Alright, so now that the first day is over and done and I've had my lulz, I'ma actually give a legit 2 cents. Prepare for the long read!
Undoubtedly, the PS4 has far and away destroyed the Xbox One as far as the console war goes. I feel Microsoft will pull their heads out of their ass and denounce DRM and the need to sync once every 24, which would be good, but unfortunately for them, the damage has already been done. With the additional need of the Kinect2 being enforced upon its users (which brings a whole slew of additional questionable things to light) and an intergral part of of the Xbox One, it only hinders the console further unless there are ways to truely keep it from interfering from the actual gaming, and more importantly, day to day lives. Also, confining themselves to a release date (or at least a specific month) has narrowed any chance of fixing said problems before release.
PS4, on the other hand, has come straight out and said exactly what everyone wanted (needed) to hear concerning the major issues Xbox One was ignoring. They seized a golden opportunity and plunged the dagger even deeper with a 399$ price tag.
As far as games go, I feel both systems were very impressive. Xbox One has 15 confirmed exclusives and PS4 has 20 confirmed exclusives up to this point.
For Xbox One: Sunset Overdrive, Crimson Dragon and Quantum Break looked fantastic. Ryse, while beautiful to look at, was unfortunately very heavy in the QTE department, thus killing what could be a great game from the start. Titanfall looked good, but also seemed a little stiff and too Call of Duty-ish instead of more Mech Warrior: Lone Wolf-ish. Killer Instict 3 looked "okay" and remains to be seen (so unfortunate that it is exclusive). Forza 5, Halo, and Dead Rising 3, while not my particular cup of tea, were still expected and welcome. Project Spark, to me, seems like a glorified Little Big Planet where only the creative will thrive and will limit its player base. One big thing that could help or hurt Xbox One is their ride-or-die investment into blockbuster type gaming. Halo will certainly do well with its strong following, and Black Tusk Studios' slight (though pure CG) teaser looked promising, the remaining 3 unnamed remains to be seen and gameplay is unknown. Anyone of these are very make-or-break.
For PS4: The Order, Infamous: Second Son, and the new Killzone: Shadow Fall looked great. As did the big indie title Transistor (which will be a day one for me
), and of course SquareEnix's showing of FFXV (or still 13vs...I'm not sure, was a little confusing) and the bigger announcement, Kingdom Hearts 3 (both of which may or may not be exclusive? have to wait and see). You also have Drive Club and the teaser for Mad Max looked good as well. Knack was also a fun looking, traditional platformer. And of course Destiny, the potential Halo rival, looked
outstanding. But the big kicker for me is that unlike the Xbox One, who is investing on big blockbusters, Sony has instead invested in a slew of indie games, several of which look damn good including the Metal Slug look alike Mercenary Kings, a brawler in Secret Ponchos, and the impressive horror game in Outlast. What stands out most about this is Sony's willingness to invest in the small upstarts that would be more capable of creating a lasting, memorable game instead of going with Xbox One's "too big to fail" montage. What is even more impressive, is 3 indie titles will be
free on Day 1 for PS+ members, showing they are committed to the community of both developers and gamers alike. Impressive to say the least.
As for the non-exclusives: Mirror's Edge 2 was extremely hype and while I'm not big on FPS, Battlefield 4 looking amazing. MGS5 and AC: Black Flag looked good (MGS more so than AC). The Crew also looked like a solid arcade racer that I could really get into. But the two killers for me were easily Watchdogs and The Division. Watchdogs took the basic concept of Assassin's Creed and developed it in a far more creative way. As for The Division, this sincerely looked to be a potential GOTY candidate and was truely remarkable in it's detail and gameplay. An absolute Day 1 buy for me. No...I'm serious...look at this shit:
From the grandscale of things and lighting, to the small things like bullet effects to the even smaller detail of
him shutting the car door as he walks by it. Fucking amazing. I love it.
All-in-all I thought this was an impressive E3 showcase and honestly, I haven't been this excited about gaming in a long time. I can't wait to see what else is in store from other developers and publishers and I honestly hope Nintendo can step up and impress today.
