In a confluence of first impressions and impressarios, the flight paths of Microsoft, Apple and Sony all went live this week on the radar screens of tech traffic controllers with the trajectories of iOS, Xbox and the Playstation 4 going airborne, the latter two flying on a collision course.
Sporting everything from over-simplified new looks (iOS 7) to flashy new price points (Playstation), the marketers circled around major industry events. For Apple, it was the start of its Worldwide Develolper Conference or WWDC. For Sony and Microsoft the start of the high flying E3 gaming exposition.
In the pricing high pressure zone, Sony announced that they’d be charging $399 for its new console undercutting Microsoft’s previously announced $499 by a healthy margin. Sony also announced the launch of a Video Unlimited Service, that would be available on Playstation platforms upon launch. Specific titles that might be included which were called out during the event included such TV shows as Community and Breaking Bad. Other video services coming to the PS4 include Redbox Instant, Flixster, and PPV events (no details for the latter). Sony’s already-existing Music Unlimited service was announced to be available upon the launch of the PS4 as well.
Continuing their assault of Microsoft’s policies, Sony also announced that the PS4 would require no online connection, and no 24 hour check in or authentication online. This means you can play offline as long as you want. This seemed to be a recurring theme with Sony’s PS4 details, as they drove home the point of wanting to show they trust consumers and would not implement policies like the Xbox One.
Meanwhile, Microsoft unveiled new details about how its upcoming Xbox One console will manage its users’ privacy and ownership rights . The Internet is less than happy.
Controversy has swirled around the new Xbox One even before its announcement last month, with speculation that Microsoft would attempt to curb the ability of gamers to share games, purchase second-hand titles and play without an internet connection.
Microsoft sought to allay some of those fears at its announcement event in May, but until now had not given specific details about how the system would manage digital rights.
Now, ahead of the E3 gaming conference which starts this week, some of those details have been unveiled.
Microsoft says that it will not charge a fee for reselling games – but will let publishers do so if they wish. It also said that consoles will have to ‘check in’ online every 24 hours, and that while the console will be listening for certain phrases it will not be recording conversations.
The full text of Microsoft’s Xbox One announcement and policies can be read online.
Speaking of numbers, Apple can simply dazzle with the many jeweled beads on its abacus: A developer program that is six millionregistered members strong. 407 Apple retail stores worldwide, in 14 countries. More than one million Apple store visitors daily. Consumers have downloaded 50 billion apps from the App Store to date. There are 900,000 apps in the App Store; 375,000 of them are designed specifically for iPad. There are 575 million iTunes Store accounts with associated credit cards. Phew! No wonder Apple is switching its naming convention from cats to California beaches. (The next release is called Mavericks for a breakpoint surfing wave.)
While Apple’s new iOS GUI seems too juvenile to many, Apple’s hardware announcements have upped the ante, especially at the high end of the market. The long-awaited new version of the Mac Pro tower is completely transformed and, get this, made in the U.S.A. Say goodbye to the metal “cheese grater” of yesteryear, say hello to a 1/8-sized, high-gloss black finished, all-round, cylindrical “power keg.” “Server racks will now start to look like wine racks,” quipped TWIT TV’s Tom Merritt.
Finally, Apple announced that its Macbook, the number one notebook in the U.S., is being upgraded with what Apple calls “All Day Battery Life.”
Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming titles provided all kinds of industry turbulence. Though no official title was given, 323 studios announced that a “Halo FPS” will debut in 2014 on the Xbox One. It will run at 60 frames per second and feature cloud-based gameplay. Project Spark is a first-person world-building game that incorporates fantasy and sci-fi elements and is cross-compatible with Windows 8. It is part open sandbox and part game design tool with real-time terrain morphing. In the demo, a character built a cliff bridge in real time to attack a swarming army and then turned the main character into a mech. CNET called it “one of the most interesting-looking games in years.” [24×7]
