I'm actually going to rate the game showcase an A+. I was very impressed. If they can really get all that in the 12 month launch window, it'll be the console that hit the ground running the best of all time. I would almost buy a system for Killer Instict. I really did like that one on the SNES back in the day (and I still have the Gameboy version around here somewhere). Quantum Break and Spark or whatever didn't do anything for me, but pretty much everything else (besides Battlefield) did. One thing I noticed was that there was a lot of colour in most of the games, not just brown, which is great.
Thev 360 redesign and games are almost making me go buy a 360 again, and it looks like there really is a commitment for another couple years. Playstation Plus being part of Live now is also an incredibly smart move.
All in all I was impressed a lot... and then they priced it. $500 is way, way, way too much to be launching a console at today. I saw an Android tablet in the Wal-Mart flyer for $78. There is a Sony smart Blu-Ray player there for $68. The 360 is like $200 and has a redesign and new games coming. Smartphones are practically free under contract. A decent laptop that can play a lot of games can go for $300, and does a billion other things. You cannot come into the entertainment electronics market in 2013 woth a product like this at that price and expect to succeed. Not selling a multipurpose machine
or a games machine. Get. Out. Before anyone mentions the price of the 2600 in 2013 dollars, please remmeber I already bored everyone a hundred times on how that is not a good comparison. That $78 tablet is also much, much cheaper than a computer that could do 1/10,000th as much in 1980, so entertainment electronics shouldn't go up in price with inflation, but down.
If they were serious about the multimedia stuff, and are really making subscriptions to Live so central to everything, they'd be basically giving the thing away. $500 is way, way too much. Nothing they showed at either press conference is $500.
Now please Xbox fans do what Sony fans did in 2006 and try in vain to make a case for how it is worth that kind of money. It isn't. Like the PS3, it will sell okay for a couple weeks to die hards, then will dry up for a long time until the price comes down. If Sony says $399, or better $349, they win.
I also predict a Nintendo Direct announced price drop (or new multigame/controller bundle that is essentially a price drop) so expect $500 to seem even more absurd after that. If it is $399 for PS4, and $349 for the
Zombi U bundle , "$500 plus Live" is going to look horrible on the shelf next to those two.