Sony revealed the PlayStation 4 last Wednesday at the PlayStation Meeting to ring in the next generation of gaming, but one thing took everyone by surprise–it didn’t show off the physical console.
Ever since the meeting ended, the gaming media and community have been filled with a variety of opinions (mostly negative) over Sony not showing the PS4 console at the event. I feel with this being such a huge topic to some, I had to share my own opinion. Shall we start?
First off, we must understand that we are gamers and not technology fashion experts. Our goal as gamers is to play games. What plays games? The technological components inside, or the pretty little plastic box on the outside? My mind is boggled beyond human understanding over why this argument is even happening in the first place. Sony representatives showed us the controller and how it works, they showed us games with [some] gameplay footage, and they told us about many functions and the innards of the console itself.
Listen, if you want to stare at a box and base your opinion of it off of how it looks, great, but as a hardcore gamer I want a machine that plays my games well and won’t screw up (keep telling me that your Xbox 360 with RROD or PS3 with YLOD are awesome and attractive). We recently covered an interview with a very unhappy SCE U.K. boss that clearly shows the frustration on Sony’s side over everyone’s illogical complaints. If I were in their shoes, I would be biting my tongue so hard until it came off.
It must be insane working for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo during a time when new consoles are revealed. It’s not easy working to keep the press and gamers happy, but I admire them for at least doing their best to fight back the negativity and providing us quality gaming machines that we’ll end up loving–regardless of how it looks–down the road. As gamers, it is our duty to help build the gaming market. If we are too focused on what a console looks like on the outside instead of being thankful for what is on the inside, then we lose who we really are: Gamers.
It’s absolutely saddening to see such immaturity hit our community like this over something so small. If anything, this argument is just as childish as console wars. If anything, my mind is focused more on the future of gaming and not what a piece of plastic looks like. If I were to pick a fight with Sony, it would be the awful looking design of the PS3 Super Slim model, but I won’t because I know that even though the system looks cheap, the power inside it shows beauty. As our mothers taught us, it’s what’s on the inside that truly counts. Viva Gaming!