PlayStation vs. Xbox: Who Won at E3 2016?

Finally! The long-awaited hours are finally past us, and we can now analyze which one of these two colossal giants served gamers better. Let’s not waste any more time and get on to it.

The Hype

Before their respective conferences, both MS and Sony were going shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe because of the coming IPs, both scheduled and speculated. Heading into their conferences we saw Microsoft coming up with huge announcements and Sony, as usual, capitalizing on the advantage of its slot, which is always after Microsoft’s, to adapt and improvise. So, here are the big announcements.

Microsoft 

 

As was expected, Microsoft announced Xbox One S, a new console with 4K output, built-in power supply and to an extent, better color output. One S also featured 40% reduced size, thus gaining the title of “Slimmest Xbox ever.” Xbox One S will be available starting August 2016 at a retail price of $299

The presentation also introduced a concept of make your own Xbox One controller where the fans will be able to carve their version of customized Xbox Controller.

Team Xbox then moved onto cool games like Forza Horizon 3, We Happy Few, Dead Rising 4, Gwent, State of Decay 2 and Halo Wars 2 along with multiplatform titles.

The final minutes of the presentation were the best. That is when Microsoft unveiled Project Scorpio, a console that developers are deeming the most powerful console ever made – like ever! If that doesn’t get fans excited, I don’t know what did.

But gamers will have to wait till the Holiday season next year because this baby isn’t coming out soon.

Sony:

Sony was no short of exciting announcements. Their turn began with a preview of the new God of War, which feels more of a reboot and now features more RPG elements than its trademark hack n’ slash. That got the crowd roaring to say the least.

Then, there was legendary Kojima san and his first work since his departure from Konami’s MGS division.

The Last Guardian, a sort of successor to PS2’s all-time favorite, Shadow of Colossus, was also exhibited and the fans screamed at that as well.

Sony was ahead of Microsoft in terms of virtual reality because while no significant developments were disclosed regarding Hololens, Sony’s VR definitely gave gamers a taste of what’s to come in the gaming industry. Resident Evil VR, Batman VR, FIFA VR and Spiderman VR landed serious blows on Microsoft’s magnificent presentation.

Conclusion

While the demo of Gears of War 4 got audience on their feet, games like Detroit: Become Human and Death Stranding clearly brought upheaval, and in a good way.

The outcome? Sony, to me, was better than Microsoft this year because it featured games, something that have the real power to drive console sales.