.

sony sure have learnt a thing or 2 from MS in terms of marketing and 1upmanship. Some still call sony arrogant but they are definitely taking MS more seriously now whilst continuing the support of their core fans and their more casual ones and creating more new ips gen after gen. MS wont lie down though...no. It will be better for us gamers in some aspects that for sure if ms then starts to shift back towards creating more games or at least letting the old ips it has locked away out again.

[from the beach]

I don't think announcing it first matters much, releasing first would be a big coup though.

[MysticStrummer]

Tough to say. MS released first and it helped them gain a lot of market share, but they also went from first in sales to last, so it depends on how you look at it.

I said MS fell to last (3rd) because if it hasn't happened already, it most certainly will before the end of the year when the new consoles launch.

[from the beach]

Well, if Microsoft do slip to third it'll be after Sony occupied that spot for seven years, coming off a lead of about 100m sales in the previous gen.

Against that backdrop I'd say releasing first is pretty important.

[eferreira]

Yes they did, just look at n4g most articles are good things and bad things about ps4. Any publicity is good publicity.

[Typical-Guy]

It doesn't matter as long as they have learned a lot from the PS3...

[khowat]

Yeah they made the right decision!

The sony fans and fanboys were going crazy over the ps4, and the Ps4 has dominated with temp since FEB 16, All Ps4 positive articles get commented on agreeing with the author into oblivion and all Ps4 negative articles get hated into oblivion

and if anyone says that there are few sony fanboys on this site "where have you been?"

And obviously playstation fanboys and even I myself as a nintendo fanboy was so excited on FEB 20

I think they took the novelty of it away from microsoft so the now if they do something similar it will have less punch

*Waits patiently for the sea of disagrees*

[Hicken]

Well, yeah, when you equate all the hype simply to "Sony fans and fanboys," you're gonna get disagrees. According to you, only people who like Sony are excited; no one who just likes gaming, no one who's generally a fan of other consoles is looking forward to the PS4.

[e-p-ayeaH]

This E3 will be quite interesting.

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

Being first of what? First to announce their console after the Wii U?

[roshi1987]

It is a war between MS and SONY; just like last gen, the Wii was it's own market and was a massive success.

The WiiU has to be able to sustain its own created market or it is doomed as once again it is a battle between MS and SONY doing the same thing.

So yes, first to announce between the 2 major players.

[MysticStrummer]

WiiU is viewed by most as a late entry into last gen, not the first entry into next gen. Right or wrong, that's the way it is. Nintendo fans better get used to not having their console mentioned when talking about next gen tech.

[clintagious650]

Its kind of awkward not seeing ms respond, kinda makes u wonder or superdae's info was legit & ms has been hearing ppl complain about always online, not supporting used games, & its specs. Maybe their changing things up before revealing it at e3? Who knows.

Also i think sony was confident enough to reveal their console 1st to start the hype up early before they launch the ps4. Its a good move that way if ms responds they can respond back at e3 to really start the hype. E3 should be good.

[Why o why]

As long as sony keep bringing their new ips and revisit old ones im fine. It would be better for sony to release at a similar or earlier time as that year and longer in some regions allowed ms to build up a good head of steam. Did that headstart affect me.....cant say it did as sony throughout this whole gen pushed out game after game year on year. Their revenues are my primary concern just like my bills or life isnt theirs so im in this for me. GAMES. Continue doing what you've done and I wont really care when sony announce or release as I know my gaming wants are more than likely covered regardless just like this gen. Still getting full price new ips even now. From sonys perspective there are benefits that filter down to their fans. Hype is good and if sony build a sizable head start 3rd parties may use the ps4 as its lead console development format like the 360 was the varying reasons this gen from ease of development to user base.

[Picnic]

There are usually three major consoles in any generation.
It was really the WiiU that announced first. Whether you regard it as only on a par with the Xbox360 / PS3 in some respects or not, it's Nintendo's alternative to the PS4/ next Xbox. Sony only announced first compared to the next Xbox.

So, for another generation, Sony are second to announce, just like when they followed Sega's Saturn and Dreamcast and the Xbox360.

(For the purposes of my argument I don't include the MegaCD and 32X as they are add ons, other FMV CD systems as they were like the Mega CD add on and Atari Jaguar as Atari were having a stab in the dark out of nowhere following the not massively successful Atari Lynx handheld).

[Toman85]

They said first they waited for MS to show their next-gen system. But suddenly they jump the gun and they talked about PS4 without showing the hardware and design for PS4.

It's a bold move yes, but in the long term it can work
My eyes are ready for more next-gen stuff

Have already 2x Nintendo Wii U Premium Edition's, so bring a final look on PS4 and Microsoft's next platform named (Xbox Blue, Xbox Loop, Xbox 1080)

[ame22]

Time will tell, but it's gotten people talking so that's something.

[sway_z]

'Did Sony Make The Right Call By Being First With The PS4?'

...Pointless, because the question is hyperthetical. The question refers to a time passed, that cannot be changed nor undone. The question lends more to a future we have yet to see (hindsight), given that Sony has had no response from Microsoft to date.

Questions should be relevant to the present, unless posed to learn from past events.

So to summarize, this is a baseless, pointless and irrelevant article.

[Clarence]

Did M$ make the wrong decision going first last gen?
What a stupid question.

The best part about Sony is they only announced part of the features that the PS4 is capable of doing.

[Gamesgbkiller]

You forgot to add how before did.

[Vickistheman]

I think Sony's strategy was to steal a lot of MS's thunder. They showed off games that are also coming to 720, so when MS shows them off too the wow factor isn't the same.

If Sony had info on 720's specs and felt that MS couldn't or wouldn't match PS4's specs then it seems like the right move.

I doubt MS could just upgrade the 720's specs without some sort of delay. Launching first was their biggest advantage last gen, I don't think they want to give Sony a head start.

[lovegames718]

i cant imagine how the ps4 can get any better as a console but according to ppl on gaf and in the know how Sony still has a few things they havent mentioned in relation to the Ps4 (yeah some more goodies). Sony kudos for doing one of the best unveils and actually showing live gameplay of first party games and not just bs tech demos.Come E3 it will be like another unveil for Sony with a price, Physical shell and more rich features and what the subscriptions services will entail.

[valormeer]

Yes it was a good choice, Now they can focus on the games at E3.

[DivineAssault]

perfect decision by showing 1st

[smashcrashbash]

Can I ask a question? How come PS4 articles are always full of people trying to convince everyone that Microsoft's console will be better or 'will bring it' as people keep saying? I mean you barely know anything about the new Xbox console and yet you are trying to gain some sort of foothold.Why is it when people have nothing to boast with or to show they seem to feel left out and proceed to either downplay the thing that exists or claim the thing they barely know anything about will be better? We who are boasting and bragging about the PS4 at least know tons about it and seen the games.But Xbox people are jumping around waving their arms with no proof of the next Xbox being better except with a few rumored specs.I know gamers have a lot of insecurity these days but at least wait until the next Xbox is revealed before you start the d**k waving competition and not before you have anything to wave.

[unicron7]

Dude, that's what MS is all about. In the media and in the consumer market. They have a legion of d*ck wavers that I honestly can't grasp my head around. The 360 never seemed like a superior device...not in hardware quality or software quantity...and yet people still beat their chest over it. Goes to show how far marketing will propel your product in the US. More power to them...but I've never lost sleep over it. lol

[T2]

It should be more based on releasing when you are ready, ps4 appears to be on track for release so as of yet they have done well. Releasing first is irrelevant if your product sucks

[mochachino]

Yes they built momentum and cast a shadow on MS. People were salivating for some real next gen news and Sony got everyone excited by promising a true next gen console.

Now everyone's wondering how will MS compete with Sony nor how Sony will compete with MS.

Plus MS is more favoured by journalists so Sony avoided biased comparisons that could have occurred had they revealed together at E3 by quasi-gaming but very popular sites like CNET and Newspapers (although they still focused more on the lack of system case reveal than the 8GDDR5 ram and awesomely redesigned controller - the stuff that actually affects games!?)

It's a shame the ignorant have so much sway over the ignorant.

[unicron7]

Dead on my friend. Avoiding the biased gaming media (which has treated Sony like shit since 2006), by unveiling it early, they cut the competition off at the head. It's all PS4 hype in the news until Microsoft unveils something. Any publicity is good publicity.

[Picnic]

Microsoft may have a smaller amount of first party games but what they do have tends to be more surprising than Sony's.

A Banjo Kazooie game that's about vehicles?
A game by Remedy that isn't Max Payne and is an exclusive -Alan Wake?
Disneyland Kinect - and it got some better reviews than Epic Mickey.
Kinect Star Wars - stormtroopers dancing.

With Sony you already know a lot of the big franchises and that they tend to like shooters because they're good for the Move. With Sony it tends to be the exclusive indie games that are most surpising now. But sometimes I think Sony are just too serious early on in each consoles life at a time when they need to be doing really off the wall stuff.

[BitbyDeath]

Yes, it has everyone up in arms-
Nintendo fans screaming that Wii U is compareable
PC fans trying to claim pixel power
Xbox fans listing Kinect and mobile game studios to convince others they have more dev support

Bring on the popcorn

[Drainage]

nope. because micro is gonna jack all of those ideas and make them better

[unicron7]

Yes, it was a good thing. They put forth the specs, the controller, and some software teases(still coming on strong with the first party exclusives). All good things. They weren't pompous, expressed that they wanted to make games for the hardcore, and make them easier to develop. It's funny trying to see haters bring up doom and gloom articles in order to downplay what has been shown...and failing miserably. LOL The PS3 days are over friends. On to better and brighter things. The device looks solid....the OS is solid...deal with it.

The hype train for PS4 is chugging full speed ahead. By all means though, continue to grasp at straws trying to downplay what is approaching. Just accept it and let us have our fun. :-)