PSP2: The weird and sinister truth behind Sony's press conference

Rumour has it that Sony boss Kaz Hirai was afflicted at birth witha gypsy curse. That curse, while having no ill effects during his day-to-day life, causes him to suffer soul-searing embarrassment and surreally awkward mishaps every time he presents at a big Sony press conference. The most famous example of this is themortifying reveal of the PlayStation 3at E3 2006. But as of yesterday, there is another.

It was mid-afternoon, and all the hoopla of the PSP2's announcement was dying down. But thenMatt discovered a largely unreported piece of video depicting the actual moment Kaz held aloft the hardware in front of an audience for the first time. And it wasweird. Imagine the most overly long,painfullyawkward conversational gap you've ever witnessed. Multiply it by fixed grins, polite applause and silence. Then add another 30 seconds. 30 seconds of nothing. Frankly, we didn't even know how to react at first. But then we decided to just lampoon the hell out of it with a couple of re-edits. Kaz is used tothat by now, right?

First up, the original footage, because you need to see it.

Seriously, weird. So weird in fact, even we were weirded out. But then we figured that it must have been even weirder for Kaz, which got uswondering just what the hell was going through his mind during said incident:

But then again, maybe there was something far more sinister afoot...

Jan 28th, 2011

It was mid-afternoon, and all the hoopla of the PSP2's announcement was dying down. But thenMatt discovered a largely unreported piece of video depicting the actual moment Kaz held aloft the hardware in front of an audience for the first time. And it wasweird. Imagine the most overly long,painfullyawkward conversational gap you've ever witnessed. Multiply it by fixed grins, polite applause and silence. Then add another 30 seconds. 30 seconds of nothing. Frankly, we didn't even know how to react at first. But then we decided to just lampoon the hell out of it with a couple of re-edits. Kaz is used tothat by now, right?

First up, the original footage, because you need to see it.

Seriously, weird. So weird in fact, even we were weirded out. But then we figured that it must have been even weirder for Kaz, which got uswondering just what the hell was going through his mind during said incident:

But then again, maybe there was something far more sinister afoot...

Jan 28th, 2011

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David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.