Poll: PS4 decisively beating Xbone in polls. Will Sony throw away their winning hand?

[J Tyran]

But funnily enough, the PS2 sold a ton of units on the strength of it's DVD player, not it's gaming capabilities, especially early on, creating the critical mass which in turn encouraged game development, which kept snowballing the initial success..

Arguably the PS2 helped propel DVDs too, in a way neither may have had the success without the other. DVDs had been around for around five years and the wider public wasn't all that interested, they reacted the pretty much the same as they had with Laser Disks and VCDs. High price and that loop of, not many hardware sale-->not much media creation-->not many hardware sales, meant they where pretty limited in their market penetration. Suddenly with the PS2 millions upon millions of homes suddenly had a DVD player so more movies where released on DVD, more people went and got a PS2 for the DVD player so then manufacturers scrambled to make DVD players cheaper and cheaper. By 2003 DVD players could be bought for as little as £30.

Without the PS2 that might never have happened, the PS2 didn't just spread games it made a media format too. Last gen Microsoft and Sony tried to do the same, Microsoft with the media extender, HD-DVD and streaming and Sony with the PS3s Blu-Ray.

 

[Colt47]

Honestly, every generation to date has had a royal screw up of some sort even with the dwindling of variety in the number of consoles. Without a doubt Microsoft is going to be grinding the bottom of the barrel for the next four years given the features they just advertised and even if they have games, some of those "features" have started an almost political like zeal against it. The only way Microsoft is going to sell consoles is if they go with a subscription based service that drops the initial paydown price to $200. At that point it's going to be playing the same head games Adobe is going to be playing with the release of Creative Suite 7, with people actually paying magnitudes more for each console in the long run.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

I am torn on how to answer...

I am a PC gamer, so fuck the lot of them... but I also think that they will partially stumble, its in their nature!

I dont think the Wii U has a chance though outside of providing mario 137 to its various fanboys... I will admit there is one thing they could do to make me buy the console though; 3d pokemon game with more modern cellshaded graphics. Bonus points if they include all the regions with their full catalogue of pokemon.

But, we all know Nintendo will never be smart enough to make that game, so my money will remain safely in my bank account.

How have I not noticed that pokemon was missing from the wii u until now, bit of a facepalm moment there for me.

A new xeno plus pokemon and will go out and buy a wii u tommorow, screw the ps4 and xbone

 

[Elvis Starburst]

After seeing their stock prices skyrocket they way they did after the Xbone reveal, I think they'll be a little smarter than Microsoft. There might be *something* that might make them mess up a tiny bit, but it can't possibly be as bad as Microsoft.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I think Sony could still seriously screw up if the PS4:
- Costs around £1000 at launch
- Has no decent, exclusive games
- Has a large swastika on the side
- Is made of spiders

Otherwise they will probably come out of this better than Microsoft, possibly better than Nintendo if the increased interest in the WiiU subsides.

 

[Mikeyfell]

They'll fuck something up, I know they will.

But They won't (can't) fuck up as bad as the Xbone. That thing should have a warning label on the box: "Warning! Microsoft is watching you, even while your Xbox is off."

 

[Verlander]

Played a WiiU yesterday, quite enjoyed it. Not sure about buying one, but I already can do the shit that the Xbox can do without buying one, so I have no interest in it. As for PS4, well, Sony sufficiently put me off a PS3, so they started this race with some ground to cover. Honestly, 360 controllers killed PS3 ones, and at the end of the day, that's the only real difference between the two generic overpriced consoles.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

They'll fuck something up, I know they will.

But They won't (can't) fuck up as bad as the Xbone. That thing should have a warning label on the box: "Warning! Microsoft is watching you, even while your Xbox is off."

Pretty much this. I expect that Sony's going to mess something up. It might be the E3 Conference, while showing off neat stuff, sucks. Or it could be that what they showed at the PS4 reveal is the only things they have planned for it currently. But there is no way they can fail as badly as the Xbone did.

I voted for the WiiU though.

 

[SecondPrize]

I think the most likely mistake Sony can make with the PS4 is a weak launch lineup. This is something they specialize in, but also something that's already been determined. If you're set on launching this year then there's not much you can do now to get more games available at launch.

 

[The Lugz]

Xbox though would need to freaking pull a rabbit out of it's hat, teach the rabbit to program and then have the rabbit create at least 10 GREAT games for me to even consider buying the next gen system. Oh, and that rabbit better be damned cute as well.

that turn of phrase made me cackle to myself, well done sir. well done indeed.

in answer to the Op, basically i don't see the point in getting a console that is tied to the internet and mass media so heavily I don't, and cant get a 1gbps ( or even a 'good' connection, i'm stuck on 2meg ) connection and I rarely play multiplayer games so there's little that I could gain from cloud technology if sony has done the same and heavily invested in the cloud over local gaming then consoles are out for me one way or the other it just wont be viable

and even if the god of dark fibre ( google, google it. .. tehe ^^ ) decides to plant gigabit speed internet in my street i still wont be buying an xbone to then 'rent' games from microsoft as they've cut me off as a customer entirely.

the wii-u isn't my thing at all.

the playstation is an engima wrapped in a mystery dancing around in the pocket of the devil while he tangos in the pale moonlight so we shall see what happens with that, until then it's pc only here.

I really might buy a playstation 4, maby.. there are a few games that work better on a console just because pad is the only way to play them, also Gt because why not. ( no real word on ps4 wheels though )

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I think we have to wait until E3 to see which way the wind is blowing. Sony's reveal wasn't exactly that thrilling either and Nintendo need to announce some games.

I think Microsoft made a huge mistake by just trying to appeal to casual users with tv, sports games and COD. If they had just announced one extra title it might of helped their case immensely.

Not to mention all the extra reasons they gave us not to buy one.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Sony have learned the mistakes that they made with the PS3 launch and Microsoft hasn't because it never fell below expectations. It will be an interesting battle that I won't be any participant in until the dust has settled down. At the moment, however, I'm really tempted to go back to Sony.

 

[BrotherRool]

I don't actually think Sony has much of a winning hand, the used game thing might blow up in their face, but that's about it. The majority of people don't read gaming news sites, the majority of people don't care. There's nothing thats happened that will actually damage MS unless it trickles down to normal people through us, and that's a bit sketchy, because you have to care a little to be bothered that MS didn't mention many games in their conference. To most people it'll probably either be a little bit funny and then forgettable, or sound really petty

 

[Souplex]

The PS4 looks better than the XBOne. (It even finally has a comfy looking controller, which is a big change of pace for Sony controllers. But the left stick is still in the wrong place)
Unfortunately, Sony as a whole is financially barely alive.
If they go broke halfway through the generation, the PS4 may lose all its support.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

I think this was Sony's plan all along. Before either console was announced Sony said it's not about coming out first, it's about who has the better machine. By looking at how poorly the Xbox reveal went I doubt that they'd do the same.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I saw a poll on a technology related website where more people voted for the Xbox One over the PS4 as to which console they were most psyched for. I think it depends which way you look at it. For sure Microsoft have lost the vast majority of the gamers (myself included), but judging from their own response they seem to be like "who cares". Reading between the lines I think they are going for the cross over appeal that a system like the Wii got with dragging in the stay at home mums and senior citizens. If Microsoft can make a shitload of money with a machine that drags in more people at the expense of hardcore gamers, while Sony turns over a mild profit from the gaming fraternity I really don't think they'll give a fuck. They've proved that they're all about the business and nothing much else.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Well from what I've seen thus far from polls, comments and what not, the majority seems to favor the PS4 thus far. It really depends on Sony how to play the hand that has been given to them.

It will all be decided on E3 however. I'm curious to see what titles will Xbone bring to the table as well as PS4.

Either way, it's going to be glorious to see these two consoles have a war with each other again, since I will not take part in it because I'm a PC gamer and can't really afford to buy a console anyway.

If I would have to choose it would of most definitely be a PS4, because I don't like having a visual DRM camera known as Kinect 2 watching everything I do in the living room.

 

[Lilith]

As many have said above, I'm sure they're going to mess up somehow but I don't see it being anywhere as bad as MS - they're just not THAT stupid. I'm mainly a PC gamer but I have a Vita and PS3 and usually only buy the exclusives or multiplayer games for them. Sony is a company I really want to support for gaming but they always seem to mess something up, despite what I believe to be good intentions.

Microsoft's xbone fiasco has arisen because they have shown that they couldn't care less about consumers. Sony genuinely seems to care about their reputation amongst consumers as well as their share price. However, they always drop the ball at the last minute. Overpriced console, lack of exclusive games, etc.

With regards to the DRM issue, given that Sony is Japanese I can't see them following Microsoft's line on that one. Having lived in Tokyo I've seen how large the second hand market is there. New games even for the PSP are still around $100 and so the trade in market is thriving. Sony would alienate millions of customers in Japan alone if they used online DRM for games.

Roll on E3 and we'll see what happens...

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I'd vote for two of your options if I could, as I game on my laptop more than my PS3 these days. Alas, I'll have to stick is with the "Partially... hard to screw up as bad as the Xbox One" option. Sony's bound to do something stupid, however to fuck up as bad as Microsoft did would take some colossal, yet genuine effort. It's possible of course, but if I were a betting man I'd bet against it.

Captcha: "make a bee-line". Second time I had that Captcha today, yet it was fitting both times. How odd.