Why Didn't Sony Win E3 Hands down?

[Zanten]

I think Microsoft did great, even though I got more engaged by Sony's, and their arguably highest point- backwards compatibility- was due to the same quality that led to Sony's high notes; keeping an ear to the ground, figuring out what would make a big splash, and working on making it happen. After all, what we've heard about the lead-up to the Xbox One's BC suggests pretty clearly that they decided to tackle the challenge AFTER the Xbox One had already been released, (depending on how literal you take 'a year ago,' this might be part of a single counter-strategy that include the unbundling of Kinect and the removal of the Gold paywall on most of the Xbox platform's apps, albeit one that took longer to bear fruit.) They also gathered some of their biggest brands, and also threw in plenty of indies and smaller titles, which was good given the lack of diverse indie and small titles was an early weakness of theirs, due to their indie program's delayed start. In short, they addressed some of their weaknesses, threw in the fan favorites, and found something gamers had been vocally clamoring for, (something Sony wouldn't likely be able to match,) making it a great conference.

Sony similarly picked out a few things that its fans had been generally bemoaning for years, and either helped make it happen, (The Last Guardian,) or positioned themselves to be the bearer of good news, (Shenmue 3's initial Kickstarter, and of course the Final Fantasy Remake announcement, though in both cases I'm unsure how much of a hand they had in the INITIAL planning of it, i.e. if they brought up the idea, or if Yu and Sega had already agreed to try the Kickstarter to gauge interest,) because they knew that it would make serious waves. Not with everyone, of course, (though inevitably those with a significant connection/interest to Final Fantasy 7, Shenmue, TLG or all of the above would be swayed PRETTY hard by it, but with enough to throw up plenty of 'Sony Wins' statements from interested parties. Throw in some solid stuff from their own titles- Horizon and Uncharted 4 being the obvious frontrunners- and smaller things from other parties, like No Man's Sky, etc, and it similarly was a solid conference.

I don't think who won is clear cut either way, though. To some, Shenmue, TLG and Final Fantasy aren't a big deal, but OMG Rareware game bundle and new Rare pirate game, so Microsoft wins. To others, Halo and Gears of War similarly just draw no interest, (*holds up hand*) but HOLY CRAP HUNTING DINO ROBOTS and smartalec Nathan Drake tomfoolery, so the crown goes to Sony. Backwards compatibility has the potential to be a big deal, but again, it might not be a big deal to everyone. While it makes the Xbox One more appealing to me, certainly, if I still had to pick between a PS4 and Xbox One, I'd go where all the Japanese titles are going to be. xP

(On that note, I'd actually give my right arm for a proper, non-glitchy original Playstation and PS2 emulator, because there are a metric ton of old games I miss, or outright missed, from that era I'd like to get my hands on. Whenever I try PC emulation, performance is kinda crap, and it's glitchy to boot. =P )