Playstation 4 Release Details and the Death of the Xbox One

Playstation 4, commonly referred to as the PS4, was released late today before E3 kicked off only hours later. Some may be left wondering if the guys over at Sony were simply waiting for an opportunity to get the upper hand on Microsoft, or if they truly built a system designed around what you want. I’ll let you make that decision, but I think everyone can share the same opinion, Microsoft didn’t walk out a winner today.

To keep things brief for viewers only interested in what the Playstation 4 has to offer I’ll make a quick list below.

Playstation 4 Specs

x86 AMD “Jaguar” 8 core processor
1.84 Tflop Graphics Core
8GB of DDR5
500GB HDD
HDMI – 1080p and 4k Support, Analog A/V & Optical outputs
$399
“Fall” Release date

While the Playstation 4 release date is still unknown to the exact date, you can still buy the Playstation 4 from Amazon, which displays a December 31st 2013 release date.

Playstation 4 Details

Playstation Camera will not be included with the system.
Dualshock 4 Controllers and the Playstation Camera will cost $59
Playstation + required to play games online. (Around $5 a month)
Playstation 4 will not be required to be online to play games.

Playstation 4 Games List

Abe’s Oddysee
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Blacklight: Retribution
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Crew
The Dark Sorceror
TBA
Daylight
Dead Rising 3
DC Universe Online
Deep Down
Destiny
Diablo III
The Division
Don’t Starve
Dragon Age Inquisition
DriveClub
Dying Light
EA Sports UFC
Elder Scrolls Online
FIFA Soccer 14
Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XV
Galak-Z
Just Dance 2014
Infamous: Second Son
Killzone: Shadow Fall
Kingdom Hearts III
Knack
Madden 2014
Mad Max
Mercenary Kings
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Mirror’s Edge 2
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 14
Need for Speed Rivals
Octodad: Deadliest Catch
Outlast
The Order 1866
Peggle 2
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
PlanetSide 2
Primal Carnage: Genesis
Ray’s The Dead
Secret Ponchos
Skylanders Swap Force
Sniper Elite 3
Star Wars Battlefront
The Witness
Thief
Transistor
Warframe
War Thunder
Watch Dogs
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Wolfenstein: The New Order

Games list from IGN.

Playstation 4 Kills the Xbox One

Let me preface this really quickly, I’m not a console man. I never really have been, since the days I laid my hands on my first computer I’ve rarely touched my consoles. With that being said, I’ve owned nearly every one, and never once have I felt there was such a distinct distaste from fans until the Xbox One showed up.

The issues began on day one. When the first pictures of the Xbox One were released, communities everywhere erupted with comments of complete hatred towards Microsoft’s choice of design for the Xbox One. In the end, design isn’t going to effect your gameplay, so I’m not going to touch on that. If you are one who prefers to have a different style, you can always change the cosmetics of a case.

Shortly after the pictures and specs were released, users took to social media forums to speak of their dislike of the new console. Days later a report came out that Microsoft employees were using Reddit to do damage control for the reputation of the Xbox One. That claim has been investigated by Reddit, who found there to be no evidence of this. However, the damage was done, and the public still sees this as a scandal.

The Xbox One wasn’t killed there, however the design, and the reports they manipulated reddit to boost their image, didn’t help. The Xbox One really failed today, during their own E3 2013 release, and it really all comes down to two things: DRM and the price.

Why Xbox One’s DRM Failed

Like many other large entities in the gaming industry, DRM sounds good. That’s until your thousands of paying customers can’t access the product they paid for. Then the hailstorm of bad media, and the falling off of your fans & customers starts. I’ve never heard a gamer ask for a company to only let them play their game while they’re connected to the internet, unless the game was specifically built for online play only. Microsoft apparently hasn’t heard that, or choose to ignore it, when they announced today that you will be required to connect to the internet once every 24 hours in order to play your games. This is where Sony stepped in and stole the show. Once they announced the Playstation 4 will not need to be online to play physical games, console gamers erupted with cheers everywhere they could be heard. The choice here is simple, be required to be online at all times, or not… it’s easy to choose not to.

New Console Pricing Can Make a Difference

Perhaps the final “nail in the coffin” at E3 2013, was the announced pricing on both consoles. The Xbox One was up first, and announced their pricing at $499. The Playstation 4 came up later in the evening, and announced their pricing at $399. Perhaps Sony saw opportunity to deliver a better product at a reduced cost, or perhaps they really were just trying to beat Microsoft here. Either way, a console with no DRM, a better received design, and a lower price is obviously the winner here.

Opinions are Opinions

My opinions are no more powerful than your opinions, and I consider myself a level-headed person. The design, the price, and the always-on features of the Xbox One really aren’t a reason for me not to buy it. I don’t believe the Xbox One itself is a failure, however it really does feel their release is a failure, and that could put Microsoft down a long and difficult road. You can only count on the exclusive series to carry you for so long.

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