Considering A PS4 and Wii U Combo for the Next Generation

Lets start with me expressing how excited I was to see what Microsoft had to offer for gamers, Sony hit it right with the back to back game reveals, it got the gamer in me anxious for the console to finally release so I can have it in my room and play some Infamous: Second Son or Killzone: Shadow Fall. I had this same excitement until the Xbox Reveal was over. When Don Mattrick said, “I want to thank you all for coming” , my jaw dropped, I was thinking was that it? Yes, they showed the shiny console and the controller with it, but what else was there. I’m a gamer, I want games to play, so show me games but what did I get instead, a bunch of entertainment related features and content. Honestly the highlight for me during this conference, besides the unveiling, was the instant switching feature and that a new Halo series was coming.

After the conference was over, news began flooding around the web. The Xbox one will require you to install all games, you need to log into your account to play your games(Link), no backwards compatibility, it will not function without Kinect , etc. As if the conference didn’t already turn me off about the Xbox One , all of this other news just brought the console down even more for me.

Now I want to take you back to Sony’s PS4 reveal, What was shown? They showed off the controller, some of the interface, discussed the console’s tech but then after that they quickly jumped onto games, Knack live demo, Killzone: Shadow fall live demo, Drive Club, Infamous: Second Son, The Witness (by the developers behind Braid) , Media Molecule’s new game, Capcom’s new game Deep Down, Watch_Dogs, Diablo 3 and Destiny. Six of those games are exclusive to the console.

(The Conference)

I see where Microsoft is trying to go with all of these entertainment features, they want to hit the bigger, casual gamer market but I want them to remember who helped them achieve success, the hardcore gamer. Since the original Xbox, the hardcore have been purchasing their console and games along with it, the core gamer was throwing their support to Microsoft and now it seems this bigger market is a more important focus. Does Microsoft even know who watches these conferences? The hardcore gamer, the one who has been keeping up to date on all things video games and what happened? They appealed to a whole different market.

Why am I considering a Wii U over the Xbox One as my second console? Simple, it will be something different from my PS4, in terms of games. I love Halo and Gears, but I don’t think that is enough of reason to purchase a console anymore. Forza 5 and Quantum Break were announced, but that was it for exclusivity, everything else was EA and Activision and those games I’ll be able to get on the PS4. I have been a Nintendo fan since the N64 and I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of another Mario kart, Super Smash or a full fledged 3D Mario game. I’m a gamer and I want to play video games, I don’t want to play around with gestures all day, and movies and TV shows, I’ll catch online.

Finally, as the title says, “I’m Considering”, so I could change my mind when E3 rolls around and we’ll hopefully get a glimpse of some of the 15 exclusive games set to release during the console’s first year (Link), hopefully Microsofts delivers for its core gamers.