It seems like just the other day when PlayStation 3s still had backwards compatibility and we wondered who would ever pay $500 or more for a console (not that many people, as it turned out), but here we are, four years after the launch of the PS3, and the little console that could has finally gained some traction and doesn’t need to have little brother syndrome anymore.

So how does the TPS staff feel about the Triple on its fourth anniversary? Do they, like me (Aram), lament the loss of some of the quirkier games we saw released regularly on the PlayStation 2? Or are we happy many of them found a home as downloadable titles on the PlayStation Network? Are there really six years left in this system, like Sony would have us believe? We gathered some of the staff around the DualShock 3-shaped conference table and pretended to listen to each others’ thoughts…

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
Man, four years goes by fast. When the PS3 was born, so was my daughter, and much like having kids, I can’t remember what life was like before I had this black battleship. The ubiquitous console not only plays two generations of games, it has replaced the old Xbox as the media center of my world. I can watch Netflix movies, Vevo music videos, Hulu TV shows, and stream virtually any video file of my own straight to my TV with little effort. After a slow start, the PS3 is rife with great exclusive content and robust offerings on the PlayStation Store, which has become a haven of sorts for indie development houses. I’m not too ashamed to admit that the idea of Trophies is far more compelling to me than Achievement points ever were. Sony seems poised to deliver an almost unbelievable amount of exclusive content in the next six months. What’s not to love?

Well, for starters, I’m not drinking the Sony Kool-Aid when it comes to backward compatibility. I’m a subscriber to the theory that we could still have the ability to play last generation’s games – only Sony realized they could monetize those old titles again by locking us out and forcing us to buy remakes. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support remastering old titles, but we all know that it is a highly selective process, and many titles we consider “classics” will never get updated.

Which brings me to my other issue… where are this generation’s Disaster Reports and Katamari Damacys? (Yes, I realize there is a “new” Katamari game, but I am talking metaphorically, not literally here). One of the hallmarks of both the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 was the plethora of “non-traditional” games that graced their catalogs, many of which came from overseas. There has yet to be a Mister Mosquito or even a God Hand appearing in our stores. I appreciate that we can play most import games natively now, and I am pleased by the appearance of quirky little gems like Trash Panic and Noby Noby Boy gracing the PSN, but I miss those wacky, fully-translated titles like IllBleed. We still have time to reverse the trend, but my hopes are not high.

Parjanya Holtz
Senior Editor
I knew I was in love when I plugged in my PS3 for the first time and MotorStorm’s intro started playing. Neither my HDTV nor my surround sound system had ever been able to fully demonstrate their potential until that point. Admittedly, the Xbox 360 was a console that I only got my hands on after getting a PS3, so the technological leap from my beloved PS2 was quite the significant one.

I remember thinking, “Man, this is the future.” The irony is that it wasn’t. Sony’s online system was solid but nowhere near what the 360 offered with Xbox Live at the time. Many of the multiplatform titles were graphically inferior on Sony’s big black box, and we were told rumble was “last gen.” Fortunately, it didn’t take Sony long to realize that they had to look at what the competition was doing if they wanted to catch up – or even surpass them in the never-ending console wars.

With time, we were given the DualShock 3, Trophies, better third-party support, Netflix, the video store, and a lineup of exclusives that I think is far superior to that of the 360, and all of this coupled with the initial selling points of the PS3. There is no denying that Sony has allowed the PS3 to mature into a unique and sophisticated gaming machine that is just far more user-friendly than its competition.

But what’s so attractive is also a form of character that has grown around the system that I simply don’t see anywhere else. Kevin Butler is a pop-culture phenomenon, the PlayStation Blog has become one of the most charismatic “official” sources for gaming news on the web, and the unique option of being able to swap and upgrade your system’s harddrive any time are just a few of the reasons why I consider the PS3 the system of my choice. I truly believe that if Sony keeps up the hard work and eventually realizes that you can have both backwards compatibility and remastered originals alongside one another, the transition from the once-arrogant industry leader to maybe and arguably its most important asset is perfect. I, for one, can’t wait to see where the PlayStation brand goes from here.

Marc N. Kleinhenz
Features Editor
Well, if that brand future manifests itself in the form of PlayStation Portable Phones (PSPPs) and more wishy-washy initiatives like PlayStation Plus, I’m not quite certain that it will either be bright or that arrogant-less.

Kyle Heimbigner
Staff Writer
I didn’t get a PlayStation 3 until December of 2009, when all of the really good exclusives were out or were about to come out within the next three months or so. I had just bought a HDTV (50″ 1080p plasma <3), and Blu-ray was one of the first things I really wanted to try the TV out on. The PlayStation 3 was the only thing I could think of; I’ve always been a huge fan of Sony’s consoles – I loved the PlayStation 2 – and I had started hearing rumors of Gran Turismo 5 coming out soon (not surprisingly, I would have to wait an extra year for it!), so it was a no-brainer.

Looking at the list of exclusives, I knew I would love this system. Demon’s Souls, Uncharted 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4, at the time, were the games that really sold me. (Although I still need to give Demon’s Souls a proper play-through one of these days – I have only ever rented the game. ) The free online play is what sold me on the console, as well. I’ve noticed that those games whose online play is key really survive a long time on the PS3; their online communities keep going a lot longer than on the PC or Xbox 360. This was a major plus that I discovered shortly after getting the system.

Even though I originally mentioned that the strong Blu-ray capabilities were one of the top reasons for me getting a PS3, I have actually ended up only buying a handful of BR movies. With Netflix taking off big time in early 2010, along with other large streaming services providing HD content, there wasn’t a whole lot of reason to go with Blu-ray, it has turned out. The format is great, though, and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.

But, ultimately, the PlayStation 3 is such a strong gaming system that everything else is overshadowed by this fact. It just has the best exclusives available. While I am not always happy with the way Sony handles system updates and provides new features, the games are what is most important, and, in this regard, the PS3 delivers a lot better then anyone else. I’ve always been a fan of Sony’s consoles because they just simply stick to the most important aspects. Sometimes the little things get ignored by them or put aside for long periods of time, but when it comes to providing the most original game titles, they deliver every time – and that is what is really important to me when I am ready to spend my money on my favorite hobby.

Shaun Mason
TPS Mascot
The first time that I saw the PS3, I was blown away by the demos, videos, and launch lineup that looked like it was going to redefine the gaming industry. Then I saw the price, and I was definitely dismayed – while the games were going to be affordable, the launch systems were in the realm of the NeoGeo (an impressive system, technically, at the time, but an incredible failure). It felt like Sony had freely given up the dominance that they’d established over the PlayStation and PS2 years to Microsoft.

While some of the obvious gaffes, like realistic giant crabs and “Riiiiiiiiiiidge Racer!” became internet memes and cast doubt on the future of the system, Sony battled back in some of the ways it knows best – producing high-quality games. Titles like Resistance and MotorStorm were huge in rebuilding faith in the PlayStation fan community, and this was supported afterwards with incredibly solid hits over time: The Show has consistently been the best baseball series ever produced, LittleBigPlanet redefined user content, and God of War III blew users away with its storytelling.

Sony also managed to score a crucial victory in the format wars by trouncing HD-DVD and establishing Blu-ray as the successor to DVDs. Given Sony’s track record in backing formats (Betamax, anyone?), the win of Blu-ray was huge and was due, in part, to the fact that the player was central to every system. Sony gave consumers a system that could play their old DVDs but also gave them HD-quality new releases and games. The PS3 was a Swiss Army Knife that became the center of many a home entertainment system, and it’s hard to imagine sitting down and watching movies without it – whether that’s with a physical disc or streaming movies through Hulu or Netflix.

However, Sony still has done things that will make even the most die-hard fan scratch their head in confusion. While they have no problem touting the support of DVDs and Blu-rays, they completely eliminated backwards compatibility from post-launch systems. This was a huge selling point that helped Sony retain their fans over the years (and console generations) because fans didn’t feel as though they had to abandon their old game libraries. As someone that still has his old “George Foreman”-style PS3 with backwards compatibility, I will scream out my dissatisfaction with this decision ‘til my dying breath. Then I’ll come back from the grave and scream some more like a banshee.

It’s obvious that Sony decided that they could squeeze and bilk users out of more cash by offering digital versions of older games. However, there’s a large problem with this system: many of the games that are posted in the PS Store aren’t games that anyone wants to play. Personally, if I wanted to play Cool Boarders or Syphon Filter, I’d pull out my old PSX copies. But I don’t. Nor do I care about Rayman 2 or Dirt Jockey – if I did, I would’ve bought them years ago. I’d rather play SSX, MGS2, or DMC3, but those aren’t available in the Store. I applaud the repurposing of older games in collections – the God of War Collection is great, I’m sure that the Sly Collection is awesome (I’m looking forward to diving into that for Christmas), and the forthcoming Ico/Shadow Collection is sure to be unbelievable. But it’s taking far too long to produce these titles or post them on the Store for download

Another issue is that many of the games or genres that were mainstays for Sony aren’t there any longer. Sony used to host incredible RPGs and quirky games that captured the imagination of tons of gamers. Where are they? The PS Store seems to be the lone repository of these titles, like EchoChrome or PixelJunk Monsters.

Will Sony right the ship and reestablish its dominance in this generation? I hope so. Many people believe that the Move has better technology than the Kinect or Wii MotionPlus, and now that developers are starting to get comfortable with programming for the system, some of the truly unbelievable games for the console are on the horizon. However, it does seem like Sony needs a show-stopping string of games or piece of tech that Microsoft and Nintendo can’t match or equal – something that Kevin Butler could constantly Mon-Tage in commercials over and over. Since the whole “Marcus PSP” campaign seems dead, it’s time for the big VP of Everything Gaming to step up and lead the console into the gaming promised land.

Aram Lecis
Señor Editor
It really is a shame that the early years of the PS3 were essentially lost to the unexpected shadow of the Wii and the established dominance of the Xbox 360, a fate that was exacerbated by the aforementioned economically unfriendly pricing. I paid $700 for a 3DO back when it launched in 1993, but I couldn’t bring myself to purchase a PS3 until the price hit $400 – not just because I couldn’t afford one (somehow I can always find the money for something as important as videogames), but because there wasn’t a compelling console exclusive until Metal Gear Solid 4 came along. And even then, it was actually Flower that finally pushed me into purchasing one.

Since that time, my Wii has become merely fodder for my toddlers, and my Xbox 360 barely gets turned on (for which my ears thank me), as I have embraced the return to my true love, for whom I sincerely apologize for ignoring for those two years. I’m here with you on your fourth birthday, and I’ll be there for you when you turn 10 (if not you, then your newer, slimmer sister).

What’s in a release date?

Apparently, at the beginning of the modern era of gaming, not much. Console manufacturers, not yet lured by the siren that is the fourth quarter of the year or dominated by the rigors and subtleties of “launch windows,” had an extremely flexible and wide-ranging spectrum of dates. Nintendo released its very first system in October (but only in New York; the rest of the country had to wait throughout the entirety of the following year) and chose July to ship the first iteration of the first Game Boy, while Sega used June as the birth month for its Master System. August, interestingly enough, emerged as the first momentous month for the industry, gaming’s original (and short-lived) November: the Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and Super NES all hit store shelves within its 31 days. And even the first half of the year saw some action, with the Saturn (sort of) debuting in May.

The tradition of reserving Q4 as the exclusive grounds for system launches didn’t nominally start until Sony entered the arena, ten long and dynamic years later. (Technically, 3DO and Atari beat the Japanese electronics giant to the punch, releasing the 3DO in October and the Jaguar in November of 1993, but their consoles are mere footnotes – literally – in the annals of gaming history.) After the PSX, PS2, and PS3 were shipped in September, October, and November, respectively, manufacturers clung to the merry month of November like vultures to a snowbound carcass: the Xbox saw release on the 15th; the PS3, the 17th; the GameCube and the Game Boy Color, the 18th; the Wii, the 19th; the DS, the 21st; and the Xbox 360, the 22nd. Hell, even non-hardware – or, at least, non-system – launches have favored the eleventh month of the year, with Microsoft in particular leading the charge; it started Xbox Live (on the 15th), debuted Xbox Live Arcade (the 3rd), introduced the New Xbox Experience (the 19th), and, most recently, unleashed Kinect (the 19th once more) all in November.

MARCH
PSP – 03.24.05

JUNE
GBA – 06.11.01

JULY
Game Boy – 07.31.89

AUGUST
Genesis – 08.14.89
Super NES – 08.23.91

SEPTEMBER
PlayStation – 09.09.95
Nintendo 64 – 09.29.96
Dreamcast – 09.09.99

OCTOBER
NES – 10.18.85
PlayStation 2 – 10.26.00

NOVEMBER
Xbox – 11.15.01
PlayStation 3 – 11.17.06
GameCube – 11.18.01
Wii – 11.19.06
DS – 11.21.04
Xbox 360 – 11.22.05

The sole exception to this ad hoc tradition, interestingly enough, comes in the form of handheld systems. Although Nintendo shipped the GBC and DS in the fourth quarter, the Game Boy Advance was in June, while the PSP was, bizarrely, in March. And lest a first-quarter release be seen as being too unusual (or, apparently, unique), the big N has already indicated that the 3DS, its fourth portable, will similarly hit shelves in March of next year.

This latter and latest development may have something to do with the still-burgeoning trend of software publishers treating Q1 as the new Q4, or it may simply be a by-product of end-of-fiscal-year book balancing – or, most mundane yet, the manifestation of assembly-line realities – but it nevertheless sends the same signal: as the videogame industry continues to grow and solidify its presence as a major, not to mention permanent, fixture in the entertainment panorama, it needs to rely less and less on the seasonal, toy-purchasing surge of November, generating instead its own momentums at any arbitrary point in the calendar year.

As the market finishes growing up, in other words, it’s heading back to its adolescent stomping grounds.

On October 26, 2000, the Sony PlayStation 2 was launched, delivering not only one of the single best software libraries to the world, but also cementing a slew of features as commonplace items in every system hence: backwards compatibility, online gaming, multimedia functionality. That none of these was originated by Sony itself is a testament to the console’s legacy.

To commemorate the occasion, TotalPlayStation has gathered some of the best and most influential journalists, from either in-house or outside publications, to discuss one of their most cherished games from the PS2’s long lifecycle.

Ten authors and ten years in ten days. Let the celebration conclude.

Author: Marc N. Kleinhenz [TotalPlayStation Features Editor]
Game: Onimusha: Warlords
Release date: March 13, 2001

To me, the hallmark of a good story has been clear and irrefutable and singular since childhood: atmosphere. Those narratives that truly and deeply create another world, whether it be the grassy plains of Naboo or the Mafioso streets of Jersey, and let the audience convincingly inhabit them, playing and exploring and enjoying, are the ones that not only resonate the most strongly with peoples the world over, but also stand the test of time for generations – even centuries – to come. And although the recent advent of the found footage sub-genre in filmdom is particularly well-suited to such atmospheric conduciveness, as the woods of The Blair Witch Project or, even, the bedroom in Paranormal Activity will easily attest to, it is videogames, by virtue of their inherent nature, that are most potently able to transport individuals to a world far, far away.

Anything Miyamoto-sama touches, for example, has a transformative or transportive effect. The simplistic question mark blocks of Super Mario Bros. intimate an entire, complete reality, particularly to a fervent eight-year-old’s mind; the fully realized Hyrule witnessed – in 3D for the very first time – in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is among the closest experiences to gaming moksha a player can ever hope to attain. Mikami-san is another world-building maestro, helping to construct the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City Police Department of Resident Evil and RE2, respectively, as well as Devil May Cry’s marionette monstrosities.

But his most deft strokes of the atmospheric paintbrush come in the form and substance of Onimusha. The layout of its Azuchi-Momoyama castle, the gorgeous composition of its pre-rendered backgrounds, the melody of its (Japanese) voice acting, the smoothness of its character animations, the cumulative effect of its enemy designs and creepy soundtrack and sucking-souls gameplay – all coalesce to softly, gently undulate an expansive environment around the player in such a forcefully intimate way and to such a painstakingly deliberate effect. The fact that the game is steeped in Japanese history only reinforces its ability to so fully and thoroughly erect another place in another time (literally). The daimyo period has rarely been so immediate or vivid.

And neither has a survival-horror (of sorts) title been so action-heavy. Rather than detracting from the experience, as can sometimes happen with the Silent Hill series – another heavyweight in the atmospherics department – it instead creates a delicate tension between fearful-to-open-the-next-door-to-the-next-haunted-chamber and impatiently-waiting-to-get-back-into-the-fight-and-flay-some-demon-ass. It is a similar balancing act between the traditional RPG components of leveling up weaponry and spells and the action genre’s fast-paced gameplay, between exploration and storytelling, between grotesque visuals and majestic vistas. Much like an automobile’s engine, it is an unwieldy and improbable design on paper but magical and seamless in execution – the very definition of gaming gold. (And all this within six months of the PS2’s launch!)

It may not be too much of a stretch to say, when one looks back at the annals of pop culture storytelling at some distant point hence, that theater has Macbeth’s castle, cinema has Kane’s Xanadu, and gaming has Samanosuke’s castle. And even if it is, it does nothing to dispel the underlying reality: although Onimusha: Warlords may not be the most perfect game, it is among the most perfectly conjured realities to grace our collective minds, interactive or not.

On October 26, 2000, the Sony PlayStation 2 was launched, delivering not only one of the single best software libraries to the world, but also cementing a slew of features as commonplace items in every system hence: backwards compatibility, online gaming, multimedia functionality. That none of these was originated by Sony itself is a testament to the console’s legacy.

To commemorate the occasion, TotalPlayStation has gathered some of the best and most influential journalists, from either in-house or outside publications, to discuss one of their most cherished games from the PS2’s long lifecycle.

Ten authors and ten years in ten days. Let the celebration begin.

Author: Micah Seff [GameXplain Co-founder]
Game: Ico
Release date: September 24, 2001

Editor’s note: due to several factors beyond our control, Mr. Seff’s article has been postponed to a later date.

Please forgive the delay.

On October 26, 2000, the Sony PlayStation 2 was launched, delivering not only one of the single best software libraries to the world, but also cementing a slew of features as commonplace items in every system hence: backwards compatibility, online gaming, multimedia functionality. That none of these was originated by Sony itself is a testament to the console’s legacy.

To commemorate the occasion, TotalPlayStation has gathered some of the best and most influential journalists, from either in-house or outside publications, to discuss one of their most cherished games from the PS2’s long lifecycle.

Ten authors and ten years in ten days. Let the celebration begin.

Author: Carrie Butcher [TotalPlayStation Staff Writer]
Game: Katamari Damacy
Release date: September 22, 2004

I’m a sucker for atmosphere. I want to be drawn into these virtual worlds through emotion and kept there by mood. I want a fully fleshed-out, thought-out reality that isn’t going to disrupt my suspension of disbelief. Shadow of the Colossus is, of course, a prime example of what I’m talking about, but emotion doesn’t have to mean depressing, and mood doesn’t have to be melancholic. Something that is light-hearted and comedic can work just as well, which is why I absolutely love Katamari Damacy.

What first drew me in was the cover. The jumble of bright colors and simply shaped objects piqued my interest. I can still picture the juxtaposition of the cow, Ferris wheel, and rainbow. The world was full of crap, and I loved it. It was fun to roll around and suction random objects off the floor, and I would have been okay with just that, but I was utterly impressed and delighted when I realized that just about everything in view could be picked up. I was able to interact with objects that, in most games, merely act as part of the background. Because of this, I appreciated what I normally wouldn’t have even noticed. (How many games are there where you look forward to interacting with a fence?) The gameplay was, overall, a lot of fun, and although there were some definite problems with the camera and controls, the flaws were overshadowed by the newness and pure fun of the experience.

In any form of art, interest is created through detail. In Katamari, humor permeates everything – from the placement of objects to the noises they make, from the descriptions in the collection screens to the different things the player can do on the overworld map. Of course, Katamari wouldn’t be what it is without the royal family: the Prince, cousins, and King (especially the King). His use of the ubiquitous “We” and his odd prattling on about himself and the Prince’s inadequacies are hilarious. These cutscenes provide an interesting contrast to those with the people on Earth, who look like toys and talk like two-year-olds. In fact, humans are the most simplified part of the game, yet even this is done in a way that adds humor.

Finally, there’s the music. I don’t generally notice music in videogames (Zelda and LittleBigPlanet are a couple of exceptions), but the lounge music/dog chorus/J-popish songs set the tone perfectly. They seem to take themselves seriously yet be tongue-in-cheek at the same time, and I would often find myself humming them long after I was done playing.

So, although it never made me cry or feel sympathy for the characters, the interactivity, detailed humor, and music in Katamari Damacy all create a world that, though odd, is complete. This, in turn, creates a game that is believable and engulfing. I never found the task of completing my collection to be tedious – I wanted to explore every corner of the Katamari universe. I wanted to know all the quirky things said by the King, and to know every description of every object, and every word (or animal sound) to every song. Katamari is one of those few games whose replayability is extremely high – something only achieved by a fully realized world, atmosphere and all.