This
is it: the battle for the next generation console market is on.Microsoft has finally
revealed the launch date for its Xbox One machine – it
will hit retail in 13 major territories including North America and the UK on
22 November.
It is an interesting and provocative
timing. With Sony's rival PlayStation 4 console arriving in North America on 15
November and Europe on 29 November, Microsoft has chosen a more ambitious
rollout right in the middle of its competitor's launch period. Neither
manufacturer has provided a firm date for a Japanese release, reversing the
traditions of previous console cycles where new devices tended to premiere in
Japan.
In a
statement on the Xbox Wire website, Yusuf Mehdi, the
vice-president of marketing, strategy and business for Xbox wrote: "The
culmination of many years of listening to you, our fans, developing innovative
technology, and partnering with the best game and entertainment partners in the
industry has brought us to this point. There is still a lot more work to do,
but the teams are making excellent progress and are focused on launch."
Officially
announced in May, the Xbox One console has had a rough journey toward its
launch. Microsoft's intitial focus on the video-on-demand and live television
capabilities of its machine alienated gamers, as did early indications that the
console would restrict the sale of pre-owned games and that the
Kinect camera device would need to be permanently switched on for games to
work. Microsoft later controversially reversed these policies and since then
has worked to improve the image of its device. The company enjoyed a
comparatively successful showing at the recent Gamescom festival in Cologne,
revealing a Call of Duty console bundle deal, as well as free copies of Fifa 14
for pre-orders of the special Day one edition of the machine.
With both "next-generation"
consoles arriving on shop shelves within weeks of each other, this is one of
the closest console wars the industry has seen. There was almost a year between
the debut of the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, for example.
It
is expected that the arrival of new hardware will provide a major boost to the
$60bn a year games industry, which has seen software and hardware sales falling
over the last two years. Interest in the new consoles has been huge, despite
competition from devices such as smartphones and tablets. Sony has announced
that 1m pre-orders have been received for the PlayStation 4, and while
Microsoft hasn't provided figures, many stores have closed pre-orders for the
machine, or have stopped guaranteeing that reserved machines will be available
on day one. According to
gaming news site Videogamer, UK chain GAME is now informing
customers that the only way to now secure an Xbox One on day one is to
pre-order the Call of Duty: Prestige Edition bundle – at £615. With shipments
of the Xbox One allegedly
reduced due to poor yield rates of camera and disc drive
components – the launch date may well prove to be rather meaningless to ill-prepared
shoppers who turn up on the day.
The big question now is, how will
gamers, and mainstream consumers, decide between such closely placed
competitors. Both machines feature eight-core CPUs and powerful AMD graphics
processors, and both have built-in Blu-ray drives as well as advanced online
functionality. While on paper, the PlayStation 4's specs seem more powerful,
it's likely that developers will quickly work out ways to exploit the hardware
so that technical differences become negligible.
If it's down to price, thePlayStation 4 comes in at $399 (£349) while the Xbox One will cost $499 (£429),
although the latter comes with the Kinect motion controller, while the PS4's
motion control and camera peripheral is sold separately.
It's just as likely, however, that
games will be the deciding factor. While both will boast major third-party
titles such as Fifa 14, Call of Duty Ghosts and Watchdogs, Sony has the
platform exclusive racing game DriveClub, sci-fi shooter Killzone and cute
adventure platformer Knack, while Microsoft can call on the hugely popular
Forza Motorsport 5, zombie romp Dead Rising 3 and classic reboot Killer
Instinct.
However the competition is decided,
we at least now know when it star
previous article
Newer Post
No comments
Post a Comment