Associate Editor Justin Carter’s Gamescom BIG Winner and Loser
WINNER: Xbox
Let’s not mince words: the Xbox One hasn’t exactly had it good since its 2013 release. Some bad interviews, an unclear grasp of what the thing can do, and a frankly outrageous price point did Microsoft no favors. Even with promising titles like Sunset Overdrive and Halo 5, I wasn’t ready to fork over that much dough for stuff that wasn’t going to be out for another year or two. But over the past year, they’ve really come a long way towards turning things around. Now that they’ve got a clear idea on what they want the system to be, Microsoft has been doing whatever they can to get people on board, and I’m seriously sold on getting an Xbox One whenever possible.
Microsoft has always been geared more towards third party offerings, so it was surprising to see them at Gamescom pushing the first party games. Seeing Scalebound for the first time was an actual delight, and the promise of four players with their own dragons in the world simultaneously fulfills all my dreams. We finally got some footage of Crackdown 3, but there definitely needed to be more. I need to see Agents taking down criminals with crazy new weapons and gadgets! I’m always a sucker for surprise announcements like backwards compatibility for Just Cause 2, Halo Wars 2 out of no where, and cross-play for Bloodstained. There’s no denying it: Microsoft won Gamescom.
LOSER: PlayStation
But for every winner, there’s a loser, and the loser for Gamescom would have to be PlayStation. I don’t have a particular dog in the console war, since I just go by whatever system has games that appeal to me, but I do wish Sony would’ve shown up. Even if it had been nothing more than a highlight reel of their top selling games or upcoming titles for 2016, it would’ve at least been something.
As it stands, it gives the impression that they “gave” the event to Microsoft as a courtesy or just plain didn’t care, and I’m not sure which one is worse. Considering that their fall lineup is drier than the Sahara, you’d think they’d even try to pimp the Uncharted Collection, but nope! Not a thing. I know they’ve got some stuff to show in September or October, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people why they bought a PlayStation 4 in the first place.
