Highlights
- Sony's E3 2006 press conference can now be watched in HD with all its meme-worthy moments.
- This is thanks to YouTube channel Noclip Game History Archive.
- Sony has opted out of recent E3 events in favor of hosting its own State of Play presentations.
Sony's E3 2006 press conference is perhaps its most infamous, and now it's available to watch with HD resolution. While Sony has opted out of attending E3 in recent years, the gaming giant was once one of the most exciting reasons to tune in every year. Sony has been at the center of many of the greatest E3 moments in history, as well as some of its biggest blunders.
Sony's E3 presence may be remembered more nowadays for victories like when it trounced Xbox at E3 2013 or when it made the shock announcements of Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake at E3 2015. However, others will remember Sony's rough E3 2006 presentation, which was full of meme-worthy moments that are still referenced to this day.
Now anyone wanting to take a trip down memory lane can relive Sony's E3 2006 press conference in HD thanks to Noclip Game History Archive. There a couple of minutes missing from the event, but the big moments are all there, including the awkward Ridge Racer reveal, the "giant enemy crab" meme, and the high PS3 price point - the latter of which is likely a big reason why the Xbox 360 was able to outsell the PS3 for a large chunk of that particular console generation.
While Sony's E3 2006 presentation was definitely a low point for the company, it bounced back considerably. The PS3 eventually overtook the Xbox 360's sales and established itself as second place for that generation, outsold by the Nintendo Wii. Then the PS4 absolutely dominated its generation, momentum that Sony has carried forward with the PlayStation 5. Sony has never repeated mistakes like the PS3's high price point, with even the PS5 launching at a full $100 lower than the PS3 did back in 2006.
Because Sony managed to create so many memorable moments at E3, there are those who were disappointed when it announced that it wouldn't be attending the most recent iterations of the show. That being said, E3 itself has barely existed since the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 event. A digital-only version of E3 returned for the 2021 show, but the decision was made to cancel both E3 2022 and E3 2023. E3's future is still up in the air, but even if it does return, fans shouldn't expect Sony to be a part of the show.
Instead of attending events like E3, Sony has been hosting Nintendo Direct-style presentations that it calls State of Play. Those looking for the biggest PlayStation news and announcements should be sure to tune into those whenever they air, as they have effectively replaced E3 for Sony.
