War On!
The battle of the console giants has begun! Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has recently made a statement addressing Sony’s line up for the Playstation 4 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, a few weeks ago.Jim Ryan the head of SCEE addressed the seemingly thin games roster for the new PS4 shown at E3. He said that the president of Sony Worldwide Studios alone has 30 titles in development 12 of which are new IP’s or intellectual properties and that 20 of those titles will be shipping within the first year of the PS4. Jim went on to say there is a lot going on at Sony but they had to keep some stuff back. Gamescom a large European gaming conference is in late August and Jim said that they are going to need something to show there as well.
There will be a lot of games available for both the XBOX One and the PS4 consoles at launch,including games that were shown at E3 like Call of Duty with Dogs, Battlefield 4, Tom Clancy’s the Division and the next gen. game everyone seems to be talking about Watch Dogs. Sony did display some promising triple A exclusives for the PS4 including the family friendly Knack, the revamped fps Killzone Shadowfall, and the visually stunning driving game Drive Club, all of which are available day one of the PS4 launch. Even the PS Vita got some love with first party titles like Killzone Mercenary possibly the fps people have been dying for on the handheld, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate set after the events of Batman: Arkahm Origins and numerous 3rd party titles like Rayman Legends. Even a special Walking Dead bundle was announced for the Vita called 400 Days.
Still comparatively to Microsoft’s showing at E3 there seemed to be more exclusives for the XBOX One. A new Halo was announced although no in-game footage was shown with a vague 2014 release window. Dead Rising 3 was shown as another XBOX One exclusive that will be available at the console launch and it looked considerably better than Dead Rising 2. The presentation was a lot less cartoony but more rugged and gritty however the developers promise there will still be lots of the customization and zany things to do that we are accustomed to in the Dead Rising series. The final exclusive shown at the very end of Microsoft’s E3 conference was the multiplayer game Titanfall a very good looking fps with giant mechs that fall from the sky that you can use to wreak havoc on your enemies. In the demo I even saw a giant mech pick up a player running through the map and threw him across the screen which was pretty awesome. Titanfall is getting some criticism as an XBOX One “exclusive” however due to the fact that the game will also be releasing on PC.
What Jim Ryan the head of SCEE said about Gamescom is interesting. If Sony still has some games up its sleeve, does Microsoft have any? Due to the severe backlash and general ill will that Microsoft cultivated after the pitiful TV concentrated unveiling of the XBOX One back in May, there was a lot of pressure on Microsoft to show games for the new XBOX One at E3. They delivered in spades. If I remember correctly even the transitions between games had trailers for other games. Microsoft showed so many games, is it possible that they panicked and put all their cards on the table? It will be interesting to wait and see what happens next and to see if Microsoft will have any new games to show off before the console launches in November. Gamescom is in Germany this year and starts on August 21. The console wars are far from over. With the impending launch of two new consoles we have seen Microsoft make some disastrous decisions going forward into the next gen and we have seen Sony infamous for making blunders like trying to sell a new console for $600 dollars seemingly making all the right decisions, learning from their previous mistakes and actually listening to the people who make and play video games alike.
Microsoft dominated the last console generation for a long time, cheaper console at launch, supposedly stronger online experience, Call of Duty although available on both consoles was very popular on Xbox 360. Currently the PS3 has surpassed the XBOX 360 as the most sold console around the world this generation. Its really hard to forget that Microsoft tried to enforce martial law with the XBOX One, dictating to us when, where and how, we play video games in our own homes. Microsoft took it back but its the fact they tried it at all that just makes Microsoft appear pretty shady right now. Moving into the next generation of console gaming it looks like the tides could be changing. The prospect of new consoles have always been exciting for gamers and the way this console war has begun to unfold this war promises to be extra special. Both the PS4 and the XBOX One launch this fall, probably November-ish.
The first shots were fired at E3 when Sony confirmed that they weren’t implementing any of the insanely restrictive policies Microsoft was with their new console. Lines have been drawn, and the gauntlet has been thrown. When competitors as gigantic as Sony and Microsoft battle the real winners are the consumers. I hope somebody gets their teeth knocked out!
-Z3R0TH3RT33N