Giant Enemy Crabs, $599, Ridge Racer: Sony’s Wild E3 2006 Is Now 20-Years-Old

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years since Sony’s famously disastrous E3 2006 presentation! That event was a real setback for the company, and it made the early years of the PS3 particularly challenging.

Some of you might not remember the earlier E3 press conferences. They weren’t as slick or carefully produced as the events we saw later on, and they were definitely different from today’s trailer-focused presentations like a State of Play.

These were real press conferences, featuring sales figures, charts, and company news. Although they were streamed online, very few people actually tuned in back then.

By E3 2006, it was clear to many viewers that the PlayStation 3 was struggling to compete with the Xbox 360 and Wii, and Sony seemed to have lost its direction.

Here are just some of the memes that still circulate today:

Five-Hundred-and-Ninety-Nine-US-Dollars

For nearly twenty years, the PlayStation 3’s $599 price tag was seen as incredibly arrogant. But with today’s much higher costs for computer parts, that price doesn’t seem quite as shocking anymore.

Looking at inflation calculators makes it clear how expensive the original PlayStation actually was: $599 in its time is equivalent to about $1,000 today.

Everyone’s worried about how expensive the PS6 might be when it (hopefully!) comes out in 2027. But honestly, I can’t imagine Sony actually pricing it over $1000. That just seems…crazy.

Ridddge Racerrr

This one’s funny, but in hindsight, it’s actually a reminder of the PlayStation we’ve lost.

Kaz Hirai, the former CEO, wasn’t always the most polished presenter, but he understood Sony’s products well. He clearly enjoyed himself when he demonstrated the classic PlayStation game Ridge Racer running on a PSP.

Everyone remembers that iconic game announcer clip from twenty years ago, and honestly, we like it way more than the current PlayStation leadership. They seem disconnected and prefer to stay behind closed doors instead of engaging with the gaming community.

The SIXAXIS Sucked

God, the SIXAXIS was crap.

The DualShock 3 wasn’t a huge improvement, but it felt more substantial when Sony brought back the vibration feature. They’d had to remove it initially due to a patent lawsuit, which is why the original SIXAXIS controller didn’t have vibration.

This was peak Wii era, of course, and Sony needed to prove it was still part of the conversation.

Warhawk wasn’t very enjoyable to play with the original PlayStation controller’s motion sensors, and while the DualSense controller’s improved version is a welcome change, we wish the initial focus on motion controls hadn’t happened.