E3, the biggest video game conference in the world, is kicking off in only a couple of days, and we now know what to expect, what we are going to see, what booths we are going to visit and what press conferences we are going to check out. But one question remains. Who will win E3? Which of the big three will dazzle us with their upcoming lineup? We don’t know for sure, but we can definitely say what each company should do to take home the prize.
So what does Sony have to do to come out of E3 looking like the people’s champion?
- Announce Interesting AAA Exclusives That are Actually Coming Out
The PS4’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t have a whole lot of AAA exclusives that are console selling killer apps. There is the new inFamous , which admittedly was awesome, and Knack , which was mediocre, and every other game is either multi-console or part of the indie-sphere. There are a lot of games we WANT to see on the PS4, like a new Uncharted, Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, and Destiny . But for now, the console is selling itself more on promise than on actual product, and that needs to change.
- Give Us Some Games That Are “First on PS4”
The Xbox One already has a lot of exclusives, like Killer Instinct and Dead Rising 3 , and on top of that they have games like Call of Duty: Ghosts , and likely the new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare , that will get all their content on the Xbox One first. Many people cite these games as the reason that they chose the Xbox One over the PS4. If Sony wants to attract more gamers, they need to give us things that the Xbox One just won’t have, or at least that will come to the PS4 first.
- Give US Some Good News About PlayStation Now
One of the things that has gamers jaded about this new generation is a lack of backward compatibility. Microsoft has recently announced that an update will eventually allow the Xbox One to play Xbox 360 games. Sony has to keep up. Since they already said that PlayStation Now will be their method of delivering backward compatibility, we need to know a little more about it. Right now there are very few concrete details about the service.
- Play the Vita as a PS4 Add-On
The Vita just hasn’t struck it big as a handheld. The Nintendo 3DS is absolutely stomping it in the handheld world. There have been quite a few interesting Vita exclusives but even these did not sell the system. So it’s time to take another approach. Instead of marketing the Vita as a handheld, market it as a PS4 add-on with handheld capability. Show all the awesome things the Vita can do when connected to the PS4. Show titles that have interesting Vita controls that gamers absolutely must have. Show interesting Vita social capability. Market the Vita as something that everyone who owns a PS4 needs to get, and you’ll get a higher attachment rate.
- Virtual Reality?
Sony is the only console with a VR device planned to hit the market, and that is huge. Sony can leap ahead if they show us that their method of VR immersion not only works, but will be affordable for the common gamer. If they can do that they will latch on to a huge market that no one else has their hands in yet, aside from the guys at Oculus.
- Not All That Much Really
In all actuality, Sony is ahead. They have sold more consoles than Microsoft and Nintendo, and have a lot of faith in it established by the gaming community. They won E3 last year, simply by not being Microsoft. No literally, they had only a few games to show, but they also didn’t announce any restrictive policies or always on motion cameras. They were also 100 dollars cheaper. The gaming community is already expecting a lot from Sony, so all they have to do is not disappoint us.