Geekisms!

So, E3 is happening right now and the internet is flooded with gaming news but what most people will be taking note of is any news related to the next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony and true to form, both companies let loose with a ton of news concerning their new consoles (and the old ones too).

Both Sony and Microsoft held their E3 press conferences on Monday and fans got to see what they were expecting of these companies and a bit more. Microsoft promised during the Xbox One announcement last month that their they will be showing off lots of games during E3 and they didn't disappoint. Their press conference started off with a trailer of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain which will be a launch title on the Xbox One. There were new game franchises like Ryse: Son of Rome, Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Crimson Dragon and Titanfall, along with follow ups from older franchises such as Forza Motorsport 5, Battlefield 4, Dead Rising 3, the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Halo. They even brought back Killer Instinct. Of course there was some demonstration of enhanced gaming functionality using the Smartglass App, the game-building Project Spark, game livestream broadcasts using Twitch Tv and Upload studio for editing and sharing recorded gameplay clips. They didn't forget the Xbox 360 though, with a new redesign based on the Xbox One and some new games announced for it, its clear that they still expect the older console to pull it weight on the market

All very epic stuff but Sony wasn't about to let Microsoft out do them here. Their own press conference held a few hours later and also featured lots of game trailers for triple A game titles and exclusive content from established developers: Batman: Arkham Origins, NBA 2K4, Elder Scrolls Online, Mad Max, Final Fantasy XV, GTA 5, Kingdom Hearts 3, Diablo 3, the Order (New IP), Drive Club, Infamous: Second Son, Dark Sorceror, The list goes on and on. The even had stuff from lots of indie developers, announcing that their platform (PSN) will allow self publishing of indie titles and encourage discovery of these titles from player

Beyond: Two Souls, Grand Turismo 6 for the PS3

Of course after all this the question becomes "Who will win this fight for the hearts of gamers: The Xbox One  or the Playstation 4. If you ask me, the PS4 is looking mighty attractive right now. I'm not a console gamer but If I had to choose what to buy based on what is known about these two next gen entertainment systems then the PS4 is a no brainer. Why? Simply because it seems like it was made with the consumer in mind: You want to share a game with your friend, simply borrow him/her the disk an don't worry about it not working because he/she isn't signed in with your account on his own console or hasn't been on your friends list for more that 100 days like the Xbox One.

You don't need to be online to play any of the games or connect to the web every 24 hours, like the Xbox One. The games are not even region locked so any of its game CDs will work with any PS4 console regardless of whether it was bought in the US or UK or Japan. It may not have all that fancy voice controls right now but all of that is software based functionality that can be added in later on. Microsoft claims that its consoles have the support of online servers that can help improve the gaming experience by carrying out the heavy lifting in some games so that there is less of a burden on the console itself but right now, I don't see any particularly convincing example to support that argument. It's also $100 cheaper than the Xbox One. 

I know both consoles have a lot more to offer in terms of online capabilites via PSN and Xbox Live but here in Nigeria, that doesn't really affect me and the way I see it, they're pretty evenly matched (free games, unique video content, online stores for movies and video, blah blah blah). Even with regards to the games that are launching, the only exclusives will be the ones released by game studios owned by Microsoft and Sony and there are not to many of those. Everything else is a timed exclusive (i.e. will be available on one console exclusively for a period of time before eventually making its way to other platforms) so no real wins there.

But to be honest, even if I had the money to buy these consoles, I wouldn't get either of them yet. I'd rather get a PS3 or Xbox 360 now and enjoy all the 7 years plus of wonderful games that I've missed on these consoles. There are definitely going to be price drops for these guys when the next gen launches, plus from all indications, it doesn't seem like these consoles will be abandoned by Microsoft and Sony anytime soon.

By the way, did you notice how similar the designs of both consoles are? #CorporateEspionage

Image Source: The Independent