My perspective of PlayStation at E3 2013 conference.

Xbox 360 was my first xbox back in late 2007. I didn't have much games throughout the year, why? Cause I was too busy spending money to fix the console after it kept breaking down to RRoD. Over here we don't have warranty for the consoles, and each time I had to shell out 100$ or so which was crazy. When it broke down the 2nd time, I knew I had enough. I fixed the console for one last time, packaged it and sold it at a loss. It was a huge sigh of relief. By the time I got PS3, GTA IV just came out and Metal Gear Solid 4 was on the horizon...it was perfect. As I look back, selling the Xbox 360 for the PS3 was one of the best decisions I've made, if only I had sold it sooner to save a ton of repairing costs or even better...went straight for the PS3 from the start.

After almost 6 years, I can fondly look back at some of my favorite gaming memories only made possible because of  the PS3. I witnessed some great stories unfold in front of me along with characters that came alive. It is not just the great games PS3 offered me, but through it's online network service called the PSN, I met some genuinely great people and in time they moved on from being just my internet friends to be being friends.

So, what happened at this year's Sony E3 press conference? I loved how the console design clearly shows the PlayStation heritage and plays well with the recent focus of taking the brand back to it's roots. I was pleasantly surprised how compact the entire system was. The half matte and gloss finish seams to be the trend for this generation.

As for the presentation, I really liked how at first they focused on the PS3 and showed some genuinely great games that are coming this year. It is amazing that for a 7 year console, PS3 just can't slow down and some of the games like Beyond: Two Souls are rivaling that of next-generation of consoles in terms of technical prowess which is just crazy if you think about it.

Sony basically in gaming logic, saved all it's power ups and heavy weapons and unleashed them all at once at Microsoft during two thirds into their conference. During a 3 minute window Sony announced:

• No DRM
• No need for always online
• No Used games restriction
• Smaller, sleeker, more powerful console
• Gaikai providing backwards compatibility from PS3 to all the way to PSone

They didn't focus on it on the presentation. But from this video you can get an idea what the interface looks like. I really like the lightweight and minimalist approach to it

So, what sells consoles? Games, exclusive games. Battle of next-gen console exclusives 'shown' was a tie between Sony and Microsoft, I felt Sony didn't show most of their games this E3 even though their lineup was much more diverse than that of Microsoft's. It is very safe to assume Sony's first party lineup is much bigger than that of Microsoft's. But, the battle of winning gamer's hearts undisputedly goes to Sony.

This E3 taught me something very important. It is not just about the games that wins the heart of gamers as I previously thought, no, but also the relationship between the companies and the consumers. People hardly like giant corporations and why would they? They treat us consumers like peasants and leach out money from us to the point we are cut and dried.  Sony reminded us that, behind those big corporate masks...they are all just people just like us. They understand the trials and tribulations we consumers are forced to go through, more so than previous years and being always at the mercy of corporations behind our favorite past time. They showed us that they care and understand us. This is the biggest contrast between Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft delivered their messaging in such a way that it is hard not to feel that we are nothing more than a $ sign to them. To Sony however, we are actual people who are passionate about their products and services and in their part they felt it was very wrong to actually punish us for doing so.

Congratulations Sony, just pre-ordered PS4 and can't wait to have it!

Why Xbox One is Dead on Arrival where I live

All the 'always on', DRM protecting used games are actually nothing compared to the problems we face in regards to console gaming.

I live in a small, relatively poor country called Bangladesh (I'm sure the negative press helped garner a bit of attention). Well anyways, many people get wages far below the minimum international wage, so gaming is the least of the concerns. There are many gamers still and country is steadily growing in this media, however it is amazing to see such a growth because of the impossible obstacles that come between us every now and then. Every major problem seems to stem from one point: Lack of support from console manufacturers.

We don't have official support from Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft for the consoles and hence we don't have proper pricing model (usually much higher than 60$ many complain about and doesn't drop overtime), no warranty whatsoever, the consoles themselves cost a lot (when PS3 came first it cost about 975$) and finally, since our region is not defined properly by the manufacturers, our retailers get mixed region games. Now, perhaps the biggest reason Xbox 360 is heavily pirated (2nd only to PC) is because of region lock preventing us from running our mismatched region, yet still legit games, but PS3 didn't have such a problem being region free. So what happened was legit 360 games stopped coming as piracy rose up for the console, while PS3 remained home for the legit gamers.

With Xbox One already announced it is region locked, you can assure that this console is pretty much useless over here unless Microsoft officially launches, which I doubt it and I think there is a bigger chance for a PlayStation launch than an Xbox launch as Sony has quite a bit of presence here. What will happen is history will repeat itself, Xbox One will be a pirated console (once they crack it), all that remains is the PS4's region status. Here is hoping PS4 is region free.

Microsoft finally pulls the Xbox out of it's disguise

I think Microsoft never really cared much about gaming with their Xbox brand. What they wanted was to infiltrate the living rooms and set up a base for another purpose. The only way to do it at that time was to make a game console in disguise.

At that time, a game console was the only kind of system people were willing to buy and put it in their living rooms. With Xbox 360 finally infiltrating the living rooms, the stage was set for Xbox One to finally show the system's true colors...an all around entertainment machine in the center of your place. Then we connect the dots and see Microsoft's true intent behind the Xbox brand: an entertainment system taking the center of your household. Now that their objective is complete, it seems no surprise that Microsoft slowly starting to unveil this disguise by walking away from core gaming. Gaming will always serve a purpose for Microsoft's Xbox brand, but I fear it will no longer be the focus.

My thoughts on Xbox One reveal

Microsoft's new Xbox is called...Xbox One  (it will surely cause confusion among casual buyers for going to something called '1' from 360). How does it look like...I don't know, but it looks like a huge bulky, 80's VCR, I never saw the design coming considering how beautiful xbox 360 looks.

Don't they understand how contrast works?

The conference was boring and as a gamer it was horrible. I know they probably saving the games for the E3 (which Sony is doing as well), but they should have shown some actual gameplay on stage. Not a single live demonstration revolving around videogames was shown. Very ironic considering Xbox was supposed to be, first and foremost, a game console.

Not everything was disappointing though. Even though the actual console looked disappointing and surprisingly huge, I really liked the controller. Not a drastic change, but more subtle refinements to the already awesome xbox 360 controller.

My favorite part of the conference, glad they didn't change much from the 360

Microsoft marketing their cloud computing called Azure as a platform that can be used to offload data processing from the console and done on the cloud. Although, they weren't clear on how it will affect the way games can be designed, but still sounds promising.Their achievement system is also integrated with the cloud, and will not be static list but everchanging on the developer's whim. Not only that, it will record the moment you got the achievement, adding some a layer of personality into those achievements which I think is pretty cool.

A big issue of this conference was those were just promises. They weren't any form of demos to actually give the audience an idea how it actually feeds into videogames.

Then there were rumors to set to rest about the 'always on' and blocking of used games. Despite having the center stage, they still weren't clear on any of these. In fact, different executives were saying different things, which makes me think...Microsoft themselves were not sure how to approach these situations and were changing things on the fly. Well, they don't have much time left to set things in stone and hopefully on this E3 everything will be answered.

So how was the reveal? Depends on what you were expecting. As someone who is into tv shows, movies and sports, it was actually a good conference and provided a good argument  Xbox One to replace all your devices when it comes to living room entertainment. What about the gamer? Well, coming from a core gamer myself, I felt I was neglected.

I really started to lacked confidence on Microsoft's vision from 2nd half of 360's life, but now... I almost completely lost it. I really don't think they care much about videogames anymore as they do with the other 3 forms of entertainment. But, I am willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and hope that they come out at E3 and remind us that they haven't forgotten about the people who will actually pay 400$-500$ for the system, day one. Sony will do the same and they have an army of studios just waiting to be sent in the console battlefield.

Microsoft, you really REALLY need to step up this E3.

Extra

There were some funny moments in the show. Like the clapping from the audience were actually from Microsoft employees from the back, how classy Microsoft :\

Those who watched the xbox conference through their kinect connected Xbox 360, had a very hard time doing so. Whenever the Microsoft executive would say kinect related commands on stage, the kinect from the audience would take those responses and would interrupt the stream...talk about irony! LOL

Farewell E3 2012!

This was the first E3 that I was literally glued to the screen and watched all the press conferences and many of demos, interviews...all Live. I really love e3 not just because of the announcements, but how it creates a social gathering: bringing gamers from all over the world come together and watch it for hours till end while chatting and tweeting with friends and other gamers about reveals and speculations. Farewell E3, hope I have the strength to do same thing next year!