Opinion piece on LAIR, and the uncertain future of dragon flight based games.. A long overlooked sub-genre that LAIR may have inadvertently helped kill off.
"As the public struggled with the high entry price of the machine, Sony funded and pushed various undisputedly shaky games that promised the world but came out half-baked. LAIR was one of those games. Desperate to claw a good foothold in the market they were hoping for “killer apps” that would help define the console and gain the respect Sony once took for granted. We’d see television campaigns and ads for a surprisingly large number of not-that-great games. They seemed to want LAIR to be a big system seller, and the media hyped it to hell and back."
The legacy of the original PlayStation endures - between its advancement of the industry, elevation of the art and making video games cool, PS1 stands as one of the most influential consoles of all time.
Me too!
I have an OG model and a PS One.
Of all the classic games on it, I end up playing PES 2 and F1 97 most though 🤣
@Anast MGS is such a classic. I played it to death back in the day and beat it a few times recently.
I never had a DualShock back in the day so it was cool to FINALLY see the controller walk under Psycho Mantis' control. I also loved being able to easily walk quietly instead of the tapa tapa tapa on the D-pad 😎
@anast also I was kind of hoping Psycho Mantis would read my card, see my PES save files and say "You're a sad bastard, aren't you?"
But alas, he doesn't.
This is big. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (“SIE”) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Audeze, a leading audio technology brand and pioneer of high-end gaming headphones. The acquisition will strengthen SIE’s efforts to continue innovating when it comes to the audio experience of PlayStation games.
Great get. Audeze makes probably the best gaming headset on the market which use planar magnetic drivers.
i have a feeling this was always the plan but Sony had to wait to announce this merger until after their new headsets were revealed.
Well, the good news is that their new headsets are probably going to be much better given how well Audeze is regarded. But it is a weird purchase, given that Sony is already a leader in the audio industry. So they could very well just apply their own knowledge and tech to improve their lousy gaming headsets instead of buying a competitor.
Their gaming headsets are, all of them have been mediocre compared to Sonys actual line of headphones and even other gaming headsets. This is a big buy for Sony if it brings the quality of playstation headsets up.
if you think there's something special about the current lineup of gaming headsets available from Sony then you clearly don't have knowledge of other headsets out there. They aren't bad in the same regard that Beats headphones aren't "bad".
Not being bad doesn't make them good.
Not with planars though, which are becoming more and more popular. Audeze own a lot of proprietary technology related to their planar magnetic drivers. So I imagine that would be the primary motivation for the acquisition.
I have bought the top model of the Playstation headsets for the PS3 and PS4 and while they all sounded great they were not durable and the cheap plastic always broke. Hopefully this acquisition leads to more durable headsets made of metal. I saw the new Pulse Elite they announced and i can already tell that bend they added will be the weak point where it will break.
I have the same headsets and they all look nearly new. It’s all about how you take care of your stuff really.
@jznrpg i took care of all my headsets only the Sony ones broke maybe you don't use them as much. I switched to Astro A50s because they were made of metal and they never broke.
Having Good Audio is different than being Audiophile Greatness. Audeze is Audiophile Greatness, Which is something all companies in the Headphone business strive to be. SONY has always has Good Audio, but they were never what you call Scientifically Great. Being a Audiophile is a Science.
That's not entirely true. Sony makes some pretty good studio headphones that quite a few artists use. The problem is pricing as they aren't for normal consumers. Sony has stuff in almost every category when it comes to audio. But they don't have planar tech like audeze does.
Wonder why this is SIE vs. like whatever division of Sony that makes headphones... I probably just don't understand how they have their divisions organized. Or there's something gaming specific here?
Lair could have been loads better, if it were released this year.
* Lair ran at 1080p, when 720p is fine. They could have fixed this back in the day.
* Lair used QAA, when MLAA is a cheaper, better solution these days.
* The PS3 OS is about 30MB smaller than it was when Lair was released. 30MB is a huge quantity on a console.
* Middleware, like Havok, has now evolved to make tremendous use the the SPUs, whereas Lair didn't get to enjoy said benefits.
I still play Lair. Been wanting a sequel for the longest. Here's hoping i guess.