1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,600 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And if you've been 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: listening to the PlayStation series of episodes on tech Stuff, 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: you've heard me talk about the birth of the console 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: from the moment that Ken Kutaragi, who was a Sony 8 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: engineer at first and then rose to the head of 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,599 Speaker 1: Sony Computer Entertainment, he first started working on the project 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: in secret, even two members of Sony's own board of directors, 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: and I went all the way up to when Ken 12 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: Kutaragi left the company in two thousand seven. In large 13 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: part he would totally cut ties in, but that was 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: after the PlayStation three had kind of a lackluster debut. 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: It didn't go as well as the company had expected. 16 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: In this episode, my plan is I'm going to finish 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: off the PS three's story, then we're gonna talk about 18 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: the PS four, and we'll conclude with the little bit 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: of information we have about the upcoming PS five, because 20 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: as of the recording of this podcast, that console has 21 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: yet to come out. So let's get started, and we're 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: going to backtrack just a touch to talk about the 23 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,119 Speaker 1: service that Sony launched in two thousand six, so that's 24 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: one year before the father of the PlayStation would leave 25 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: the company. This was the same year that the PlayStation 26 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: three came out after a couple of delays. That was 27 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: another reason why ken Kutaragi was sort of put into 28 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,199 Speaker 1: the back seat. It's called the PlayStation Network, and this 29 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: is an online service, something similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live service. 30 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: Gamers can connect to the network for downloadable content and 31 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: services like messaging. Xbox Live had a couple of tiers 32 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: of service. There was a free tier called Xbox Live Silver, 33 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: which supported some features but not stuff like online gameplay, 34 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: So if you wanted to play cooperatively or competitively online, 35 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: you needed to pay for a subscription to Xbox Live Gold. 36 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: The PlayStation Network was advertised as just being free of charge. 37 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: You wouldn't have to pay extra for the services, and 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: that would allow for online play. However, when it launched, 39 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: the PlayStation Network had several features that only had limited support, 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: indicating that even at this stage, the online capabilities of 41 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: the console were more of a reaction to Microsoft rather 42 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: than a carefully designed Sony project. And we're gonna talk 43 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: a lot more about the PlayStation network a little bit 44 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: later in this episode. So one thing that was still 45 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: going on even as late as two thousand seven, when 46 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: Ken Kutaragi would leave the company, was that Sony was 47 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: still producing the PlayStation two. That console originally debuted way 48 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: back in two thousand. The p S three came out 49 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: in two thousand six, and Sony would keep making the 50 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: PS two until two thousand and twelve, essentially just before 51 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: Sony would unveil the PS four. That's the point when 52 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: manufacturing facilities finally stopped rolling off freshly built PS two 53 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: consoles from the assembly lines. So even as I wrap 54 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: up the PS three story, we should keep in mind 55 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: that the PS two's tail wasn't over yet either. It 56 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: kept going strong, And just because the PS three had 57 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,399 Speaker 1: a rocky start doesn't mean Sony would abandon that console 58 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: quickly either. Justice Sony had supported the original PlayStation and 59 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: the PS two for a decade or longer, so too 60 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: would it support the PS three. One thing I didn't 61 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: touch on in the last episode has to do with 62 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: people finding a good use for the cell processor. That's 63 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: the processor that Sony, Teshiba, and IBM a k A 64 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: s t I developed together for the p S three specifically, 65 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: And if you remember from my last episode about the PlayStation, 66 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: I mentioned Kutaragi intended the cell microprocessor architecture to service 67 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: the foundation for lots of other Sony products. Well, that 68 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: didn't really happen in a big way, but other groups 69 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: found uses for the tech that went well outside the 70 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: realm of video games. This story is all about how 71 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: researchers managed to cluge together a network of PlayStation consoles 72 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: to act as a sort of cluster computer that could 73 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: perform calculations at such a high rate that it was 74 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: like having access to a genuine supercomputer. And this idea 75 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: wasn't a new one. Folks had tried doing it even 76 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: back in the old PS two days with that console's 77 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: Emotion Engine processor. Sony had released a kit that allowed 78 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: developers to install Linux, that's an operating system on the 79 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: PS two for the purposes of coding games, But that 80 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,479 Speaker 1: meant that you could code lots of other stuff too, 81 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: and engineers at the National Center for super Computing Applications 82 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: or in c s A tried to turn a bunch 83 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: of PS two game systems into a computing cluster. See, 84 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: supercomputers are incredibly expensive to make. Even renting time on 85 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: a supercomputer is pricing, and there are a lot of 86 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: different research projects that could benefit from having access to 87 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: that sort of processing power. Using PlayStation two consoles, which 88 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: were insanely cheap in comparison to a supercomputer, would be 89 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: an amazing workaround. But the researchers found that the PS 90 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: two wasn't really suited for that kind of work, and 91 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: they frequently encountered problems, particularly with system memory, that made 92 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: the PS two sort of a non viable option. But 93 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: then the PS three came along and the story changed. 94 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: The initial PS three's seemed ideal for the supercomputer treatment. 95 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: It was easier to load Linux on them, they didn't 96 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: have the same memory issues. Soon you had research organizations 97 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: around the world sweeping up PS three consoles, not to 98 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: play games, but in order to run complex processes such 99 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: as simulations about black holes. I'm not kidding. They really 100 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: were used to do this. That's what the University of 101 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,600 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Dartmouth researcher garov Kana did. He worked for several 102 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: weeks developing the code that would allow him to network 103 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: together multiple PS three's and use them like a supercomputer 104 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 1: in order to run scientific calculations related to black hole research. 105 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: That is some seriously cool tech. Ultimately, he was able 106 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: to connect one hundred seventy six PS three consoles to 107 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: act like a supercomputer, gaining access to computational processing power. 108 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: This team wouldn't otherwise never had access to it. Just 109 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,679 Speaker 1: black hole research isn't one of those areas that gets 110 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: tons of funding thrown at it, so they have to 111 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: make a little money go a long way, and this 112 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: was one of the ways they were able to do it. 113 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 1: And he wasn't the only one doing this. Not only 114 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: were other research facilities trying out similar approaches. The United 115 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: States military was as well. The Air Force Research Laboratory 116 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: built one of the largest networks of PS threes in 117 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: a project called Condor Cluster. But this project launched in 118 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,559 Speaker 1: two thousand nine. That was right around the same time 119 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: Sony was making some decisions that made everything much more 120 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: difficult if you wanted to make a computer cluster LPs 121 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: three's see like other PlayStation consoles, Sony would release several 122 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: updated models of the p S three, and the newer 123 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: versions were typically slimmer and smaller, and sometimes had new features, 124 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: or in a few cases, sometimes they got rid of 125 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: old features that Sony no longer wanted to support. The 126 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: newer PIECEPS three models, the ones that were coming onto 127 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: store shelves around the time that Condor Cluster was getting started, 128 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: wouldn't let you load Linux on them the way the 129 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: old ones did. Sony had removed that capability, and even 130 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: the old consoles were affected if they had been connected 131 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: to Sony's online services because the company had released a 132 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: firmware update that nullified the Linux solution on those old consoles. 133 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: So when a project like Condor Cluster comes along, everyone 134 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: working on it was left searching for older PS three 135 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: consoles that had not been updated. They hadn't had that 136 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: firmware update installed on them. Sony had a warehouse of 137 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: a pretty hefty collection of older PS three's that were 138 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: sitting in Chicago, Illinois, and initially the company's intention was 139 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: to recall all those old consoles. They weren't going to 140 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: let them go onto the market at all. Representatives from 141 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: the US Air Force had to actually convince executives at 142 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: Sony to sell off those old consoles to Condor Cluster, 143 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: rather than just recalling them. Apparently it took a few 144 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: phone calls and meetings to make this happen. Now, ultimately, 145 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,319 Speaker 1: Condor Cluster did take off pun intended, and it did 146 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:53,559 Speaker 1: so with one thousand, seven hundred sixty PlayStation three consoles, 147 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: so ten times the number that were used to research 148 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 1: black holes, and these were all wired together to form 149 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: the backbone or the Condor Cluster system. The arefore stated 150 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: that the intended uses for the system included radar enhancement, 151 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: AI research, and satellite image recognition processes. It was also used, 152 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: at least reportedly to analyze images collected by surveillance drones. 153 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: So um, this isn't a period of American history that 154 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: gets kind of dicey, especially when it talks about, you know, 155 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: drone surveillance and and potentially attack drones. But anyway, at 156 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,679 Speaker 1: the time of the systems unveiling, it was estimated to 157 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: be the third most powerful supercomputer in the world, although 158 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: other reports disputed that and said it was much further 159 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: down the list, ranking it around number thirty five for 160 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: fastest supercomputers. Though I guess you could also make an 161 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: argument that powerful and fast are two different metrics, so 162 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: it really just depends on what they were actually measuring, 163 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: and neither of the press releases I found got into specifics. Anyway, 164 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,319 Speaker 1: I should use the past tense for Condor Cluster because 165 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: that project ended around two thousand fifteen. By that time, 166 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: other computing model power capabilities were outstripping what seventred or 167 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: so PS three's could do. The Air Force would donate 168 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: some of the p S three's to other research projects, 169 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: and then they sold off the rest. And there are 170 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: some projects that still use PS three's to help run processes, 171 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: but a lot of those projects have then moved on 172 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: to different approaches in processing or moved operations into the 173 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: cloud for example. Just turned out that the rest of 174 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: computing power kind of caught up and then surpassed the 175 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: PS three, making it less useful. In two thousand seven, 176 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: the same year that kN Kutaragi would leave Sony, the 177 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,199 Speaker 1: company introduced the PlayStation I periph role for the p 178 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: S three. Now you might remember that when I was 179 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 1: talking about the PS two that the company experimented with 180 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: a webcam PERIPH role called Eye Toy. Well, in many ways, 181 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: the PlayStation I was the next generation of that webcam technology. 182 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: It could capture video at a higher frame rate, which 183 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: means more frames per second that gives you a much 184 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: more smooth video quality, and also had a higher resolution 185 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: than the earlier Eye Toy. It also had a more 186 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: sophisticated microphone than the earlier Eye Toy. And on the 187 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: software side, Sony included facial recognition support, which the company 188 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: claimed could only recognize faces and expressions, but also recognize 189 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: the orientation of a face, such as where you are 190 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: looking at any given time, kind of like a very 191 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: primitive version of eye tracking technologies. One year after Kutaragi left, 192 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: so we're talking around two thousand eight. At this point, 193 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: Sony would release the dual Shock three controller, which officially 194 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: replaced the six axis controller. The dual Shock three was 195 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: essentially a six axis controller with rumble motors. So if 196 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: you listen to the last episode in this series, you'll 197 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: remember Sony released the six axis itself was a last 198 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 1: minute replacement for a boomerang shaped controller that was never released, 199 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: but they released it without a vibrating motor because there 200 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: was this big intellectual property lawsuit that was leveled against Sony. 201 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: But by two thousand and eight that lawsuit had been settled, 202 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: and so the little vibrating motors were back in the controllers, 203 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: restoring haptic feedback to the PlayStation line. And while we're 204 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: on the subject of controllers, Sony would introduce a new 205 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,119 Speaker 1: type of controller in two thousand nine. It's the Move controller, 206 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: which looks a bit like a handheld microphone or maybe 207 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: a flashlight. At the end of the device is a 208 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: small globe which can light up many different colors thanks 209 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,960 Speaker 1: to an LED on the end of the gadget. It's 210 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: meant to work with the PlayStation I the webcam that 211 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: I had mentioned earlier, So the PlayStation I could detect 212 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: the globe at the end of a Move controller and 213 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 1: track it in three dimensions, so not just up, down, 214 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: and left right with respect to the view of the camera, 215 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 1: but also closer or further away from the camera, because 216 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: it could detect how the size of the globe was changing, 217 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: whether or not it was coming closer to the camera 218 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: further away. In addition, the Move has a pair of 219 00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: sensors in it inside the controller itself that tracked changes 220 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: in movements, so it could measure stuff like a change 221 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: in the angle it was held or in rotation, and 222 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 1: I could dedicate an entire episode to all the sensors 223 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: and technologies that make the Move controller work, but that's 224 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: gonna wait for a later date. We're going to stick 225 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,679 Speaker 1: to the consoles for now. So in addition to this 226 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: wand like controller, Sony also released a companion controller called 227 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 1: de PlayStation Move Navigation Controller. You would hold this one 228 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: in your other hand, presumably you would hold the Move 229 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: controller in your dominant hand, and the navigation controller has 230 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: buttons and a thumbstick on it to give players and 231 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: game developers more options when it comes to game interface 232 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: and controls. The Move was in many ways a response 233 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,719 Speaker 1: to Nintendo Wee's success that we had launched in two 234 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: thousand six, and the novel motion based control system was 235 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: an enormous breakout hit among an audience that traditionally wasn't 236 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: really into video games. So these were all the casual 237 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: gamers and the non gamers who went crazy for the Wii. 238 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: Microsoft would have its own gesture based motion control system 239 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: to connect, but that would launch a year after PlayStation Move, 240 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: so Sony got the jump on Microsoft even though they 241 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: were trailing behind Nintendo. The Move would also play a 242 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: part in a future VR system for the PS four, 243 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: but I'll get to that in just a moment. In 244 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: the meantime, let's take a quick break. At the three conference, 245 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 1: Sony announced it was launching an online service called PlayStation Plus, 246 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: built on top of the PlayStation network. PlayStation Plus introduced 247 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: a subscription based element to Sony's online platform. The subscription 248 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: would give gamers access to free content each month, or 249 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: really not free content, is rather content that was included 250 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: in the subscription fee each month because you were paying 251 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: for this stuff, but that included game titles. So let's 252 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: say you'd picked up a PS three, but you never 253 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: got around to buying that one launch title. Well, there 254 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:15,840 Speaker 1: was a chance that Sony might make that very game 255 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: available for download one month on the PlayStation Plus program, 256 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: and you could just snag it. Then you wouldn't have 257 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: to buy it yourself. You just get that as part 258 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: of the subscription service. All it took in return was 259 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: that monthly subscription, and when a debut, it cost forty 260 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 1: nine cents for a year of service in the US. Now, 261 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: some months you'd say, Wow, this is incredible. I got 262 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: a great game or a couple of games on this 263 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: month's PlayStation Plus. Some months you'd say, wow, I never 264 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: want to play that game. Ever, but I guess I've 265 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: got it now. Same thing is true with Microsoft's service. 266 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: By the way, it's not like Sony's alone in this. 267 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: A year later, in two thousand and eleven, the PlayStation 268 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: network was the target of an intrusive AC, meaning an 269 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: unauthorized person or group of persons managed to penetrate Sony's 270 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: network security, and they gained access to an enormous amount 271 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: of information, including the personal data of around seventy five 272 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: million PlayStation network users. The attacks started around April seventeen, 273 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven. Sony would shut down the network on 274 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: April twenty so, three days later, and it would remain 275 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: offline a total of twenty three days, the longest outage 276 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: in the network's history. Making matters worse was that Sony 277 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: admitted that while credit card information was encrypted, other personal 278 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: identifying information wasn't, which meant the hackers potentially had access 279 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: to millions of users personal information in plain text data. 280 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: As for who committed the hack today, that still remains 281 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: a big mystery. According to Sony, the company had reason 282 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: to believe that the people connected with online activist group 283 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: Anonymous were responsible, but Anonymous denied responsibility. However, This is 284 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:14,400 Speaker 1: incredibly tricky because Anonymous is a largely decentralized organization. In fact, 285 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: calling it an organization might be a little bit um 286 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,719 Speaker 1: misleading because Anonymous is historically more like a group of 287 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: hackers and activists, anarchists and troublemakers who share some but 288 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: not all, points of view. So there's not even a 289 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: unifying ethos or philosophy and Anonymous um other than you know, 290 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: big companies and big organizations shouldn't have that much control 291 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: over everybody. That's generally a kind of unifying theme, but 292 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: there's a lot of splintering within that group. At the time, 293 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 1: the general wisdom was that Anonymous had a motive to 294 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: hack Sony because the company had recently filed a massive 295 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: lawsuit against a packer named George Hotts a k a. 296 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: Geo hots. He had found a way to alter a 297 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: PlayStation three so that it would play pirated or unauthorized software, 298 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: and then he published how to do it, and Anonymous 299 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: was largely on the side of the hacker. However, the 300 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: entire matter had been settled out of court by the 301 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: time the PlayStation network hack happened, and as far as 302 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: I can tell, no one has ever been positively identified 303 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: as truly being responsible for that hack, so that person's 304 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: identity remains a mystery, or those persons identities because it 305 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: could be multiple people. The hack and corresponding data leak 306 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: would prompt the U S Government to call upon Sony 307 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 1: executives to explain what the company would do for all 308 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: those who were affected by the breach, and Sony arranged 309 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: to offer identity theft protection policies essentially insurance policies against 310 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: identity theft, with a company called all Clear i D 311 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: to everyone affected. The hack set Sony back up pretty any. 312 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: The estimates on losses went around the hundred and seventy 313 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: million dollar range, which is a princely sum. Indeed, and 314 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: the US was not the only country to call Sony 315 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: to task for this. The UK did as well as 316 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: did other places. Now, before we move on to talk 317 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: about the PS four, I do want to say that 318 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: several predictions made by Sony executives, such as Kutaragi's replacement 319 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:28,880 Speaker 1: Katsu Horai, ended up being true. Harai said in interviews 320 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: that while developing for the PS three was definitely complicated, 321 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: that it really was hard to make great games for 322 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,879 Speaker 1: the p S three. He said it would lead to 323 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: really incredible games as long as developers took the time 324 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: to learn how to do it now. I mentioned in 325 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: the last episode that if you do a side by 326 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 1: side of the first Uncharted game and Uncharted three, both 327 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: of which were developed four and debuted on the PlayStation three, 328 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: you'll see a world of difference despite the fact that 329 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: they're but two games that are playing on the exact 330 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: same hardware. The same is true for the last huge 331 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: title to come out on the p S three. That 332 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: would be the last of us. So yeah, the PS 333 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: three had a pretty rocky start, and a lot of 334 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: gamers and game developers and game journalists criticized Sony for 335 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: putting out an expensive console, missing a launch date in 336 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: the process, and it was hard to code for than 337 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: other systems, and they all said, or not all, but 338 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: many of them said, this is a recipe for them 339 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: to fail. However, in the long run, the PS three 340 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: would prove to be a very strong system and it 341 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: would sell enough units to rest second place away from 342 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft in the console wars. For the seventh generation of consoles, 343 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: Nintendo's we was still in a league of its own. 344 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 1: It was still in first place with a bullet, but 345 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: Sony PlayStation three would take second place, and this is 346 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: despite the fact that the uh the Xbox three sixty 347 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: had a heads art of like half a year or 348 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: more really over the PS three, So that that's food 349 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: for thought right there. It also helps that Sony supported 350 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: the PS three for more than a decade. Now for 351 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: the PS four, the company would serve again. Now, I 352 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,160 Speaker 1: don't know how much input Kutaragi had on the development 353 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: of the PS four, He surely was working on it 354 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: by the time he decided to leave the company. However, 355 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: game systems are in development for years before they debut, 356 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: and the PS four would launch in North America in 357 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: two thousand and thirteen, so six years after Kutaragi left. Now, interestingly, 358 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: it wouldn't debut in Japan until early two thousand and fourteen, 359 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: so it might have been because of PS three sales 360 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: in Japan and Sony you didn't want to hurt a 361 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 1: good thing. Now, I would imagine that had Kutaragi had 362 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: a large influence in the development of the PS four, 363 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 1: it would have taken further steps down the same path 364 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: that the PS three had established. But instead, the p 365 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: S four's architecture was much more like a standard personal computer. 366 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: In fact, it would be extremely similar to the architecture 367 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 1: used in Microsoft's Xbox one. And here's where, yet again 368 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,199 Speaker 1: I complain about Microsoft's naming conventions. The Blaze station is 369 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: sensible because Sony just adds a higher number with each generation, 370 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,880 Speaker 1: so it's very easy to talk about them. Meanwhile, over 371 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,879 Speaker 1: at Microsoft we get Xbox, the Xbox three, six D, 372 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 1: the Xbox one, the Xbox Series X. Knock it off, Microsoft, 373 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: There's no way to meaningfully talk about generations of consoles 374 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: with these sort of names. And I say that as 375 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,959 Speaker 1: someone who tends to play more Microsoft consoles than Sony consoles. 376 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: Get your act together, all right? Also, what happened to 377 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,679 Speaker 1: Windows nine? Why don't we go from eight to ten? Anyway, 378 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: this isn't an episode about Microsoft. I'll get back to 379 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: the Sony now. This design decision was deliberate by so 380 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: many engineers and executives. The company used components manufactured by 381 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,159 Speaker 1: Microprocessor Company a m D. So under the hood, the 382 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: PS four is similar to a typical personal computer, but 383 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,400 Speaker 1: during development it did have a more mysterious code name 384 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 1: at least orbis. Now what this means in a practical 385 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: sense is that developing games for the PS four was 386 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: more straightforward. It was easier than developing them for the 387 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: PS three and taking full advantage of the PS three's capabilities. 388 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: It was also easier to develop a game for multiple 389 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: platforms because the differences between the PS four and the 390 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: Xbox One weren't so great that it would be an 391 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: enormous strain on a game development company. So for companies 392 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: that were looking to maximize their sales by reaching as 393 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,640 Speaker 1: many gamers as possible, it was much easier to port 394 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: a title over from one platform to another in this generation. 395 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: On the downside, this would mean that there would be 396 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: fewer features that really distinguished the PS four from its 397 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: chief competitor, and it's also why the research organizations that 398 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: have been using PS three consoles didn't show any interest 399 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 1: in using the PS four in the same way, because 400 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: the new console didn't offer any substantial benefits over a 401 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: standard PC. So if you wanted to link a bunch 402 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: of machines together, you would just go out and buy 403 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: regular computers. There was no real advantage with the PS four. Now, 404 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: the PS four is Sony's contribution to the eighth generation 405 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: of video game consoles. Nintendo's original console in this generation 406 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,880 Speaker 1: was the WEU, but Nintendo would actually have two consoles 407 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,959 Speaker 1: in this generation, the second one being the Nintendo Switch. 408 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: Microsoft's entrant is, of course, the Xbox One. The PS 409 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: four was the second console to debut in that particular 410 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,680 Speaker 1: generation of games. It followed the WEU, but it came 411 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 1: out a week ahead of Microsoft's Xbox One, and this 412 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: generation is perhaps the most difficult to define from a 413 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: distinguishing characteristics perspective. The new consoles were not a huge 414 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: departure from their seventh generation counterparts, apart from the fact 415 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: that Sony chose to go with a more straightforward microprocessor architecture. 416 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: The PS four and the Xbox One were undeniably more 417 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,880 Speaker 1: powerful than their predecessors, but otherwise it's kind of hard 418 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: to point out like big defining features for these consoles. 419 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: Over the course of their production life cycles, which by 420 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,159 Speaker 1: the way, is still ongoing as of the recording of 421 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: this podcast, both Sony and Microsoft would release updated versions 422 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: of their consoles then not only slim things down, which 423 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: was typical we've often seen, you know, later versions of 424 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: the same console just get smaller and more compact, but 425 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: they also up the anti on performance. So in some ways, 426 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,159 Speaker 1: this makes the eighth generation of consoles more like traditional PCs, 427 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: except you can't really do those upgrades yourself. You can't 428 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: break open a PlayStation for or an Xbox One and 429 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:58,239 Speaker 1: swap out components. I mean you could, but you're not 430 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: supposed to. You have to purchase a whole new console 431 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: to benefit from the enhancements unless you really know what 432 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: you're doing and you don't mind the fact that you 433 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: avoided all warranties and potentially set yourself up for heartbreak 434 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: if if games start relying on code that detect if 435 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: if a console has been altered anyway. This includes these 436 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: enhancements include the ability to send four K resolution graphics 437 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: to a compatible television. Both Sony and Microsoft would launch 438 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: updated consoles capable of doing that, but the launch versions 439 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: the original PS four and the original Xbox One did 440 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: not have four K capability, which means both my PS 441 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 1: four and my Xbox one are totally outdated. I have 442 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: the original versions of both of those, so I can't 443 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: run four K resolution stuff from those consoles to a television, 444 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: But that's okay because I also don't have a four 445 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: K TV, so I wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Anyway, 446 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: back to the timeline. Sony gave some early details on 447 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,399 Speaker 1: the PS four at a special press of in New 448 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: York City in early and at that event they didn't 449 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: actually show off the console. They rather gave some overall 450 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,360 Speaker 1: specs on what it had going on, and a big 451 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: part of that actually had to do with its new controller, 452 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,919 Speaker 1: the dual Shock four. All Right, So I've talked a 453 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,439 Speaker 1: lot about dual shock controllers in this series. So what 454 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: sets the four apart from the earlier controllers. Well, for 455 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: one thing, Sony built in some of the features found 456 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: in stuff like the move controllers. The dual Shock four 457 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 1: has motion detection sensors in it. It also has a 458 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: capacity of touch pad on the controller itself, mounted towards 459 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: the front of the controller in between the two thumbsticks. 460 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,880 Speaker 1: And just a quick reminder that capacity of touch screens 461 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: have an electric field that's essentially running underneath the screen, 462 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: and we humans are conductive, So if we touch a 463 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 1: surface like that with our bare skin, we change the 464 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: nature of that electric field because some of the electric 465 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: current can flow into us. The capacitive touch screen devices 466 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,679 Speaker 1: detect the point of contact doing this there's like a 467 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: grid pattern underneath it, and the disturbance of that pattern 468 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 1: is what quote unquote tells a machine where you touched 469 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: a touch pad surface, and then you've got a processor 470 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: and you've got some software that determines what that actually 471 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: means within the context of an application. So it might 472 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: be like on a touch screen smartphone that when you 473 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: touch something it activates a particular program, right, or if 474 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: it's a gesture like a swipe, it might mean let's 475 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: move to the next photograph or whatever. The dual CHUCK 476 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: four also has a three and a half millimeter headphone jack, 477 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: and honestly, I almost forgot what those are because phones 478 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: have been dropping support for them for the last few years. 479 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: I'm just really exaggerating. My computer, my laptop has a 480 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: three and a half millimeter headphone jack, but it's just 481 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: a regular headphone jack. It also connects to PS four's 482 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: wirelessly via Bluetooth two point one. You could also have 483 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: a hardwired connection if you bought a special you know, 484 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,239 Speaker 1: well not special, but a long enough cable for it. 485 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 1: The cables that came of the PS four were notoriously short, 486 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: long enough for you to be able to charge your 487 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: your controller, but that was about it unless you were 488 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: going to have the console in your lap as you played. 489 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: Sony and Microsoft would do something similar leading up to 490 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: the launch in their respective eighth generation video game consoles. 491 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: Both companies began to promote some stuff in their consoles 492 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: that fell outside the realm of video games. Both Sony 493 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: and Microsoft position their consoles as kind of an entertainment 494 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: and social networking center, uh, sort of a key component 495 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: of a home theater system or computer system. So features 496 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: like sharing stuff on social media, or watching live stream content, 497 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: or creating live stream content, and accessing services like Netflix 498 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: became a really big part in the promotional efforts both 499 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: for Microsoft and Sony. However, I will say Microsoft leaned 500 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,680 Speaker 1: into this way harder than Sony did, in fact, to 501 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: the point where fans of video games began to criticize 502 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: Microsoft for short changing games at events like E three, 503 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: where the company seemed determined to talk about pretty much 504 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: everything besides video games. One other thing that would set 505 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: the PS four apart from the Xbox One, at least 506 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: the original plan for the Xbox One had to do 507 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: with online connectivity. Sony made online connectivity and option for 508 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 1: the PS four gamers were not required to have an 509 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: online connection in order to play games. There would be 510 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: no restrictions on playing secondhand games or sharing games with friends. 511 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: Contrast that with the original plan for the Xbox One. 512 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: That one was supposed to require a persistent internet connection, 513 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,880 Speaker 1: even if you just wanted to play a single player 514 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: game that had no online component to it. So you 515 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: might want to settle in for a couple of hours 516 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: on a solo adventure. You got your game, there's no 517 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: online component to the game, but then your internet connection 518 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: goes bad, well, you would be out of luck if 519 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: you were using an Xbox One, at least in its 520 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: original concept form, and due to online copy protection, being 521 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: able to share games or buy used ones and then 522 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: play them on a console would be pretty much a 523 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: no go because the system would be able to verify 524 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,920 Speaker 1: whether or not that game had been registered to that console, 525 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: and so gamers were really not happy about this direction 526 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: that Microsoft was taking. There were some positive parts of 527 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: this persistent online approach to but the negative ones were 528 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: really apparent, and Sony would end up enjoying the benefits 529 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 1: of not going down that same path. In fact, Sony's 530 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: presentations often would contrast against Microsoft with the company playfully 531 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: and gleefully claiming play as many used games on our 532 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: system as you like. Now, this isn't an Xbox series 533 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: of episodes, but I do want to just say that 534 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: Microsoft famously walked back their plans. They dropped the persistent 535 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: online component before they launched the Xbox One, so they 536 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: did change that between the announcement and the launch. But um, yeah, 537 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,960 Speaker 1: that's for a different episode anyway. Along with the console, 538 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: Sony also introduced the next generation of PlayStation webcams. This 539 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: time they finally dropped the eye naming convention for this one. 540 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: You know, they had the eye toy and the PlayStation I. 541 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: This one was just the PlayStation camera. The hardware actually 542 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,440 Speaker 1: contains two cameras inside of it, which are used to 543 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: help since depth similar to the way our eyes work, 544 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:41,280 Speaker 1: and it's through what's called parallax. So parallax actually refers 545 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: to how an object looks different when you're when you 546 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: view it from different positions. And that's super intuitive, right, Like, 547 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: if you look at something like a coffee mug from 548 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: the side, then you can see the handle of the mug, right, 549 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: it's just poking out. But then let's say you were 550 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,520 Speaker 1: to move so that the handle of the mug is 551 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: behind the mug. From your point of view, the mug 552 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: would look differently to you, look like a smooth cup. Well, 553 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: our eyes are obviously in slightly different positions on our 554 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: heads right our left eye and our right eye are 555 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: offset from one another, which means we're getting two different 556 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: feeds of visual information, and each of those feeds is 557 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: slightly different from the other one, and our brains combine 558 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: these together to create our concept of what we're seeing, 559 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: and that includes a sense of how far away something 560 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: is from us. This is, by the way, only one 561 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: of the ways that we're able to sense depth. Parallax 562 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: is one way. This is kind of what we talk 563 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 1: about when you lose depth perception, like if you if 564 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: you've lost an eye, or you're wearing an eyepatch or whatever, 565 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: um you you have problems with depth perception because your 566 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: ability to use parallax has gone. You no longer have 567 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: two streams of information coming in. But there are other 568 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,160 Speaker 1: things we use as well, like context clues, like environmental 569 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: clues to kind of gauge how close or far things are. 570 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,320 Speaker 1: So it's not the only way, it's just a way. 571 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: The PlayStation camera uses parallax as well. It has those 572 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,839 Speaker 1: two camera lenses to pull in information, and then the 573 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: system processes that information to get a sense of depth, 574 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: even without tracking something like the size of a move 575 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:21,399 Speaker 1: controller's globe, which obviously is another way to detect depth, 576 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: is just judging that relative size. The PlayStation camera could 577 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 1: play a very important role in another PS four system, 578 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: which we're gonna cover right after I take a break, 579 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 1: but before I get to that break. When the PS 580 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: four debuted, it did so to great enthusiasm. After the 581 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: first twenty four hours, Sony reported it had sold more 582 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:44,400 Speaker 1: than one million units and the product had launched in November. 583 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: By the end of December, four point two million PlayStation 584 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: four consoles were sold, so it was already a hit. 585 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: Now I have more to say about the PS four 586 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 1: and a bit about the PS five, but before I 587 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 1: get to that, let's take another quick break. Before the break, 588 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: I tease that the PlayStation camera would be an important 589 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,799 Speaker 1: component in a new hardware system for the PS four. 590 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,879 Speaker 1: Another piece of that system was the move controller, so 591 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:22,320 Speaker 1: these were two already established pieces of hardware. The third 592 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,759 Speaker 1: would be a VR headset. Sony first acknowledged this at 593 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 1: the game Developer Conference or g d C in two 594 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen, and they called it Project Morpheus. Morpheus 595 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:40,800 Speaker 1: would eventually, um well morph into PlayStation VR that became 596 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: its official name as a as a product, the PlayStation 597 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,279 Speaker 1: camera would be part of this system, and it would 598 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,440 Speaker 1: help track the position of the VR headset, giving players 599 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,080 Speaker 1: more nuanced VR experience and more importantly, working with another 600 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:59,120 Speaker 1: component in this system, the move controllers. Those would work 601 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 1: with the camera and the camera would be able to 602 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: pinpoint the relative position of the controller and provide more 603 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: precise gameplay controls as a result. So in all, you 604 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 1: would have the PlayStation camera, the move controller, and the 605 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 1: headset to work together to create PlayStation VR experience. And 606 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: a lot of folks wondered if this might be the 607 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 1: way to finally get virtual reality out of being kind 608 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,319 Speaker 1: of a curiosity or a niche market and into the mainstream. 609 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,399 Speaker 1: And you see one of the really big barriers for VR. 610 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,319 Speaker 1: Does that tend to be pretty expensive. Even if you 611 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 1: can get the cost of a headset down to a 612 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: couple of hundred dollars, which is still expensive, you typically 613 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,360 Speaker 1: need a pretty beefy computer system to run the software 614 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,000 Speaker 1: for VR experiences. You want there to be no latency 615 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: between the hardware and the game. Latency is that lag 616 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: and in VR, latency leads to really bad motion sickness. 617 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:56,880 Speaker 1: You want graphics that are good and they hold up 618 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: to scrutiny that they'll get from someone who is, you know, 619 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: immerged in those graphics. And it's a tall order. And 620 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: a PC based VR setup can cost thousands of dollars 621 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: if you want one that runs really well. The PlayStation 622 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,200 Speaker 1: was a potential solution to this, right. PlayStation cost a 623 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:20,120 Speaker 1: few hundred bucks itself, but people already had the game system. Right, 624 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,440 Speaker 1: Lots of people have already bought PS fours. We just 625 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: before the break talked about how many many millions of 626 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,600 Speaker 1: units they sold in just two months. Fewer but still 627 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,760 Speaker 1: a lot had the PlayStation for plus a move controller 628 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 1: in the PlayStation camera, so they would really only need 629 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:37,759 Speaker 1: to buy the headset. Other people would have to buy 630 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: the full system. The installed base for the PS four 631 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: was going fairly strong, so there was this kind of 632 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:48,279 Speaker 1: optimism that perhaps this could be the equipment that made 633 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: virtual reality a reality reality for more players. It would 634 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,840 Speaker 1: take about two years from the initial announcement of Project 635 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: Morpheus to the launch of PlayStation VR and the headset 636 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 1: hit shelves in the fall of two thousand and sixteen 637 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 1: for like four bucks. The PlayStation VR system is is 638 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 1: pretty versatile. Developers can create games in which the person 639 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 1: wearing the headset sees one set of images, and people 640 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,399 Speaker 1: watching the connected television to the console they could see 641 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: something totally different. So in other cases, the games would 642 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,800 Speaker 1: just have the TV display mirror whatever the person wearing 643 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: the headset is seeing. But the fact that you could 644 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,560 Speaker 1: have two different displays meant that you could open out 645 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,840 Speaker 1: the possibility for cooperative or competitive gameplay, so that someone 646 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: sitting on the couch watching the television can play in 647 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,280 Speaker 1: the same game that someone wearing the VR headset is playing, 648 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: but they're playing, you know, two different modes of play 649 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: or two different aspects of that game. So it opened 650 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: up a lot of interesting possibilities from a developer standpoint, 651 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,600 Speaker 1: and I think that's pretty darn cool. Now, did it 652 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: bring VR into the main stream? I would argue it 653 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,319 Speaker 1: is not, but it has performed pretty well, and if 654 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,920 Speaker 1: we're to believe Sony, it actually has sold above expectations. 655 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 1: At c e S twenty, that's the most recent as 656 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 1: the recording of this episode, Sony announced that it had 657 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: sold five million of the PlayStation VR systems, but that 658 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,680 Speaker 1: announcement also seemed to indicate that sales as a whole, 659 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,840 Speaker 1: we're kind of slowing down. Because the previous announcement, the 660 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: one they made before CSWY, had been ten months earlier, 661 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,320 Speaker 1: and at that point they had sold four point two 662 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,479 Speaker 1: million units, So if you were tracking trends, it looked 663 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,839 Speaker 1: like the trend had already hit a peak and now 664 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,319 Speaker 1: was starting to slope off. Now, they still sold eight 665 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:46,880 Speaker 1: hundred thousand more units between those two announcement that that's 666 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:51,640 Speaker 1: that's significant, but it was still a slowdown. Going along 667 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 1: with that was a perceived reduction in the number of 668 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,840 Speaker 1: titles being developed for the VR system. See at launch, 669 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: game companies had released severn all high profile titles, some 670 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 1: in beloved franchises for the PlayStation VR system, but that 671 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,520 Speaker 1: trend overall has slowed down. There have been fewer of 672 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,759 Speaker 1: those titles released in the last year or two. And 673 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,839 Speaker 1: this is where we get into a sort of catch 674 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,759 Speaker 1: twenty two situation because gamers are reluctant to spend a 675 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:21,880 Speaker 1: lot of money, you know, like four hundred bucks for 676 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 1: the PlayStation VR headset, and then several hundred more for 677 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,520 Speaker 1: a PS four especially they want to get a PS 678 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,480 Speaker 1: four pro more than that in a second, they're they're 679 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,440 Speaker 1: reluctant to do that if there isn't already a big 680 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:39,320 Speaker 1: library of Dynamite games available for that system. Meanwhile, game 681 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: developers are not really chomping at the bit to dedicate 682 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,360 Speaker 1: the assets that are required to build video games for 683 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:49,600 Speaker 1: a system that doesn't have a big audience, because it's 684 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: harder to make your money back on that investment. If 685 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 1: you say, well, we have two choices. We can make 686 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 1: this one game that we can sell on all sorts 687 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,880 Speaker 1: of platforms and thus make a huge amount of money 688 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:05,480 Speaker 1: after investing X million dollars in the development process. Or 689 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,279 Speaker 1: we can develop this VR game, but we already know 690 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,320 Speaker 1: the audience for that is a fraction of the size 691 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:16,439 Speaker 1: of the overall audience. That's you. That's a tough call. 692 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,960 Speaker 1: So you have not that many gamers pulling the trigger 693 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:23,280 Speaker 1: on buying the system and not many developers making games 694 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 1: for it, and the hardware, even if it's really good, 695 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:30,120 Speaker 1: won't move like it won't sell very well, and that's 696 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,279 Speaker 1: a real issue. That being said, we could see an 697 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: enhanced PlayStation VR system offered for PlayStation five. More on 698 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:40,240 Speaker 1: that in a second, but let's finish up with PS 699 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,440 Speaker 1: four now. Backtracking just a little bit. In two thousand fourteen, 700 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: so between when Sony announced Project Morpheus and when Sony 701 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: VR actually launched, the company introduced a new service called 702 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 1: PlayStation Now, which was also, you know, similar to PlayStation Network. 703 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: This service allows subscribers to play a variety of PlayStation 704 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,799 Speaker 1: titles through old streaming. So what does that mean. Well, 705 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,959 Speaker 1: in cloud streaming, the actual hardware running the game isn't 706 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:11,120 Speaker 1: your console or your phone or whatever. It's actually somewhere else, 707 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 1: probably in a server farm that's potentially hundreds or maybe 708 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:18,120 Speaker 1: even thousands of miles away. The data from that machine 709 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 1: gets streamed to some end device that you are accessing. 710 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:25,000 Speaker 1: So it could be a game console, it could be 711 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: a computer, it could be a mobile device, it could 712 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 1: be a smart TV. And as you play the game, 713 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,080 Speaker 1: your choices so you know, for example, the buttons that 714 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 1: you push on a controller zip back to the hardware 715 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,600 Speaker 1: that's actually running the game many miles away. For this 716 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:44,480 Speaker 1: to work well, particularly for very fast paced games like 717 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,840 Speaker 1: first person shooter type stuff, you want the distance between 718 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,920 Speaker 1: the server and the game system or the end device 719 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,160 Speaker 1: to be as short as possible, because otherwise you get 720 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,560 Speaker 1: latency issues, and that's a big problem. It's really hard 721 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:01,960 Speaker 1: to make a precision run in a video game if 722 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,240 Speaker 1: there's a small delay between when you take an action 723 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,400 Speaker 1: using a controller and when you see play out on screen. 724 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:10,320 Speaker 1: Like let's say that you've got to make a jump 725 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 1: and it's a really precise jump, but the game doesn't 726 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,799 Speaker 1: detect that you hit the jump button until after your 727 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,880 Speaker 1: character has apparently stepped off the edge of a cliff. 728 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: It's a very frustrating experience. With PlayStation now, gamers can 729 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,800 Speaker 1: access titles for the PS two, p S three, and 730 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:31,840 Speaker 1: PS four now not all titles, mind you, but a 731 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 1: lot of them, like more than eight hundred titles, and 732 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 1: they can play them on a PS four or on 733 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: a PC, and a subscription is ten dollars a month. 734 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: PS four owners can also download around three hundred titles 735 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 1: using this service as well. Now. In September, Sony announced 736 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,800 Speaker 1: the PS four Slim, which, as the name implies, is 737 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,279 Speaker 1: a slimmer version of the original PS four console, and 738 00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,279 Speaker 1: they also announced the PS four Pro and that version 739 00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:03,600 Speaker 1: of the PlayStation four can handle much higher resolution graphics. 740 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,239 Speaker 1: In fact, that's what supported four K graphics, so if 741 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,839 Speaker 1: you also had a four K television, you could get 742 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,120 Speaker 1: some seriously good looking games on your home set up. 743 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 1: Now I've got, as I said, a p S four. 744 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,040 Speaker 1: It's not a PS four Pro, and I really think 745 00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: it's a great system. There's some seriously unbelievably great games 746 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:27,239 Speaker 1: for that system. There are many exclusive or semi exclusive 747 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:30,800 Speaker 1: titles that are phenomenal, like the two thousand eighteen Spider 748 00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,800 Speaker 1: Man game swings to mind. I love that game. It's 749 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:38,680 Speaker 1: a fantastic video game. Developers didn't have nearly the same 750 00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:41,319 Speaker 1: amount of trouble programming for the PS four as they 751 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:43,920 Speaker 1: did with the p S three. Even so, I think 752 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:45,960 Speaker 1: a lot of folks kind of view the PS four 753 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,960 Speaker 1: as a solid console, but more of a course correction 754 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 1: as far as design elements go, than as something truly revolutionary. 755 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,680 Speaker 1: And that brings us to the PS five, which, again 756 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:01,400 Speaker 1: as of this recording, has not been released. It's scheduled 757 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,440 Speaker 1: to launch later this year in Q four twenty, although 758 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 1: with the COVID nineteen crisis, all of that is up 759 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,360 Speaker 1: in the air because manufacturing and shipping have been affected, 760 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:16,879 Speaker 1: not to mention customer behaviors are changing dramatically because we 761 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: have to prioritize stuff, right, So all of this has 762 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:25,359 Speaker 1: been impacted in ways we don't even fully understand yet 763 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,200 Speaker 1: by this global emergency. However, we can talk a little 764 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:32,680 Speaker 1: bit about what has been shared so far. On March eight. 765 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,920 Speaker 1: Mark Sarney a technical architect for the system. Some have 766 00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:42,120 Speaker 1: referred to him as the Bob Ross of video game 767 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:48,440 Speaker 1: press events because he was very calming and very articulate, 768 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,040 Speaker 1: and people found it somewhat reassuring because this was in 769 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,520 Speaker 1: the early phases of people not knowing what to do 770 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:58,160 Speaker 1: about COVID nineteen. Anyway, he talked a lot about the 771 00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:03,520 Speaker 1: PS five specs in a very very technical way, which 772 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,719 Speaker 1: was super cool, but probably not the jazzy sort of 773 00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:08,799 Speaker 1: thing that a lot of video gamers were hoping for. 774 00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 1: One big thing about the PS five is that it 775 00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: places a new emphasis on loading speed. So as games 776 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:21,200 Speaker 1: get more complicated, they require more computing assets. That's kind 777 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:23,359 Speaker 1: of a no brainer, and that often means that they 778 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,560 Speaker 1: put a lot more stress on a console's memory. Game 779 00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:33,160 Speaker 1: systems load information from hard drives or disks into RAM 780 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,759 Speaker 1: or random access memory. That's like the quick pick part 781 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:41,360 Speaker 1: of a computer systems memory. The system can consult that 782 00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:45,880 Speaker 1: data rapidly as players work through a certain section of 783 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,560 Speaker 1: the game, and there's no delay because the information is 784 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:52,200 Speaker 1: right at hand. But unless the game is incredibly simple, 785 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:54,920 Speaker 1: there will come a point when the player maneuvers to 786 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,000 Speaker 1: a point that requires the system to pull new data 787 00:46:58,080 --> 00:46:59,960 Speaker 1: into memory. So it's got to get rid of the 788 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,600 Speaker 1: old stuff and pulling new stuff. Memory is a finite resource, right, 789 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,319 Speaker 1: so you can't just pull the whole game in there. 790 00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:09,760 Speaker 1: You can pull the bits that are important at that moment, 791 00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:13,080 Speaker 1: and the whole process of pulling new info and dumping 792 00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:16,239 Speaker 1: old info takes a little time, and typically that manifests 793 00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:19,799 Speaker 1: and game as a load screen. And Sony's details about 794 00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:22,400 Speaker 1: the PS five seemed largely geared towards getting that downtime 795 00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 1: minimized as much as possible. And this is going to 796 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:28,279 Speaker 1: be really important because we have to remember that as 797 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,440 Speaker 1: consoles get more complicated, game developers make more complicated games. 798 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:38,160 Speaker 1: So we're gonna see game developers really put these new 799 00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:42,360 Speaker 1: consoles to the extreme. So one of the solutions Sony 800 00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:46,120 Speaker 1: has is including a solid state drive or s s 801 00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:49,839 Speaker 1: D into the PS five, and for a long time 802 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,719 Speaker 1: s s d s were super expensive. They have come 803 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,400 Speaker 1: down in price over the years. This is typically the 804 00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 1: way we see technology move from expensive and hard to 805 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,920 Speaker 1: get to ever present and cheap. But solid state drives 806 00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: can load data into memory much quicker than older platter 807 00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:10,440 Speaker 1: based hard drives. And if you wonder what those are, 808 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:13,400 Speaker 1: I've done episodes about it. But it's kind of similar 809 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:16,640 Speaker 1: to think of like a record player or a CD player. 810 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:21,240 Speaker 1: It's literally information stored on a platter and moving parts 811 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:24,480 Speaker 1: have to move to the rights spot on those platters 812 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,600 Speaker 1: to pull data. Ssd s have no moving parts. They 813 00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: are lightning fast. The PS five will have a m 814 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:33,960 Speaker 1: D s Zen two microprocessor, and this is going to 815 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:36,480 Speaker 1: be one that has eight cores operating at a clock 816 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:39,400 Speaker 1: speed of three point five giga hurts. That's three point 817 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,840 Speaker 1: five billion cycles per second. It will also have a 818 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:47,600 Speaker 1: crazy powerful graphics processing unit or GPU that can operate 819 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,680 Speaker 1: at ten point twenty eight tara flops, which sounds like 820 00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:52,960 Speaker 1: something that Doc Brown would say in Back to the Future. 821 00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:55,800 Speaker 1: A flop, just to remind you, is a floating point 822 00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,200 Speaker 1: operation per second. You know, it's what flops stands for. 823 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,640 Speaker 1: Floating point opration per second. Flooding points are referred to decimals. 824 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,000 Speaker 1: It's when you boil it down. It's a really easy 825 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,920 Speaker 1: way for computers to handle calculations that could include very 826 00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:13,440 Speaker 1: small and very large numbers. Uh. The this particular GPU 827 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:18,040 Speaker 1: can handle ten point twenty eight million million of those 828 00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:23,440 Speaker 1: operations in a second. Yes, million million, that's incredible. The 829 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:27,279 Speaker 1: PS five is also supporting three D audio capabilities, which 830 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: will help developers make even more immersive gameplay experiences. I'm 831 00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:34,360 Speaker 1: particularly excited by this because I think games that have 832 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:38,280 Speaker 1: really good sound design are incredibly impressive. I love games 833 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,839 Speaker 1: that that do that. The company is also working very 834 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:44,520 Speaker 1: closely with game developers in general, just to make sure 835 00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:46,879 Speaker 1: that the system is going to be one that game 836 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:49,960 Speaker 1: developers are going to want to develop for. It's another 837 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:54,080 Speaker 1: kind of nod to the troublesome past of the PS three, 838 00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:57,600 Speaker 1: which again ultimately turned out well but initially was a 839 00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:01,239 Speaker 1: bit of a problem. And reportedly it's going to be 840 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,400 Speaker 1: backwards compatible with PS four games, though they may not 841 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:08,120 Speaker 1: all be playable right at launch. That that, Sony has 842 00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:12,359 Speaker 1: been very careful to say that that some titles will 843 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:16,000 Speaker 1: be supported, with more titles supported down the line. The 844 00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:19,000 Speaker 1: new dual Shock five controllers will likely be similar to 845 00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: Dual Shock four controllers, but reportedly will include a built 846 00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:25,719 Speaker 1: in microphone, which suggests that the PS five will have 847 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:30,280 Speaker 1: a voice activated assistant akin to something like Alexa or Sirie. 848 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,319 Speaker 1: My apologies if I just activated those. And there's a 849 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:38,040 Speaker 1: lot of speculation about the console design. It's rumored to 850 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:41,560 Speaker 1: have a sort of V shap shape motif to it, 851 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,160 Speaker 1: So if you've seen any of the mock ups or 852 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,840 Speaker 1: some of the photos that are purported to be of 853 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 1: PS five developer kits, they have sort of this V 854 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:56,000 Speaker 1: design incorporated into the console itself. That kind of makes 855 00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,319 Speaker 1: sense because V is the Roman numeral for five. Uh. 856 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:03,000 Speaker 1: There's an equal amount of speculation about the consoles sales price. 857 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:05,920 Speaker 1: Sony hasn't given one as of the recording of this episode. 858 00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:08,839 Speaker 1: Most guess is fall somewhere between four hundred and five 859 00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:12,359 Speaker 1: hundred dollars in the US. And that's about all we 860 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:14,640 Speaker 1: know about the PS five as of the recording of 861 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:17,719 Speaker 1: this episode. There's a lot more speculation I could talk about, 862 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:20,319 Speaker 1: but I find that road not really worth traveling down. 863 00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:23,040 Speaker 1: We can just wait to get more info later and 864 00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:26,440 Speaker 1: If there's enough, then I can dedicate another episode just 865 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:29,120 Speaker 1: to the PlayStation five and talk about that. But for now, 866 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:32,080 Speaker 1: I think it's time to say goodbye to the PlayStation 867 00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:35,160 Speaker 1: and turn our eyes to some other tech topic. But 868 00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:39,640 Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed this exhaustive exploration of the 869 00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:42,319 Speaker 1: history of the PlayStation consoles. Obviously there are other things 870 00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:44,959 Speaker 1: I could have talked about, like the PSP. I didn't 871 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,239 Speaker 1: even touch on that, but honestly, I think of that 872 00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:51,719 Speaker 1: as sort of a side the thing to the PlayStation consoles. 873 00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:55,760 Speaker 1: So I might do an episode in the future about 874 00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,279 Speaker 1: different handheld systems, and that would obviously take a very 875 00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:03,480 Speaker 1: important play in that particular discussion, as with the Nintendo 876 00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:05,880 Speaker 1: Switch now that I think about it. So maybe in 877 00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:07,719 Speaker 1: the future I'll cover that sort of thing, but for 878 00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:10,279 Speaker 1: now we're gonna leave it, and we're probably gonna move 879 00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:12,920 Speaker 1: away from video games for a little bit, just because 880 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,080 Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to turn into a video 881 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:17,279 Speaker 1: game podcast. There's plenty of those out there, and they 882 00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:21,239 Speaker 1: are all really good. I love you the besties. You 883 00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 1: guys are fantastic. That's not a plug. They don't know me. 884 00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:27,719 Speaker 1: I just love that show. It's a lot of fun Um. 885 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,480 Speaker 1: They had a lease Willems from fun House on recently, 886 00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:32,440 Speaker 1: and if you have not heard that episode of them 887 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,320 Speaker 1: talking about Doom, you should go check it out again. 888 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:38,200 Speaker 1: Free Plug. They have nothing to do with me, and 889 00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,120 Speaker 1: that wraps this up. You guys, reach out to me 890 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,719 Speaker 1: with any suggestions you have for future episodes, whether it's 891 00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:49,960 Speaker 1: a company, a specific product, general trend and technology, anything 892 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,239 Speaker 1: like that. You can get in touch with me on 893 00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,680 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. The handle it both is tech Stuff 894 00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:58,200 Speaker 1: hs W and I'll talk to you again really soon. 895 00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:06,520 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 896 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,960 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 897 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:13,280 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,