Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3)

[Benji]

The fact you can play used games on it, saving you a lot of money via trade ins and used games seems like a pretty massive bonus to me. Microsoft have literally tried to take away a feature that has been a staple of gaming for years, and is a massive blessing to people like me, who can't afford to buy every single game they want at £40 a pop.

[LUKIE]

There is a Mad Max game? It better be good!

[Skummy]

Yeah, pretty much every accusation of "brand allegiance" - of which there have been maybe one or two - has basically been met with "I just want to know which console to buy", or "I've owned one of each", or whatever. I'm not seeing any fanboyism here.

For the record, I currently own a Wii, a DS, a Mega Drive, a Dreamcast and a ZX81. I couldn't give a sufficient enough shit about either Microsoft or Sony to involve myself in a "console war".

[Dan]

It's E3 people. Just enjoy the fucking games. This happens every fucking time

Jesus.

We're debating the new consoles at the event that was focused on the first big console releases in almost a decade, I don't see the problem.

[Summers]

In fact all this discussion helps me. I haven't been able to see the PS4 stuff, but I want to know info. And all this discussion is giving me that.

[Benji]

Agreed, I can totally see where people are coming from. For example, Summers' use of Sky is something that hadn't even occurred to me because I have a Sky box and use my phone for it (in my mind, the innovations were just things like Kinect, and Wii motion sensors). At the end of the day, all we're doing is talking about what is making us choose one over the other, we're just passionate because it's an industry we love, and as consumers we'll likely have to make a decision, since most of us aren't well-off enough to afford both until a price drop occurs. Most people probably have already made up their minds, but there's still people on the fence, and the discussion and debate will help them choose, as well as potentially change some minds who've misunderstood the pros and cons of each soneole.

[Dan]

Not sure if mentioned but the PS Eye is £44, doesn't come bundled with the system although a bundle may exist at/after launch.

[Vamp]

Microsoft have literally tried to take away a feature that has been a staple of gaming for years

Its more than that though, they're trying to take away something from gamers that has been a staple of people's purchasing habit for years, from games to cars.

[MDK]

P.S. Fuck Micro$oft

[Vamp]

Does it have a nice looking dash/home screen/etc?

Shame the console is ugly though.

Ignoring the conversation about what's better, do people actually care about these things? This isn't a dismissal of your criticisms of the PS4 but I can't get my head around the fact that soembody would actually care about either of these things. I couldn't even draw you a picture of my PS3 looks like. Its black and bulky, that's about all I could remember about how it looks without looking at it. The dash/home screen is just there until my film/game/i-player loads up and has whatever theme/wallpaper I downloaded for it. It was Life on Mars at one stage, now I think its Sackboy Christmas.

My console requirements (not in any particular order) are: Affordable price, let's me play pre-owned games, I can play games whenever I want (i.e. problems with my internet connection won't stop me playing), has games that I'd like to play. Everybody's going to have their own criteria, but do people genuinely look at their console and worry about it being ugly? Its not like wearing a shit shirt out in public. I just find it a strange thing to pick up on. Maybe that's just me though.

[Crybaby Bunting]

The real winners of course are those who wait a year and buy whichever console has actually delivered, rather than buy it on launch day and be subjected to £50 shovelware to justify the purchase until a big game hits.

[apsham]

What the console looks like? Not really. I can't understand in the least how one could criticize what the PS4 looks like versus what the XBO looks like though.

But the dash/home? Absolutely. A lot of what makes me want a console boils down how much I feel the company 'gets' it. Current games and everything aisde, there isn't a lot on exclusive or features that draws me to one console or the other. But if a company has put the effort in to create an experience with the very piece of hardware that I am going to be aquainting myself with for the next however many years - I want them to have a decent grasp on making it pleasing to the eye, something easy to navigate, etc.

Sony, before I'd say.. the security breach was very plain, their online store was very blah looking and I kind of really hated the bubble system. It just kind of reeked of "let's get it out there" while around that time Microsoft was starting up their new dashboard which was crisp, clean and allowed you to interact with it easily. Call me a sucker for stuff like that but for me it all boils down to how much the company appears to care about the piece of hardware that I paid good money for.

But around the time that Sony started to get big with PS+ I started to notice changes here and there, and when they launced the new store I knew they had the idea of what I was looking for. Their attitude going into E3 is something too that I have enjoyed. The features that I don't like about the XBO are things that I could/would eventually get over but it's the attitude about it that Microsoft has that turns me off the most.

[deli]

I chuckled at this

[Plubby]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT WAR THUNDER IS COMING TO PS4?!?!?!?!?

HOLD MY CALLS, I'M TAKING THE HIGHWAY TO THE DANGERZONE~!

Sorry, got excited for a moment. I freaking love that game.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Wanted to go with Microsoft but I really don't see how I can do that now. The price was always going to be the massive swaying point for me and Sony have completely done Microsoft over in that aspect. As I said before Sony even announced their pricing, Microsoft were going way higher than I expected and now Sony have announced their price it's made it look even worst.

Pricing was key for me. I'm not somebody who buys tonnes of games, I tend to play the Madden's, Pro's, Fifa's, Tiger Wood's and then games such as GTA, Final Fantasy and the odd other thrown in. Both consoles can play all of these games (the exception of FF in some cases) as well as the quality new ones coming such as Watch Dogs and The Division. So realistically, I was always going to go with whichever console offered the better side features and the better price (in all honesty, I really expected the pricing to be pretty similar and never expected as large of a difference as this).

I loved the look of the fantasy stuff from Microsoft thrown in with the television stuff, but there's barely any information on it and no real details about what we can expect UK/European wise from that stuff. I can't really justify spending close to 100 extra quid on a console for features that I'm not even sure are going to work or feature the way they were shown as the conference over here in the UK.

Unless there's a massive change sometime soon from Microsoft, which I can't ever see happening now they've announced it all, then I'm not really sure I can go for anything other than the PS4 now.

[Benji]

The design of the PS4 looks a lot like the PS2 did. Considering the PS2 was my longest lasting, most played, and favourite console of all time, that is somehow comforting to me.

[METALMAN]

From what I've read, Sony's presentation didn't seem particularly inspiring, but I suppose it is good that people are reacting against Microsoft for their nonsense and their spin.

As for Sony...eh...negative campaigning isn't really the most attractive method. However, most people here want to play new games, and to play new games it really comes down to XB1 or PS4. That negative campaigning works pretty well in a two-horse race. I suppose the 1979 General Election would be the most prudent example. >_> Pointing out the flaws of your competitor is a good way to mask your own lack of virtues, and it seems to have worked for PS4.

For what it's worth, I'll probably buy neither. Well, I might get a PS4 if there are any games released that are particularly compelling,

[apsham]

Where does the PS4 lack virtues though? I don't get this in the least.

They showcased some impressive stuff that couldn't be done in this generation.. so there's innovation, and also some exclusives that were pretty top notch. I saw the 'negative campaigning' as an also, not the main focus.

[METALMAN]

I suppose that was badly phrased. What I meant was what they had to offer was a series of incremental improvements rather than anything especially groundbreaking.

They didn't try and reinvent the wheel, and any changes are a lot more low-key than Microsoft's.

I actually think that's a good thing. I don't care about all the extra stuff. But it's not the most inspiring approach to take.

[Your Mom]

People are saying used games shouldn't be a selling point but it is a really big deal. I mean most of the time the only way we afford a new game is trading another one in. I would have preferred staying with Xbox. It's familiar and has some cool exclusives but I just cant justify all the restrictions.

Also on that chart that was posted for PS4 is says A/V Input: none but for Xbox it says: HDMI. Can someone explain what that means?