Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube" - Kotaku Comments

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Feba — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:49:14 MDT

>It just goes to show, success isn't just about having a great idea or the ability to pull >it off. In many ways, timing really is everything.

No. Actually, it shows it's about having the ability to pull it off. Did you read what they said at all? They couldn't do it because they couldn't figure out a way to pull it off with current technology.

Also, those ideas aren't really close at all to socialnetowkring/video sites like myspace and youtube. It's closer to IRC or forum communities and TV which, surprise, already existed. They just weren't on consoles at the time.

Feba

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

stetsonblade — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:38:47 MDT

I am tired of people still quoting that Al Gore claimed he invented the internet. I really wish you would do your research. Restating these claims is like restating something Jack Thompson says and telling people he's right. Al Gore never said he created the internet. Look it up on Snopes if you really care to find the real story and stop spouting ignorant tripe.

stetsonblade

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

standardman — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:13:51 MDT

Hmm, so they had an idea, failed at it, then someone else did it better and it became a phenomenon? Oh, and that happened twice?

Yeah, that's something to brag about.

standardman

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

relic1980 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:33:52 MDT

Reminds me of back in the day when them dam commies were claimin' that they invented baseball...^_^

relic1980

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Frank — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:14:56 MDT

@scottyboy218: Sony had a prototype of XBox Live while they were still bickering with Nintendo over the CD in the Play Station (space intended). :P

Frank

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

108 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:42:24 MDT

i had the idea for digg literally the first time i ever saw slashdot. literally :-/

i could have been a trillionaire if i'd cared.

108

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

mattstockton12 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:18:23 MDT

I don't doubt their claims. The first person to utilize and take advantage of an idea is probably never the first person to have "thought" of it. However, all that matters is who actually translates the idea to reality and therefore makes bank.

mattstockton12

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Huckleberry — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:17:41 MDT

The MO at Sony seems to be, "Pretend you did everything first, or were at least planning to. That's true innovation."

PS. Sony was planning on making this post 5 years ago, but Kotaku didn't exist. They had a prototype of Kotaku running on PS2, however.

Huckleberry

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Yamster — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:21:35 MDT

I do remember Central Station, the original vision was very exciting if I recall.

Yamster

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Milkham — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:39:10 MDT

Didn't the Ratchet and Clank guys say something similar about round planets and mario galaxy?

Milkham

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

leimeisei — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:19:21 MDT

Sony:

"Also, back in the olden times, we had an idea to make a country where you could have your own religion and whatnot, and we were ready to go discover North America, but unfortunately we weren't able to get the ship ready to set sail, and Columbus got there first."

leimeisei

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

bobtheduck — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:08:49 MDT

@nolifedopestar (PSN: noliferuin): annoying outdated meme confirmed!

Sony's always experimenting with new things, and they do release them from time to time. The Eyetoy really was the first of its kind. Not the physical webcam itself, but rather the software attached to it. Antigrav, for instance, is really one of a kind. Sometimes people just beat them to the punch, like the youtube thing (because they didn't want to release when no one had broadband, that seems like a logical explanation to me)

The "Facebook" thing doesn't sound much like Facebook at all, and the quoted text doesn't mention the PS1... I dont' see that one.

What Nintendo does with new ideas is use them as soon as they get them, and if they fail, no one ever tries to use them again (VR anyone?) though don't think Nintendo won't go back and pull up the HMDs just like they went back to farm the failed power glove to make the wiimote. The next "revolutionary" system to come out of Nintendo is gonna be VR, I'm calling it now.

bobtheduck

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Yeebles — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:31:32 MDT

i remember reading about central station in ops2 magazine (UK)

Yeebles

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Sugarbloodsuckers — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:47:39 MDT

Sounds like it happens all the time. When things come out people always ask why people didn't think of it before... and people usually have, it just didn't work out.

Sugarbloodsuckers

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

OrionTheSmiter — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:46:51 MDT

Sony also invented the internet, they just weren't sure how to network everyones Walkman's together to take full advantage of it. Oh, and then there was the time Sony was planning to put a man on the moon - we all know how that ended up.

OrionTheSmiter

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

joelface — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:42:05 MDT

cool. hopefully this means when they do put out home, they'll have everything REALLY top notch quality. working well, etc.

joelface

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

juliopalio — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:47:46 MDT

they would've flopped.

juliopalio

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

edgefusion — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:35:05 MDT

I remember the video thing for Central Station, it was called Mirage and it worked really really well. I remember being surprised at how flawless it was. It's a shame it never caught on, I wonder what stage it would be at by this point if it had continued?

edgefusion

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

firelogic — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:22:20 MDT

And the irrational Sony hate continues. The guy is the former Sony head honcho. He has nothing to gain by lying at this point.

firelogic

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Sweet Tooth — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:11:05 MDT

I remember when I bought the PSOne...I couldn't believe how small and how cute the little thing was.

Sweet Tooth

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Bugged? — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:57:42 MDT

@patsfan07: they did... 1997, it was even released. [www.amazon.com]

Bugged?

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Truepatriot — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:55:50 MDT

playstation channel? sounds alot like sega channel....XD

Truepatriot

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

patsfan07 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:52:55 MDT

kinda like how microsoft had researched motion sensors before nintendo?

patsfan07

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Bugged? — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:48:47 MDT

i was part of the central station stuff.
i still have the disk laying around somewhere.
(there were two, one just used to configure the network adapter and access the old central station, and a newer one with Hardware: online arena on it, and access to a newer flashy central station. I lost the newer one.)

Bugged?

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

boopadoo — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:34:22 MDT

I guess Mr. Deering is jumping into the boat that Phil Harrison is rowing (notice I wrote "rowing" ha ha).

So let's open the playbook for PS3 and see what the future predicts... Heck, if they came up with Facebook and Youtube years beforehand, then we should expect a similar thing happening with the PS3, right? Get David Reeves on the line!

boopadoo

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

creid — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:56:36 MDT

Erm, a Playstation TV channel is not similar to Youtube. At all. If he's trying to imply that Sony had a Youtube idea first, then he's an idiot.

creid

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

SuperMaxZero — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:49:42 MDT

My brother must be a super genius in these people's minds. He's thought up a million cool things he didn't have the talent to make, just like them!

SuperMaxZero

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Guizzy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:24:07 MDT

I thought of flying cars. When this will finally come to pass, will I be seen as a revolutionary genius for my foresight?

Guizzy

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

reptile168 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:17:47 MDT

Sony also had a great idea: Home. It was definitely ahead of Second Life, but it took them 20 years to develop Home.

reptile168

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Xerxes3rd — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:13:15 MDT

Sony also had a great idea with the MiniDisc, but dorked it up as well. I remember them releasing it ahead of its time, marketing it poorly, then re-releasing the technology again some time later, which, by then it was too late, as CD burners were prevalent and MP3 players were on the horizon.

Of course, the PS3 ads we've seen over the past year also reflect Sony's poor marketing strategies.

Xerxes3rd

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Wolfers — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:07:09 MDT

"This was 4 years ahead of YouTube."

What was 4 years ahead of YouTube? A thought in your mind that never came to fruition? Uh, congratulations?

Wolfers

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

scottyboy218 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:05:20 MDT

@retronaut:

[www.joystiq.com]

SONY DECLARES WAR ON XBOX LIVE!

scottyboy218

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Basscadet — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:54:17 MDT

Didnt they also say they had the tech to develop the gameboy but Nintendo beat them to it?

I have actually seen a really REALLY early tech demo by M$ for something very similar to Home, that was ditched because it was deemed unworkable....hope Sony gets it right.

Basscadet

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

ColdBloodedBMC — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:49:30 MDT

Apparently Sony also has an online service for the PS3, but they don't think the public is ready to play games online yet.

ColdBloodedBMC

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Moonshadow101 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:48:45 MDT

Reminds me of these commercials I see from time to time... Time Warner Cable advertises a telephone-internet-cable package by having some overweight, stereotypical "nerd in mom's basement" type hold up a laptop strapped to a television strapped to a telephone and saying "I thought of it first!"

Moonshadow101

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

TheFaze — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:44:25 MDT

This is not too disimilar from Phil Harrison was saying about how they wanted to make the PS2 more of a social/casual gaming center, using games like SingStar, which would have predated that concept before the Wii. Apparently, as Phil noted as well, peeps in Japan don't give a crap about what peeps in Europe think, no matter how brilliant it might be. I love me my Sony, but they really need to be a bit more open-minded....

TheFaze

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

WiNG — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:43:14 MDT

Did the PSOne "facebook" feature daily spamming of zombie mod requests?

WiNG

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

VTFootballGrad — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:41:31 MDT

Well it seems they need to pull the trigger faster on the next great idea they come out with and if the world isn't ready at that exact time, they should at least try it when the time is right. Sounds like allot these things, they were just a hair of on timing.

VTFootballGrad

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

doobiwan — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:38:59 MDT

Oh what a load of Rubbish, it's like Microsoft claiming they invented the internet, oh, wait...

doobiwan

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

superbabyproject — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:38:17 MDT

The video thing was called Mirage, and worked really well as it goes.

superbabyproject

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

flynn110 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:34:32 MDT

can you imagine...a playstation myspace...i am getting my obligatory shirtless muscle pictures taken with a cell phone in front of a mirror ready now.

flynn110

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Snappywave — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:24:03 MDT

Maybe methinks Home is a mediocre idea with a pretty good timing.

Snappywave

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Asbestos_Underwear — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:23:33 MDT

I am the original developer of Steam, but back then Valve would not release it on the Super Nintendo.

Asbestos_Underwear

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

liquid_kore — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:11:08 MDT

Little known fact is that Sony also has the cure for AIDS but doesen't know how to package it. (The cure is to inject money into your blood!)

liquid_kore

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

endaround — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:06:18 MDT

Umm that sounds a lot less like Facebook and more like an irc channel. Black and white text chat with moderators? In 1997? No one did that before!

endaround

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Shadowmist — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:05:46 MDT

What's this Chrid Deering guy doing now? If he isn't at Sony anymore, I would probably believe what he's saying. If he is, then I'd take this with more than a few grains of salt...

Shadowmist

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

ShaggE — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:04:04 MDT

And they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling internet entrepeneurs!

ShaggE

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

reptile168 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:01:54 MDT

I'm still waiting for toy story in game graphics on my PS2.

reptile168

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

noliferuin (PSN+XBL) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:01:19 MDT

@PapaBear434: WII PORT CONFIRMED

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Mokona — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:01:01 MDT

You can always boast about failed prototypes that turned out as good ideas and success for others, but unless you have a patent, it gives you nothing.

I mean, next, they're gonna say "We totally had a prototype for a flat screen lcd TV in 1981, but it cost 1.7 million per unit, so we thought we'd wait before marketing it to the general public".

Mokona

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

PapaBear434 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:00:07 MDT

@kspraydad4:

Don't be silly. Everyone knows Home will never come out for the PS3.

PapaBear434

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

jwrose — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:59:40 MDT

Yeah, like the previous commenter said- ideas are a dime a dozen. I had the idea for the Virtual Console for the Gamecube way before the Wii existed- so what.

jwrose

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

bilups — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:57:30 MDT

I would say that success isn't even great ideas or timing, but "ability to package" as they so put their iPod idea. There were plenty of forerunners to youtube. It's just that youtube packaged and interfaced it better.

bilups

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

SG79 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:56:02 MDT

@retronaut:

Ironically, the online service that Kutaragi promised at TGS 99 was similar to what Xbox Live is today. MS took notes and thought Sony would deliver back then, but didn't.

Not the gamertags and whatnot (those were introduced with XBAND), but how the network is setup for movie and game downloads.

SG79

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Modus_Operandi — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:54:18 MDT

Also Sony helped plan the Internetz with Al Gore. Next week Sony finally dishes the dirt on how they created God and then killed him weeks later!

Modus_Operandi

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

itsburnsie — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:53:14 MDT

I've never understood the press release that says, in essence, "check out how awesome we almost were."

itsburnsie

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

fuchikoma — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:53:06 MDT

See, they do smart things sometimes! I think the last thing we need is another Facebook...

It'd be neat if the PS Eye had a Youtubey community but I wonder what the quality of content would be like...

fuchikoma

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Tei — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:52:41 MDT

Ideas are a zillion a dine. Ideas are cheap. Build something, pay the bills of developers, hire artist, ..that is expensive. Everybody and my dog has good ideas, but ideas.

Tei

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

PearceShea — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:52:03 MDT

It's also important to note that a lot of YouTube and the social networking sites' successes are largely (in my opinion of course) how they were made, marketed and initially used. That is, there was a lot of appeal to these sites in their infancy because they were indie and catered to teenager's (and younger adult's) sense of intrinsic self-worth.

It's hard to see how Sony could have made a facebook work.

PearceShea

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

RYAMATSU — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:51:38 MDT

Al Gore made the internet. And now Sony made Youtube and Ipod. Man, history sure is crazy.

RYAMATSU

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Candlejack — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:51:06 MDT

This kind of thing happens a lot I imagine. When you are really passionate about a new project (like a new PLAYSTATION), you want to have all kinds of shit included and built in that you normally wouldn't think of, that is too strenuous and that everybody thinks "you will never succeed in the mass market with this" of. This has happened to me myself when developing some code.

Well, the above doesn't count for the PS3 I guess. With that thing Sony just wanted to go above and beyond and over engineered it ('cept the removal of some ports lol). I appreciate that though, the Cell is lovely for muxing and encoding ;)

Candlejack

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

fearing — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:50:35 MDT

Also I had this great idea for bread that was sold in slices, but I couldn't figure out what people would use it for. If only sandwiches had the market penetration back then that they do now!

fearing

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

87th — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:49:46 MDT

LIES!!

87th

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

johnnylineup — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:49:30 MDT

well I had the idea for the walkman back in the 50's. take that, sony

johnnylineup

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Archaotic — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:49:18 MDT

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that this is Sony Europe talking, and their input in Sony's worldwide affairs has always been minimal at best for whatever reason. It's ironic too, since Europe has been one of their most steadfast supporters for years now. Maybe the head honchos should listen to them a bit more often.

Archaotic

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

retronaut — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:48:54 MDT

I've read on the intarwebs that Sony planned a PS3 "Xbox LIVE" online service...

/hahaha.

retronaut

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

jackal888 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:48:43 MDT

Well when HOME rears its head we will have both of these things.

jackal888

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Solidius — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:48:40 MDT

I heard about Central Station a few years ago on GameFAQs. I had no idea what the hell it was back then, though.

Solidius

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

AGROS — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:47:50 MDT

well this means they shouldn't waste time and just get things going...

AGROS

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:46:34 MDT

I think Comcast has commercials similar to this.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

P-Sheddy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:46:14 MDT

Hopefully they will learn their lesson and pull the trigger on their next big idea, before somebody else does.

P-Sheddy

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

kspraydad4 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:45:47 MDT

HOME was originally for the PS2 as well...MAYBE we sill get if on the PS3 someday!

kspraydad4

Sony Planned A PSOne "Facebook", PS2 "YouTube"

noliferuin (PSN+XBL) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:44:30 MDT

hmmm interesting to see how things like home will turn out in light of this

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)