Now that the PS4 has been publicly announced through Sony’s special press event earlier this week, we have a much clearer idea of what direction Sony intends to go with into the next generation of console gaming. There was a lot of emphasis on social integration and connecting everything to a network. It’s a very bold and ambitious plan for Sony, and the risks are high.

There were however a few things about today’s event which make me worry about Sony in the coming years. I want to start off by saying how frustrated I am that the actual console wasn’t shown in any capacity whatsoever. The new Dualshock 4 controller and even the new Playstation camera were given some time in the spotlight. Yet after 2 and a half hours of droll, the system itself was never shown. The momentum and buildup that was leading to a reveal collapsed by the end of the event.

I like Sony and the Playstation, but the company seems to lack charisma and a genuine enjoyability factor. I know it’s not fair that the three of us here on Mahou Tofu are big Nintendo fanboys, but there’s no denying that Nintendo has genuine charisma and fun with what they do. Nintendo announcing anything is fun, and that’s partly because their leaders are charming. Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Reggie Fils-Aime are all well associated with Nintendo, and each brings energy to whatever they’re talking about. Even the recent Nintendo Direct announcements are fun to watch for Mr. Iwata’s charming mannerisms. Reggie has been popular for kicking ass and taking names. And of course, there’s this man:

Sony’s conference this week lacked a lot of that energetic pull that Nintendo often exerts whenever they talk about something they’re working on. The corporate head that came out in the beginning was professional, but when it came down to it, I was falling asleep as he kept droning on and on. It was like sitting through some big corporate business meeting, only at the end, we don’t actually see a product. The other presenters weren’t so bad, though there were a few odd moments.

There was the guy who presented Driveclub. The guy wouldn’t stop talking about the micro-details of each car. I was laughing at first, until I started getting a little creeped out by his obsessive attention to detail. I honestly thought he was going to cream his pants when he started talking about opening the car door.

Then there was the guy who came out to talk about Infamous: Second Son, looking as if he suddenly saw the answer to life, the universe, and everything:

Then there were the guys from Bungie, standing awkwardly on stage in their blazers and jeans:

Finally, there was Square Enix, dropping by to announce a new Final Fantasy game…which would be officially announced at this year’s E3. What? No footage, title, or release date? It’s as if Square Enix came by to remind people that they’re still making Final Fantasy games.

The biggest problem for me is that Sony lacks a true killer app. Microsoft has Halo. Nintendo has its rogues gallery of mascots. Sony used to have great console exclusives: Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Devil May Cry, to name a few. Yet in the last few years, publishers have been shying away from exclusivity and expanding to other consoles. With the next generation of the Playstation looming, the console doesn’t have any big heavy-hitting titles to really push console sales. There are very few exclusives left, like Uncharted and God of War. However, none of the games I’ve listed were mentioned for the PS4. Sony really needs a game that defines their console, in the same way people identify the Xbox with Halo.

Then we come back to the used games discussion. Sony still hasn’t confirmed whether or not the PS4 will play used games, but it’s been confirmed that the PS4 will not be backwards compatible with PS3 discs. Sony instead will be offering old PS1-3 games for digital download, similar to how they offer classic PS1 and PS2 games on the PSP Vita. Sony a risk of alienating its audience, who will have to keep their old PS3 if they want to keep playing that copy of Uncharted 2. As for used games, the rumor is that used games will be allowed, but gameplay is limited when played on an unregistered account. In order to bypass this, you will have to pay to unlock the rest of the game. This, combined with zero backwards compatibility, sounds like an extremely risky strategy. With the system locked down to only PS4 games, it’ll make it difficult for people to want to adopt an entirely new system in addition to the other consoles they already have.

We got a vague idea of what Sony wants to do in the future, namely that it wants everyone to be connected through Sony’s social network. It’s a very tough sale, and it’s tough to predict how successful that will be in the long run. I probably won’t be using services such as spectating and video sharing, as I already go to Youtube for Let’s Plays. Sony has always tried to push the Playstation as some kind of ultimate media machine, with video apps, blu-ray technology, and social media. But is that what gamers want?

Sony tried to start up their own hype train this week, to very mixed results. In the end, they only ended up proving that the rumors about the PS4 were true. The games that were shown weren’t exactly spectacular, with only one or two exceptions. Two hours was entirely too long to talk about something that currently only exists as an idea. My guess that the conference was to one-up Microsoft by revealing their next-gen plans ahead of them. But what we get is only a cloudy idea of what Sony wants in the future, with little to really show for it. This sort of thing would’ve been better had it been announced at this year’s E3, but then again, Sony doesn’t have the greatest luck with E3 presentations.