Post E3 Requirements: Sony's Playstation Vita

So now that E3 is over and the disappointment has dissipated somewhat, the three companies are gathering the reactions and news and moving on from the massive event. Each of the three big competitors are in very different financial and success statuses and have different aspects that require improvement and more focus. E3 revealed these flaws, and unless they can fix the issues before the big and extremely important winter holiday season, we are going to be in for an interesting financial season in gaming. I have compiled what I believe all three companies should do to try to survive the next fiscal year.

Sony: Playstation Vita and Playstation 3


What E3 showed us about Sony is that their support on the rapidly-dying PSVita is beginning to wane, and that the Playstation 3 is also running on fumes along with the Xbox 360. Small little fact: the PS3 has had the most exclusives and also the most decently-rated games within the past two years. However, all they got going for them are franchises that make more money elsewhere and sequels that we never truly asked for. The Playstation has had hits in the software front but the hardware front has consisted of an ishload of misses. The Vita, the Move have all (partially) contributed to Sony’s ridiculously low stock value in recent times.

So how can Sony combat this? By pulling a move from the Nintendo chronicles and do something to hold them over until the PS4:




Make the Vita a PS2 Handheld.

We are talking start finding a way to make all of the grand PSX and PS2 classics available on the Vita. No, not some, as many as humanely possible. The PS2 is hands-down one of the best systems ever made with an arsenal of games that quadrupled that of the competitors at the time. So why not take the Gran Turismos, the GTAs, the Metal Gears, the Final Fantasies, the Burnouts, the Slys, the Ratchets, the Jaxs, the Medal of Honors, and every other hugely successful Sony game and attach them to the download line? Clearly the modern games aren’t pushing the Vita sales, so why not advertise that you can have Sony’s flagship success story at the palm of your hand?

Love or hate Nintendo, they know how to draw back to the past to drive their current systems. The 3DS was arguably saved by remakes---Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time. So why couldn’t Sony be saved by the likes of Gran Turismo 3, Burnout 3, etc.? The Vita can advertise itself as being the past, present and future of Sony----in a handheld. The PS4 has a great chance of successfully launching if they continue their wonderful barrage of first-party games---------but the Vita needs saving, desperately, truly, madly deeply.

Digging to the past can help this.




P.S. A price drop and return to Kevin Butler advertising couldn't hurt either.

Post-E3 Requirements: Microsoft's XBox 360

So now that E3 is over and the disappointment has dissipated somewhat, the three companies are gathering the reactions and news and moving on from the massive event. Each of the three big competitors are in very different financial and success statuses and have different aspects that require improvement and more focus. E3 revealed these flaws, and unless they can fix the issues before the big and extremely important winter holiday season, we are going to be in for an interesting financial season in gaming. I have compiled what I believe all three companies should do to try to survive the next fiscal year.

Microsoft: Xbox 360

What E3 revealed about Microsoft was that the 360 despite its years of wonderful fan service was running out of steam. The Kinect expanded the lifespan a little but the system wasn’t delivering any surprises. That Metal Gear spinoff is still missing, Halo 4 looks like…Halo, and all of the focus was shifted on a game you could find on the PS3. Xbox however still has one ace up its sleeve that has not been used.



Rareware.

Where is the Killer Instinct 3? The Perfect Dark 3? The ACTUAL Banjo-Kazzoie 3? Blast Corps 2? Jet Force Gemini 2? Conker’s Bad Fur Day 2? Dinosaur Planet 2? Battletoads 5? Microsoft has a lot of exclusive IPs from the British gaming company that they could work on. While Rare is definitely not what it used to be, they still have a few formulas that with a little tweaking can produce grand games.

You can give Bungie or Epic Games Perfect Dark or Jet Force Gemini. You can give the Dead or Alive makers Killer Instinct or Battletoads. You can give the Explosion Man creators Blast Corps for a little change in pace. If you refuse to move on to the next generation, then start throwing some new/rarely used IPs to keep the current gamers excited. Surely Call of Duty will entice the usual gamers, but it will be hard to continue to sell the hardware. PS3 is catching up believe it or not. Bringing back the Rareware glory can end it all.




P.S. This is awesomeness.

The E3 That Lacked a Winner

The E3 conferences came and went and to this day we still don’t really have a winner. As a matter of fact, I saw several losers. We were losers for watching, and Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo were losers for not truly delivering anything spectacular. If anyone was a winner, it was Ubisoft for being the true company giving us hope for the gaming future by doing exclusive content for the PS3, Vita, and even the WiiU. Besides that, a lot of swings and misses.


Microsoft showed Call of Duty, Halo 4, among other franchises we’ve all been accustomed to. And they announced a device that connects itself with the Xbox 360. The SmartGlass is supposed to be a slam towards the WiiU tablet and tablets everywhere. So, this is basically another feature of the Xbox that allows us to spend more money----as if enough isn’t spent on the system and Xbox Live already. And P.S. Microsoft: when you dedicate the last part of the show to a video game that will be available to other systems----you aren’t doing very well.


Sony showed us PSVita content for three seconds, spent too much time showing us Ubisoft material that most gamers already saw, and then spent a ridiculous amount of time on a reading mechanism involving the PS3 and Vita. Um…..why? Then they spent a portion of time playing Super Smash—er, Playstation All-Stars, which really wasn’t all that impressive. Besides handing out goodies to the people that saw the show, there wasn’t much for any witnesses to be excited about.


I came to the conclusion that the PS3 and the 360 are definitely running out of steam, and running out of ways to truly grasp our attention. So the sights were set on Nintendo to veer us into the next generation with its new console.


But…. Didn’t really happen.


Barely talked about the hardware, didn’t give a set price or a release date, and outside of Mario did not deliver a big Nintendo franchise at the conference. There was no momentum to have to shift, all Nintendo had to do was shell out several exclusives, reveal how the controller can truly alter the gaming industry, and show that the future is coming up. None of this happened, as there were no trailers, not a lot of gameplay, and still a mythical lack of information on the upcoming hardware. Newsflash: the holiday season isn’t that far away.

So the winner is, nobody. That being said, with E3 still going on, someone can still take the crown.




If only this were real though, then we would have had a winner for sure.