No matter what your stance is on the Microsoft unveiling of the Xbox One on May 21st it should be incredibly clear that their timing and fumble has just played into the competition’s hands. Both Nintendo and Sony have seen an uptick in the image of their respective consoles after Microsoft revealed the Xbox One and did a great job in alienating a lot of their core audience, which is gamers. Gamers have been up in arms about the reveal of the Xbox One and how little of the event was focused on games, with most of the attention being on the Xbox One being a media hub.
We’ve all heard about the Wii U’s meteoric rise in Amazon rankings (which does not mean sales increased 900%, just that they moved up Amazon’s algorithm-based system due to more sales) and how fans have been demanding that Sony not make some of the same mistakes as Microsoft did. For Nintendo there really isn’t much that they can do to capitalize on this mistake from Microsoft, as the Wii U is already out and slogging its way through the sludgy market. But it has kept true to the games and treats the media functions as an afterthought, which keeps gamers happy and has pushed a few into the loving arms of Nintendo once again.
Sony, on the other hand, is in a rather unique position. The PlayStation 4 reveal was one of the most vague console reveals in recent memory, where they just talked about the name that we already knew and revealed the hardware specs as well as a few upcoming games that will run on the system. A lot of the burning issues were simply not addressed in lieu of showing off some next generation games. Some of this intentional vagueness can only help them, as if they change their minds on something, it was never formally announced anyway and Sony can look like they have their finger on the pulse and truly care about the consumer.
We saw this with Kaz Hirai’s recent interview where he talks about the PlayStation 4 being all about the gamers. While I won’t go as far as to say that it is disingenuous of him to do, the timing and the message are blows to the already downed Microsoft who have to be scrambling internally to help fix the image of the Xbox One. Sony can go through and fine tune some of the DRM and backwards compatibility plans that they have seeing as though there is no solid information on them anywhere, to ensure that they are meeting their customers demands with the PlayStation 4.
In a way, this is what Microsoft gets for being the last company to reveal their next generation console. They thought that they would tackle the reveal in a different way and ended up paying for it. Them committing to a few really bad ideas leaves them in a lurch while Nintendo and Sony can look like they truly care about gamers and that Microsoft is only out for money. Interest in the Wii U and PlayStation 4 have only gone up since then, it will take a lot for Microsoft to reverse this trend.
Thanks for supporting the Asian giants. Talking bad about the PlayStation® 4 is very restricted. We always invite you for a pro-Sony conversation, nothing comes close to the supreme console.
Any complains flying directly to the PS4 is also a direct offense to the Asian powerhouse. In this case, Sony is indeed the only one which can complain and be heard at any given time. Anything below our superior brains is useless.
Greatness Awaits…. powered by the Supreme Asians.
4>1
SONY
make.believe
PS4 FTW
OK Xbox fanboy. Not bad for a little kid.
i dont agree that sony is goign to get away scott free but that ball is in their court. i personally don tcare which system i game on as lon gas i cna play used games and dont have to pay to play.
Already got my Wii U and I’m enjoying the games it already has.[rumors of a weak launch line-up are bull, IMO. It’s not spectacular but its certainly better than I heard before I got it.]
I may be getting a PS4, but probably not for at least a year after it is announced.
My PS3, after all, is still getting some love with a few great games, and by the time they stop supporting it, the PS4 should have enough of its own PS4-only titles that I won’t feel like I’ll need to rely on Gaikai just to have games to play on it while I wait for a wider library of stuff to become available.
Ex-Faux Done can go die in a fire, especially for its stance on indie devs and its insistence that backwards compatibility is backwards thinking.
They’re so spiteful that they can’t even respect their own back-catalog of games, even the ones that they themselves developed!
So yeah, fuck Micro once again.
If they don’t shut down Live for the 360, I might get that on the Done’s launch day, just to show them, with my wallet, what kind of system I expect out of them.
See, I’ve really wanted a Wii U, but honestly, the games that are out on it now don’t do much for me. I really think it is a “to each their own” situation. If you had to ask me if I thought that the Wii U’s lineup was weak, I’d easily say yes.
I love the features; the remote play, the Miiverse, how it handles Wii games, etc. With that being said, though, a cool zombie game and a few quirky titles aren’t going to sell me on another Nintendo system until I see some games that do it for me.
In the end I could give two shits about RAW POWERZZZZ and GRAFFIX or any of that, just cool, fun games. I mean, I’ve spent the entirety of this weekend playing FTL.
You should check out Lego City and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, then.
Warrior’s Orochi 3 Hyper also has a huge amount of replayability thanks to the huge cast of characters and an equally wonderful storyline.
And lets not forget that the E-Shop has a pretty nice selection of both past titles and indie gems to look into.[I highly, HIGHLY, recommend Trine 2 Director’s Cut. It’s extremely fun to play and quite challenging if you’re looking to 100% the game.]
Yeah, I mean, those games are games that I’d probably pick up at some point, but not enough to sell me on a system. I tend to pick up consoles that I’m eh on a year or two after release, after the price has dropped and there is a decent back catalog available for cheaper.
There just hasn’t been a game that has jumped out at me and said, “Holy shit, I need a Wii U.”
That’s fair enough, and I can see your point.
My point was just that jumping into a game that initially wouldn’t interest you, can sometimes hold surprising results.
Like my example above, I’d never tried a Lego game before this point, and now I’m dead-on hooked.
Actually…..that’s how it was with Borderlands, as well as InFamous……
There’s a lot to be said about taking a leap of faith. Sometimes its a miss, but there’s quite a few unexpected hits out there if you’re brave enough to take a dip into the unknown.XD
Well, it’s tough when it involves spending money. I don’t mind spending money on cheap games on Steam, etc., because they are cheap. If I don’t like it then oh well, I’m out $4 or whatever. Gambling with $40 – $60 just seems like a bad idea sometimes.
Well, I know this is going to sound a bit outlandish, but it’s times like that, that listening to fan reviews is a good thing.
If you listen to the best of the reviews and those reviews include some balanced opinions on where the game can improve, it should help you find some hidden gems that you would otherwise not consider.