Reasons Why Sony “Won” This Year’s E3 Event

Trying to reason out which large, nearly monolithic gaming giant actually “wins” a trade show is of course, always going to lead to an argument / debate.  On the one hand, there are always going to be clear indications (especially from the gamers and fans) as to which company was able to edge out the competition, of course.  However, it is highly questionable to simply blurt out that this or that institution actually “won” a trade show, especially considering that we’re not talking about a competition here, but a “showing” of products.  In this sense, all participants must be given some respect simply because they were in attendance and drew interest in whatever it was they were promoting / selling.  Nevertheless, because we’re talking about gamers here, a crowd who are all too familiar with the notions of winning and losing, it seems we must pick a distinct victor, and if that’s the case it has to be Sony (for E3 2014), here’s why…

Microsoft said they were bringing “games”, but then again, so did Sony (and Nintendo to some degree)

Let’s face it, yeah; Microsoft did in fact reveal a lot of titles which certainly look interesting to say the least (i.e. – the undeniable “Halo 5”, of course), but then again, so did Sony.  For all intents and purposes it suffices to say that they are completely or very nearly matched in every regard, the only deciding factor being your own personal taste in games.  Needless to say, all of the PS4 upcoming titles looked beyond fantastic, with many of them obviously being available across multiple platforms and not remaining exclusive.  In instances like these we almost have to forgo counting them, but some are poised to give off such an impact that they basically can’t be avoided.   “Destiny” is a great example of this, of course.

Naturally, the reveal of Uncharted 4 was really the big talk of the E3 town on the exclusives front. But there was also “Bloodborne” along with several other interesting additions like “Let it Die” and “The Order: 1886”.  All of the other existing entries (from currently existing franchises) like “Far Cry 4”, “Grand Theft Auto V”, “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare”, “Batman: Arkham Knight” and others only further sweetened the whole affair.  The bottom line is that there seemed to be more playable, interesting and largely fun-looking games that are destined for the PS4 later this year vs. many of the offerings for other counterparts (an exception perhaps being made for the Legend of Zelda title on Wii U – that looks incredible).  The point is, Sony and the PS4 aren’t missing or losing anything, in fact they have a stunning assortment of great titles ready for every genre you can think of – open world, FPS, 2D, arcade, etc.

What pushed Sony ahead were its big technology reveals and projects

Sure, games are essential, of that there can be no question, but once you have solid 10+ or so titles on the yearly production line it’s probably high time to begin looking for ways to improve upon the overall usefulness of your product / brand, right?  Well, that’s exactly what Sony brought to the table not just with the Project Morpheus, VR project which seeks to bring enhanced reality gaming to the forefront, but also in the realm of conventional and retro gaming as well (PlayStation TV).  As far as virtual reality goes, Sony’s Project Morpheus is basically a gamer’s dream come to life.  In essence, this is what legions of gamers have been interested in for decades now.  Finally, spurred on by the progress by the Oculus crew and others, Sony is officially investigating the possibilities of exploring what VR has to offer.   Quite simply, if they do it right and are able to get some great developers on board it could very well forever alter the face of the video game industry at large.

Then of course there’s the PlayStation TV reveal, which is by all accounts one of the more striking things that Sony has recently brought to the table.  For all intents and purposes it is a screen-less Vita console which allows you to connect a DualShock 3 controller to it in order to stream various games from the PlayStation Now service (currently unavailable).  Right now it is said to support at least 100 Vita titles as well as PSP, PSX and other titles as well.  Even better, it’s going to be cross-compatible with the PS4, meaning that it can act as a hub to stream PS4 action to other televisions remotely.  All in all, once it connects to PlayStaiton Now and allows for streaming of things like PS3 titles, it is expected to come to dominate a lot of people’s living rooms and homes.