PS4 – JC Cawley

Kong’s T’day Tune #44

J.C. Cawley — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:03:39 +0000

I’ve put together a list of 60 tunes that have stuck with me through the years, inspired by Jeffrey Canam (@GrahfMetal)’s Twitter rundown of his top 100 favourite video game tracks. I’ve attempted to limit myself to a couple songs per game, but there are exceptions.

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#44

Final Fantasy XII basically defined the first year of my PhD program. What a great game. Hitoshi Sakimoto has composed better songs, but this one kind of fills the same role as the Teostra theme song from last month—great atmospheric background music with a grand hook. Listening to this for several hours while chipping away at Yiazmat burns it into your brain.

Track: “Boss Battle” (YouTube Link)
Game: Final Fantasy XII (PS2, 2006)
Composers: Hitoshi Sakimoto

Kong’s T’day Tune #54

J.C. Cawley — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 22:04:04 +0000

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#54

My friends and I had a lot of fun with Monster Hunter: World for a few months after it came out. It became our social hangout game after Destiny spiraled down the pipes.

Each monster has its own signature theme that plays when you battle with it, and several of them are suitably epic, but the one that lodged in my brain was Teostra’s. It’s regal and grandiose, transitioning between background music and a booming melodic hook. I can’t help but sing it every time it loops around, ensuring all my friends mute me and ensuring its place on this list.

Track: “Ruler of Flame – Teostra (World Version)” (YouTube Link)
Game: Monster Hunter: World (PS4, 2018)
Composer: Tadayoshi Makino

Into the Wild: Tracking Sony’s 20th Anniversary Edition PS4s

J.C. Cawley — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:52:23 +0000

At the inaugural PlayStation Experience event held in Las Vegas in December 2014, Sony announced a nostalgic grey PlayStation 4 in a numbered limited edition of 12,300 units to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original PlayStation. The number was chosen to represent the system’s launch on 3 December 1994 in Japan.

Given the global popularity of the PS4 (almost 74 million units sold worldwide as of 31 December 2017) and the extremely limited availability of the anniversary models, accounting for them is an interesting and viable project.

Initially priced at $500 USD on Sony’s online store, the consoles sold out within minutes of pre-orders going live. They have since become a pursuit of collectors on eBay, sometimes fetching premium prices in the thousands of dollars. Sony later released a 20th Anniversary Edition grey DualShock 4—a mate to the one bundled with the system—and rounded out the lineup with a matching Gold Wireless Stereo Headset.

Several units ended up in the hands of video game industry insiders: development studios, publishing houses, and media outlets, many of whom had the benefit of being on the showroom floor when Sony revealed them.

The combination of the historical importance attached to this edition, the relatively higher-profile of the line’s ownership, and its easily-verifiable provenance (each unit boasts an etched aluminum plate bearing its unique number in the series) makes the 20th Anniversary Edition a prime candidate for a database like this one.

The list will be hosted at jcawley.ca/ps4 as soon as we gather enough data.

Submissions

If you own a 20th Anniversary Edition PS4 and would like record it in this database, please complete this form. I’ll reach out to confirm a picture of the plate number on your console.

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