Console War (and Peace)
For a lot of gamers, November can’t arrive fast enough. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are coming out. While PS4 just recently announced their launch date of November 15th in the United States and November 29th in Europe, Xbox One has only confirmed that a November launch is coming. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, everybody has forgotten about the Wii U, and it’s never a good thing to count Nintendo out.
I’ve seen plenty of facts, opinions, and even down right hate displayed over both consoles between fans claiming which one is better. Sony has even taken potshots at their competitor for their unpopular business choices. Rather than feed into the war I’m going to take a neutral approach because at the end of the day, we as gamers are the winners.
I watched both conferences at E3 and have been reading and watching everything I can find on Gamescom for both consoles. Now I have pre-ordered a PS4 and don’t have any interest in the Xbox One but it’s more of a personal preference versus the typical “they suck†jargon we’re all accustomed of hearing. I’ve never been much of a fan of Microsoft. I don’t like the big controller and their games don’t interest me at all. That’s just me though, by no means do they suck or they’re gay or any other useless jab that a lot of “fan boys†take.
Microsoft has received a lot of flak for their decisions. I for one liked the fact that when the console was first announced they focused on all of the media services they have to offer. The ironic thing about everybody who’s condemning Microsoft is that Sony has done the same thing at all of their conferences. They just haven’t put all the focus on just services. They spent a decent amount of time talking about their features such as Netflix and Redbox to name a few. Why hasn’t there been any backlash towards Sony. They claim to be about games, games, games but truth being told it’s not all about the game. I do think that Microsoft should’ve stuck to their guns and didn’t change their policies. A lot of people hated their ideas but the Xbox One still would’ve sold well. People have been and forever will be afraid of change. Sony should focus on what they’re trying to accomplish and stop taking shots at Microsoft.
Nintendo seems to be taking all of this in stride. I like their approach. I think they’re letting Sony and Microsoft duke it out and when the time is right, they’ll make their move. Nintendo may be off to a bad start but they’ve been around this long for a reason. While I’d love to see what Mario, Zelda, and Metroid would look like on PS4 and Xbox One, I certainly don’t want it to be like Sega. Less competition is a bad thing in any market. When there’s no competition, people stop having that edge to them that makes them great. So I don’t want to see Nintendo go anywhere but everybody seems to want to see Nintendo go under.
Microsoft has Titanfall, Dead Rising 3, Forza 5, and Ryse: Son of Rome as a few of the games coming out, Sony offers Killzone: Shadow Fall, inFAMOUS: Second Son, and DriveClub. Finally, what would Nintendo be without Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros Wii U? Add to that newcomer The Wonderful 101 and the games that everybody complains about, will be here.
Let’s stop the fighting, stop the hate, and stop the war. A war somebody wins and somebody loses, we all win starting this November.
