Marquis: “E3 2014 Predictions: Can Sony manage to keep the throne this year?”

Last year’s E3 was big for Sony, having destroyed Microsoft with their onslaught of interesting upcoming titles, their complete support of Indie games, and their message that they would be focusing purely on the core gamer. At that moment, it seemed clear that Sony had fully learned from their mistakes from the last generation and were ready to bring it with PS4. After Microsoft’s sloppy performance in getting there message out, Sony took full advantage of that and showed us in bullet points why the PS4 was better in every single way, so much so that after the conference, millions of people went to pre-order a Playstation 4 as fast as they could. So here we are a year later, and Sony remains on top. While Xbox One isn’t too far behind, it still is nowhere near the success of Playstation 4. So what can we expect from Sony this year? Is there a weakness Xbox One can exploit? And what does Sony need to do to keep the ball rolling so that they can stay on the path of success.

Well while Sony did win E3 2013 in a lot of people’s minds last year, one thing that is clearly evident is the lack of games. Now when I say “lack,” this doesn’t mean that Sony didn’t announce anything last year, it just wasn’t much that we know about. We had Destiny which comes out in a few months, The Order 1886, and Final Fantasy XV but the rest were games that either came out last year, or we still know little to nothing about. Sony did say last year that all of their big studios are working on games for the PS4, but if this year Sony’s job is simple…deliver. Sony made a lot of big promises to us of experiences we can only get on PS4 and it’s important that they show us what we can expect from now till 2015. Obviously bigger titles are almost guaranteed to come out next year but what’s in store for us this Fall on PS4? What games are coming that are really gonna wow us and make us have to have a Playstation 4 this holiday season? But Playstation 4 isn’t the only console they have to worry about; Playstation Vita is definitely in need of some love at this year’s E3.

Since the Vita’s release, there still haven’t been enough core games to really make that console shine. The console itself is still brilliant from a technological stand-point and if done correctly could actually out-do the 3DS, but good hardware is nothing without good software as Nintendo has proved time and time again. So this year, it’s finally time for Sony to give us a reason to buy a Vita aside from just the ability to play Indie games and ports. Another big thing that Sony is almost guaranteed to address is Playstation Now. If you are unaware, Playstation Now is a streaming service, in which you’ll be able to play Playstation 1, Playstation 2, and Playstation 3 games on your Playstation 4, Vita, and select TVs and mobile devices. The beta that started earlier this year just recently came to a close, and it’s due for release this Summer. That being said, I’m sure more news on this is coming and with the big deal backwards compatibility is to gamers, it could just be another reason for people to feel at ease about dropping the 400 bucks for a PS4 knowing the full library of Playstation titles is open to them.

So it’s clear whether it’s Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft, the big thing that all of them have to do this year is show us the games. Last year was the time for the consoles to make their case, but this year it’s time for the games to sell us these consoles. For a lot of people, this E3 will decide what console they go with this generation, and in Sony’s case, they have the stage set to deliver, so all they have to do is show us the same big titles we have come to know from Sony as well as a bunch of new IPs as well. Of course, the big title we all hope to hear more about is Uncharted 4, especially with all the news of different parts of the development team leaving the project, making the state of that game a bit worrisome. But we also wanna see more of what was revealed last year in more detail and as well as new games to get excited about as well. Vita also has to bring it in a big way if they have any hopes of competing with the Nintendo 3DS. Still, with all that being said, this is an exciting time to be a gamer, because this year all three companies are competing for our love. And more so than loyalty to any of these companies we as gamers should let the games guide us to which console we find best. E3 2014 is drawing close, and you can count on El Mundo Tech to keep you posted on all the big reveals as they happen at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo.