WORDS: CHRIS ROOKE

It’s not unreasonable to expect some rivalry when new consoles are launched, but both Microsoft’s and Sony’s behaviour as they both gear up for their console launches at the end of the year has simply descended into a shouting match between two children.

 

It began at E3, when Sony dedicated about twenty minutes of their presentation to reinforcing that the PS4 can play used games — something which Microsoft’s offering had come under much scrutiny for omitting. When the strongest moment at a conference is referencing something that has been standard in the industry, while also kicking the other guy while he’s down, it probably says more about Sony than it does about Microsoft’s poor decision-making.

 

Shortly after, Don Mattrick (former President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business) left for Zynga, the bastion of quality gaming that gave the world Farmville. Of course, he wasn’t pushed out, it just happened to come after one of the worst-coordinated console reveals in gaming history.

 

Microsoft reversed all of its unpopular policies, and Xbox Europe’s Vice-President Chris Lewis went on to say that Microsoft was “genuinely in an enviable position.” Presumably it’s a position envied by anyone who wants to enter the console production market — but very few others.

 

The shouting match continued as each lambasted the others’ technical capabilities (answer: they’re both pretty much the same), and with Microsoft’s recent revelation that the Xbox One release date is just a week before that of the PS4, tensions are rising and Sony is expected to release a press statement simply saying “It’s not fair!” very soon.

 

Meanwhile, owners of Nintendo’s Wii U must be content with playing a sequel to a reasonably popular franchise, waiting for a remake of a Zelda game, and praying that Nintendo has an original idea sometime soon.