(Console) War is Hell.

Since I actually have a keyboard full and proper, lemme rattle out some thoughts on the console war.

I spent the entire previous cycle, long as it was, on the 360 supplemented slightly by PC. The PS3 was an option several times, but from the start the (at the time, obscene) price was an issue, and over time there were enough issues with the way Sony handled their network (and it getting hacked), and the inhospitible climate they had cultivated on the hardware side that pushed many developers to the 360 as well. Only one or two exclusive titles interested me, but the CONSTANT updates taking HOURS to play every time you turned the system on was terrible.

Over that cycle we saw the 360 shift and change to suit it's users, but towards the end it felt like they were making more and more of a push away from the core gamer group that made them the top dog in the states. Knowing they could never win Japan, and were in for an uphill fight in Europe, it was strange to see the main thing on my friends list become Netflix. My 40+ friends list was rarely full and only about 7-8 core friends pop on, and most of those never game with me these days.

So we look forward and I'd expected to remain on a Microsoft console. Despite their push towards the non-gamer. Sony had to recover MASSIVE ground with the core gamers.

But then Sony held their press conference. And Wow. They hit every single button for the core gamers they had accidently cast into the 360's net. Indie dev support, self publishing, major studios signing on from the start, an unobtrusive update and download system. Not since the PS2 era has Sony enraptured the gamer.

And it became Microsoft's game to lose, and they DID. They knew they had the luxury of relaxing and waiting for E3 to push their gaming chops so they filled their announce conference with things for that non-gamer crowd they think is larger than gamers alone now. Forgetting that crowd was only brought into the fold by gamers bringing their console into their homes and exposing it to spouses and siblings and parents that would never have touched it before.

Then the coffin start getting nailed. restrictive DRM, 24 hour offline time before your games are USELESS, inability to loan a game at all to a friend, an always listening kinect sensor that was MANDATORY, and the botching of the talk about the loaned and used game systems they had acquiesced to so publishers would back them. I mean, think about it, EA announces "no more stupid online passes! we're good guys! we listened!" and then essentially blackmails Microsoft to do the dirty work for them.

And then the prices are announced, so now Sony has a $100 savings over a system it already outclassed in gamer specific angles. Sony's only drawback now, is that the PS+ service will be required this time around for online multiplayer, a move which, shocked absolutely NO-ONE, a service you want to be as reliable as possible is going to require a little money put into it by users to keep up. Look at the success the XBLA has enjoyed over the last 3 years.

So let's think about this...

PS4:

• Play offline for as long as you want 
• $49 PS+ service for Multiplayer (comes with 12 free games a year) 
• Crossplay mandatory for all games to the Vita. 
• NO OPPRESSIVE DRM 
• A much more accurate movement control, built into the controller 
• A much improved controller design, featuring larger grips, trigger shaped buttons, indented joysticks. 
• $399 price point 
• Trade in, loan, sell, share your physical games freely. 
• REGION FREE 

XBOX ONE:

• Connect every 24 hours or your game is useless. 
• $59 a year service for online Multiplayer (apparently free games now being added to that deal) 
• Day One download for all titles. 
• $499 price point 
• Trade in at select locations, sell a game to a friend on your friendslist who has been your friend over a month, and only once, then the game is LOCKED to that friend. 
• Slightly improved controller (i really haven't seen THAT much of a difference, it'll be a hands on to notice any advantages) 
• Region Locked. 
• MANDATORY Kinect, always listening, still rather inaccurate under certain conditions. 
• Halo 5 

There are things that are a deal breaker for me personally, but there are gonna be a LOT of people who don't care about those. They're gonna buy an Xbox and be pretty damn happy with it, but I am not one of those folks. I don't sell back games I buy, but I loan my games to friends and still want them back. I enjoy the hell out of many more Indie games than I do triple A titles, on any random month I will play 4-5 Indie games on PC and maybe buy a new triple A title every 2 or even 3 months. Sure I love Halo, but just like with the PS3 and MGS:4 and the Uncharted series, a few good games are NOT going to sell me what I see as a deeply flawed console.

*Salute*
Master Chief, I'll miss you.