I just realized something the other day, and I find it super depressing....

Sony is dead.

At least the Sony I knew and loved as a kid.

Let's say you meet a girl (or a guy, for you ladies out there!), and you really like her (or him). She's quirky (He's - argh, you know what, while we are pretending, just pretend you like girls for a second), she's funny, she's colorful, even though she's a little clumsy and awkward. She is always surprising you, coming up with something new ideas, and even though not everything she does is perfect, you know she has the best of intentions.

But then, she grows up a little. She really wants people to like her, so she works on getting rid of her eccentricities, and her sense of humor changes along with it. She starts dressing differently, with colors a little more subdued, because being bright and colorful just isn't as cool as it used to be. She starts following the latest fashion trends, thinking through her decisions more, and in the process, she becomes more predictable.

All of a sudden she has a lot of friends, and she tries to please them all, including you. But eventually, as time goes on, she begins to gravitate towards her other, newer friends and forgets all about you, because you haven't changed with her.

That's what's happened to Sony. They are a business, first and foremost, after all. They've gone all Darwinian on us and changed to fit the current trends, what people are willing to spend money on, what marketing says people want the most, and to an extent, that has worked out for them. And in general, a lot more people have gotten into videogaming in the past generation or so, which means a lot more people to appeal to (and get money from).

But this wasn't always the case for them. The Sony I remember was just plain crazy. They had games about monkey catchers, jill sandwiches, rapping dogs, solid snakes, pink haired cavemen, orange bandicoots, orphaned crocodiles, blue bombers, purple firebreathing dragons, and well endowed tomb raiders. And none of these games took themselves too seriously either (something I've always treasured in games). I loved them for that reason, even when I was a hardcore Nintendo 64 fanboy.

But somewhere along the way, Sony decided they were done with all of these franchises. They easily gave up the likes of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Parappa as soon as they found new IP that made just as much money (Jak & Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper). Other franchises, like Ape Escape, held on a little longer, though their best years outside of Japan remain on the PS1 and in the early PS2 days. Games like Sly carried the torch of this old, experimental Sony for a while, but some of them grew more serious with each entry, or at the very least targeted a more mature audience. The progression of Naughty Dog from Crash, to Jak and Daxter, to Uncharted, to The Last of Us is a perfect embodiement of this. Especially during the Jak years, Naughty Dog evolved into a much more adult-oriented studio.

Of course, Sony, as a company is still alive and kickin', and there is no doubting that they still have a quality platform with quality games to play, and they probably always will. And regardless of what some Sony cynics may say, I'm sure they won't be going anywhere anytime soon, and they will continue to be part of the gaming industry. But Playstation, as a platform, has a complely different identity now. As Playstation All Stars so clearly showed, Sony doesn't even have the rights to most of those old mainstays anymore.

That isn't to say that Sony isn't still an awesome hardware and software company. They still put out some quality entertainment and make some mean hardware. In reality, there is nothing horribly wrong about what Sony is doing. But they aren't a company I feel nostalgia for anymore, now that they've essentially given up their heritage.  I won't buy the PS4/Orbis because I loved the PS1, or even the PS2. I'll buy the PS4 on its own merits, and on its own merits alone. And while that's totally fine, in my opinion it is a shame to let a gaming heritage as rich as Sony's go to waste, especially with how few companies (especially hardware developers) survive as long as they have. Personally, I'm happy for Sony and all of their successes, but they just aren't my cup of tea anymore.