We all know on the surface the console makers try to seem friendly to the competition. They may send out a congratulatory tweet every now and then but deep down they are competing for the same dollars. Sometimes they take subtle measures to gain an advantage but other times the attack is direct, public and stinging. What are the most brazen attacks that come to mind for you?

A few examples:

"Sega Does What NintenDON'T"

Microsoft stealing the show by having Square Enix on stage to present a bunch of 360 games then ending with the FFXIII no longe PS3 exclusive reveal mic drop.

Nintendo gaining Monster Hunter exclusivity for the 3DS and launching Monster Hunter the same day as the Japanese PS Vita Launch.

Sony's video demonstrating how to lend friends physical PS4 games after the Xbox One reveal debacle.

Any more examples?

Peter Moore revealing gta 4 for Xbox 360, which was originally supposed to be PS3 exclusive.

not really an attack, but in the same vain as FFXIII reveal.

sony didnt capitalize on the ps2 dominating everything back then, they helped a lot of devs make games and gew some of them without asking exclusive rights or for the IP name.

it was a mistake from them. bet you when the ps3 didn't dominate they were like "fuck I wish we had a tighter hand on these developers when they were small"

most of these publishers nowdays are way too huge to control or collaborate with 

This FFVII/PS1 print ad from Sony and Square is pretty nasty. Taking aim at Nintendo, the N64 and it's use of cartridges. This is not the full ad, but it is the probably the cleanest image of it I could find.

Pictured - "Somebody please get the guys who make cartridge games a cigarette and a blindfold"

Not pictured, at the bottom of the ad - "Possibly the greatest game ever made is available only on Playstation. Good thing. If it were available on cartridge, it's retail for around $1,200."

Link to a blurry af and ginormous full image: http://i.imgur.com/AzkZb44.jpg

wow that is fucking savage 

Nah but if they did then that action would comeback to bite them in the ass like it does for Nintendo today ... 

If people thought Microsoft was draconian at the beginning of this generation then they didn't know much about Nintendo's past history LOL. Nintendo took advantage of their monopoly during much of the third generation where 3rd parties HAD to sign an agreement for timed exclusivity on the NES and they were strictly limited to releasing 5 games a year too. (it made some sense at the time since the videogame market crashed in NA but the biggest 3rd parties would go on to self regulate their own quality control measures just fine later on) That wasn't all but Nintendo was found guilty by the European Commission for price fixing and the founder of Namco once criticized Nintendo's monopolistic behaviour too ... (I bet the youngins at Namco during that time who are probably at the top ladder of Bandai Namco by now still resent Nintendo, haha) 

I don't remember Sony ever preying on 3rd parties like vultures this much and we should be glad cause it was a lesson Sony needed to learn with the PS3 instead of having 3rd parties be dragged down with them ... 

Microsoft's 'E304 The Novice 4000k' featuring Donald Trump. This was a comedy skit based on Trump's 'The Apprentice' show and was made for E3 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUaeFFkzKqs

I was going to post this if someone else did not.  One of the most important gaming ads ever.  I still remember coming across this for the first time in the library at school.  I was furious ... but I still ended up getting a Playstation because of Final Fantasy 7.

Funny to look back and remember that I once believed Nintendo would crush Playstation and kick Sony out of the gaming industry with little effort.  I think Nintendo believed the same thing, actually.

Damn that was fooking savage.

Wow all of these are great.

I wouldn't call it "brazen", but since the obvious examples were already mentioned, I'm going to say that time Xbox rented a boat for the lulz and went over to crash the PS3's launch in France:

https://www.engadget.com/2007/03/22/xbox-360-loves-france-and-spoils-ps3-launch/