E3 Expo brings the kingpins of the video gaming industry along with thousands of gaming fanatics and an assortment of media together each year to downtown Los Angeles revealing what’s about to reshape the gaming industry globally. The show also always starts off with a series of high-end press presentations from the gaming industries heavyweights announcing key highlights from what to expect next.
What was apparent on Monday, June 10, at the start of the conferences, was the battle between Microsoft and Sony. From all appearances, social media feedback, fan tweets, and gaming forums, it was clear that Sony had won. At least so far.
First, Microsoft’s Xbox One has a controversial policy about connectivity and sharing used games. Xbox requires gamers to connect online at least once every 24 hours in order to “authenticate the games.” Microsoft is notorious for keeping track of what’s up with their games and are not keen on people sharing them (or even owning them). The say they don’t mind used games, but the decision to allow them or deny them is up the gaming publishers. Microsoft Game Studios President Phil Spencer went on the defensive after Sony’s jab about this and said he’s waiting for the consumers to voice on this once the new platform launches in November.
What they seem to be missing is that gamers already have voiced their opinions and are fans of used games, sharing, and getting rid of 24-hour connectivity policies.
In Sony’s big conference kick-off presentation, they went on the attack and outlined Microsoft Xbox One’s weaknesses and created quite possibly a huge new fanbase. First, their PS4 would not have restrictions on used games, according to SCEA President Jack Tretton, and would not have connectivity Internet restrictions. PS4 policies on used games include trade-ins at retail stores, ability to sell it to another person, lend it to friends, or just keep it forever.
In addition, their price would be $399 which is $100 less than what Microsoft had announced earlier in the day. Gaming forums went off, with many people saying they would be switching from Xbox One to PS4 and pre-orders began to rally on Amazon.
In addition, Sony posted a video that went viral in minutes racking up to 2 million views in hours called “Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video” attacking Microsoft’s policies on game sharing and used videos as a whole.
In the battles of the exclusives, Xbox and Sony again were head-to-head with each announcing updates and new features. For Xbox, the exclusives to watch include Ryse: Son of Rome that can be played via connectivity or now the traditional controller, Quantum Break which is hyped as blurring the line between video gaming and TV, Forza Motorsport 5 where driv-atars drive in very realistic conditions, Deadrising 3 which integrates smart glass, Killer Instinct, Halo 5, and the multi-player focused Titan Fall.
Sony (PS4) announced their exclusives including Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son, Knack, Drive Club which includes unique social racing teams, and Deep Down.
Stay tuned for next-gen gaming details and news from E3 Expo as Label Networks continues to check-out the show.
