Random: Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX Performance Referenced PlayStation

It had been rumoured prior to his performance, but yes, Kendrick Lamar squeezed a subtle PlayStation reference into his Super Bowl half-time show.

While the Philadelphia Eagles proceeded to rout favourites Kansas City Chiefs, the rapper took to the world’s biggest stage atop four platforms inspired by PlayStation’s infamous controller symbols.

According to a Wired article, which delves deep into the development of the performance, Lamar opted for the PlayStation symbols to help “portray his life as a video game”. The show also started with a drone light show which spelled the famous phrase ‘Game Over’, perhaps in reference to his highly publicised feud with fellow star Drake.

To be honest, while we have no real opinion on the show itself, it somewhat annoyed us that the shapes were in the wrong order. Sony always lists the symbols in their clockwise formation from the controller, so the sequence is usually Triangle Circle Cross Square. But the half-time show had them Circle Cross Triangle Square, at least from the perspective of the broadcast camera.

Anyway, small details. Perhaps the main thing here is that the simple geometric shapes are iconic enough to be associated with PlayStation, and that’s testament to the incredible branding effort Sony’s made over the years.

[source wired.com, via twitter.com]