Kinect Privacy
Privacy issues with always on internet and an always listening Kinect sensor have drawn comparisons to George Orwell's 1984, especially in the light if the PRISM scandal in the United States. To an extent I agree and feel a little uncomfortable but the more I think about it the less it concerns me. I deliberately avoid watching adverts and do not purchase films though Xbox. I therefore don't feel threatened by the prospect of content being blocked because too many people are in the room or having my details sold to marketing companies. People moan about privacy but then post their every move on Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook. If governments wanted your information I think they would have collected it from those sources already. What else will they get out of me? If they chose to watch through the Kinect when I'm not playing games I feel sorry for them. I don't intend to do anything illegal in my day to day life and if they really want to spend their time and resources recording me sitting in my underwear in my living room they can go right ahead. The paranoia reminds me of incidents in the past where people believe technology has encroached on their lives too much. Front facing cameras, webcams and GPS all caused a stir about privacy when they first came on the market. As people got used to having the device with them day to day the conspiracies died down. In fact Id bet that you are reading this on a device with a camera looking at you right now. Does it scare you? I didnt think so. Soon the Kinect will be just another one of those devices. As for always listening, the Xbox One is supposed to be a totally voice controlled system. How can it possibly do that if you have to push a button to turn it on? It has to listen for an on command. If you dont like it you can turn it off in the privacy settings. Kinect is a requirement because it gives developers a unique universal tool that allows their development for it to be used on every single Xbox rather than just the couple of million who paid for a peripheral. Yet again the wording of announcements and confusing PR stance are undermining an exciting development in gaming. I bet if Sony had to try and sell the Xbox One to the public they wouldnt have had any of these issues.
Pricing
Social networks were quick to applaud Sony's pricing which was set at £349 which not only undercuts, but is much more attractive aesthetically compared to £429 for the Xbox. But in the cold light of day, consider the price difference. What could the Xbox have that could justify £80 more in the price compared to a similar console? Kinect. Factor that into the price and suddenly parity is almost restored. One is a console. The other is a similar console with a peripheral; of course the latter will cost a bit more. Regardless the prices are pretty good on the face of it for a next-gen console. The numbers may sting at first but consider that both consoles costs less than a 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad and they won't go out of date within 12 months. These consoles will both last close to another decade.
Overall
I know plenty of people who get most of their games used, who don't want Kinect or prefer Killzone to Halo. I seem to be in a huge minority but I liked the TV stuff and I like that it is included on top of a next gen console. I like the Xbox controller. I can't wait to play Forza 5. I don't mind some limitations on trading because I keep my games. Right back to the snes there are very few games I've given away, this is just how I am. Xbox live was an innovation that Sony had to catch up on and they are still behind in terms of infrastructure to this day. When the time comes for disc free gaming, and it will as it has for music and film, I want to be with a system that is ready for it rather than scrabbling to catch up. Sony are playing the good guys well but announced before the conference that although they wont be implementing their own used game and DRM system, publishers will be free to make their own. I dont know about you but Id prefer a unified system where I know where I stand when I buy a game rather than having to look up individual publishers DRM policies every time I buy a game. Without uniformity the PS policy could exacerbate the mess of online passes. So where does that leave us? The dust hasnt had a chance to settle. The sun has started to rise and the internet is declaring a victory for Sony on the strength of their DRM policy. It was a close run event and it is only just beginning. I can totally understand Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy fans must have been throwing their money at the screen watching the square Enix announcements but the thing is, they would have if it was on Xbox too. The bottom line is that people love games. Look at Diablo and Sim City. Disastrous DRM issues caused a lot of heat for the producers online and yet people still paid for it and put up with the restrictions because they want to play the games. EA gets heat and calls for boycotts of their products on a regular basis. In April they were named the 'worst company in America' by consumerist and what did they have to do to make gamers forget? A 30 second teaser of Star Wars: Battlefront with no in game footage. Suddenly all is forgiven and those baying for blood yesterday are pre-ordering games. The point is Sony's mantra for E3 2013 is spot on; 'games, games, games.' Everything else will fall away if the new games excite their audience and, for me, the Xbox line-up is more exciting. I may have chosen Xbox One for now but I'm no fanboy. This was my highlight of the 2013 E3 press conferences; But it still doesn't top this masterpiece: