The console giants were at it again yesterday, trying to win the hearts and minds of indecisive gamers, reassure early adopters of their purchases, and the envy of the warring fraction. E3 is upon us and we’re here to evaluate Sony and Microsoft’s performance on day one. Who punched harder in their press conference? Well let’s find out.
Microsoft Xbox One
Xbox went first, eager to ride the positive momentum of late, Microsoft went through with the promise of talking about nothing but games. On stage the Xbox team strung an impressive lineup of third-party tie ups for first plays and exclusive content for arguably the trendiest games this gen; The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Tomb Raider 2, The Division, and Call of Duty: Advance Warfare, just to name a few. However, despite the backing of these massive titles, none really did show anything outstanding or exceptional. Most of the cameo presentations were tame; perhaps owing to the fact that these developers were saving their killer apps for their respective stage/show floor presentations.
Needless to say, who and what did impress were the usual suspects. Exclusives such as Sunset Overdrive, Halo, and Forza Horizon pushed out passionate presentations that exuded verve and excitement. Sunset Overdrive in particular looked a breath of fresh air while the badly kept secret, that was the Master Chief Collection, got the confirmation it needed to make it official. Indies got more love from Xbox this time round and that paid dividends. Easily two of the most atmospheric and visually arresting indie titles of E3 this year made the stage on Xbox One’s watch; Ori and the Blind Forest (from Moon), and Inside, from Playdead, the developers of Limbo.
Capping off the conference was another badly kept secret, Crackdown 3, which went off with a fizzle rather than a bang. Crackdown 2 was more miss than hit and as enticing as the trailer for the third installment was; it lacked the oomph that was needed to leave spectators walking away from the conference on a high. In comparison last year Microsoft ended the show with Titanfall, and we can all remember the hype surrounding that one.
The Microsoft press conference, while all about games, suffered pacing issues. There seems to be a lack of urgency this time out and this wasn’t helped by the candid developer interview outtakes interspersed between games. The leprous farce that was DRM aside, Microsoft’s E3 presentation last year had good pace and had good games. This year, despite the focus off the unfancied Kinect, the push for more games was sadly a little underwhelming. With few surprises, zero jaw dropping moments, team Xbox managed a very safe show that was enjoyable but does little to improve their current position.
VG300 Score: 3/5
+ Good number of AAA tie-ins
+ Halo, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon were very impressive
– Show lacked urgency
– Presentations lacked punch
Sony Playstation 4
Sony went into this press conference knowing very well what they needed to do and that was not muck it up. It was the same story as it was last year with them but this time, having established such a colossal lead over the Xbox One, they’d be forgiven even if they took liberties and went on rambling about TV and all the other nonessential gaming items this time round—which they did. Yet despite the devotion to advertising some non-gaming ideas and concepts, Sony’s press briefing didn’t feel like a sellout. PS4 might not be packing the same number of AAA endorsements as the Xbox One but they managed more cheer than jazz in their quality presentations.
Expectations were high for a good show and Destiny couldn’t have been a better opening act. Followed soon after, to the surprise of many, was the unveiling of Little Big Planet 3, and their demonstration of the game on stage was charming and endearingly honest. Ubisoft lent Sony Far Cry 4’s chops and their presentation was far superior to the rather unexciting Unity co-op demonstration at Xbox which showed four players in the same game but little synergy in plays. Mortal Combat X made their debut, as with Dead Island 2, and there was even some love for Diablo 3 with a Last of Us crossover. Towards the end of the show spectators were treated to some tantalizing gameplay footage of the Arkham Knight in the Batmobile.
Quite aware that some of the PS4’s haters brand the console PS3.5 for its lack of innovation, Sony took the opportunity to briefly mention the PS4 camera and the application potential with their VR headset, Project Morpheus. But what really won the show for me was Sony’s control and composure in their presentation. More so than last year, the tone was relaxed, and the executives that took to the stage looked comfortable. Taking a couple of notable digs at the Xbox, Sony peppered their presentation with humor and banter, the result of which left me warm and agreeable to what they had to say despite the frustrating lack of any new exclusives (and anything on the Last Guardian).
Playstation has the knack of putting our gorgeous games and they’ve most undoubtedly won the beauty pageant once again with the Uncharted teaser. Despite showing nothing more than Nathan Drake waking from his beachside slumber the fact that they explicitly said this was all captured from a PS4 was enough to have the PS faithful wet their pants.
VG300 Score: 4/5
+ Almost every game had an impressive showing
+ Press conference had a good feel and tone
– Too much nonessential gaming talk in the middle
Conclusion
Xbox played a hand that everyone expected them to play but they didn’t throw any big punches. Sony on the other hand played leader and rode on their excellent PR to a resoundingly solid E3 presentation despite taking some unnecessary liberties with TV talk. Microsoft failed to capitalize on any of the forward momentum they had in the weeks building up to E3, leaving us with what was a decent to good E3 show albeit a somewhat forgettable one.
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