Not that anyone really cares what I think, but maybe I'm a good example of a previous "Sony hater" who has come round to them with the announcment of the PS4 the other day. I watched the show from start to finish and if I'm honest, for a company PR event it was one of the least bullshitty announcment events that I ever witnessed in my life. The regulars here will note me as a bit (lot) of a Sony hating scoundral and I have proudly been one since the PSP times, even though I own a PSP and a PS3 I have always taken a disliking to the Sony style of coming across overly confident, too many empty PR statments and general lack of soul in their corporate clinical elite image.

Anyway, that all changed for me after watching the show.

1. Honest in terms of specification with no smoke and mirrors.

2. Got better impression of console than previous announcments without even needing to show a console.

3. Commitment to gameing with 8GB RAM.

4. Basically admitting the CELL was a bad idea and openly saying they won't be making that mistake again.

5. Using proper terms to describe the hardware (x86 CPU, GDDR5 RAM)

6. Use of the x86 CPU/8GB GDDR5 RAM shows a movement away from their closed standards attitude to their products.

This all changed my view on Sony and was a big shock to see, I may be only one "who the hell are you" person, but I know there's a large chunk of people out there who take my stance and vocally rubbish Sony for their annoying ways (that some people love). I think if they keep this level headed relatively modets non corporate style going forward, they will be seeing a nice new segment of fans joining them, the ones who never thought the day would come, the ones who hate bullshit and like their stuff in absolute terms that can be measured and clear. On a separate note, they've even admitted the Vita has sold below expectiations - finally! This is an obvious fact, but it - at last, shows some movement and that Sony corporation is run by human beings who, at the 11th hour may be moving in a new direction.

Very impressed!

Although I'm all for Sony, I've been quite disappointed with how they've been marketing their products and their terrible press events, but after this PS4 event, with their openness as you've said, and having developers still back them up to this day, my faith is put back into Sony, and I feel as though they have a chance to redeem themselves after the many, many, failures of the ps3.

Yes it was a very realistic showing. I especially loved the explaination we got for how the PS4 came to be and the specs!

I'm glad you're on board. Devs are pleased, gamers are pleased, the only people I see hating are pc fans. Every forum I go its the same: "my peesee is so much betterz"

Very cool thread. Yes the PS4 looks to be a well thought out, game centric, and developer friendly system. Sony as a company made some poor choices in the past and even after changing, say back in 2009, they have been haunted by them ever since. They were shackled to the PS3, having to make their money back, needing to wait for an opportunity to launch new hardware. A lot of sweat and tears went into repairing their image and developing ways to make games run on the system.

It has been a rough ride of corporate change and industry pressure, but Sony has for years now done a very good job with the mess they made. Unfortunately those mistakes have gave way for their competition, competition with different goals, different values, and different policies when it comes to gaming. It is apparent to everyone now that they are going forward, really concentrating on the industry, and allowing creativity to live.

A shame the market doesn't realize this. Looking at the Vita, a system designed in a similar way, has had a hard time penetrating the market. Despite developer love, not all developers are interesting in the handheld gaming space. The sales are scarring some off, but I think the Vita didn't get as much early dev time as they are giving the PS4. We might be quite surprised by the immediate developer support and how long they have been preparing their games in the background. With only the poorly conceived PS3 to partner with, the Vita had a hard time making a splash, but with the PS4 being designed with it in mind and the brilliant frontier Gaikai is bringing, Sony's modern products will make more noise.

I'm really looking forward to the PS4. While the PS3 was my console of choice this gen and it was capable of amazing games, it held itself back in a lot of regards. This time around is different and Sony's reputation and respect for developers will result in an awesome generation. I think developers have been waiting for this system for a long time. The sidelines might not be apparent to most consumers and it is hard for them to look past glaring mistakes, but Sony is dev friendly and that is important to what this industry is about. Now with the PS4, Sony can prove it.

Agreed!

Having Mark Cerny, their lead system designer and a guy with TONS of credibility, as the main speaker was a brilliant move. If it had been a PR machine like Jack Tretton, we would have been up to your elbows in BS within minutes. Cerny was completely open and honest and it was awesome. I know he's busy with a lot of stuff but I hope they keep bringing him back for conferences, or at least E3.

It's early, and a lot could change, but the direction Sony has decided to go in is just the right move for both developers and gamers.

Glad to hear you felt like that after watching it.

As a Sony fan, it was hard to gauge what kind of reaction a conference like this would get. Obviously, my bias meant that I thought it was great. It was aimed at people like me; but even then I still felt that this was better than the average Sony conference with the focus on games, non-bullshitting specs and putting developers front and centre of everything.

So I'm glad that's coming across to more than just the people like me who likely would've been pleased regardless. And I hope it works in Sony's favour for the upcoming generation.

Sony has my attention so we'll see if they can keep it that way

I was as well. For the first time ever I may buy a console at launch. I normally wait because I am very cautious, but I get the sense Sony has the eye on the ball and will have great things in store for us. I have a feeling Sony will OWN this E3 and that will coax me into a purchase this year.