Insane Metal
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DR Retro: Sony's 2006 E3 - Playstation 3's Darkest Hour Revisited
- Thread starter Insane Metal
- Start date
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Yeah I mistaken it for the Sony E32005 vid they did last year.
Practically the same thing, I supposed you could call this part 2
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ruvikx
Banned
I love this. I mean really, who honestly takes video games seriously? It's not a matter of life or death, it's just fun - whether in terms of success or even absurdity. The giant enemy crabs stuff from that particular E3 is legendary. E3 has been epic & entertaining for two decades precisely because of the total f-ups & weird sh*t. The day corporations have total control over messaging & like automatons cyborgs zero errors occur will be the day E3 & gaming becomes boring.
For what it's worth, the ps3 was a great console with one problem only: its third party performance was below the 360's. Skyrim of course being the ultimate f-up. But some of the exclusives were insanely good, such as Demon Souls, Uncharted 1, 2, 3 & God of War 3. I also loved the free multiplayer & PlayStation Plus with a real AAA game each month.
For what it's worth, the ps3 was a great console with one problem only: its third party performance was below the 360's. Skyrim of course being the ultimate f-up. But some of the exclusives were insanely good, such as Demon Souls, Uncharted 1, 2, 3 & God of War 3. I also loved the free multiplayer & PlayStation Plus with a real AAA game each month.
Insane Metal
Member
I was such a Sony fanboy back then.
I was basically a PS3/Cell defense force guy full time. I regret it so badly.
Nikana
Go Go Neo Rangers!
I was such a Sony fanboy back then.
I was basically a PS3/Cell defense force guy full time. I regret it so badly.
I did a report on console wars in highschool and I got into a verbal debate on cell. Got an A. Lol
Imtjnotu
Member
It was hard to defend that dumb ass machine. I still can't believe I spent $500 on it in 2007. I'm still a big supporter of their games and the brand tho. They brought me back with the ps4 in 2015I was such a Sony fanboy back then.
I was basically a PS3/Cell defense force guy full time. I regret it so badly.
Insane Metal
Member
That's interesting haha. I loved reading about it. Although I have zero understanding in programming,... lol
Nikana
Go Go Neo Rangers!
It was interesting to see how so many people thought it was the thing that was going to make games unbeatable and unbelievable compared to Xbox.
And trying to explain that it's not that simple was crazy difficult.
Shin
Banned
Liars! You guys are in a Sony thread 6 years later, don't deny I sees you!I was such a Sony fanboy back then.
The speed of Cell is crazy though even till this day 3.2GHz if the slide in the video is correct (been too long I forgot what it was).
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
As the video goes on, I'm keeping tabs on games and how they ultimately turned out
Good
+Singstar. Unironically a great party game. Continued to be a strong and healthy franchise.
+ Formula ONE. Perfectly serviceable launch game.
+ Hot Shots Golf. Good like always. Series is still going strong today.
+ Folklore. One of the more interesting PS3 titles. Used the SIXAXIS in a fairly neat way for what its worth. Great art style.
+ Uncharted. First game is pretty mediocre if you ask me, but it did well enough to spawn one of the bigger AAA singleplayer franchises in gaming. The submarine in one of the early levels was graphically jaw dropping.
+ Resistance Fall of Man. Best launch title by far, very fun multiplayer, neat weapons & enemy designs. Spawned 2 sequels on PS3 and Insomniac continues to make fun games for Sony more than a decade later.
+ MGS4. I hate this game. But facts are facts: (1)Sold well (2) No major technical issues, installs aside (3) reviewed very well (4) has its fans including a cult following for its online multiplayer (5) came out only a couple years after this showing, unlike final fantasy and gran turismo which took much longer to show up. Thats a win by any metric.
+ Warhawk. Turned out to be pretty fun, and had a cult following.
Bad
- Gran Turismo 5. Amazing sales, but nowadays regarded as one of the weaker entries. Poor menus, over emphasis on car porn. Reused PS2 assets. It also got delayed to late 2010.
- Eye of Judgement. Maybe it was good but nobody actually played this.
- Genji 2. Meme game.
- Heavenly Sword. Bad performance, incredibly short. Didn't even sell terribly well and the sequel was shitcanned.
- Lair. No comment.
- The Getaway: Cancelled.
- Afrika. Pokemon Snap did this 2 generations earlier.
- Eight Days: Cancelled.
- Assassins Creed: Extremely washed out look and repetitive gameplay. Awful performance. The sequel was a huge improvement.
- Coded Arms: Cancelled.
- Ridge Racer 7. If you're a fan it was fine I guess. But its basically just an enhanced port of the 360's Ridge Racer 6. This wouldn't be an issue except they presented it like it was some brand new experience and of course we have the BS graphical showcase like so many other games at this conference.
- Tekken 6. Not exactly a fan favorite. Ended up on 360.
- Sonic 2006. Its a post-genesis Sonic game that doesn't have Mania in the title. Enough said.
- Virtua Tennis 3. No online multiplayer on PS3 version.
- Virtua Fighter 5. No online multiplayer on PS3 version. Damn this is almost a pattern isn't it?
- Stranglehold. Mediocre.
- Fatal Inertia. Never played this one. Looks awful and apparently 360 version came out first anyway according to John.
- Musou shit. Who cares.
- Brothers in Arms Hells Highway. Came out fine. Multiplayer sort of combined strategy with FPS. You could play it on 360 though so why bother with PS3?
- Sports Games. Who cares. All I know is that one year Madden ran at 30fps on PS3 but 60fps on 360 which is LOL
- Armored Core 4. Awful art design and 360 version was better.
- FFXIII. This game looks gorgeous on PS3 and has beautiful music. Every other single aspect is either mediocre (level "design") or outright terrible (characters). And of course it came out on 360 because Square has no honor. Fans still argue over this game to this day.
What a total shitshow. We might have boring E3s nowadays but 7th gen had some downright nightmarish conferences.
Good
+Singstar. Unironically a great party game. Continued to be a strong and healthy franchise.
+ Formula ONE. Perfectly serviceable launch game.
+ Hot Shots Golf. Good like always. Series is still going strong today.
+ Folklore. One of the more interesting PS3 titles. Used the SIXAXIS in a fairly neat way for what its worth. Great art style.
+ Uncharted. First game is pretty mediocre if you ask me, but it did well enough to spawn one of the bigger AAA singleplayer franchises in gaming. The submarine in one of the early levels was graphically jaw dropping.
+ Resistance Fall of Man. Best launch title by far, very fun multiplayer, neat weapons & enemy designs. Spawned 2 sequels on PS3 and Insomniac continues to make fun games for Sony more than a decade later.
+ MGS4. I hate this game. But facts are facts: (1)Sold well (2) No major technical issues, installs aside (3) reviewed very well (4) has its fans including a cult following for its online multiplayer (5) came out only a couple years after this showing, unlike final fantasy and gran turismo which took much longer to show up. Thats a win by any metric.
+ Warhawk. Turned out to be pretty fun, and had a cult following.
Bad
- Gran Turismo 5. Amazing sales, but nowadays regarded as one of the weaker entries. Poor menus, over emphasis on car porn. Reused PS2 assets. It also got delayed to late 2010.
- Eye of Judgement. Maybe it was good but nobody actually played this.
- Genji 2. Meme game.
- Heavenly Sword. Bad performance, incredibly short. Didn't even sell terribly well and the sequel was shitcanned.
- Lair. No comment.
- The Getaway: Cancelled.
- Afrika. Pokemon Snap did this 2 generations earlier.
- Eight Days: Cancelled.
- Assassins Creed: Extremely washed out look and repetitive gameplay. Awful performance. The sequel was a huge improvement.
- Coded Arms: Cancelled.
- Ridge Racer 7. If you're a fan it was fine I guess. But its basically just an enhanced port of the 360's Ridge Racer 6. This wouldn't be an issue except they presented it like it was some brand new experience and of course we have the BS graphical showcase like so many other games at this conference.
- Tekken 6. Not exactly a fan favorite. Ended up on 360.
- Sonic 2006. Its a post-genesis Sonic game that doesn't have Mania in the title. Enough said.
- Virtua Tennis 3. No online multiplayer on PS3 version.
- Virtua Fighter 5. No online multiplayer on PS3 version. Damn this is almost a pattern isn't it?
- Stranglehold. Mediocre.
- Fatal Inertia. Never played this one. Looks awful and apparently 360 version came out first anyway according to John.
- Musou shit. Who cares.
- Brothers in Arms Hells Highway. Came out fine. Multiplayer sort of combined strategy with FPS. You could play it on 360 though so why bother with PS3?
- Sports Games. Who cares. All I know is that one year Madden ran at 30fps on PS3 but 60fps on 360 which is LOL
- Armored Core 4. Awful art design and 360 version was better.
- FFXIII. This game looks gorgeous on PS3 and has beautiful music. Every other single aspect is either mediocre (level "design") or outright terrible (characters). And of course it came out on 360 because Square has no honor. Fans still argue over this game to this day.
What a total shitshow. We might have boring E3s nowadays but 7th gen had some downright nightmarish conferences.
Mr Hyde
Member
I bought a used PS3 about one year in its lifecycle, because I felt Sony didn´t deserve my money with that fucking trainwreck reveal and mediocre launch lineup (except Folklore, that game was legit). And you can say I wasn´t impressed with the early years of PS3, with it´s only saving grace being Uncharted 2 and Demon´s Souls and third party games like Arkham Asylum and Dead Space. It was a dark time there for Sony, I almost lost belief in them, like they had completely lost it. PSX and PS2 were great successes so it was unfathomable how they could destroy all that with PS3. On top of that, my console broke and I thought that was it. Fuck this company.
Then came the rebranding and the launch of the slim sized PS3. I gave them another chance and against all odds, and to my big surprise, they managed to completely turn it around, delivering great exclusive, great third party support and great services. This success in turn carried over to PS4 and Sony has knocked it out of the park with the console, currently being my favourite among the PS-family. What a turnover.
Then came the rebranding and the launch of the slim sized PS3. I gave them another chance and against all odds, and to my big surprise, they managed to completely turn it around, delivering great exclusive, great third party support and great services. This success in turn carried over to PS4 and Sony has knocked it out of the park with the console, currently being my favourite among the PS-family. What a turnover.
Insane Metal
Member
LolLiars! You guys are in a Sony thread 6 years later, don't deny I sees you!
The speed of Cell is crazy though even till this day 3.2GHz if the slide in the video is correct (been too long I forgot what it was).
Yes it was 3.2Ghz (it was planned to be 3.6 or 4Ghz, IIRC). The Cell was indeed a very good processor, but it wasn't really built for gaming. It required quite the programming tricks to make it work properly.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
Main takeaways for me were actually outside of the the PS3 stuff:
103mil PS2's sold at that point should really put into context how distorted people's perceptions of the reality of historical console sales are. The PS2 had been on the market for over 6 years at this point, and in its time had been absolutely dominant in its leadership.
Makes you wonder about the alleged narrative showing the "decline" of console popularity over the years don't it?
It should also put into context that Xbox 360 was never as big of a success as is generally claimed. 85 million units is a good number but given how long it took to reach that milestone compared to the other top-selling console platforms, average sales per-year on the market aren't actually that impressive.
This isn't to diminish Xbox, just to point out that the "turnaround" in fortunes at the start of this gen should not be considered such a shocker considering.
General observations on the conference itself:
It was a poor showing, but to be truthful not nearly as terrible as its generally considered to be. The poor state of middleware support and the general obtuseness of the PS3 hardware was clearly instrumental in making the software line-up so underwhelming.
Looking at this, you can see the wisdom in Sony sitting out E3 this year. Not that the situations are entirely comparable, just that when you are leading the market why spoil your own pitch by stretching just to have new stuff to show. Bear in mind the upcoming PS2 titles they kinda burned with a single slide at the start of that presentation included FFXII and God Of War 2....
Pricing was horrible, but they were still taking a major loss per unit at that point. This indicates a calamitous error in advance planning for the product.
The obvious question though is that if the PS3 was shown to be as powerful as it was hyped to be, would it have done that much better? I mean say they got to show in 2006 what the PS3 was eventually shown to be capable of in games like GoW3 or Uncharted3, would that have been adequate compensation? Lets face it, BC certainly wasn't enough LOL.
Lastly, and this is a side-note and a bit of a nitpick, but it annoyed the shit out of me. Talking about previous gens there was a snide comment made about how games would come out later and slower in Europe back in the 90's. Which may be somewhat true, but its not like there was any real alternative to support 50hz when it was the standard for all CRT TV's in EU at that time. It insinuates fault when it was functionally unavoidable.
103mil PS2's sold at that point should really put into context how distorted people's perceptions of the reality of historical console sales are. The PS2 had been on the market for over 6 years at this point, and in its time had been absolutely dominant in its leadership.
Makes you wonder about the alleged narrative showing the "decline" of console popularity over the years don't it?
It should also put into context that Xbox 360 was never as big of a success as is generally claimed. 85 million units is a good number but given how long it took to reach that milestone compared to the other top-selling console platforms, average sales per-year on the market aren't actually that impressive.
This isn't to diminish Xbox, just to point out that the "turnaround" in fortunes at the start of this gen should not be considered such a shocker considering.
General observations on the conference itself:
It was a poor showing, but to be truthful not nearly as terrible as its generally considered to be. The poor state of middleware support and the general obtuseness of the PS3 hardware was clearly instrumental in making the software line-up so underwhelming.
Looking at this, you can see the wisdom in Sony sitting out E3 this year. Not that the situations are entirely comparable, just that when you are leading the market why spoil your own pitch by stretching just to have new stuff to show. Bear in mind the upcoming PS2 titles they kinda burned with a single slide at the start of that presentation included FFXII and God Of War 2....
Pricing was horrible, but they were still taking a major loss per unit at that point. This indicates a calamitous error in advance planning for the product.
The obvious question though is that if the PS3 was shown to be as powerful as it was hyped to be, would it have done that much better? I mean say they got to show in 2006 what the PS3 was eventually shown to be capable of in games like GoW3 or Uncharted3, would that have been adequate compensation? Lets face it, BC certainly wasn't enough LOL.
Lastly, and this is a side-note and a bit of a nitpick, but it annoyed the shit out of me. Talking about previous gens there was a snide comment made about how games would come out later and slower in Europe back in the 90's. Which may be somewhat true, but its not like there was any real alternative to support 50hz when it was the standard for all CRT TV's in EU at that time. It insinuates fault when it was functionally unavoidable.
stranno
Member
PSP was certainly a blast back in the day.
It was a 480x272 widescreen LCD in 176x208 TFT 65K colours vertical screen mobile days, and we are talking about the best mobile devices of the market, the Symbian S60 v1 and v2 series, with Symbian OS 6.0 and 7.0. iPhone First Gen came out in 2007 packed with a 480x320 LCD screen.
It had 1.67Gb UMD discs while largest DS games hold 512Mb, and those carts had so damn slow transfer rates (and even worse royalties).
Hardware decoding MPEG4 AVC in MPEG4 ASP (DivX/XVid) days.
Ad-hoc multiplayer for 80%+ games in the catalog. And Medal of Honor Heroes 1 & 2 probably still being the two largest multiplayer games ever seen in a portable console, 32-players per match.
Probably the first virtual cardboard device ever seen, the Solid Eye (packed with Metal Gear Ac!d 2). Many years before the Google cardboar concept.
And of course the first ever GPS-driven golf game: Minna no Golf Jou Vol. 2.
SCEE's Gangs of London was a decent clone of Team Soho's The Getaway, it had lots of missions, decent shooting mechanics and too many extras. It just had a hard time being in the same console of the allmighty Liberty City Stories. It had a big marketing campaign here in Spain because a famous artist put his image and the main theme in the game (you can kill him in one mission, just because of this the game totally worth it).
It was a 480x272 widescreen LCD in 176x208 TFT 65K colours vertical screen mobile days, and we are talking about the best mobile devices of the market, the Symbian S60 v1 and v2 series, with Symbian OS 6.0 and 7.0. iPhone First Gen came out in 2007 packed with a 480x320 LCD screen.
It had 1.67Gb UMD discs while largest DS games hold 512Mb, and those carts had so damn slow transfer rates (and even worse royalties).
Hardware decoding MPEG4 AVC in MPEG4 ASP (DivX/XVid) days.
Ad-hoc multiplayer for 80%+ games in the catalog. And Medal of Honor Heroes 1 & 2 probably still being the two largest multiplayer games ever seen in a portable console, 32-players per match.
Probably the first virtual cardboard device ever seen, the Solid Eye (packed with Metal Gear Ac!d 2). Many years before the Google cardboar concept.
And of course the first ever GPS-driven golf game: Minna no Golf Jou Vol. 2.
SCEE's Gangs of London was a decent clone of Team Soho's The Getaway, it had lots of missions, decent shooting mechanics and too many extras. It just had a hard time being in the same console of the allmighty Liberty City Stories. It had a big marketing campaign here in Spain because a famous artist put his image and the main theme in the game (you can kill him in one mission, just because of this the game totally worth it).
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LMJ
Member
This E3 will always have a special place in my heart, it was one of the last big shows, and the only one I actually attended...(game art and design got me a press badge of sorts)
That being said, everyone I talked to said Sony was crazy and that they were done, despite all the games or the other SKU offered, the only thing people reme.bered was "599"
That being said, everyone I talked to said Sony was crazy and that they were done, despite all the games or the other SKU offered, the only thing people reme.bered was "599"
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AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
I remember as a PlayStation fan, watching this, while at the same time seeing what games were coming out for the 360. I stared and saw nothing, hoping something will make me say "well only PlayStation has this" 
. They pulled it together later on but...damn this was terrible.
. They pulled it together later on but...damn this was terrible.
Kagero
Member
Haha! Same. It was exciting. Carrying it out of the Toy R Us and looking around making sure someone wasn't going to jump me for it. I would not trade that day for ANYTHING!!!Bought a PS3 in February 2007 for the full $600.
Kagero
Member
HEY! You shut it! No regrets man. NO REGRETS!I was such a Sony fanboy back then.
I was basically a PS3/Cell defense force guy full time. I regret it so badly.
ShirAhava
Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
I had a PS2 at launch big sony guy at the time....saw this, had sega saturn flashbacks and laughed my ass off
Re-bought a PSX as well as another PS2 in 2006
bought a Wii and a gaming PC in 2007 and watched the 'HD-TWINS' duke it out from afar.....good bad times
Re-bought a PSX as well as another PS2 in 2006
bought a Wii and a gaming PC in 2007 and watched the 'HD-TWINS' duke it out from afar.....good bad times
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Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Did you download that awkward gran turismo demo lol
Kagero
Member
I barely remember such things but I'm pretty sure I did, and probably loved it. Looking back at it now. I really do like the PS3 era more than I do the PS4.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
PS4 has good shit. Enjoy when you get around to it.
Grinchy
Banned
I'm about halfway through. I just do not remember this E3 presentation being this boring. I remember all the memes that came from it, though.
edit - they definitely held off all the good stuff for the end. Still a pretty bad showing and then the insane price. I still remember using my entire tax return buying a 60GB PS3 and Resistance like 4 months after it launched.
edit - they definitely held off all the good stuff for the end. Still a pretty bad showing and then the insane price. I still remember using my entire tax return buying a 60GB PS3 and Resistance like 4 months after it launched.
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MiyazakiHatesKojima
Banned
PS3>Xbox 360
Imagine buying a console and having it die in you with a red ring of death.
The PS3 had the best exclusives and free multiplayer. Case closed.
Imagine buying a console and having it die in you with a red ring of death.
The PS3 had the best exclusives and free multiplayer. Case closed.
TLZ
Banned
All I remember is I convinced my friend to buy the PS3 and took it off him before he even played it, and his GTA IV copy and played it on my CRT in shitty colors and picture quality using composite cables that came with itI was such a Sony fanboy back then.
I was basically a PS3/Cell defense force guy full time. I regret it so badly.
Still enjoyed it though!
Then I went and bought a 360
It came with component cables which thankfully my CRT had the inputs for it and it looked lovely. I remember getting Crackdown, PES 6 and Assassin's Creed for it. Also loved the blades dashboard. A year+ later got the RROD, which was replaced with a brand new one (thanks MS), which I traded in a few months later for a brand new DS and 5 games, lol. Then a couple months later I got the 80gb PS3. A year later I bought the slim PS3 and jailbroke it with a teensy USB. Oh and another year later I bought the Slim 360.
What a roller coaster.
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MiyazakiHatesKojima
Banned
Barakov
Member
Haha. My guy. To be fair to the 360, PS3 had Heavenly Sword. That thing basically invented input lag.
Redneckerz
Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
D
dark10x
thanks (and to Rich and Alex) for this lengthy video. Its always entertaining hearing this and laughing along with you.
Because good god this was so hilariously bad. Imagine being at E32005 or seeing it and seeing all the tech demo BS announced... and then you come back a year later to this:
Arrogant Sony was such a different company back then. I mean, they delivered this amazingly powerful machine (PS3) but showed it off in the most terrible way you could imagine. And this was a year after the Xbox 360 had launched.
Now, there were some good things too. Back then the devkits were running 7800 GTX's or prototype RSX GPU's, so things could be fairly playable:
It was very entertaining to see, and in a way, i miss this kind of conference. Whilst its easy to point out that conferences since have changed massively in terms of professionalism, the cringey nature of these ones made them sound less.. robotic, i would say. They were essentially doing meme culture before social media took off, which indirectly, is the one thing they were being ahead of their time with in these conferences.
Because good god this was so hilariously bad. Imagine being at E32005 or seeing it and seeing all the tech demo BS announced... and then you come back a year later to this:
- Hilariously long coverage on GT HD
- EYETOY.
- Still trying to BS consumers with that Eight Days thing and all that
Arrogant Sony was such a different company back then. I mean, they delivered this amazingly powerful machine (PS3) but showed it off in the most terrible way you could imagine. And this was a year after the Xbox 360 had launched.
Now, there were some good things too. Back then the devkits were running 7800 GTX's or prototype RSX GPU's, so things could be fairly playable:
- Resistance: Fall of Man looked good. It still does, really. That gritty look is really reminiscent of the Killzone 2 tech demo, imo.
- Warhawk showed some fairly amazing tech (Cloud rendering with actual 3D depth). That's a thing you don't even see daily in today's titles.
It was very entertaining to see, and in a way, i miss this kind of conference. Whilst its easy to point out that conferences since have changed massively in terms of professionalism, the cringey nature of these ones made them sound less.. robotic, i would say. They were essentially doing meme culture before social media took off, which indirectly, is the one thing they were being ahead of their time with in these conferences.
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Dee Dah Dave
Member
the ps3 was terrible and only slightly redeemed itself in the end with a decent exclusive library. But boy was it bad.
captainraincoat
Banned
jaded me at the time didn't mind the conference as i was a massive playstation fan after the 1 and 2...but i should of known something was up when i went to my local EB/Gamestop for launch day and they had pretty much an entire entertainment setup with arcade games..dancers and i was literally 1 of 3 people that turned up for the event....for the first couple of years you literally could not give them away............despite the hardware reliability the 360 was a much desirable console
Hopefully now all 3 have had their piss off the consumer moments and actually start working collaboratively (looking mainly at sony) otherwise all it will take is something like Apple deciding to release a gamepad attachment for their iphone/ipad and some 3rd party support and we wont have home consoles anymore.
Hopefully now all 3 have had their piss off the consumer moments and actually start working collaboratively (looking mainly at sony) otherwise all it will take is something like Apple deciding to release a gamepad attachment for their iphone/ipad and some 3rd party support and we wont have home consoles anymore.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Kazza
Member
I expected to just play this in the background while I did other stuff, but it actually kept my attention and I ended up sitting down and watching all of it. I wasn't into gaming around this period, so only know about this conference 2nd hand through the memes. Interesting commentary.
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