I was on vacation with no internet access for a week and am watching these e3 conferences and their fallout for the first time today, so forgive me with chiming in a bit late.
Yes you are late, and yes we will forgive you.
In terms of the e3 presentations and what was shown:
What has Sony added to the new console aside beefing up the specs? Sony's console strategy is seriously starting to lag at this point and time. For 3 generations now they keep doing the same things console after console.. just beef up the specs and provide a current staus quo and boom, they’re done. Whilst Microsoft has been the trailblazer, taking risks and bringing new things to the console market. This forces Sony to have to patch things on the go in order to compete and always remain a step behind(or several steps).
Soooo, Remote play, digital content sharing being available on PS3 since it launched, gameplay streaming via share button on controller, being the first to use bluray as standard all don't count as innovative? I'd say they do since they were doing that before MS.
When Microsoft introduced standardized multiplayer gaming on consoles and started charging for Xbox Live Gold, people criticized it, claiming it will fail. But now Sony is going by the same route and charging money for PSN+ in order for multiplayer. How are gamers and media not bitching about this btw?
No one was complaining about XBL. In fact it is the reason the 360 did so well out of the gate. After it made its debut on XBOX it was just a hit. No denying it was ahead of Sony's PSN but, Sony did offer Home, granted its not that great IMHO but it was a risk for sure. Also PS+ has always cost money. They have just decided to make online play a part of that service. Yeah for those who never took advantage of PS+ might be miffed but those of us who have been using it since day one know its totally worth it and amuch better deal than XBL. Besides it was inevitable, PSN as whole was free for damn near 7 years and will remain so for PS3 users. Its just for those of us early PS4 adopters who will need it.
Then again when Microsoft Introduced Xbox live arcade and XNA for indie developers, people said it will fail... but now Sony is grabbing Indie developers any way they can. Consistently Sony incompetence and lack of foresight means they have to always play catch up and are behind.
XNA is dead plain and simple. Say what you want but Sony has changed the game and is taking yet another risk by betting on indies. They are bucking the industry trend by doing what? Oh only allowing indie devs to keep more of their money by not requiring them to aquire a publisher. SO as time has gone on MS says we are staying the same while Sony is saying okay how do we get more indie devs.
We are again seeing something new on home consoles from Microsoft...cloud computing, digital gaming library, digital game sharing, HDMI passthrough and possibly many more features to come...which everyone on the internetz is claiming will fail. All while the greatest strengths for the competition are all based on the current gaming standards. Hmm...
The HDMI pass though is a nifty feature I will agree but it is not worth the price of entry. Also, Sony INTRODUCED cloud services for consoles. They are planning on releasing popular PS3 titles on Gaikai and allowing developers to use cloud computing on the PS4. Digital gaming libraries have been available on both systems already (doesn't matter how the interface looks or how they are accessed other than per personal taste) and those of us who used a PS3 know that it has allowed content sharing since the console launched back in 2006. Granted it used to be up to 5 different PS3 systems and has since dropped to 2 but stioll it has been there.
The ONLY thing NEW that MS is doing that Sony is not is preventing you from owning your purchased discs. They aren't blocking used games or rentals. They aren't requiring you to check in every 24 hours or hourly away from home.
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.
Yes that is what they say. But they also say : "a fool and his money are soon parted." and you sir are a fool.