WipEout.
The footage lasted forty seconds.
During that time, the audience's reaction evolved through three distinct stages.
Initially, there was silence.
Everyone was adapting to a visual experience that completely defied the conventions of traditional racing games.
After ten seconds, murmurs of astonishment arose.
"The frame rate is incredible—it's practically 60 FPS, right?" a reporter from Electronic Gaming Monthly muttered, staring intently at the screen, his pen tapping unconsciously against his notebook.
After twenty seconds, someone whistled.
As the aircraft rounded a corner, it fired a homing missile that struck an opponent ahead. The resulting explosion, streaking through the high-speed motion, and the visceral feedback from the physics engine sent chills down their spines.
When the forty seconds ended, the screen froze on the WipEout title.
Applause erupted.
This was no polite clapping.
Several Western reporters rose to their feet, clapping vigorously.
For Americans, the love of wheels was etched into their very bones.
But when Sony removed the wheels, replaced them with anti-gravity engines, and doubled the speed, the sheer adrenaline rush shattered their aesthetic defenses.
Ken Kutaragi stood on stage, observing the audience's reaction.
He said only one sentence:
"This is the gift PlayStation has prepared for you at E3."
Then he bowed and turned to leave the stage.
The entire press conference lasted less than ten minutes.
Two games.
Clean and decisive.
The audience erupted in chaos.
Not because there was too much to show, but because there was so little.
"He only showed two games? And then he just left?" A reporter from Popular Mechanics stood frozen, his recorder in hand.
He'd just changed the tape, ready to record a lengthy discourse.
"Two was enough," the editor from NetGeneration next to him closed his notebook. "Did you see the footage of that anti-gravity racer? The visual impact alone was worth a full press conference. Just that demonstration of the technology could fill a long article."
"But isn't the content a bit thin?" someone asked. "Sony's first time at E3, and they only showed two games and didn't even mention their platform strategy?"
"Fewer titles doesn't mean a weaker lineup," a veteran distributor interjected, his green press badge hanging from his chest. "Look at the press conference as a whole. Namco's Tekken, Ace Combat, and Ridge Racer already laid the groundwork for PlayStation earlier. Those two games are Sony's real trump cards. Ken Kutaragi knows this perfectly well—Sony has allies supporting them, so he doesn't have to carry the whole burden himself."
The media area buzzed with rapid exchange of opinions.
Sony's strategy was clear:
With fewer first-party titles, they would compensate with the most cutting-edge technical demonstrations. The speed and 3D processing capabilities of WipEout served as the perfect showcase.
As for the depth of the game library, they would leave that to Namco and other third-party developers.
In a corner of the manufacturer's area, Takuya Nakayama watched Ken Kutaragi walk off the stage.
Two games.
It sounded meager, but the impact was undeniable.
Ken Kutaragi had chosen the most cost-effective approach.
Let third-party developers handle their own ammunition; Sony would only reveal its most impressive PlayStation features at crucial moments.
Sony's monetization strategy from the early days of the PlayStation was finally paying off, eliminating the initial embarrassment of lacking major titles.
Rather than padding the lineup with uninspiring games to fill time and space, it was better to highlight the presence of their flagship products.
The graphics in WipEout were indeed stunning, and its sense of speed was unmatched among its contemporaries.
While Sega's Jupiter hardware was no inferior to Sony's PlayStation, Sony delivered a masterclass in pure sensory thrill with its racing game.
Business competition is never just about who can write the longest PowerPoint presentation.
Whoever can etch their core advantages into the audience's minds in the shortest time wins.
Ken Kutaragi, a tech-savvy engineer, was as adept at marketing as any business school graduate.
This wolf of Sony had bared its fangs.
The first day of E3 was only halfway over.
At 11:40 AM, Sony's press conference concluded. The lights on the main stage dimmed, and IDSA staff announced a lunch break, with proceedings to resume at 1 PM.
The moment everyone stood up, their knees protested.
They had been sitting since 9 AM, nearly three hours with only one brief break of less than ten minutes. The thin cushions beneath them had long since lost any cushioning value.
The media area emptied as attendees streamed out of the venue.
Dining options around the Los Angeles Convention Center were limited. The nearest burrito joint was two blocks away, but most people didn't have time to walk that far.
IDSA had set up several rows of temporary food stalls on the open space outside South Hall, offering sandwiches, hot dogs, bottled water, and coffee.
Free.
The quality, as one might expect, matched the price.
"What's in this hot dog?" the editor from GamePro asked, taking a bite with a conflicted expression.
"Don't ask. Just eat," said the photographer from Electronic Gaming Monthly beside him, already gnawing on his second sandwich. "We've got four or five more press conferences this afternoon. How are you going to last if you don't fill up?"
The folding tables and chairs beside the food spread were packed.
Those without seats stood eating, one hand holding a sandwich and the other flipping through their interview notebooks.
Lunchtime was the golden hour for journalists to exchange information.
"Who was the biggest winner this morning?" asked the young reporter from Wired, his mouth full of bread, his words muffled.
"Namco," replied the editor from NetGeneration, setting his coffee cup on his lap. "Three PlayStation exclusives, each with graphics that were the highest quality on the spot. Did you see that aerial combo in Tekken? With that level of polygon processing, to run it smoothly on a console... Namco must have spared no expense, even at the risk of undermining their arcade version. The arcade owners won't be sleeping tonight."
"I think Capcom's Resident Evil was even more brutal," another voice chimed in, this one from Game Informer. "Namco won on technical merit, but Capcom won on sheer impact. Ask anyone here what scene they remember most clearly from this morning's presentations—eight out of ten will mention that zombie turning around."
"And what about Nintendo?"
A brief silence followed.
"Nintendo—Shigeru Miyamoto's presentation was excellent," the GamePro editor chose his words carefully. "But their products were all SFC and Game Boy. In a sea of Next-Gen 3D graphics, showing 16-bit games is like everyone talking about satellite TV while you're still trying to sell rabbit-ear antennas."
"That's not entirely fair," someone countered. "No other game here could match the art style of Yoshi's Island. The video game industry has never been solely about hardware and technology."
"That's true in principle. But how many American gamers and retailers here today do you think will buy an SFC just because of a crayon-like art style?"
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