{"id":950848,"date":"2026-05-10T17:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/950848\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:14:23","slug":"giant-enemy-crabs-599-ridge-racer-sonys-wild-e3-2006-is-now-20-years-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/950848\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Enemy Crabs, $599, Ridge Racer: Sony’s Wild E3 2006 Is Now 20-Years-Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

Can you believe it\u2019s been over 20 years since Sony\u2019s infamous E3 2006<\/strong><\/a> press conference? It was a low point for the brand which made PS3\u2019s first few years particularly tricky for the platform holder to navigate.<\/p>\n

The younger among you may not be familiar with the E3 press conferences of old, which were not the polished stage shows we\u2019d come to expect a decade later \u2013 and certainly nothing like the trailer montages of a modern State of Play<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

These were actual press conferences, with sales data, graphs, and business updates. While they were broadcast online, only the most hardcore were watching in those days.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But enough people tuned in to E3 2006 to get the memo: PS3 was in big trouble against the Xbox 360 and Wii, and Sony had lost its way.<\/p>\n

Here are just some of the memes that still circulate today:<\/p>\n

Five-Hundred-and-Ninety-Nine-US-Dollars
\n\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

For almost two decades, the PS3\u2019s $599 price point was considered peak hubris; in 2026, with soaring component costs, it doesn\u2019t really have the same impact anymore.<\/p>\n

But we only need to turn to an inflation calculator to understand just how crazy Sony was: $599 works out at around $1,000 today.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s plenty of consternation around how much the PS6 may cost when (if?) it launches in 2027, we doubt PlayStation would be crazy enough to hit four figures.<\/p>\n

Ridddge Racerrr
\n\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

This one\u2019s funny, but in hindsight, it\u2019s actually a reminder of the PlayStation we\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n

CEO Kaz Hirai may have been cringey and awkward, but he knew the products, and so when he introduced Namco\u2019s legendary PS1 game Ridge Racer<\/a> running on a PSP, at least he had fun with it.<\/p>\n

Of course him screaming out the name like the announcer from the game has been clipped up for the past 20 years, but y\u2019know what, we prefer it to this era of out-of-touch PlayStation executives who hide in boardrooms and rarely ever raise their heads above the parapets.<\/p>\n

The SIXAXIS Sucked
\n\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

God, the SIXAXIS was crap.<\/p>\n

To be honest, the DualShock 3 wasn\u2019t much better, but at least it had a little weight to it once Sony reintroduced rumble. (It was locked up in a lawsuit at the time over patent infringement, which meant the SIXAXIS originally launched without the feature.)<\/p>\n

This was peak Wii era, of course, and Sony needed to prove it was still part of the conversation.<\/p>\n

But Warhawk<\/a> played like ass with the pad\u2019s prehistoric gyroscopes, and while we\u2019re happy the feature has improved and become more of a standard in the DualSense, we could have done without this gimmicky era of motion controller gameplay.<\/p>\n

Giant Enemy Crabs
\n\"Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

Genji: Days of the Blade<\/a> was such a middling, forgettable game that its lasting legacy probably is \u201cgiant enemy crabs\u201d.<\/p>\n

To be honest, this was the point of the press conference where everyone had already turned on Sony anyway, so everything was getting clowned on by this stage.<\/p>\n

But peddling realistic historical battles only to segue into giant enemy crabs \u2013 iconic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hit its weak point for massive damage.\u201d Just like in real-life.<\/p>\n

Did you watch Sony\u2019s E3 2006 press conference live? Do you remember its memes like they were yesterday? Can you believe it\u2019s been 20 years since this iconic circus? Let us know below.<\/p>\n

\n
See Also<\/dt>\n
\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can you believe it\u2019s been over 20 years since Sony\u2019s infamous E3 2006 press conference? It was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[2766,806,32102,341,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-950848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-culture","tag-industry","tag-ps3","tag-sony","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116551409590814957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}