Sony and Microsoft have been having this constant competition with one another ever since the release of the first Xbox. PlayStation was king of the market in the 90’s and up until 2002, when the Xbox decided to give Sony a run for their money. Inevitably, for the past 14 years there has been a constant rivalry between the two.
Back in the 90’s, I fell in love with gaming through having a PS1, just like many others did. Having a PS1 was amazing technology, and many thought it couldn’t get much better. Then the next advancement was the PS2, and I pestered my parents for one, just as every child did. We got one, and I say we because it was more my dads than it was mine, but I didn’t care – after all I could still claim to have a PS2. With Sony dominating the home gaming scene, I can imagine they felt pretty invincible at the time, until 2002, when Microsoft released their entry into the home gaming industry – the Xbox. Safe to say, my dad’s gaming addiction was as bad as mine, so we went on to get an Xbox, and that was the turning point. I don’t claim either console to be better than the other, because they’re both amazing, but everyone has their preference.
As Microsoft released theirs two years after the PS2, it was a fresh console, and although there was competition between the brands, it wasn’t as direct as it appears now. There seemed to be a more noticeable division with the later releases of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (I sided with Xbox on this one). Each console had it’s own exclusive game releases: Xbox added a Kinect motion detector feature and PlayStation had the Blu-ray player. This is where the market began to turn. It was no longer about the best gaming system, it was also about which extras are more interesting or more beneficial. I never used the Kinect, because I’m lazy and don’t want to move too much, and I never got into Blu-ray because it hurts my eyes and causes headaches (I have no idea why). Anyway, neither of these added extras swayed my decision, and for me and many others, it was still purely about the games.
The rivalry continued with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but now at the recent E3 show, there have been more announcements. Microsoft have shared information about the upcoming release of the Xbox One S, a slimmer and upgraded version, with Blu-ray and with capabilities such as supporting 4K Ultra HD for things like Amazon Instant Video and Netflix (ugh, give me a break). That’s not all. Microsoft are also talking of Xbox Scorpio or ‘Project Scorpio’ – an even further improved addition to the Xbox collection, which will be more than twice the spec of the current Xbox One and I presume will be supporting some kind of VR and full 4K gaming. So basically, there will be three classes of Xbox One, and the original (y’know, the one you might’ve paid over £400 for a year ago) will be bottom of the spec list. Sony have also shared info on the PlayStation ‘Neo’, which again, is an improved version of the current PS4, with higher spec and the capability to support 4K gaming and the PlayStation VR Headset. A great announcement for some – a kick in the nuts for others.
Console releases are becoming less and less about the games, and more about the profit. Whereas before, a new console would be released because technology had developed so much that the old console just wasn’t cutting through the market anymore. Now, a new console is getting released every year with companies deciding to slim down the casing a little and put an extra 50 on the price. I think this is also due to each company rushing their new consoles to beat each other, instead of taking their time and creating one that is truly worth the wait. That plan is backfiring, though. People don’t want to waste their money, and many will hold out because they realise that once one console is released, they’re already working on the updated version. In my view, both Sony and Microsoft are using every opportunity they can to pry each and every penny out of the consumers, which is a shame. I truly love gaming, but I’m not going to buy into every update these companies churn out, no one can afford to! Technology is advancing at a rapid pace, but the competition between Sony and Microsoft is no longer about making necessary advances to keep up with everything and neither are competing about who can make the best gaming console and instead, it’s about who can add the best multimedia extras and, as always, who can make the most profit out of the market.
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