Get people talking about their console of choice, and things naturally become quite heated. I get why that’s happening, especially around such a hype-heavy period as E3 week. Still, it makes me a little sad, because, as gamers, there’s just so damned much that we should all be celebrating.
“Oh, you’re SO BIASED against the Xbox One!”
“It’s only because you’re on the payroll of Microsoft that you can’t admit Sony is best!”
“Nintendo do great work, but you’ll never admit that, because you’re a Sony fanboy!”
As a professional journalist, I get that kind of mud (with vendor names pretty much interchangeable) all the time. It comes with the territory, because it’s the easiest knee-jerk reaction to throw out there, even if it’s not accurate. It makes the mud-slinger feel better in an instant, and that’s what’s important in that instant. Which isn’t to say that I don’t have my own personal biases, because I pretty clearly do… but I’m getting off point here.
Between Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft and plenty of others, big and small, we’ve seen some incredible news come out of E3 this week, including a number of things that could well change gaming markedly over the next couple of years. On the small scale, the next generation of Sony and Microsoft machines are seriously cheaper than most expected, which is a huge plus.
On the larger scale, digital is picking up speed, even though nobody’s quite sure how it’s going to finally look. Microsoft went into E3 with a black eye over used games policies, but it seems as though that could be mitigated entirely by their plans to make your “family” any group of people you choose to name. Sony’s adopting what appears to be an open attitude to gaming that’s generally at odds with the way that Sony usually does business. Nintendo’s relying on existing IP, but at least from Mark’s first-hand reports, they’re doing the usual finely-crafted business of making very playable games.
That’s the business of games — and then there’s the games themselves. New iterations of old IP, and entirely new games to get excited about, whether it’s this year, next year or in the years to come. E3 has shown that it’s unlikely that any one company will dominate, and you know what?
That’s excellent, no matter which gaming “camp” you decide to put yourself in. Competition amongst the big players leads to bigger gains for us as the eventual end consumers, because it encourages a whole lot of innovation. Will everything announced this week come to Australia — or even matter if it doesn’t? I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter, because there’s new games models being tried, new games to play and a whole lot of fun on the horizon.
That’s something I think we should all celebrate, rather than bickering endlessly about how “That console is for the insert-your-choice-of-sadly-all-too-often-mysoginistic-or-homophobic-or-narrow-minded-slur-here“.
If Microsoft busts out something truly great that’s only for the Xbox One, that’s no reason why a Playstation 4 owner can’t be having fun with some Playstation 4 exclusive either. Wii U owners can look forward to the long drought of titles being over, and PC gamers aren’t left out either, as they get to pick and choose around the best of the best.
It’s all good, and we, as a gaming community, should be celebrating that, rather than slinging mud at each other. I’ve spent serious time comment moderating this week, and there’s been an awful lot stuff I’ve rejected simply because it’s fanning the flames without adding to the conversation, and nowhere near enough celebration of what’s actually wonderful in gaming. I know… that’s human nature for you. Still, it’d be nice if we could all accept the really cool stuff that’s bursting forth from every side of gaming right now.
Also, and this is entirely tangential, I’m never writing an article around a Black Eyed Peas song lyric ever again.
Comments
30 responses to “Xbox One vs PS 4 vs Wii U At E3: Where Is The Love?”
this article embodies perfect journalism good job 😀 <3
TLDR XBOX 4EVA!!!!
JK Love them all games are awesome.
Agreed. I feel like I’ve actively had to seek out stories about the actual games this week, in amongst all the One Giant Multinational Corporation tweaks message slightly less terribly than Other Giant Multinational Corporation stuff. And the games have occasionally looked pretty damn good, and sounded pretty good too, if you can hear them above all the shouting.
Said it before, say it again. — Different strokes for different folks.
Buy the one you want to get, and shut up.
But can you just tell me which one I should want?
N64
Yay…already have one!
Wouldn’t be funny if all three companies were essentially owned by rhe same people, intent upon sewing seeds of chaos and dissention the world over?
Yeah… and what if those people were actually giant interstellar lizards in human form?! I think you’re onto something here…
Like the bad guys from deus ex!
Oh great, thanks for the spoiler, man!
*passes out the tinfoil hats*
What the fuck is wrong with you, Alex? You sound like you don’t even CARE about laying out the bait to get a cheap boost to Kotaku’s page hits. Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the advertisers?!
Clear out your desk – you’re fired.
Good article.
Defending ‘your’ machine is worse than sports fans defending their team. There’s fun in competition but the ‘zealot’ fans are always the worst. I admit to some friendly fun-poking at the other side’s expense. But the way some people, and the gaming press, attack the other side just makes me laugh.
Because they are only trying to make themselves feel better about themselves, as stated in the article.
Pfft. All these commenters agreeing with the article and getting tired of the rampant parochialism and zealotry… It’s like you aren’t even aware that there’s a VICIOUS fight going on for the living room! And that the stakes are your consumer rights! The future of gaming and wallet-plundering is at stake here, people! Get angry, get passionate, get really snarky and sarcastic! Not just for your ego, but for your bank balance!
CHARGE!
*runs, waving flag, headlong into the trenches… alone*
*come crawling back, gasping and bloodied, and flops on back to gasp with dying breath*
“MOUSE AND KEYBOOOOOOOOOOOOARD”
Just no.
I think you’re right – this is the first console war where anything is actually at stake, and it’s the future of ownership.
I thought he was being sarcastic…
I was being mostly tongue-in-cheek, if only because I believe that the battle we want to fight is actually already lost.
Railing against the naked aggression toward consumer rights that Microsoft has on display in the xbone is fine – someone’s obviously taking notice of how that goes between them and the PS4. But I don’t think for a minute that the goal has actually changed. Only how we get there. Content providers of ALL forms would switch to license-based experiences if they could. Games are just the best-positioned industry to do so.
Those of us rallying against the heavy-handed DRM and conversion of disc to online license? We’re Browncoats. There’s a benefit to making the noise, virtue in taking a stand, but we won’t win. Like @fenixius though, I don’t intend to just roll over and say, “It’s the future! Take all my money!” I’m more in the, “Earn my money you mongrels, and even then earn it in reasonable quantities that I decide,” camp.
Thank you! The fan boy raging died down the last couple of years but it seemed to come back full force this E3. People need to look at events like E3 and just say: “Wow look at all these great games! I can buy any one I like. Look at all these great choices!”
As much as I appreciate that there should be love for gaming, I think the things that aren’t gaming, that aren’t an attempt to bring new experiences or art to people, rightly deserves loud criticism.
Like this, https://twitter.com/gi4ouR/status/344929544492429313 – Xbox Support saying that Xbox One’s daily activation may not work when you’re outside of ‘supported countries’, that you can ‘play when you return home’, and that you should ‘take an xbox 360 for playing while on the road’.
Of course!
By all means, criticise where it’s due; that’s fine. But there’s a difference between criticism and sledging, especially in terms of what it can actually achieve.
*shuffles feet sheepishly and hides sledge-hammer behind back*
Artist’s impression: http://wrestling-match.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/003120.png
Bad mouthing a platform is like picking low hanging fruit. It’s a cheap shot and just makes people look stupid. But the world is full of stupid people, and I’m probably one of them.
When people ask me which is the best console, I always respond, “go with the one that has more games that you enjoy.” Because without the games, what good is the console?
Personally, I am rather shitty at Microsoft because I don’t purchase live. With the news PS4 is going to enforce the same thing for multiplayer, I will be moving in with the master race =P
It’s quite funny really. The way I see it, the real, some might say ‘hardcore’ gamers, will end up owning both XBox One & PS4. Where as the real ‘brand-fans’ will only end owning the console that they were always going to buy anyway.
I think the ultimate decision comes down to the casual gamers. The gamers who want to play some arcade racer or FPS shooter, yet the titles of those games aren’t relevant. They are the relavant consumers, who will buy a new console purely on whether or not it suits there needs. Not necessarily on the exclusives, or the badge stuck to the front of it.
I currently own a 360, PS3 and a self built (the only way) gaming PC. So the only thing I am concerned about is, ‘in which order should I buy the next lot?’.
there have been games this week?
wow i must have missed them.
in all this noise about the consoles the one thing ive missed is games i actually want to play.
i started to think about which console i really wanted and honestly i couldn’t decide based on hardware so i thought about the games and then i realised that it looks like there are no games i want for launch of either console.
the division looks good but thats it for me. the rest of the games i want to play are already on xbox 360 and ps3
There are 99 great consoles but the Xbox ain’t ‘One’. (well, that almost worked).
Here’s the deal. I have an Xbox360, 3DS, Vita, PS3 and PC and love them. There are things I like more about one system than another… from price to range of games to 3D effect to quality to blah blah blah.
Microsoft have given the royal middle finger to all the Xbox users with the new DRM, Disk Sharing limitations, and mandatory kinect. Forget the price, they’re a business. Now(I’m not that old, but) if all of these consoles were your children… and your wayward Microsoft child has suddenly started a life of violent crime in addition to being a model student… then do you just happily do nothing and reward them the same as the same child that is a model student without the violent criminal life? Or if it’s a politician and they say they’re going to screw over everything on purpose… do you still vote for them?
It sets a precedent. If you blindly support it, why should any other console maker do any differently? I would ENCOURAGE people not to buy the Xbone. There’s no hate… it’s a free world, and I’m sure many people will anyway. But like voting… if enough people vote with their money, then maybe the powers that be will get the message and the world will be a better place for us, the gamers.
Imagine a world where the Xbone didn’t have the restrictions that M$ announced. This is what I want to see.