PS4 vs Xbox One: Launch Event Comparison

Games

This is what it all comes down to, in the end. Once you get over the novelty of ordering Pizza with your hands, watching movies and Skyping at the same time, the shiny new box and your trophies appearing on your Twitter, you come back to the true area of interest; the games! Before Sony€™s conference not many expected them to show any games, except maybe a screenshot or logo but right at the start of the conference they said there€™d be many games coming later in the night. That was great to hear, for gamers it€™s one thing to hear about all the cool new features and the hardware but the sight of new games is what we€™re all really interested in seeing. The first ever PS4 game we€™ve ever seen, came in the form of Knack. A hell of an odd choice for the first game, I€™ll admit, but I love platform games so I was really happy to see a brand new platform IP that could take the reins from Little Big Planet. Playstation has been a huge step ahead of Xbox in the seventh generation in the fun department, with platformers like Ratchet & Clank, Sly Raccoon, LBP and HD remakes of classics like Jak & Daxter. Thankfully Sony€™s love of such games seems to be continuing with the cute and, what should be, fun and entertaining Knack. Their statement of wanting to bring back the fun-factor of days gone by, with games like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, was drove home here by showing a platform game as the first PS4 title. Sony then showed off Drive Club, a social-driven (no pun intended) driving experience that intends to connect gamers through the in-game driving clubs. Drive Club looked great, aesthetically, as a non-racing game fan I wasn€™t interested but I can always appreciate great graphics. While showing their array of full-blown games Sony also demonstrated the graphical power of the PS4 with simple engine capabilities like the giant ice monster demo, the old man head and the million blue balls dropping. As well as this they showed off The Witness, a PSN game of solving puzzles. They showed this simply to reinforce their willingness to back indie developers, which Sony have proven beneficial with Journey and The Unfinished Swan. Capcom and Square Enix both came on to Sony€™s stage and showcased new gaming engines that were running untitled projects. Capcom€™s was a true game with the working title Deep Down, whereas Square Enix€™s was only a presentation of possibilities. Both looked stunning, especially if either featured in-game footage. Deep Down looked like in-game as it showed an inventory at the bottom but it looked so insanely impressive it€™s still debateable. To show off Sony€™s graphic capabilities in a real launch title, they brought out Guerrilla Games to play through Killzone: Shadowfall. The fourth title in the Killzone series, much like its predecessors, looks awesome. The new sub-title, future time-zone and new setting all indicate a fresh start for the Killzone franchise and it looks set to impress. The final, and my most anticipated, game of Sony€™s conference is InFamous: Second Son. This will be the third InFamous game and, like Killzone: Shadowfall, features a sub-title, new setting, time-zone and protagonist. The reason for Sony changing these two franchises is to breathe new life into them and, from a marketing standpoint, people will see InFamous: Second Son and not know it€™s the third in a series. This is because people could see InFamous 3 and not buy it because having not played the first two but removing the number opens up new marketing options. Which was the intentional marketing strategy behind excluding numbers like 3 and 4 from their titles, a smart move on Sony€™s behalf. InFamous: Second Son looks and sounds really cool. We haven€™t seen any gameplay yet but the InFamous games always have really good, fun gameplay. Very much an underrated Playstation exclusive series the InFamous series feature Cole McGrath, a normal guy who is bestowed with electric-based superpowers and it€™s up to you whether you become a hero or villain. The third InFamous game is set in Seattle, Washington, the first to feature a real setting though InFamous 2€™s setting was obviously based on New Orleans. The game also features a new protagnist, Delsin Rowe, a Native-American with smoke-based powers. Like its predecessors InFamous: Second Son is sure to be a great game and incredible launch title. Microsoft was nowhere near as game orientated in their conference but still pulled out the big guns whenever game time did come. Microsoft unveiled Forza Motorsport 5 at their conference and the popular driving game is sure to be a fun game with incredible visuals as always. They showed 4 EA Sports titles including Fifa 14, Madden 14, UFC 14 and NBA 14. To reinforce these titles importance they brought in stars like UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins and Barcelona star Lionel Messi. These sports giants all gave their opinions on the next-generation of video gaming, with footage of their respective sports game playing alongside. Each of these games will be improved versions of their predecessors and available to all systems. The most interesting thing Microsoft showed in terms of games was the brand new IP Quantum Break. Little is known about this game but the trailer mixed CGI with live-action people. This title is really intriguing, any new IP is but the lack of details known about this particular title makes it a real point of interest going into E3. Microsoft€™s final game showcasing was that of the juggernaut Call of Duty: Ghosts. Again this was Microsoft€™s way of showing star power. The new Call of Duty has a new setting, time period, story-line and characters, as seems custom with the next-gen games, as well as implementing many new factors into the series that dominated the seventh generation. The game looks impressive, with crazy set-pieces, awesome locales and an intriguing story, though the new gameplay features, like better jumping and leaning around walls, should have been in there a long time ago. Microsoft has always had a great partnership with Call of Duty and finishing the Xbox One conference with the latest instalment in the series that somewhat defined the generation seems appropriate. The Xbox 360 was very much behind the PS3 in terms of exclusive games, while the 360 had three huge exclusives in Halo, Gears of War and Forza, PS3 had many impressive exclusives like Uncharted, Resistance, God of War, Heavy Rain, InFamous, Ratchet and Clank, Killzone, Little Big Planet and the upcoming The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls. Xbox has always taken a lot of flak for this, which they€™ve made a huge effort to rectify by promising that the Xbox One will get 15 exclusives, 8 of which are new IP€™s, in the first year. That€™s incredible, a truly exciting prospect for all gaming fans. The only question remains how many of those will be Kinect titles like Kinect Sports and how many will be like Gears of War? Hopefully more to the latter. Both companies showed games, the difference was for Sony€™s the games were everything. Microsoft treated games as the second aspect of their conference but they brought out blockbuster titles like Call of Duty and Madden. Sony focused more on exclusive games that defined the PS3 and were definitely aiming more at hardcore gamers. Which epitomises both press conferences Who won? That€™s up to you and whether you prefer casual or hardcore games.