Exploring Some of the Worst Console Reveals in Recent Memory

It's always important to make a great first impression. It's especially difficult to maintain or even gain momentum when your first impression on people is a negative one. After viewing the Xbox One console reveal, we at SuperPhillip Central thought we'd list some of the worst console reveals that we can remember. Don't worry, Microsoft fans, we have a special place for the Xbox One reveal right on this very list. From five-hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars to The Killers, these are what we consider some (note the word some) of the worst console reveals in recent memory. After you're done reading our thoughts, write up your own and share your picks for the worst console reveal in the comments section below.

PlayStation 3

The true coming out party for the PlayStation 3 happened at E3 2006, and the infamous memes that came from it did damage that Sony is still recovering from to this day. "Five-hundred and ninety-nine dollars." "Massive damage." "RIIIIIIIDGE RACER!" All three of these are used on message boards and comment sections to this day, even by the greatest Sony zealot. The reveal and subsequent launch made it so a once dominant brand in the PlayStation struggled hard to become second place in the console wars, and that only happened recently. The millions upon millions lost by Sony and the PlayStation brand can all be traced to this one reveal and launch, and the majority of Sony's failures with the PS3 can be said to have been caused by the company's arrogance after riding off the successes of the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

Wii U

While the Wii U was shown with tech demos two E3s ago, the real reveal of the system was last E3. Everyone was counting on Nintendo to blow the doors off the place after many concluded that Sony and Microsoft's E3 presentations were less than incredible. It was Nintendo's time to shine and impress. Perhaps this is why the press conference is thought so badly of. Nintendo totally struck out. It started well with Shigeru Miyamoto and his translator and NoA Treehouse member Bill Trinen talking about Pikmin 3. However, the rest of the presentation quickly turned sour with showcases of Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition (it's not the same game, it's not the same content, as famously stated by Reggie Fils-Aime) and Just Dance 4. The final insult was Nintendo Land, which to be fair, the final product is immensely fun and great, but 20 minutes showcasing it turned a lot of gamers off. Couple that will fireworks that didn't work, and you have a poor reveal. Maybe it would have been easy to predict the Wii U's current struggles just by seeing how telling the reaction (or lack thereof) of the system's E3 2012 coming out party was. Essentially no one was hyped, and that has gone on to pretty much damn the system lately.

Xbox 360

Now, we realize that a lot of people enjoyed the Xbox 360 reveal, but we take a different stance. The Xbox 360 reveal took place at a special TV event on MTV of all places. What we didn't like about the reveal was how forced and fake it felt. First off you had Elijah Wood, who is terrific guy and a terrific actor, as the host of the festivities, but even he couldn't really give a performance that excited us. Then you had the band The Killers who were there simply to promote their new album Hot Fuss. (By the way, we really like their song "Somebody Told Me.") Finally, you had a decidedly overly enthusiastic group of plants that made up the audience. O.J. Simpson was more convincing than the folks Microsoft had picked out. We have to give some credit to the Xbox 360 show as it actually showed a good amount of games-- it's just a shame that it was sandwiched between a lot of eye roll-worthy crap.

Xbox One

Let's end with the one that's fresh on gamers' minds, shall we? Gamers around the world waited with bated breath for the reveal of the new Xbox. What they got during the showing was disappointing to say the least. It was clear that Microsoft wanted to shy away from being all about games, as if they were ashamed of the industry they were supposed to be courting to. Instead, Microsoft dealt heavily on TV, a word that most likely was spoken more times than the word "games." Very telling. Throw in little gameplay footage of the actual games shown, a myriad of confusion regarding used games, always online, and Kinect, and you have an absolute mess of a console reveal. Factor all that with cheers and applause that didn't come from the members of the press but actually Microsoft employees in the back of the room, and there is our negative first impression of the Xbox One. While many gamers think the showing will put the Xbox One in a bad place sales-wise, the system could very well sell excellently, despite the awful showing, much to their chagrin.