After watching both conferences, I will try to give my personal opinion on the winners and losers of those presentations. First off, a disclaimer which you may skip over, but I feel that it's necessary.
DISCLAIMER:
- I own a PS4
- I have a very limited taste on games and genres
- I will try to be as objective as possible. I am not trying to wage a war, or to insult someone's opinions. It is not my place to force you to agree or to entice you to disagree with my points. I do encourage you to do so in the topic, but please be polite and explain your stance. I sometimes watch a cooking show in which the audience grades the contestants. One thing I hate the most is when the audience member scores a good meal poorly because "it has mushrooms in it, and I don't like mushrooms". That's why I will not say that something is bad or a failure just because I personally don't like the specific game or game genre.
- It would be horrible if all of us thought the same and had the same tastes. But please be respectful of other people's preferences, it is a decent and polite thing to do.
- I probably won't cover everything, I'll probably skip over things I don't find important, or I might have dozed off and missed something.
END DISCLAIMER (too long anyway)
WINNER: White PS4 - I personally would never buy it, every piece of electronic equipment I own is black and it would just stick out in my cabinet. I did own a white X360, but was very happy when Slim 360 came in black. It just fits my preference better. But I know many people like to have a white console, and the console coming bundled with the most anticipated game of the year is surely a win for Sony. (I do hope there will be black Destiny bundles as well, for those sharing my preference). An extra point for the win because:
LOSER: White XOne - Everybody knows it exists for almost a year, it was given away free to MS employees, and I often read wishes of some gamers to have that option when purchasing their console. I just feel that MS had a chance to create some extra buzz and move some white consoles. (Of course, that though wouldn't even had occured to me if Sony didn't reveal their white console)
LOSER: Kinect - It got axed from the bundle, and other than Dance Central and a few honorable mentions, it seems it's evaporating from the Microsoft sales pitch. I understand the 90-minute focus on games, it is very commendable and heroic, and a true benefit to all gamers, but I feel that XOne is still suffering from the Don Mattrick blowback, meaning that Phil Spencer was perhaps scared to venture outside games and show some truly amazing features Kinect is capable of, in order to entice gamers to purchase the more expensive SKU.
Of course, Sony couldn't resist to give Kinect a wedgie with "optional camera", but it showed it and is trying to push their peripheral.
WINNER: Halo fans - There were tons of games shown, but 4 Halos rolled into one package, along with every single multiplayer map is the deal of the century for a Halo/FPS fan. I am sure that Microsoft could charge $120 and would still sell millions, and at $60 it's such a deal that it should be XBL bannable offense not to have it. I am not a Halo fan (or an FPS fan at all), but if I had an XOne, I would purchase it. Once the generation is over, whenever, 2018-2022, I am sure that Halo Master Chief Collection will be at the top of the XOne bestselling list.
LOSER: PS Vita - I have a Vita and love my Vita, but Sony seems to be treating it as a bastard child with a hare-lip and a hunch. Perhaps they should rename it to PS Quasimodo? It has been relegated to a support character in PS Now ("play your favorite PS3 titles on the go"), last year's Remote Play capabilities are forgotten, games marketed for it are cross-buy games ("You bought this exciting indie game for PS4 - here's a Vita copy, just in case you ever decide to buy it! You really don't have to buy it, but if you want you can, maybe, no rush...."). Even Japanese Vita TV is being rebranded into Playstation TV (As if they feel that the very name Vita is a huge burden that will kill PSTV sales from the start)
WINNER: Far Cry 4 buyer's friends - An interesting concept by Sony and Ubisoft. Entice players to buy a PS version of the game by promising a much larger multiplayer/co-op community. With the game's focus being on a co-op adventure, this is a great way to ensnare more buyers and to draw them away from XOne (But those people will be playing Halo anyway, so no big loss). A poential marketing goldmine, if it works well, basically letting the undecided buyers play a full-fledged demo before they buy the game. Or it can backfire by people ganging up on purchases and it ends up selling only half or quarter of projected sales due to people exploiting the loophole. (There surely is a caveat, a limit of sorts, that Sony conveniently omitted from the presentation). If you think about it, this smells of that "family-share" deal Microsoft was pitching last year.
LOSER: Time exclusive content - Too much. It was a novel idea 5-6 years ago. Microsoft convinced me to get an X360 by offering GTA IV time-exclusive DLCs (sad part, I ended up never playing them, I was disappointed in the base game). But now it has gotten out of hand. Destiny beta, CoD maps, character skins, extra bullets, it just seems that every single game needs to have something exclusive. Most of those "true" exclusives come out on the other platform soon. I know that my following example is actually last year's news, but it will continue to appear and it seems there is no stopping it --- MGS V Ground Zeroes --- it first advertised exclusive PS missions, then exclusive XBox missions, and then 2 months later gave them to all. A few times, OK, but every single game....
LOSERS: PSN and XBL - EA announced BF: Hardline beta, PSN crashed instantly. It's like Sony had no idea that the announcement will happen. Doesn't strike confidence for September 9, when millions of people will try to play Destiny on PS4. XBL did a valiant 180, dropping paywalls and announcing the removal of some multiplayer paywalls (Destiny in particular). They couldn't have given it two minutes and a few graphs. Surely something that would result in someone choosing XOne over PS4.
WINNERS: Gamers - When everything is tallied up, we have seen over 40 games presented in full force, with at least 100 more that were given a brief glance through free2play and indie presentations. Everybody, even the pickiest and most pampered gamers, are sure to find something they like. Something they will play. There were console exclusives and multiplatforms in abundance, and while you may not all like the same thing (nor should you) there is saomething for you. Personally, I prefer Sony's presentation of games, but of course that's why I have a PS4.
Games I like: The Order 1886, Far Cry 4, Dead Island 2, Let it Die, Uncharted 4, Witcher 3, The Division and my favorite: Rise of the Tomb Raider.
My final assessment: Depending on your taste in games, and your liking of certain console's exclusive offering, either side can be considered as a winner in general. Other than those things written above, I have expected prior to E3 that Microsoft will bring something irresistible. Something that will stop the world from spinning and cause hordes of consumers to pick up XOne. I don't know what that could have been: a true exclusive mega-hit (Mass Effect, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, FIFA, CoD - mostly unrealistic anyway) or a feature so superb and superior you would have to be insane to pick PS4 over XOne.
But it seems that MS decided to make itself appealing to its existing fans. All the fan favorite franchises are there, but somehow I believe that the other offering is not enough to tip the scales in its favors. It just seems that the remainder of the year will continue to be similar to the first half of the year (hardware-wise).
