Sony's Triumphant Night

I fail to understand why Sony "won" E3. Where are their exclusives they claimed to be announcing? What progressive features does it have that developers will be able to experiment with? How often is your internet out for more than 24 hours? Did I miss something or did Call of Duty not become the #1 selling franchise because of it's ONLINE MULTIPLAYER? Aren't most single player games becoming Co-op because that's what people requested? Who is so cheap that they refuse to pay an extra $100 dollars (not even two shifts at a minimum wage job) for something that is going to last 8+ years? And if you can't afford that extra $100, you should be getting your priorities straight, and not be dropping hundreds of dollars on a gaming console. How is supporting the limitation of used games a negative feature (even though Microsoft won't be enforcing this as mandatory and Sony is doing the same thing)? Doesn't buying new games help the developers and not the retailers? Doesn't supporting the developers allow for more innovation because they have more money to work with? Is mobile gaming (iOS, Android, etc.) not taking over the market because console gaming is becoming stale due to the fact third party publishers are too afraid to take risks and publish new IPs? Isn't sharing your games over a cloud better than having to give your friend a hard copy? Who doesn't want a better ergonomically designed controller where the movement control stick is in the proper location and the d-pad is in the secondary location because it's functions are always secondary? Who would want to use voice commands to operate their console, or character, or army, or anything? Microsoft is clearly planning for the future and Sony is stuck in the present day.

"XBOX1! Newest punch line - The all-in-ONE crap you don't give a damn-about.

I love PS since when i was a kid.......thanks TOM for making the nextgen choice even more easier :)

Trading games is better than having to dust them or putting them in a landfill, first off. And I just cannot tolerate being dictated to by Microsoft how and when I can play my games, however I bought them. If I'm just renting a game from Microsoft, $60 is a bit steep for a rental. On the practical side--and I do love my 360--our internet isn't always terrific. Last month, ATT knocked us out for three days while they fixed 911 first due to a software issue. The Xbox One would have locked me out until ATT got its act together, leaving me with a $500 brick. And even my mom doesn't need me to check in every day, so why does Microsoft?

One hopes that the suits in Redmond will pay attention to the world outside their headquarters with the great connectivity and realize that their current vision is impractical and unpalatable for the rest of us. I guess, as Mr. Mattrick suggested to people with independence, I will take a pass and stick with my 360. Or go read a book.

Hmm I guess Gamespot didn't want to get a nasty letter from Sony saying they reviewed their console wrong like when Lair came out. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/07/sony-sends-out-lair-reviewers-guide-must-not-laugh/

At this stage the question is just how long it will take Microsoft to take the road to u-turns ville and follow Sony... I'm an avid Xbox fan and haven't ever really warmed to the PlayStation but even I can see just how damaging this will be to Microsoft if they don't back down... I myself will be delaying buying the new console until next Christmas at the earliest right now.

I think ultimately they will either back down before release if they have any sense whatsoever but, if they do stick to their guns, poor sales will eventually force them to change... this isn't a question of if, its a question of when... for the sake of Xbox fans all over I really hope that they do it sooner rather than later.

The million dollar question is, which console will die first; the Xbox One or the Wii U?

While I will probably not be getting the XB1, just to play the devil's advocate, it's not entirely unreasonable to expect your fanbase to have internet access and be able to connect at least once every 24hrs. I mean, if you think about it, if you can afford the XB1, chances are you either have or can afford internet (and lets be honest; high-speed, always-on internet is near ubiquitous) and if for some reason your internet gets turned off, you probably have bigger issues than playing your Xbox (like the apocalypse or the Cylons are attacking) - almost everyone I know who is a gamer will eat ramen and cut out nearly every expense before they give up their internet connection. SO; while MS's policies are indeed draconian and greed-inspired, they're not really asking for anything you're not already likely able to give (as far as the internet connectivity thing goes). I'm not crazy about their used games policy. I'm happy PS4 is gonna be cool about that. Just my 2 cents. Nice article, Tom.

Yeah... getting one of these. MS decided to screw them selves over, don't really care for any of the exclusives they showcased, the drm 24-hour check in is baaaad m'kay, resale restrictions? Sony might not be as "edgy" as MS, but in this case they know how to please the consumers, and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Cheaper, better hardware, no restrictions, I can't complain.

@paladin1459 dude slow down that's way too long

Edit: just saw the "Whatever" at the end so never mind

Right on Tom. Couldnt have said it better. Not sure what MS has to gain here, except to alienate and otherwise piss off its consumer base. PS4...bring it on!

Well said and I respect your opinion and am with you but maybe its you who have to listen, MS have said their piece LOUD AND CLEAR and it looks like they sticking to it, the good news here is that you have the last word which will be silent but very felt at retail

We all know how loud we are about COD online yet at retail we say something else

ok, that's great for sony and everything, but am i seriously the only one here who thinks that they are receiving a stupid amount of praise for doing nothing?

microsoft is stumbling in a controversial direction, but damn...at least they're trying to do SOMETHING. sony states, "we're not doing that thing that MS is doing," and everyone goes crazy like it's some groundbreaking stance that's supposed to be adequately innovative for next gen. suddenly, everyone thinks sony is some benevolent company that actually gives a sh*t about consumer rights, ignores their horrible PR and consistency in the last several months, and forgets about the lack of exclusives or newly required PS+ fee for online gaming. what happened to standards?

I am a little confused regarding the 24hr check in, if I go away on holiday and unplug my xboxone (Not that I will be getting one) and it can't check in what does that mean to me when I return and plug it in again? Does this have no effect as it just will check in when I plug it in and can then play again?

Consumer rights. Does that mean anything to you MS? We want to control what we spend our hard earned $ on. We want to sell or lend our own games as we please. That is the tipping point, to me at least.

@BatamanMaster There's not telling some people.

@paladin1459 I read it, you took the time to write something that wasn't complete BS and was on the money as far I'm concerned. Totally agree.

Who gives a flying fruitcake about SLAs?! I believe Tom's arguing on principle, and with Sony's announcments we as gamers have a clear choice when it comes to consoles in relation to used games and console mandated DRM. I will not buy an Xbone because of this, even though I love my 360. MS didn't "clear up their stance", Sony cleared it up FOR THEM. And a fine job they did too, I say. I can forego Forza and Halo, the only exclusives I cared about. In fact, I might pony up for a cheap PS3 just for The Last of Us and GT6!

"Consumers have been seeing their rights slowly siphoned away as companies have realized that our weakness for entertainment has caused us to accept even unsavory policies."

This is so on the money it's not even funny. Many people don't care because they view videogames as just entertainment. It shouldn't matter. Kudos to GS for saying this.

Interesting. My comment regarding the Trojan Horse nature of the Xbox One got deleted. Again it is a means of monitoring your gameplay style and tendencies so that the government can profile you as a terrorist or a sociopath based on what you do in a game and based on what type of games you play. The "always on" Kinect will also monitor your household without you knowing. You may think it's off, but it is always on.

@paladin1459 The kinect can look "off" to consumers. It will be always on nonetheless.

@paladin1459 Too Long, Didn't Read.

@paladin1459 Jeez, how long did take typing THAT? Are you trying to break our eyes?

@paladin1459 @lowerclassbrat7 This was basically my point somewhere way down the comment roll. Microsoft is in NO way forcing the DRM on their console. Publishers REQUESTED that it be there at a hardware level just in case they needed it, as on the 360 it was mostly software level and circumvented with mods (exclusively for piracy). Microsoft beefed up and made a more foolproof version of what already existed, then listened to requests like being able to restrict trades and lend-outs.

Sony is no different though, having already passively confirmed that they have a similar system in place. The difference? It's off by default on PS4, and on by default on XB1. Does it matter? No, because a publisher can choose to enable the DRM on a PS4 game and disable it on an XB1 game. In fact, Microsoft even said officially that the DRM can be fine-grain tuned by the publisher; you might be able to lend out a game all you want but CAN'T sell it to a store and still need the 24 hr. check-ins. Another might let you get away with absolutely no check-ins but you can't lend it out or resell it ever. Again, it's the publishers' faults and not Microsoft's. They're just letting Microsoft take the public blame.