Final score: Playstation 4, XBOX 1

While most hardcore gamers, gaming journalists, and entertainment enthusiasts were busy watching the E3 pressers yesterday evening, I promised my girlfriend I would watch a few episodes of the new Arrested Development with her and thought I would catch up on all the news in the morning. 

Back in the day electing a president took weeks.  Votes had to be counted by hand and results had to be transported from far away places.  Eventually, as technology allowed, weeks became days and days became a single night save for the dreaded Gore-Bush recount debacle of 1999.  I remember as a 90's kid watching the election coverage with my parents and then finding out the declared winner the next morning in the newspaper or on the television.  I was always eager to find out who won despite knowing far more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than any political issue of the day.

Waking up to fresh news about the PS4 and XBone competition for the next generation console system reminded me of that time.  When I awoke I didn't even rub my eyes to open them all the way, I just blindly pawed at my nightstand in search of my tablet.  Seconds later I was staring at a list of memes on Reddit, all of which declared one of two things: 1) XBone is dead and 2) PS4 dominates, flawless victory!

"What the hell happened?" I thought to myself but before reading into what PS4 actually revealed in their press conference, I answered my own question.  It's common sense.

All Sony had to do to grab a decided lead over rival Microsoft in this next generation console war was to change nothing about how consoles play games.  The scenario couldn't have gone better for Sony, starting in February when they first announced their new console.

At first, I didn't want a new console and honestly part of me still doesn't.  I made the switch from PS3 to XB360 midway through this last generation cycle because my PS3 kept dying over and over and repairing it was becoming both an agitation and a burden on my pocket.  Enter XB360.  I have several games I need to get through on this current generation that really I don't need another system to keep me from my backlog.  However, the sheer coolness and remorseless manner in which Sony destroyed Microsoft in less than a few words makes me want to buy a PS4 just to show my support for a company that listens to and cares about gamers, not TV and fantasy football fans, but gamers.

Needless to say, when Sony announced in February that they were releasing a new console, I wasn't surprised but I wasn't enthused.  "Cool, a new console.  No thanks, I have a 360 and I'm enjoying it."  And what's not to enjoy about the 360?  It's solid and I still prefer it to PS3.  Sony didn't even release a picture of what the PS4 looked like and details of the system were limited.  It's almost like they knew Microsoft had some debatable policies, as if they said "If we release now and we're mum about our system, Microsoft will try to one up us and provide more details, some of which might be considered controversial to the gaming community."  So maybe I'm grasping at a conspiracy theory but the way it all turned out in the end still has me skeptical.

Fast-forward to May when Microsoft unveils the XBone (seriously? XBone, X-Bone, Ex-bone, terrible name-bone, boned.)  They started off by calling it a name that doesn't really make logical sense as the XBone is the third generation Microsoft console.  "Wut?"  Then they talk about how the XBone is a glorified cable box and internet browser and lets you watch football and keep track of fantasy teams like Direct TV or your laptop is capable of already doing.  Games were hardly mentioned much to the displeasure of big gamers like myself.  Furthermore, DRM.  Digital Rights Management.  I don't remember the quote or the exact information that came out, but I remember everyone collectively wondering if used games could even be played on this console.  And what?  It's always connected to the internet?  What?  Only once every 24 hours?  It's always on? Why?  Kinect? Who? Wait, what's going on?  Not backwards compatible but it's supposed to be the only entertainment box we need?  Well that and my 360 if I want to continue playing my old games, right?

In the following weeks when Microsoft attempted over and over again to clarify all these befuddling questions, every answer was slightly different.  Pleas to Sony began to surface, "Don't mess this up!"  All Sony had to do was show a picture of the PS4 and say it played used games and it probably still could have released at the same price as the XBone and would have been fine.

Microsoft's E3 presser was actually okay.  No mention of Kinect, TV, or NFL.  Lots and lots of games, neat exclusives, and the return of Halo (Didn't Halo 4 release like 4 days ago?).  Previous to the presser, Microsoft had released their clarification points about DRM and it was what everyone had feared in that basically it existed.  Games can only be traded between friends that have been friends on XBox Live for at least 30 days.  XBox live costs $60 a year and your friends will probably all own PS4's now.  Microsoft never touched on this at E3 and smartly so.

They had to know, right?  They had to know Sony wouldn't follow in the same footpath and shoot themselves in the heart.  Sony could have had the DRM policies and leeched money from used games while disallowing them from being traded in over and over much like they are today and simply named a price $100 less than Microsoft and "won E3".  Or they could have named the same price as Microsoft and not included any DRM.  But both?  Wow.  Microsoft had to know, right?  Right!?

Did Microsoft think they're exclusive titles would be enough?  Did they think that just because they are the perceived winner of the last generation that they would just bully over Sony this time around?  And what about Nintendo?  Seriously.  What about them?

9:15 pm Eastern rolls around and Sony is fifteen minutes late.  In retrospect maybe they were busy negotiating their price down from $499 to $399 so they could deliver an epic knockout blow in the waning minutes of their conference, who knows?  Meanwhile, I'm watching Arrested Development and missing out on a unprecedented crowd reaction at E3.  In the final minutes of the conference, Sony brandishes this video, announces a starting price of $399, drops the mic like Eminem and grappled up through the ceiling like Batman.  I made the last part up but seriously, wow, the crowd reaction which consists mostly of journalists and industry professionals went nuts.  Think about that.  A crowd of unbiased reporters and industry professionals went nuts and bananas.  Not strictly Sony fans, not Sony employees, no applause signs or entertaining sideline acts and the reaction was astounding. That reaction alone says plenty about the immediate future of this console generation.

What was Microsoft thinking?  Microsoft will have a hard time competing with Nintendo in this generation with those policies and those prices.

Is it the American way compared to the Japanese way?  Is it arrogance?  Is preying upon the western infatuation with TV and football so enticing that ignoring gamers was seen as a manageable risk?

Will Microsoft attempt to "fix" what they have presumably committed themselves to for this generation?

Only time will tell.

Image sources in order (1)