E3 2013 musings

I'm going to have to agree with the general internet consensus that Sony killed it at E3, giving Microsoft a bloody nose by announcing a comparatively relaxed policy on DRM and a surprisingly low launch price for the PS4. The Xbox One now feels like little more than a fat, intrusive, expensive nail in the coffin for the concept of ownership; a physical manifestation of everything one could find to loathe about American culture. 

It's difficult to know if these two game-changing selling points are business savvy, knee jerk reactions to the negative sentiment surrounding the Xbox One and the bleak, Orwellian future it represents, or if Sony had always had such a consumer friendly approach in the offing, but for what its worth, Sony has won internet's approval. Whether or not this will equate to more boots on the ground and money in tills come the fall remains to be seen, however.

Here's my thoughts on a few other bits and pieces from E3:

• I'm disappointed that so little was shown of the new free to play Command & Conquer, and that the beta to which I'm invited is still without a start date. What little footage is out there looks promising, though.
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII being re-purposed as Final Fantasy XV was expected, but I'm not sure how I feel about Squeenix's 'fantasy based on reality' approach. The footage shown betrays a game with a serious identity crisis, and offers a window into why it's spent so long in development hell.
• Nintendo announced the obligatory next gen entries into its staple series', but most of these titles are not going to surface until 2014. Nintendo are in more trouble than they'd like to admit - sure, they're not going to run out of money any time soon, but the company is staggeringly out of touch with industry trends at the moment, and seems in no hurry to rectify the situation.
• The news that Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV will be on Xbox One as well as PS4 is yet more proof that we're fast approaching a point where only Microsoft and Sony's first party studios will  produce console exclusives. Indie developers will likely continue to be the exception to this rule and  favour the PS4 due to Microsoft's refusal to allow self publishing on the Xbox One, as will PC developers with coffers full enough to be picky such as Blizzard, who are shouting from the rooftops about the PS3 and PS4 versions of Diablo III but showing utter disinterest in their begrudging Xbox 360 port.
• The Halo trailer did not excite me at all. I initially liked Halo 4, the first non-Bungie developed entry in the series but after replaying Bungie's swansong, Reach, went back to Halo 4 and found it, for lack of a better word, hollow.  I've no longer any faith in 343's ability to do the series justice, and the tired, generic teaser trailer shown during Microsoft's press conference did little to change my mind. Roll on Destiny.
• Large swathes of Europe will not be getting the Xbox One at launch. Furthermore, lack of access to the next generation Xbox Live service from outside areas of availability will mean importing the almost-online-only-but-not-quite console isn't an option for those missing out. Japan is also excluded from the first wave of countries that'll receive the console, although this isn't surprising given how abysmally previous iterations of the Xbox have performed in the region. 
• The Last Guardian is still vaporware. Despite years of promises to the contrary, I'd say there's zero chance of it ever seeing the light of day of PS3 now.