Here's my take on it:

MS sees that digital downloads are the way to go, so they decide to make downloads and discs indistinguishable in every way except initial install method. They then try to make these games sharable, tradeable, and resaleable in some way, leading to convoluted rules and a mandatory periodic online check for the console.

Sony sees that digital downloads are the way to go, so they decide not to fuck with how disc based games work at all, but still have an online store. The discs are unrestricted, while the downloads are likely to be as restrictive as on the PS3, i.e. no sharing or trading or reselling. Then they leave it up to the consumer to decide.


If digital downloads are the way of the future, both consoles will be able to take advantage of that. However, Sony is allowing consumers to make the choice with the PS4, while the Xbox One is basically forcing consumers into the digital download future whether they want it or not. Its not surprising that the system that gives consumers a choice is seen as more favorable.

+1000 Other than the initial runs of hardware, I'm curious to see if BOTH systems will be like the WiiU was and being able to find them on the shelves just months after their release at most. For sure I see that with the XBoxOne, and possibly a little later with the PS4 since it is the cheaper system of the 2 and I feel in the start will definitely have better sales.

I seriously doubt either will be, gamers will be flocking to see the PS4, techies will be grabbing up the Xbox One. The first couple batches are accounted for, I can guarantee that. Unlike the Wii U these systems are an actual generational leap forward, not playing catch up with any other game console (though an argument can be made for catching up to PCs).

Exactly. Digital will happen on it's own over time. Slowly digital sales will match and overtake retail sales without any interference. MS is just trying to brute force everyone's hand.

One thing that could help Microsoft is making sure the Xbox One comes out before the PS4. Get people to buy before they are side-by-side on the shelves with differing price points.

Sony has experience with this from the PSP, PSP Go and PS Vita. It's why Microsoft should have been paying attention to them. While on a smaller scale, they basically lived out entire console launches on 3 portables.

The PS Vita featured an interface that looks like Sony but works like Microsoft is proposing for the Xbox One, I'm curious to see if that gets brought to the PS4.

I stuck with Xbox because every time I got a red ring, they sent me a coffin and replaced my system for free. I didn't mind being down for a week the 3 times it happened since it was free.

Also purchasing a < $20, 1gb game is vastly different than a $60, 40gb game.

I don't see a "night and day" difference. However that is just my opinion. It just looks to me like a 360 or PS3 game that has been turned up to "ultra settings".

It does look good, no doubt, but good enough to spend $500 for? To the hardcore gamer, yes probably, but to the average joe -- doubtful


I am in my mid-30s, as I get older -- I am alot easier to please with video games. NOW, GET OFF MY LAWN!!

That won't matter, unless you're talking 3 or 4 months before. Both will be sold out, regardless of their release dates.

Jay G., this assessment is perfect. What I disagree with is....

Yes, Sony is giving users more choice... today (well, release day). But 5 years from now, if/when digital distribution is the majority... which console will be giving more choice to the consumer? ETA: what I mean is... which console will have given consumers more flexibility with the titles they purchased?

Sony, with their plastic discs that have to be carried around to every console you use, or MS with their fully-digital-from-day-one library?

Sony, with their lack of trade/re-sellability of digital purchases, or
MS with their "give/sell once or share with 'family' members" digital purchases?

Look, I think MS went a little too far with some of their restrictions (24 hours offline, specifically, even though that will never affect me, and you can only "give" titles to friends of 30 days or more), but I don't think their plan for this new generation of consoles is as anti-consumer as people suggest. I know I tend to play devil's advocate for MS once in awhile on this forum (sometimes because it's amusing, sometimes because people bitch about the silliest things), so I'll be seen as biased, but whatever. My point is just that, while I agree that it seems like the XO plan is anti-consumer (and it is anti-consumer, for today's physical disc purchasers), I think they have a 10-year plan, where Sony only appears to have a 3-year plan.

I agree with you. It likes good but night and day difference? I just don't see it. Granted it would likely change my mind playing it on my 118" screen instead of seeing it thru a 4 inch window on my computer.

I am going to get a next gen system, no question. I am leaning to the PS4 but I am definitely not buying a system until I finish all the games sitting on my shelf right now as well as any I have yet to play that are only available on the 360 or PS3.

So no system for me until at least holiday 2014.* By then, there should be some decent bundles and all of the questions of "which is the system for me" will be ironed out.

*this statement only holds if my PS3 doesn't die within that time frame. If it dies, I won't hesitate to proceed with buying a PS4 first.

It's quite similar to the DVD vs. Blu-ray debate. Sure, there's a bump in quality, but it's not as large of one as going from VHS to DVD.

I think what you're going to see more than anything in the next gen games is the level of detail being increased. Let's use GTA as an example. You'll see more buildings, more scenery, more vehicles on the road, more pedestrians. Maybe you'll see more enemies on screen at once.

I'm not speaking specifically about GTA V, just GTA type games in general. GTA V might just end up being a 1080P upgrade of the PS3/360 version.

This is a good opportunity for the gaming companies to actually innovate gameplay, instead of just putting on a new hi-res paint job to the same tired engines.

And you could see that in Ryse. Look at all the troops on screen. It's impressive.

There is no way digital overtakes retail in 5 years let alone 3.

Eh I tried

Like I said this reminds me of the Xbox 360 launch where people gave it flack for being the Xbox 1.5 since the graphics weren't "that much better". I have a 106" screen as well and the 360 and PS3 are definitely showing their age.

Sony is doing it right though imho, give the user the option to get all the neat lazy features (game switching, etc; ) that the Xbox One will have, but in order to get it you have to buy digitally. It's better than forcing it down your throats with a convoluted trade-in, check-in, and borrowing scheme. Plus it keeps retailers and game rentals alive.

But you can still buy the games digitally from Sony or buy them disc based. You have a choice.

As far as the MS "give/sell once or share with family members" thing...whose to say Sony doesn't implement something similar? I am sure setting that up wouldn't require a whole new console since everything is digital. Sony makes a few changes and boom, you have the same advantages that MS is offering.

I disagree with you stating MS has a 10 year plan and Sony has a 3 year plan. If stuff keeps going digital, both systems appear to be covered. Sony just has their eyes on the short game to help them also win the long game. MS just skipped the short game completely which I think is a massive misstep.

100% agree. Exactly what I am thinking.

Hell, I just got a Bluray player for Christmas and so far I have watch probably 15 blurays and I have yet to see one that made me thing "wow this is so much better than DVD". It isn't because I have a "sucky" tv, I have a rather nice one.

The Art of Flight (w/ 7.1) and Planet Earth.

That said I sort of skipped Blu-rays in favor of streaming.

My original comment on this upcoming gen was it was going to be PC gaming with the sliders maxed out and I stick by that, but I still think it looks hugely improved over the current gen which has been showing its age for a while now. I also have a pretty powerful PC and use it in conjunction with wireless HDMI and an Xbox 360 controller, so I've seen better on my setup than either console can offer.

Of course the transition from PS2 -> PS3 -> PS4 and Xbox -> Xbox 360 -> Xbox One is nowhere near as huge as SNES -> Playstation -> Playstation 2. But those generations introduced new ways to game, something Microsoft wanted to do with the Kinect originally but frankly is overestimating its appeal outside of sheer novelty, and something Nintendo should have learned but didn't.

But yes, next gen will focus on higher resolutions, more detail and more polygons, same as this gen and the last gen. However, the current gen brought proper online gameplay, wireless controllers out of the box, digital distribution and game consoles as more than dedicated gaming units, so I am curious to see what kind of non-graphics based things pop up with the next gen.

Agreed. Same goes for XO. You can buy them digitally or on disc, but as Jay G. pointed out, MS says that by the mid-point of these consoles, they are the same thing, so we treat them as the same thing today. Sony (rightfully, today) says they're different today, and should not be treated the same.

Because they've said nothing of the sort. I'm not trying to speculate about what either company is going to change in the next few years. I'm just saying that today, if you look at the policies that both companies have laid out, an argument can be made that your disc-based PS4 games are going to be more of a hassle than a blessing. Sure you can sell them easier, and that's awesome, but MS has outlined that you can sell, trade, or share your digital games too, a topic Sony has completely avoided.

Excellent point, actually. I just interpret it a little differently. Sony's plan is basically, "We'll go with the flow, and change things as they happen." where MS is saying, "This is the future. #DealWithIt"

MS has a vision of where things are headed, and if they're wrong, so be it. They're betting big, and if they fail, it will give people copious amounts of pleasure. But if MS is right (again, playing devil's advocate...), then Sony will be stuck playing catch up, just as they did with PSN, Trophies, etc.

MS is headed in the right direction, but as with all things technology being the first one there is not always how you win the race.

I've had thoughts along these lines too. I can honestly see the Xbox One being the more desirable console when digital becomes the preferred method of distribution. From what we know, it seems more future-proof in a number of ways. Until then, however...

This is exactly right. When the next-next-gen hits, PS5 will be playing catch up to what MS has already done with the XBOX One. Just like with Online gaming (Sony STILL hasn't caught up), trophies etc...MS is ahead of it's time.

How exactly is MS "ahead of it's time" in terms of tangible benefits to the consumer?

Microsoft is ahead of its time in basically wanting to kill physical media, unfortunately it's one of those "ahead of your times" where you're ahead of a majority of the population and that rarely works out.

I still stand by my original comment, it's one generation too soon right now.

I remember when the PS3 was first announced, people were saying Blu-ray was one generation too soon as well...

The PS3 may have had a very slow start, but it worked out for them in the end.

Yup. Their Azure servers are nothing to balk at. If persistent worlds and offloaded processing are going to be implemented in new games (possibly new genres?), then they're set. Sony doesn't have that kind of power on the server side.
Yup! Exactly why I'm not one of the "MS IS #1 FUCK SONY, BITCHES!" guys.


5 years ago, I'd have never said that MS was ahead of their time at anything. But... yeah.

Exactly. I was firmly in the HD DVD camp, and thought that Sony was crazy to put Blu-ray in the PS3. Now? I still have 100 or so HD DVDs... but I've got three times as many Blu-rays. Why? Because Sony won that war with the PS3. Sure, they "lost" the console war (or tied, maybe), but they made a calculated strategy to get Blu-ray to destroy HD DVD, and it did. I just wish Blu-ray was region free, so I didn't have to worry about region mod chips getting "killed" by firmware updates. I remember the one and only time HD DVD had a chance at outselling Blu-ray in a specific week (Transformers came out as an HD DVD exclusive!), every Blu-ray studio did a surprise B1G1 sale. Transformers on HD DVD still sold more copies than any other individual title on Blu-ray, but Blu-ray obliterated HD DVD that week. Oh, the memories. I think I even posted a super-biased chart showing this at the time.

But there's the thing...if Sony wins this generation, they won't give a shit if they are playing "catch-up" with the next console in regards to digital distribution.

If the majority of buyers go the PS4 route over the Xbox1 over the next few years, and their digital content transfer to the next console, who do you thing people are going to stick with. Being ahead of your time or even being a better product certainly doesn't mean success. 8 tracks, Beta, Laserdiscs, Dreamcast, etc. say .

And how people like you are overlooking MS' big brother attitude is just mind-boggling to me.