PixlBit

So one year ago, the internet waited with baited breath for Sony's Playstation Meeting in NYC.

There was tons of anticipation going in. The WiiU had started cratering, it's miserable sales a month earlier heralding a slide that hasn't stopped since. For months, we'd heard rumors that Sony and/or MS's next-gen boxes would require an online connection to work, and would block used games. I myself wondered if either company could produce a box that was affordable AND a clean enough break from the past to really capture the imagination.

Once they revealed the PS4 later in the night, many of my fears were alleviated.

The specs were FAR above my estimates, as well as what the rumours suggested at the time--with twice as much RAM as the rumored 4GBs of GDDR5, and a GPU with as much raw power as the one in my PC. And that power was used to dazzling effect in games like Killzone Shadow Fall, which looked far better than anything on the PS3 to date (and was a genuine demo unlike KZ2). Features like background updates, built-in streaming and recording functionality addressed long standing issues with the PS3, and offered a feature set in line with how people interact with their games today.

So then the questions turned to other areas. How much would the system cost? With such specs, $500-600 seemed likely--only the PS4 sounded like it would be FAR more justified at that price than it's predecessor. And while Yoshida said they weren't planning on blocking used games, there were still lingering doubts as to how resales and online requirements would be handled. Would a new generation lead to a deep erosion in game ownership?

Those fears would become much more pronounced once MS revealed their new console. After the fallout from the "just deal with it" controversy with Adam Orth, people figured that MS would work to dispel the rumors once the "720" was formally announced. Instead, the Xbox One reveal highlighted how half-baked and tone-deaf MS's vision of the future was. The disastrous "TV-TV-Sports-COD-TV" launch, coupled with muddled and contradictory comments from MS on DRM, led to a massive backlash from gamers. After Geoff Keighly tweeted a rumor that Sony would take a similar approach, that anger was channeled into action.

NeoGAF would spearhead a massive "#PS4NoDRM" campaign, aimed at pressuring Sony into avoiding the dark path of their American counterpart. For several weeks, Sony executives were bombarded on social media with the pleas and demands of gamers all over the world to leave game ownership alone. But while Sony acknowledged the passion of their fans, they remained mum about specifics up until their conference at E3.

Then, they dropped the hammer.

With a crippling one-two punch, Sony revealed that A) the system would have no extra authentication or online requirements, and that B) despite better specs, the PS4 would be a full $100 less than the competition. They completely destroyed MS in one of the most decisive E3 victories in history; MS's braindead comments and evasiveness during the show itself only buried them further. With goodwill and pre-orders hemmoraging rapidly, MS did a full 180 on their initial policies, bringing them back in line with the 360's.

So the table was set. Sony had all the momentum going into the holiday season. There was only one question left: how would the PS4 and Xone sell?

In record-numbers. Sony and MS both had their best launches ever; the PS4 in particular was the best console launch in history, beating even the mighty Wii despite not releasing in Japan until today. It's far ahead of the Xone despite launching in less countries, and has already outsold the WiiU in the States and Europe. I fully expect that it's going to be the number one console on the market by next week, and that it will stay that way for the rest of the generation.

Sony did a truly amazing job turning things around after the disastrous early years of the PS3--which I suffered through first hand as an early adopter. They learned all the right lessons from that awful launch, and delivered on a much better product with a much better pitch. This was the best rollout of a console I've ever seen.

I, for one, can't wait to see what comes next.