Though it's never billed as such, there's no question that E3 is a willy-waving competition.
Every year at the games industry's annual love-in, there seems to be an overall winner, in terms of format. This year, there can be no doubt that Sony absolutely sponged the floor with Microsoft, while Nintendo - as nice as Zelda: Breath of the Wild might look - may as well not have bothered. One game, however good, will not turn around opinions that the company is drifting along like some sort of doped-up "trolley-sloth".
But Microsoft... man... the biggest definitive announcements it made at the show included the unbosoming of the Xbox One S - basically the machine that the Xbox One should've been when it was first released a few years back; 40% slimmer, without the power brick, no Kinect 2.0, a big ole hard drive, and 4K visuals. Which is fine if you've got a 4K TV, but makes scant difference to the rest of us.
But don't worry about the hardware that's coming out this year, Microsoft seemed to suggest: there'll be another Xbox One next year, that'll be much better, and will boast more oomph, and VR, maybe. It'll probably - possibly - feature a tie-up with Oculus or Vive. As well as featuring - and yes, this is an actual quote from their presentation - "The highest quality pixels that anybody has seen".
Anybody remember the Amiga CD-32 ad where a voice-over gasped "So many colours!"?
Every year at the games industry's annual love-in, there seems to be an overall winner, in terms of format. This year, there can be no doubt that Sony absolutely sponged the floor with Microsoft, while Nintendo - as nice as Zelda: Breath of the Wild might look - may as well not have bothered. One game, however good, will not turn around opinions that the company is drifting along like some sort of doped-up "trolley-sloth".
But Microsoft... man... the biggest definitive announcements it made at the show included the unbosoming of the Xbox One S - basically the machine that the Xbox One should've been when it was first released a few years back; 40% slimmer, without the power brick, no Kinect 2.0, a big ole hard drive, and 4K visuals. Which is fine if you've got a 4K TV, but makes scant difference to the rest of us.
But don't worry about the hardware that's coming out this year, Microsoft seemed to suggest: there'll be another Xbox One next year, that'll be much better, and will boast more oomph, and VR, maybe. It'll probably - possibly - feature a tie-up with Oculus or Vive. As well as featuring - and yes, this is an actual quote from their presentation - "The highest quality pixels that anybody has seen".
Anybody remember the Amiga CD-32 ad where a voice-over gasped "So many colours!"?
Oh, and Microsoft's other big announcement? Cross-compatibility between Xbox One games and Windows 10.
Really?
Oh.
Er... does anyone actually care about that then? Excuse my ignorance, but what's the benefit to anybody? Who starts playing a game on their Xbox, and then decides to carry on playing it on their PC?
Am I missing something? I'm sure somebody will think it's a good idea, but it's hardly a game-changer for the vast majority of Xbox One owners. And nor are the boring new controllers they announced boringly.
I hate to say it - because my trousers were firmly in the Xbox 360 camp in the last generation - but it feels as if Microsoft has lost touch.
Really?
Oh.
Er... does anyone actually care about that then? Excuse my ignorance, but what's the benefit to anybody? Who starts playing a game on their Xbox, and then decides to carry on playing it on their PC?
Am I missing something? I'm sure somebody will think it's a good idea, but it's hardly a game-changer for the vast majority of Xbox One owners. And nor are the boring new controllers they announced boringly.
I hate to say it - because my trousers were firmly in the Xbox 360 camp in the last generation - but it feels as if Microsoft has lost touch.
WHAT WERE THE GAMES PLZ?
There were Xbox One games mentioned, of course: Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 10, ReCore, Final Fantasy XV, Dead Rising 4, Tekken 7, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Halo Wars 2.
That's not a bad bunch, but how many of them do you really get excited for?
Scalebound and Sea of Thieves, maybe.
The others are all continuations of existing franchises. There didn't feel like a lot on offer that is going to make people choose the Xbox One over the PlayStation 4. It also didn't help that most of Microsoft's big announcements were leaked in the days before the show, thus stripping them of any impact.
Sony, on the other hand, seem to be doing everything right these days. Not only do they have PlayStation VR dropping in just a few months, but the focus was entirely on games; 50 before the end of the year, in the case of PlayStation VR. That feels like a ridiculous and counterproductive figure, but I suppose we'd all be complaining if it wasn't properly supported.
In terms of regular games, we got God of War 4 - essentially a fresh start for the series - Kojima's bizarre-looking Dead Stranding, Days Gone, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Detroit: Become Human, That Last Guardian, and remasters for Crash Bandicoot.
It added up to a solid mix of the old and the new - and there was much to get stimulated by. And that's before you mention Batman, Star Trek and Star Wars VR games.
There were Xbox One games mentioned, of course: Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 10, ReCore, Final Fantasy XV, Dead Rising 4, Tekken 7, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Halo Wars 2.
That's not a bad bunch, but how many of them do you really get excited for?
Scalebound and Sea of Thieves, maybe.
The others are all continuations of existing franchises. There didn't feel like a lot on offer that is going to make people choose the Xbox One over the PlayStation 4. It also didn't help that most of Microsoft's big announcements were leaked in the days before the show, thus stripping them of any impact.
Sony, on the other hand, seem to be doing everything right these days. Not only do they have PlayStation VR dropping in just a few months, but the focus was entirely on games; 50 before the end of the year, in the case of PlayStation VR. That feels like a ridiculous and counterproductive figure, but I suppose we'd all be complaining if it wasn't properly supported.
In terms of regular games, we got God of War 4 - essentially a fresh start for the series - Kojima's bizarre-looking Dead Stranding, Days Gone, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Detroit: Become Human, That Last Guardian, and remasters for Crash Bandicoot.
It added up to a solid mix of the old and the new - and there was much to get stimulated by. And that's before you mention Batman, Star Trek and Star Wars VR games.
FAIL-OH
I don't want the Xbox One to fail.
I still feel the latent drag of my 360 loyalty - I never, ever, liked the PS3 - but with the system already lagging way behind the PS4, Microsoft's showing at E3 is only going to widen that gap.
It's astonishing how it got things so right in the last generation, yet has managed to balls up the Xbox One from the off.
The excessive price, hardware in the form of the Kinect - that anybody could've predicted was going to end up getting dropped like an ugly baby - and assorted other PR blunders, gave the PS4 an advantage that Microsoft has struggled to straddle.
Unfortunately, while far from a disaster, the company's E3 showing still demonstrates that it has failed to learn lessons from many of those blunders, that it has failed to listen to what its customers want, that it is focusing on so many of the wrong things.
New console hardware isn't a bad idea - but why announce two at the same time? Has the history of the games industry taught them nothing?
Remember when Sega announced the Saturn before the 32X came out? Remember what happened to them? Anyone?
That's right: they've been filed away in the drawer marked "Oh dear".
I don't want the Xbox One to fail.
I still feel the latent drag of my 360 loyalty - I never, ever, liked the PS3 - but with the system already lagging way behind the PS4, Microsoft's showing at E3 is only going to widen that gap.
It's astonishing how it got things so right in the last generation, yet has managed to balls up the Xbox One from the off.
The excessive price, hardware in the form of the Kinect - that anybody could've predicted was going to end up getting dropped like an ugly baby - and assorted other PR blunders, gave the PS4 an advantage that Microsoft has struggled to straddle.
Unfortunately, while far from a disaster, the company's E3 showing still demonstrates that it has failed to learn lessons from many of those blunders, that it has failed to listen to what its customers want, that it is focusing on so many of the wrong things.
New console hardware isn't a bad idea - but why announce two at the same time? Has the history of the games industry taught them nothing?
Remember when Sega announced the Saturn before the 32X came out? Remember what happened to them? Anyone?
That's right: they've been filed away in the drawer marked "Oh dear".
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