E3 2013: Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo: Judging the Big 3's Presentations

As Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have now all had their moment to shine at E3, I thought I’d run down my personal thoughts on where the big three went right (and wrong) with their press conferences/presentations.

Here’s my round-up of E3’s biggest hitters:

Microsoft

Microsoft failed to address any and all concerns regarding the Xbox One, and while they spotlighted a handful of interesting titles, it was clear that they were simply using those titles to distract us from the problems regarding their upcoming console.

The continued push of SmartGlass was also tiresome, as was some of the onstage banter, with the exchange between producer and host during the Killer Instinct onstage demo being particularly uncomfortable.

While the likes of Project Spark, Crimson Dragon and Deadly Premonition creator Swery65’s D4 certainly intrigued me, the majority of the titles shown simply were not enough to justify purchasing a console that is so full of restrictions and limitations.

For the first time in E3’s history, there was a definitive “loser” in the “console war,” and that was Microsoft.

Sony

Prior to E3 there were rumours being circulated that Sony were going to follow suit with Microsoft and make the PlayStation 4 as restrictive as its competitor, but thankfully they have assured us that isn’t going to be the case.

Towards the end of their press conference, Sony CEO Jack Tretton laid the metaphorical smack down on Microsoft, first confirming that they would not be imposing similar used games restrictions, then stating that the PS4 wouldn’t need an internet connection to work, before dropping the pipe bomb that their console would be a whole $100 cheaper.

However, Tretton later backtracked somewhat on the system’s used games policy, later explaining to GTTV that while Sony wouldn’t apply DRM to their own first-party titles, they would still allow third-party publishers to do so. This would make the PS4 similar to the PC in that respect, allowing publishers to create their own business models in the way that Blizzard and EA did with Diablo 3 and Sim City. While this is nowhere near as restrictive as Microsoft’s policy, it’s still a little disheartening that we may see DRM appear on the PS4 in some way.

As far as games were concerned, Sony didn’t really show anything that peaked my interest. The Dark Sorcerer trailer was a bit of fun and the Kingdom Hearts III teaser has me excited to see more, but none of the console’s launch titles have stood out to me as “must haves.” However, the PS4 still appeals to me far more than the Xbox One does, and in terms of the overwhelmingly positive response their press conference received, it can be safely argued that Sony “won” E3 2013.

Nintendo

I fear my initial prediction that Nintendo choosing to opt out of holding a press conference at this year’s E3 was a bad idea was right.

While Sony became the charming heroes following their press conference and Microsoft became the pantomime villains following theirs, Nintendo has been reduced to the role of an extra in the console war, even though the games they revealed in their Nintendo Direct presentation interested me far more than what both Sony and Microsoft had to offer.

Super Mario 3D World looks like heaps of fun, and while the revealing of titles such as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. was certainly no surprise, it didn’t lessen my excitement to get my hands on them.

Also, while I have no qualms with waiting a little while longer to finally be able to play these titles, the fact that the majority of the games shown by Nintendo aren’t being released until 2014 will certainly do the company no favours as their competitors’ consoles are set to release later this year. The lack of third-party titles shown will also not help improve Nintendo’s fortunes, either.