E3 2014: Sony Brings The Gaming Heat In Its Press Conference

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
| The video game industry has gone from a mole hill to a mountain in no time flat, Chris DiMarco is your Sherpa as you endeavor to scale Mount “Everquest”

E3 2014: Sony Brings The Gaming Heat In Its Press Conference

We saw yesterday that Microsoft did an absolute knockout job with its E3 presser, and it was a job that Microsoft sorely needed. With last year's huge defeat ringing in its ears, Microsoft made it clear, it was a gaming device here for the gamers, and all those extras were pretty much that: extras. Microsoft focused on the games and pulled out a sound win, but this win was likely only enough to put it on par with Sony. While Sony would get no easy slam-dunks on Microsoft this year—no pithy videos about how to share games with friends—it was still riding high, and all it had to do was maintain its course and trajectory to stay ahead of Microsoft. And after today's E3 showing, ahead of Microsoft is where it seems to be. Not quite so far, perhaps, but far nonetheless.

Sony managed to land little jabs at Microsoft—Andrew House offered the comment that “...we all know what best means” when describing how PlayStation was the best place to play—but there were no real knockout blows here like at E3 2013. Some began to think that Sony's presser was going to be a near-match for Microsoft's. New games from Sony gave it a note of separation, however, as Sony showed off both old friends--”LittleBigPlanet 3,” for example, along with “Bloodborne” and “Far Cry 4”--along with new—a Suda 51 exclusive—to give it an impressive performance, if not necessarily a knockout blow. The closest thing to a barn-burner Sony seemed to have was the reveal on “Uncharted 4: A Thief's End”. That's big news for Sony fans, but the latest in a franchise tends to preach to the choir, so to speak; it doesn't draw Nintendo or Microsoft players who weren't already there and playing.

Sony had a good showing. That's good news for Sony, and there will likely be plenty here to catch and keep Sony fans' interest. Considering how far ahead Sony is of Microsoft right now, it's got precious little to worry about for the next several years. Microsoft might catch up, of course, but that's not for right now. Sony has a great couple years ahead of it, and is going to really make a big deal. It's got the install base to draw in game makers—exclusives, it may not get so many of given how close the Xbox One is in installs—but it's certainly got enough to keep the game makers going. While a lot of those games seem to be on hold for much of the rest of the year, that just makes it look like 2015 is going to be an unqualified doozy when it comes to releases, no matter what system you're operating on.

A comparison between the two, meanwhile...now that's difficult. That's a point I think I'm going to hold off on for now, because right now I think there's a much different winner afoot than might be first thought. So stick around...that could be a good one.

 

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