PlayStation: A Year in Review

Well, it’s been a long year for all the Playstation fans amongst us! I know I had a blast with all the announcements and releases; the big and the small alike deserve credit for making this a fantastic year! We have seen the some ups downs - and even some going backwards, but none of that stopped the rise of one of the best gaming companies in the industry today. During the beginning of the New Year, we had a great game to keep us held to the TV for a few months. This game was called Gran Turismo 4, proving its graphical abilities and showing that it can become one of the Playstations best racing game. Even though GT4 was delayed numerous times, we can all say that it was for the good of cause to make an awesome game (Minus Online Play). A month later controversy picked up again over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as it was hit with another lawsuit. Just when the furor over Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's "Kill all the Haitians!" level had finally died down, the game sparked another lawsuit. Along with its predecessor Grand Theft Auto III, the crime-action game was blamed for inspiring the triple murder of three Fayette, Alabama, police officers. Still not settled the industry moved onto its next big update. Tekken 5, one of Sony's big name titles was to be released, and what a release it was. Selling a few million copies and producing a lot of positive profit for Namco. After Tekken, Devil May Cry 3 was released which also created a good image for Sony as one of its top games, and also becoming one of the best out of the Devil May Cry series. With the PSP and other great games around the corner things were looking good for Sony. The next big step for 05' was the release of God of War. God of War is known as one of the best games on the Playstation, and it really impressive to say the least. Finally on March 25th, the PSP was dropped into a bag of the first customer (Who spent over 48 hours in-line). Making one of the biggest launches in hand-held history. It seemed nothing could slow Sony down at this point! In April, Soul Caliber 3 was announced, and only announced for the Playstation. With impressive screen shots, it looked like another great title for the Playstation franchise. On May 16th, a Bomb Shell was dropped at E3, by Sony. The Playstation 3 was revealed with a lot of real time action. Showing mind blowing movies which impressed the mass media, things looked good for Sony. Along with many other games being revealed at E3, you could call this one of the biggest E3's ever. One of the largest surprises was the Killzone demo; to this day people are debating if it was real-time or pre-rendered! Another huge impact was the Final Fantasy 7 Technical Demo, which make a lot of people wonder if it would ever come the Playstation 3. All and all E3 was a huge hit for Sony, and for their developers. With the summer rolling in, times were slow, and the onslaught of news stories dried up. To say the least, the PSP got a lot of attention, as well with the PS3. Also during the summer the “Hot Coffee” scandal erupted, where retailers lost revenue from missed sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as a few large gaming outlets stopped stocking them. Some business writers are suggesting Take-Two is privately reveling in the publicity the "Hot Coffee" controversy has brought it. "After all, nothing says 'buy me' to a 15-year-old quite like a message that this product is too racy to sell at Circuit City and GameStop," Business Week columnist David Kiley wrote. "In my opinion, censorship and uproar will only make San Andreas and future GTA games more appealing to teen gamers, Take-Two's target audience". Closing up summer didn't really have much information to give, but in the coming months the flood gates opened. In September, TGS was on everyone's minds. What was going to happen was indescribable, and everybody was ready for some more bomb shells. With the release of Resident Evil 4 little over a month away, people wanted some fresh news. Then came a huge surprise when Metal Gear Solid 4 was previewed. It was one of the best pieces of news from TGS and the trailer was stunning. Even as Kojima (Director of MGS4) made the trailer more funny then serious, Metal Gear Solid 4 was on the way for the Playstation 3. In the closing months, a few things were introduced. Such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was rushed into stores. Being one of the hottest games on the PSP, it began to rival some of the DS' titles. To say the least, not a lot of information was dropped for the PS3 as Sony is keeping almost everything a secret, and behind steel doors. It seems everyone is waiting for CES in January to get some hot information. A great year indeed for Sony, and the future will certainly be greater.

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