First PS5 Advert "Play has no limits" + interview with SIE head of marketing. Is Sony hyping audio + force feedback too much?

I owned the PS4 at launch and I believe them about PS5 having their best launch lineup yet. Demon Souls alone would be better than the joke combo of Knack and Killzone Shadowfall.

Itā€™s one of the best gaming commercials Iā€™ve ever seen. Sony knows how to advertise, and they are REALLY good at generating hype. Iā€™ve already made my choice in next-gen consoles, but I can always appreciate a good ad and marketing.

I agree it is a well made ad. My only criticism is the shot of the PS5 at the end is not the best, they should of used shots from the ps5 event.

Itā€™s an interesting trailer. They are trying to hype up things that really need a hands on to appreciate. Weā€™ve seen vaunted technology turn out poorly many times before. The backtouch on the vita being a classic example. The eternal problem with the Sony controller for me is the symmetrical sticks. It was honestly the main reason why I chose a 360 over the PS3. As for the line up being their best yet it is possible. This gen the PS4 has been very consistent with a handful of great games each year but no one year that was particularly stacked.

The thing that worries me is that Sony are in danger of running into the the problems that Xbox did this gen. Spiderman, ratchet, gt, and horizon are all sequels while demon souls is a remake. I would like to see them announce at least one major new IP before launch. Maybe they are relying on third parties for that.

All that said with my current deep investment in gamepass it would take something very special to make me switch. I bought a switch because of breath of the wild. Iā€™ve yet to see anything from Sony or Microsoft that is that compelling.

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Hell yeah for me the force feedback is a non event. I turn that shit off after the first sign of it in any game. After playing games for 30 odd years I donā€™t need more crap rattling my creaky wrists. Iā€™m delighted they donā€™t have the power advantage this time so they canā€™t brag about it non stop.

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Itā€™s marketingā€¦ Of course they are overhyping stuff. I feel the same way about these next generation systems and the midgen refresh we got this Genā€¦ And even at the beginning of this Gen. They are always overhyped when the real benefits donā€™t really see the light until 2 years in.

I personally think that the adaptive trigger stuff is cool.

I feel like both the force feedback and audio will change gaming forever. Much like achievements, analog sticks, etc.

Now, donā€™t get me wrong, with the Sixaxis, and with the Touchpad, Sony has had a rough time with controller innovations. There are also some caveats to the 3D audio. But Iā€™ll get into why both will be transformative.

Force feedback on controllers can literally be applied to every game. Motion controls, touch surfaces, those are new control mechanisms. Force feedback and haptic feedback affects the same thumbsticks and triggers we use for most of the games we play. The haptic feedback will allow for a ā€œnext genā€ version of rumble that will make the rest look antiquated.

3rd party support is another story. The Xbox One controller featured rumble in the triggers and were incredibly useful but not often used by 3rd party developers on the biggest games out there, when they could and should have. The X1 supports 8 controllers locally and yet no EA Sports title supports this great feature. But force feedback may be too cool for developers to pass up, when they try it out.

3D audio from the Tempest hardware sounds like the jump from 3D gaming on 2D screens to 3D gaming on an Oculus. The immersion will be that much more pronounced. Simulated 3D audio in its current form doesnā€™t address the density of our head or shape of our ears. Sounds should conceivably sound like they exist around you in space rather than an approximation. Nothing will compare on other machines.

But again, thereā€™s a caveat. This tech is in its infancy. It will be years before it gets good in practice (theyā€™re going to need to accumulate a lot of data from users) and years to get this working on anything besides headphones. But we did see the same thing with Oculus and the important problems they solved changed the VR world forever. I predict this will be the same.

Marketing overhypes everything. Iā€™ve been using high quality headphones and good sound systems for years, and while they enhance the experience a lot in certain games, theyā€™re a bonus like raytraced lights or weapons will be. As in a dope eye/ear-candy to wonder at, but one that canā€™t make a disappointing game good, it can only make a great game even more spectacular. I absolutely adored the way Hellblade used 3D audio, but it didnā€™t help the game overcome the repetition and linearity, so it ultimately became a curious addition to a game that could have been better.

3D audio is not really a system seller for me because Iā€™ve had it for a while and, as dope as it is, itā€™s not changing my gaming to the point Sony wants me to believe. This isnā€™t even a jab at Sony: Apple made a giant marketing campaign because they finally added a dark skin (gee, thanks, only a decade or two late), even Microsoft is hyping up dashboard changes as if people didnā€™t spend 99% of their time inside of the apps/games anyway. Itā€™s great to have, but itā€™s not gonna change my way to play games.

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You always hype what you have. PS5 has a faster SSD over the XSX, so Sony and their fanboys push that as the differentiator between the system. Hey, do your best. The PS5 will give faster load and resume times over the XSX, but it wont make any difference in game. The PS5 controller looks really neat, and they have added a heap new features, so push that as well. Microsoft on the other hand has the more impressive hardware, and so they have been pushing that.

I think Sony made the ads before they found out that MSs audio engine is the equal of the Tempest one, so they will probably tone that down.

One thing I thought Sony would do is claim the PS5 is the ā€œfastestā€ console ever made, hoping people would think fastest means most powerful.

They are trying to sell their stuff. Nothing wrong with that. Of course they are going to say their stuff is unique and great.

I wish MS would do the same, but everytime Phil gives an interview it seems like he is talking people out of buying it. If the XSX is great, they have to go out and make noise.

Look at this: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-tech/

" A few months ago, we revealed Xbox Series X, our fastest, most powerful console ever"

Everytime I see this I cringe. What do you mean, ā€œyourā€? Isnā€™t it the most powerful?

Thatā€™s when you need to be alpha, go out there make noise, say to peopleā€™s face. ā€œTHIS IS THE BEST EVER CREATEDā€.

It is almost as if Xbox is afraid of upsetting people. Maybe they should take a few notes from Sony on how to sell stuff.

Donā€™t think so. Itā€™s what they do different than Xbox. So of course they focus on that. Even tho it does not fit well with the Playstation brand of being the hardcore AAA console.

But it will work for them probably. Playstation fanbase is strong no matter what they do or donā€™t do

Sony certainly have that more wall Street business killer mentality. However there is a reason for this, sonys main goal is to sell as many PS5s as possible and sell games and subscriptions to the install base.

Microsoft want to do this but they dont care if you use there services or buy there games on console, PC or smart devices using xcloud.

I think they are doing a good job selling the xsx, they have done videos with many high profile YouTubers showing the hardware and features like faster load times, quick resume and Raytracing. They have explained features like smart delivery and the overall messaging is on point. Microsoft are going all in on gaming they have there platform across console, Pc and cloud, expect the marketing to ramp up when there full hand (Lockhart) has been revieled.

Also never forget that sony want the same Microsoft selling your games and services to PC, console and smart device owners will always be better then just selling to console owners, but sony dont want to take that big of a risk.

And remember the xbox one still sold a respectable 50million even after its mistakes. Now with, 15 first party devs,the most powerful console and Lockhart which will be substantially cheaper then any next gen consoles they are going to sell more consoles this gen, a lot more.

I think 90million, the same as the 360 is a very realistic goal considering Lockhart will be in impulse buy and 2nd console territory.

This will be xboxs best generation yet. If Lockhart is $299 and PS5de is $429-449 then sony will have a significant disadvantage there, and they will also have a disadvantage by not being as big in the PC + smart device space.

I think they do a terrible job of messaging and marketing. Their product is spot on yet they donā€™t ram home the message. Their gamepass service is unrivalled yet they donā€™t clearly communicate it with the mainstream. They need adverts that show power. And need to show games that look amazing on their system. Then show how good value gamepass is.

Well sony have not done a much better job, sony have shown some next gen gameplay and some trailers, but we have not seen next gen features from sony like load times etc, but we have from Microsoft so it quite even, also Microsoft have shown in engine trailer of hellblade 2, gears5 performance like an RTX 2080,and raytraced Minecraft so we know xsx is a next gen box caperble of next gen stuff.,however I do agree that they need to show some next gen gameplay.

Sony a) donā€™t have to as they are the market leader and b) their marketing is more traditional and seems to ultimately work.

Sony will use Miles Morales and show itā€™s next gen features in ads and campaigns. Xbox need to do the same. Itā€™s fairly basic. People will want a game to show off their console. And they want to be excited as they prepare to order. Xbox needs to use some third party for this given Haloā€™s delay. But I bet they just wonā€™t do it.

What? Sonys marketing is very similar to Microsofts, and while the PS5 will sell well just based on there brand reputation they still need to get the word out. Ms just need to hammer gamepass, hardware superiority and value. As for games they should focus on flight simulator and the medium and crossfireX as they are the most next gen games they have in the launch window. It would of been better if they had a halo which looked amazing but they dont. I still think ms will sell a very similar amount of consoles at launch because of Lockhart. People dont realise how huge Lockhart can be.

Sometimes a cake is just a cake, in terms of price sony just wont be able to compete with a system which has 6gb less ram, smaller form factor, smaller PSU, smaller cooling, less packaging and shipping costs, a SoC thats only about 260mmĀ². The average gamer will not understand why elder scrolls 6 with its insane draw distance, level of detail, next gen lighting, high polycount, next gen animation, weather simulations, particle effects etc etc on a console which is $100-200 cheaper then the other next gen consoles.

Watch this demo at 1080p, still looks great, Lockhart will be able to do that at probably even higher then 1080p