11. Katamari Damacy. Whatever the heck that was
We’ll explain the core mechanic of Katamari Damacy to try and justify its inclusion here: you are the prince of the universe and, in order to rebuild the cosmos, you need roll a magic, adhesive ball around the world. The more items that stick to your ball, the bigger the section of the universe you can rebuild and the more points you get.
If you need anything more, look at the box art.
12. Fighting your first Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus
Let’s not mince words: Shadow of the Colossus may be the best game ever made. If you’ve never played it (shame on you) the game’s main objective is to defeat 16 bosses (The Colossi). That’s it. Between the fights you’ll wander around on your trusty horse trying to find the next boss, and the only challenge outside of that is hunting defenceless lizards.
Since The Colossi are the only challenge in the game, and there’s so few of them, their fights would need to be really special, right? Well, they are; in fact they are the closest you’ll get to experiencing nirvana with a controller. We’ll say no more, and we didn’t even include a video here. Playing this game is a life experience and if our opinion means anything to you, go play this game immediately.
13. PlayStation 4’s Share Play
While many still miss the days of consoles not being able to connect to the internet, and the simplicity of buying a game, there is no denying the advantages of online features.
One of those features has a dedicated button on the PS4’s controller: the Share button. Hitting this will allow players to broadcast screenshots or even gameplay video to social media and streaming service Twitch. While this was always a possibility in the past with specialised hardware and software, the fact that it is a key feature of the new generation of consoles means that more people than ever before are sharing their love for games on PlayStation.
14. The PlayStation 3 announcement
To say that the PS3 had a lot to live up to is a grievous understatement. The PS2 was (and still is) the most successful console of all time with a whopping 155 million units sold worldwide.
At E3 2005 Sony made the announcement: the PS2’s successor would be a killer piece of hardware with wireless controllers, an online network, a Blu-Ray player and games would make the PS2 look basic in comparison. The world was absolutely stoked with hype for the PS3, and when it was released there were supply shortages as fans snapped up units at a pace.
15. The Psycho Mantis fight in Metal Gear Solid 1
In a move that could only come from the eccentric Metal Gear franchise, the Psycho Mantis boss fight will always be remembered for its lunacy.
Psycho Mantis will first taunt you by applying screen effects that make it seem that the channel on your TV has changed, then he will read the memory card in the PS2 and comment on the number of saves and can even comment on saves found for specific games. While breaking the forth wall is always fun, to defeat this boss you’ll have to do something rather unthinkable: you’ll need to physically unplug the controller and put it into another port. You need to employ a strategy in the real world to defeat an irritating virtual enemy – something that few other games have done.
16. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Hotz
In what is known as a landmark case for the concepts of what you “own” when you purchase a product, Sony sued the hacker George Hotz (known as geohot) for jailbreaking and reverse engineering the PS3 to utilise home-brew code that was never supposed to be usable on the PS3. Sony’s fears were that anyone could use the code created by Hotz to play anything they wanted on their precious console.
Hotz, who, in the past, had been known for jailbreaking the iPhone, was sued on eight different claims including “violation of the DMCA, computer fraud, and copyright infringement”. In the end the matter was settled out of court with Hotz having a permanent injunction placed against him, preventing him from doing similar things with Sony products in the future.
17. The sight of the giraffes walking across a field in The Last of Us
While we’ve talked about amazing battles and stomping robots, Sony’s console has also hosted some moments of beautiful, serene perfection. The Last Of Us, Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic survival horror has one such moment – involving giraffes.
Maybe it was the fact that, to reach this point, you need to fight through hordes of infected zombies, murderous outlaws and sundry horrors, or maybe it’s the fact that this masterful game was able to convey such a moment so poignantly.
Either way, it’s a moment almost every player of this game remembers.
18. The Last Guardian sega
When The Last Guardian was announced at E3 back in 2009, with a planned release date of 2011, fans of Team ICO’s work went insane with excitement. After all, these poor souls had been waiting since 2005’s Shadow Of The Colossus for a game from Fumito Ueda. Little did they know, they were about to have to wait a lot longer.
First there were delays and more delays and then a massive spanner was tossed into the works in the form of the PS4. Fumito Ueda, as well as other members of Team ICO who had worked with him on previous games, then left the project and rumours circulated that the game was outright cancelled. Finally, at this year’s E3, silence was broken and the game is now set for a 2016 release on the PS4. It’s been a ride that’s been playing on the heartstrings of fans, and it will only come to a stop once we can actually play the full game… if that ever happens.
19. Blu-ray
When manufacturers started looking for a format to take over from the venerable DVD, it created much confusion and resentment from the public. Not only would the new format require brand new hardware, but almost everyone already had a massive collection of DVDs that they still loved.
When the Blu-ray format triumphed over the HD DVD, people were still wary. Then Sony took the leap and made a Blu-ray player a standard (and central) feature on the PS3. Not only could the system play the new format, as well as the old, but all physical PS3 games would come on Blu-ray discs. Now, in 2015, it is the standard for the new PlayStation and Xbox, as well as the go-to medium for physcial movie releases, which may have never been the case if not for the PS3.
20. The PlayStation 2
We could fill an hour or two talking about the PS2: how it was reasonably priced while still being so powerful, how it became the home for scores of innovative and (now) legendary games, that classic design, the widespread adoption rates and the fact that it was the midwife for an entire generation of new gamers.
But we’ll let numbers do the talking her: the PS2 is the most popular console in the world, being chased by the Nintendo DS with its many iterations. We’re doubtful that the PS2 will ever be usurped as the king of consoles, and we’re positive that it will always be our favourite PlayStation.
[Image – CC 2.0 David Wulff]
