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Last night (or very early this morning, more like), Sony pulled off the greatest tech-troll of all time — they didn’t actually show off the PlayStation 4 at the PS4 launch event. Twitter nearly got overloaded by the wave of outraged tech journos. They’re not alone, though — here are ten product launches that have been cocked up worse.
1.) Apple’s Facetime Demo
Apple launched Facetime alongside the iPhone 4 at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference in 2010. Only thing was, Apple didn’t bother putting in a good Wi-Fi network, so the Facetime demo crashed and burned. Steve Jobs got angry. And the whole thing was recorded for posterity on YouTube. This wasn’t a one-off, either — there’s a whole compilation of Jobs keynote fails. Maybe he wasn’t such a master of the product launch after all.
2.) Microsoft’s Surface Launch
Poor Steve Sinofksy. Not only was he given the task of launching Microsoft’s most innovative product for a decade, but the demo model he was given to show off how you can “browse smoothly” froze up in the middle of the demo, resulting in a minute-long awkward silence and a mad dash to change out the malfunctioning device.
3.) That Time When Windows Blue Screen of Death-ed on Bill Gates
Bill Gates took to the stage for the 2005 CES keynote with a young Conan (kinda like the American version of Graham Norton) to demonstrate the awfulness that is Media Centre. Only, he never really managed to inflict that on anyone, because the remote control failed, and then the whole rig did a classic Windows Blue Screen of Death. Thankfully, it leads to the best line ever heard at a product demo: “just imagine that I’m customising my car”. Because Microsoft might be powerful, but your brain is always better.
4.) That Other Time When Windows BSOD-d Bill Gates
Windows doesn’t actually like Bill Gates. In this demo of Windows 98′s fantastic Plug and Play (yeah, remember that thing?), Bill Gates plugs in a scanner, and BOOM, Blue Screen of Death ruins everyone’s day.
5.) Gizmodo Turning Off TV Screens at CES 2008
Ok, so we’re really sorry, but at CES 2008, Gizmodo got given a bunch of TV-B-Gone remotes, and, well, we couldn’t really help ourselves. We shut off everything from Motorola’s displays during a product demo, to Panasonic’s entire wall of TVs. Oopsie.
6.) Sony Sacrificing a Freshly-Slaughtered Goat to Launch Gods of War II (Yes, Really)
The PS4 launch might’ve been even more anti-climatic than Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but at least there weren’t any dead animals there, unlike at the launch of Gods of War II. At that particular feast of inappropriateness (there were burly men dressed as cave men and topless booth babes in addition to the dead animals, Sony slaughtered a goat, gutted it, and then invited attendees to eat the still-warm offal. Apparently, it was a test of what extremes people were willing to go to to get their blood-soaked hands on a PS3. I think it was just punishment for unruly games bloggers.
7.) Qualcomm’s CES Launch 2013
We’re still not really sure if this was a fail or a roaring success (people are still talking about it, after all), but it’s fair to say that Qualcomm, who took over the CES keynote reins from Microsoft this year, were definitely on something when they dreamed up this event. Highlights included: acting worse than in Titanic II; Big Bird dancing around on stage; The Internet of EVERYTHING; Steve Ballmer shouting BORN MOBILE (hoorah); and an archbishop, because, well, just because.
How It All Went Wrong For Sony
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I thought the PS4 launch went quite well. I found out all the tech specs – who really gives a toss about what it looks like? I’m definitely buying one – £1000 gaming computer for £300-£500? Definitely.
Sure, the tech specs were clearly defined and Sony spent some good time on the games (which was nice to see), but the aesthetics of the device itself is still essential. This is a machine that will sit in your bed/living room for at least the next 5 years; the last thing you want is something that looks butt ugly.
Has everyone forgotten just how much of a stink was kicked up when the PS3 was launched and lots of people complained just how fat and ugly it was!?
I adored the PS3 when it came out – the iPhone 4 used a similar design language. And do you not remember how ugly the original XBox 360 was? History has proven that no one gives a toss about aestheics beneath your TV – find me one Blu-ray or Freeview box that doesn’t look shite.
But everyone who wanted one still bought it. Personally I thought it looked nice.
Besides, most people will only ever see the front portion of a console so they all end up looking like rectangles with a disc slot.
Um you can build the same specs as the PS4 for about £400
Running Windows that doesn’t utilise the GPU 100% but it’s a whole different story when it comes to Playstation, have a look at PS3 specs and the kind of games it can handle and compare it to the Pcs that can handle the same game.
No, you can’t. I tried it. You can build one with the same theoretical specs for £750 on todays money, but that’s not allowing for how much better the PS4 will perform in the real world. So I’ve tacked on an extra £250 to cover the vastly improved real world performance of the PS3.
It uses one of the unrelased APUs from AMD, they will sell for the same as a A10-5800K
So spec a A10-5800K, a mobo with the right socket and 8GB of ram, plus a small 200W PSU and a case, comes to about the same price.
unrelased as in the next gen of APUs, that AMD have said will sell for around the same.
They use 8Gb of GDDR5 RAM. That’s absolutely incredible. GDDR5 is so rapid, and bloody expensive. Also the AMD GPU is semi-custom, and should rival next-gen top-range chips. http://gamingbolt.com/sony-releases-complete-ps4-specifications
By the time is comes out (I expect near the end of the year or mabey next year) DDR4 will be out and in use.
Holidays this year. Some estimates say DDR4 won’t be in reasonable pricing until 2015 – don’t get your hopes up. The PS4 will be overtaken graphically in a couple of years. But this Christmas? It will be as good as a £1000 computer, maybe even £2000 real-world.
DDR5 is just DDR3 with higher bandwidth and lower timings, great for graphics cards, not quite so great as your standard run of the mill ram
But it’s not going to be used as your standard run of the mill RAM. Because it’s for a GAMES console…
Can someone explain why the PS4 launch went bad? Oh right, i forgot, its not apple enough for gizmodo…
How*
I mostly agree, the launch event went amazingly well. If any product from any company had a launch event like that then I’d say it was a success.
People in the media just blow everything out of proportion just to say “look at me, I’m out raged, come to my blog/site and read my shit!” It’s annoying as the truth eventually gets lost in all the bull shit getting thrown about.
Fact is, and I’m no Sony fan boy by any stretch, the launch did everything it needed to, yes, I’d love to see what the box looked like but at the same time I’m not 10 years old and can wait for when Sony are ready to show it.
I agree the launch wasn’t perfect should have had the hardware to give the whole event a physical foundation, they should have mentioned the fact it’ll support 4K video and cut out an hour an a half of marketing bollocks but it certainly wasn’t bad.
I second the post above, although £1000 might be rather an overestimate for an equivalent gaming PC.
What you are ACTUALLY getting is a very well-specced, optimised gaming system with a built-in app store, a robust network to play online, a bespoke controller that will match any game on the system, and exclusive games and ports that at present look superb. And it will have a guaranteed six to eight year lifespan, during which developers will be actively coding for it. No upgrades, no customisation required. It’ll just work, as a console should.
The technical specs are impressive, the controller is great. Gaikai looks excellent, as does the online/sharing information. The actual look of the console doesn’t matter, it’s the controller, the games, the capabilities and the guts of the thing that really DO matter, and Sony have delivered that information to us in a very well presented showcase.
I really don’t understand what all the bad press is about.
No one’s having a go at the hardware, at all — it actually seems pretty good. It’s just that a launch, especially one as long as last night’s, without something tangible to show for it at the end leaves you feeling a bit cheated.
Isn’t the aesthetics a bit irrelevant though? Pricing would have been nice, but otherwise, I’m happy!
True, at least they could had put a fake one on display so we know how it actually looks like
I agree that it would have been nice to see the finished product, but as others have pointed out, it’s not essential at all. It gives Sony an ace in the hole – if attention wanes over the coming months, they can reveal it and suddenly all attention is right back on them. They have however revealed the controller, which is massively important, and some amazing looking games.
I think my issue is that people are claiming the launch was absolute rubbish and completely pointless, based exclusively on the fact that we didn’t see a console. So fucking what? We know the specs, we know that it’s going to be amazing, and we’ve seen what it can do. That’s enough for me to know that it’s going to be a superb piece of tech.
I’ve always though the term product launch was a bit of a joke. When you launch a ship you put it in the water, you don’t tell everyone the engine size and smash a bottle of wine against a picture of it.
The biggest advantage is no online monthly/years subs! Specially if you only go online once or twice a week!
I don’t see how the PS4 “launch” was a failure. Everything went well, some of the stuff they were talking about was really quite interesting/impressive and they nailed down an launch window.
Noticed the Giz UK launch party wasn’t on there. I understand the whole thing was ruined by some fat old guy (not Ballmer).
“Twitter nearly got overloaded by the wave of outraged tech journos”
“Twitter nearly got overloaded”
So business as usual then?
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/02/cheer-up-sony-here-are-TEN-product-launches-that-went-worse-than-the-playstation-4-launch/
Ten?
So what were the three that you cut?
We only found seven good ‘uns, so downgraded it after writing the title. We try and be all killer and no filler with these lists!
Following a shady deal with a large, unnamed tech company, we were sworn to secrecy and agreed to cut those three, in exchange for a briefcase full of cash and a new phone.
Either that, or I was a bit silly when publishing the post. But I prefer to believe the former.
@Chris Mills, you are upset because nobody invited you to the event lol? PS4 launch was amazing.
Scott got any suggestions, Yeah sack the incompetent Twats responsible for coding the wifi connectivity for Apple products !
Fire the “laser”
I’d never watched an Apple keynote speech before, purely because I steadfastly refuse to buy their products (translation: I’m too poor and bitter about it [I jest, sort of, it's a combination of their attitude, business model and prices]). I almost wish I’d been able to afford an iPhone back then, after seeing the passion and excitement Steve had for the products he helped create. The child-like wonder he showed when they finally got facetime up and running made me smile!
Kinda wondering where some of you guys are buying your PC components from if you think it would cost £1000 to build a gaming PC to match the PS4 spec ?
Given we don’t yet actually know what the price point is yet, some caution might be advisable. Sony traditionally sells it’s new consoles as a loss leader, but you can be sure we will be paying the difference in some shape or form.
Simon
The inclusion of GDDR5 RAM seems to be what’s tipping the scales on the price.
You can’t get GDDR5 RAM on its own but a 4gb GDDR5 Graphics card costs about $500. I guess two of them stuck together would roughly equal a PS4.
I tend to agree with you Iron, pretty much why I suspect the PS4 will launch at between £399 to £499 in the UK, even then, Sony will take a loss on every unit sold.
Simon
Here’s hoping those rumours about Sony aiming for a lower price point are true!
Most consoles make a loss on their launch prices, apart from Nintendo, it’s just a matter of how much Sony are willing to burn. Surely they can’t lose more per console than they did with the PS3.
I didn’t think the launch went that badly, it did get a little bit boring but nothing went massively wrong. Shame they didn’t show the console its self but at the end of the day its only a box that’s going to sit in a cabinet under a TV.. .
While we are on screw ups I remember watching a Google maps launch when they introducing the 3d flyover features and the tablet must of froze up and crashed a good few times, was quite funny and should of made the list!
I miss Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, not Steve Balmer and Jony Ive.
It’s funny how so many “tech journos” are outraged at the fact Sony didn’t reveal one of the least important details from a tech point of view.