As i said: "thunderous applause".
Thanks for sharing. In the meantime, everyone else is enjoying more than $50 worth of non-MP PS+ benefits every year. As I said, if that situation changes where Sony's no longer offering the kind of perks with it they have so far, you'll have a legitimate argument. For right now, that's not the case.
On a side note, I've been meaning to mention this but got sidetracked by the whole "Nintendo's not showing up for E3 again after 3 straight years of financial losses" thing: I do think it is a very good thing that Nintendo is doing this Smash Bros. tournament at E3. I may have nothing but disdain for the Smash Bros. fighting game community, but a tournament at E3 is an excellent way to show off your new game. Frankly, I'm somewhat shocked Capcom hasn't tried this yet (as far as I know). I just wish it wasn't the only big thing Nintendo was doing at E3 this year.
There's a certain spontaneity, energy, and wonder to an E3 press conference that's just...lost...in these Directs. I'm increasingly finding myself not giving a **** about them because it doesn't feel like there's ever an impetus to watch them. I still haven't watched the Smash Bros. Direct, and I love Smash Bros. It just doesn't feel...important enough to devote time to this way. Say what you will about the boring side of the pressers, but the possibility that things will not come off as scripted, that the audience will NOT love or automatically know what's coming next is what makes it interesting.
I dunno, the Directs just kind of remind me of when we were doing pre-recorded reviews on NFR: they were polished and they got their ideas through better than our ordinary conversations, but they were dry and boring without the back-and-forth of actual conversation. In fact, the Directs remind me of watching a sports game after the fact that you've DVR-ed: you can skip to the good bits and replay the parts you want, but nothing is going to happen that wasn't pre-scripted. The magic is gone.
At the end of the day, I can't blame Nintendo for going completely pre-recorded now. Their abysmal 2008 Wii Music E3 Conference was the very reason I became a multi-platform owner and have never looked back since. Their underwhelming 2012 Nintendoland E3 Conference certainly didn't do the Wii any favors. But at the same time, one of the most memorable events in E3 history happened at a Nintendo press conference with the first reveal of Twilight Princess. Having everything in a pre-scripted; perfectly edited; and incredibly Engrish-ed Direct will make for a very efficient and cost-effective showing, but I miss the magic that can only happen when you have presenters showing off their games (which may or may not work) before an audience that may or may not like it. And in their day, Nintendo could hit the highs of that format with the best of them.
I know I'm rambling, but with another birthday come and gone I'm increasingly finding myself reflective, wistful for the days when Nintendo could still excite me. It just feels like the magic is slowly being drained away, like it has with everything else. May Nintendo prove me wrong. I hope they do.