Each year at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony and Microsoft duke it out for console superiority. Rarely has there been a clearer victor (in the slightest sense of the word) than Sony the past two years, however, Microsoft brought their A-game in 2015 in a bit of a surprising way. Although the community is split on who had a better showcase year after year, the resounding opinion remains the same. “Sony is better with hardware whereas Microsoft excels in software” is something many people have claimed over the years with a fair amount of evidence to support it. However, at E3 2015, things seemed to have changed.
Sure, Microsoft announced some great games, but nothing too exciting to a viewer uninterested, for the most part, by Microsofts static lineup of exclusives consisting of Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and the like. There’s no denying those games are great and there are plenty of people jumping for joy for more news of their favorite game, but the most interesting game was probably the Rare collection. On the flip side, though, Microsoft showcased a plethora of new and exciting hardware.
Among those additions is a brand new wireless controller equipped with interchangeable paddles, hair-trigger locks, button mapping, and even more intuitive and fresh customization options.
As cool and exciting as the controller is, the real winners came from the announcement of backwards compatibility and the Microsoft HoloLens. Although playing everyones favorite Xbox 360 games on the One is still quite a ways away, this announcement took E3 by storm. Not only will certain games be automatically available for those who had previously downloaded them on the Xbox 360, but even disc based games will work come this Fall. Although many will not want to go back and play older games, there are just as many, if not more, that will want that option and with how cheap the majority of Xbox 360 games are this update will surely provide many hours of entertainment for Xbox One owners.
Last, but certainly not least was the demo of the Microsoft HoloLens.
Although the details are muddy, the showcase was an exciting look at what technology in gaming will allow gamers to do in the upcoming years. Sure, Minecraft isn’t the most demanding game and sure, who knows if the entire thing is playable or some parts limited to an interactive spectator mode, but at this point in time, who cares? HoloLens was an extremely exciting and almost mind-blowing experience to actually see that in action.
On the other side, the company always excelling in hardware showed very little in that realm but instead a near full conference devoted to just games and it was glorious. Although still very exciting and amazing, everyone expected to see Uncharted 4, Batman: Arkham Knight, and the Destiny expansion, The Taken King. Beyond that, however, Sony opened up their press conference with the ever so elusive The Last Guardian followed by immediate fanfare and awe and although we still don’t have a release date, the game looked great, albeit in a strange way. Although it was rumored that Guerilla Games, the company behind the Killzone series, would announce a new IP, there was no concrete information surrounding it, but luckily, the rumor held true as they announced Horizon: Zero Dawn. With no prior knowledge surrounding this game the entire audience looked on with faces of interest, confusion, and excitement. Looking a bit like Lara Croft, Killzone, and Jurassic Park had a kid, this game is drawing a lot of excitement and we can only hope it delivers in the future.
Other games shown at Sony’s Press Conference were a new Hitman, Street Fighter V (exclusive to PlayStation), and Dreams, a new and strange project from Media Molecule, the creators of Little Big Planet. Sure, these are great, but they’re not the most exciting additions. Sony had opened with two great games and they had plenty to close with as well. The highly anticipated No Man’s Sky was shown a bit more and although no one knows what the point of it is or whether it’ll even be enjoyable there’s not a person in the room who isn’t looking forward to finding out more. To the excitement of many, Shenmue 3 was announced as a Kickstarter (that’s for another day) and has already smashed through its $2,000,000 goal by over 150%. The next game in the series for the beloved cult classic is a thing and gamers should expect to see it around 2017 on PC and PS4.
Although not the most beloved series in the world it is still played by millions of people year after year, Sony announced a new exclusivity partnership with Activision that will put Call of Duty: Black Ops III DLC first on the PS4 for the first time in nearly five years. Up until now, Microsoft has always shelled out the money to gain the Call of Duty exclusivity, but with the sales of the PS4 nearly doubling that of the Xbox One it seemed that Activision wanted to switch to whoever is on top, unsurprisingly.
Lastly, Sony had one final card up their sleeve. Although not exactly a PS4 exclusive, possibly a timed release, the announcement of a true Final Fantasy VII remake. Not just a port but a full-fledged HD remake of Final Fantasy VII is in the works and people are ecstatic. To those who have yearned for a remake of their favorite game and those who never got the chance to play it, the time is near. Although little is known about the remake, the trailer looked phenomenal and that’s enough, for now.
Both Microsoft and Sony showed out this year with two very exciting and intriguing press conferences. Although a bit outside of the norm for the two companies, no one should be complaining with not only the sheer number of upcoming releases we’ll be seeing in the future, but more specifically, the content.
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