SONY/MICROSOFT
And in This Corner… The Playstation 4 (l.) and Xbox One (r.) have been the talk of this year’s E3.
It’s not about user-friendly features. It’s just about being friendly to your users. Sony gets that. And, at least for the moment, Microsoft does not.
And that’s why the Sony PlayStation 4 has been the clear winner at this week’s Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The PS4 and Xbox One finally went head-to-head this week, sharing top billing at E3, and after putting both next-gen gaming machines through their paces, it’s easy to name Sony’s console as the winner. And thanks to some uneven decisions by Microsoft, it’s not even all that close.
It’s early in this race, of course, months before either machine’s pre-holiday release, but Sony has quickly endeared itself to gamers by aiming to cater to their needs instead of catering to the apparent wants of big business. Here’s a look:
PRICE AND OVERALL VALUE
At $399, the PlayStation 4 is a hundred bucks cheaper than the rival Xbox One, and it has few of the Big Brother-type restrictions that Microsoft’s already announced. In this regard, Sony started E3 with a major splash, announcing that it would do nothing to curb the sharing, trading or selling of used games.
Barely an hour after that statement, Sony delivered a riotous YouTube video mocking Microsoft’s lack of a similar policy. Microsoft, if you’ll recall, has presented a program that remains confusing even now. Essentially, the company says you can still trade in/sell/exchange your old games, but publishers can set up their own restrictions.
Microsoft promises plenty of other potential goodies in this deal, of course, but it’s hard to know how some of these things will work out. For example, up to 10 members of your family can log into any Xbox One and play games in your shared library. Of course, if you happen to be from a large family, that just may leave somebody out. And if you’ve ever dealt with digital lockers for such things as Flixster, or even iTunes, you know that these seemingly large limits can run dry quite quickly.
Microsoft also includes the typical disclaimers, making sure to point out that it can change its policies as it sees fit. That’s typical big business-speak, but it’s something less likely to happen at Sony in the wake of Jack Tretton’s big announcement of the company’s user-friendly approach toward used games.
Put simply: You won’t pay as much for your PlayStation 4, and you’ll have an easier time recapturing value in used games, too.
