Next week sees the long-anticipated reveal of the next Xbox console from Microsoft, so Daily Reaction will likely spend a lot of time discussing the impact the console will have on the market and on PlayStation. But we know some of you just love to hear about PlayStation, and only PlayStation, so we’ve prepared a little treat for you. Ok, it’s not little, we lied.
Today on DR, Seb and Dan analyze every year the PS3 has been out, taking a close look at the highs and lows of the generation and celebrating how far gaming has come. This is for you, PS3.
Seb: A little bit of 2006
Depending on your region, this was a very special year – the PS3 was released. An enormous price tag, negative publicity, awful marketing, strong competition and a launch lineup that consisted mostly of sports titles made this a tough time for Sony, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that a stellar generation of gaming was about to begin. Kicking things off, US gamers were introduced to Resistance, a series many would go on to love, then hate, then forget. In Japan, Motorstorm was released, bringing with it the most brutal offroad racing possible with a controller that doesn’t vibrate.
While the launch had many faults, already it was clear that Sony was open to investing in new IPs.
Oh, and Activision released Call of Duty 3.
Dan: 2007
Being the year that started the meme ‘PS3 Has No Games’, it is hard to look back at 2007 and understand what people were complaining about. Yes, the system was still expensive, yes, we still did not have rumble or cross-game chat, but man there were some amazing games that year.
Sony brought out a number of exclusives, including action slasher Heavenly Sword, a game that pushed facial animation and voice work for gaming to a point that we still have yet to see many games rival its work. Warhawk paved the way for online play as we know it, and fl0w helped give birth to a flourishing indie scene on console. New franchises like the beloved Uncharted were establishing themselves and breaking new ground, while others like Folklore and Super Stardust HD became cult classics and some became colossal flops… we’re looking at you Lair. Hot off the tails of Resistance FoM, Insomniac Games brought back the PS2 franchise favorite, Ratchet & Clank with Tools of Destruction.
Continuing the unstoppable music genre, Activision released Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, and EA matched them by piling on even more plastic goods with Rock Band. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion finally made its way to PS3, kicking off the wonderful DLC fad with its ‘Horse Armor’, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box released, setting up players for the long, long, long, wait for Episode 3, and two of my favorite games this generation also launched, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Assassin’s Creed.
Oh, and Activision consumed a generation of gamers with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
