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Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s Playstation 4 consoles’ comparison

Sony came out on top on the first day of Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Media and Entertainment Summit – the gaming industry’s annual US trade show, not by showing off a more impressive line-up of games, but by answering a few simple questions the right way

After being criticized last month that the Xbox One launch was skewed for entertainment rather than gaming, Microsoft was first to take the stage for their handful of updates including the next Halo franchise which is due next year and some titles that are exclusive to Xbox One. Xbox One will be available this November for $499. Microsoft also announced a new, slimmer version of Xbox 360 that went on sale today.

And then there’s Sony with their impressive press conference, both in terms games and hardware for their Playstation 4. While Microsoft certainly wins the number of game titles exclusive to them, Sony, otherwise, immediately won the hearts of the audience with their thunderous applause when they announced the market price for their next generation Playstation 4, which will sell for $399, a $100-dollars cheaper than the Xbox One. And to further hurt Microsoft, Sony announced that it won’t require offline gamer to “check in” online periodically and it won’t stop working if you haven’t authenticated in 24 hours. They will also impose no restrictions on DRM (Digital Rights Management) for used games, something that Microsoft has been largely criticized of.

We won’t see the “real” winner in this console battle until we see the sales figure later this year / early next year but people from Sony will definitely have a good night sleep. And of course, the show wouldn’t be complete without some live presentation hiccups *grin*. Head past break for the full presentations for both Microsoft and Sony.

Microsoft’s Xbox One Full Press Conference at E3

Sony’s Playstation 4 Full Press Conference at E3

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Microsoft’s Surface tablet. Image (c) Microsoft

Microsoft is not giving up on its tablet battle and is obviously here to stay. Despite Surface’s underwhelming sales figure over the holidays, Microsoft announced last April 23rd, Wednesday, via its Surface Blog that Surface RT and Surface Pro will soon be available on more countries.

Initially available in US, Canada and was recently launched in China last April 2nd, where they got a customized Surface Pro, Surface Pro will hit shelves by the end of May on the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, Surface RT will be available in Malaysia, today, April 25th, in Mexico by the end of May and in Korea and Thailand by June. This expansion will result in Surface RT being available in 29 markets.

If you are confused with Surface RT and Surface Pro, here’s what you need to know. They are basically the same, running the same Windows 8 interface. One may run more apps, or have a longer battery life, but they are both powerful devices.

Surface RT and Surface Pro comparison

The competition between tablets is stiff but Redmond Company is hoping to build momentum especially with the news from Strategy Analytics that Microsoft’s share of tablet market quadrupled to 7.5% after Windows 8. I really think that the Surface Pro is a powerful tablet and hopefully, it will appeal to enterprise users.