This coming fall is going to be a different kind of fun. The battle for supreme spending will finally be upon us in November as video game giants Sony and Microsoft fight for the right to earn our money.
Before any of you blow off this article as an expression of nerdiness from your local opinion contributor, let’s look at the facts: a video game holds the record for largest gross income at a cool $500 million. Current systems have sold more than 259 million units worldwide.
If you don’t think this fall is going to be a big deal, go ask your best male friend. Video games will own the male mind around Thanksgiving, with the PlayStation 4 coming out Nov. 15 and the Xbox One exactly a week later.
The systems will cost an average of $450, but will be almost as entertaining as your drunk Aunt’s rants about “that there Obama” during family get-togethers, and while everyone has a different idea about which one to get, neither looks to be a
bad purchase.
Both are going to have very different upsides, such as the Playstation 4’s price point or the Xbox One’s kinect, although I do not condone using half a thousand dollars just to get a poor man’s motion detector.
Over the last three months, Microsoft has come under fire for its poor showing on the floor of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in mid-June. Presales haven’t been anything close to those of Sony’s console and the early scare has sent Xbox fans into a frenzy of defense unseen in years.
Sony pounced on the perceived weakness and has constantly berated the decisions made by Microsoft. Some of the hits have been childish and downright false when examined further, but it still hasn’t led to a change in the standings.
At this point, it’s tough to justify the extra $100 plus the lack of hardware compared to the PlayStation 4, but being too engrained in the Xbox way of life it might just be too late for me.
In the end, it will all come down to how these systems develop four to five years
from now. Neither system is releasing a major exclusive game that will make people want to drop the cash on day one, nor are the graphics such a great step up.
Most people who are following the latest news on these systems will have already made up their minds by now and nothing anyone can say or brag about can change their minds. Why should they?
The fun of owning a system around the same area of time it comes out is one of the great joys of being a video game fan.
This is an experience most of us have only had three to four times before now. Joyful faces near the end of November will overpower any desire to keep money in your wallet.
Costa is a senior majoring in journalism.
