Announcing the Playstation 4

This week, my inspiration is about something that really did inspire me, the announcement of the new PlayStation 4.  The PlayStation 4 is a new gaming console that will release this December at the latest. Sony, the creators of this new console, gave a presentation to show off what people can expect or what general idea this new console is going to be.

As a gamer I am very excited to hear these announcements that included the new games to release, new software, and new graphic capabilities. Others with whom I have talked and discussed were not that impressed, and frankly I was surprised. Did I fall into the hype? Why do I think this machine is revolutionary? I had seen the future and few had seen it with me.

I see the future that lies ahead with gaming and it’s beautiful. My peers saw this console with most likely open but narrow minds, and narrow not in a sense that they couldn’t see this console in any other way, but narrow meaning they were only seeing this console as a machine. One of my peers commented today, “I mean we all know what’s going to happen, they are going to advertise the games but not come out with any good ones on the release date.” My fellow classmate was already viewing this machine as a portal to playing games and not thinking about what the creation of this machine itself entails. I see this console not only as a portal to wonderful games and stories, but I also see it as a sign of greatness of how far we have come and most importantly a sign of creativity to be ushered in for a new era.

During the event of the console announcement, one of the presentations made me marvel at a clip of an old man. This old man looked human, even the difference in lighting on his cheekbone was realistic. The video showed the old man’s emotion without a word of dialogue. The old man looked surprised and then confused and finally almost sad.  The presenter said that early movies were held back by technology, and today, without budget in mind of course, movies are only limited by imagination. “Games” he said, “have finally reached that point as well. Games are now only limited by the imagination of its creators.” So yes this technology will allow games to have beautiful graphics, but what else does this mean? Games have always told stories but never at the caliber that will now emerge. It means that video games are officially capable of being a new medium to tell real, emotional, stories filled with social commentary. Characters will cry and players, story lovers, will see each tear roll down on each wrinkle on the characters face, and outside of the screen, the player will be there shedding a tear for the character whose story had just become real.

Along with the previous example, many other inspiring and futuristic presentations were shown, but the most inspiring was Media Molecule’s presentation. The presenter told of how Media Molecule had performed extensive research and had finally found what they were looking for, the PlayStation Move controller. This controller enables the player to control the game or object with accuracy, the best accuracy for any gaming move like controller using a pointer. Viewers were then shown a clip of someone literally sculpting a three dimensional object. He said that we are no longer held back from two-dimensional software building, and that “Players can finally create and share their dreams.” A video followed a demo of people who sculpted their “dream”. This to me is most exciting. Without fancy or difficult technology, now with patience and the desire to tell a story, people will be able to create and share their dreams. And looking at this technology from a different perspective, this sculpting could be used for hundreds of different fields such as architecture and even biology where players could build proteins a lá “Fold-it”. 

The PlayStation 4 is a subtle revolution, or at least has set one off in my head. The possibilities of what can happen are exciting and in a way, humbling, and if Microsoft comes out with an even better, then I can’t wait. This conference may have not impressed you, but I invite you to not think of Sony this, Microsoft that but of what is coming on the horizon of gaming, which is nothing but the best of new stories, new dreams, and new possibilities.