I've been lucky enough to own both PS3 and Xbox 360 from the past generation, and, honestly, I would say that I have tended to use Microsoft's console and not Sony's.
There's a multitude of reasons for this - I already had a Blu-ray player, I found the UI more intuitive and I favoured the Xbox's gamer points and the controller.
- We've updated our PS4 review!
So, in this exciting time of next-gen I was probably more forgiving of Microsoft's slightly odd Xbox One reveal a few weeks ago (games? pah!) than Sony's (see the console? pah!).
Roll on to E3 and I have to confess that I'm now edging into the PS4 camp. Why? Because of the big disparity in price.
Money, money, money
Sony's decision to go for a PS4 price of US$399/£349, admittedly without an Eye, compared to Microsoft's Xbox One price US$499/£429 (with a Kinect), does make a big difference. And from an early straw poll of people around TechRadar, may make ALL the difference.
Microsoft's high price is presumably a calculated risk, but it's asking a huge amount of its loyal fanbase to fork out so much more than its rival.
In all honesty, the other major criticisms being foisted on Microsoft's new baby bother me less than many others. My console is pretty much always online anyway, and I'm not a big second hand game purveyor.
But they remain annoyances, and when there's a rival that, in all honesty, will be providing a system with much of the same functionality and most of the same games, they become small but significant weights on the Sony side of the scale.
A big proportion of the gaming audience will have already chosen a side in the battle of the consoles and, you would imagine, that they will largely stick with their chosen side.
However, these consoles are not just after the gamers, they are also after a big slice of those who are looking to move beyond their Wii, to take a step up from app gaming, and who want a home entertainment system as well as a gaming machine.
And price IS significant to this audience.
There will also be those, like me, who are simply looking for the best option to game on. People who have enjoyed their Xbox 360 but aren't ready to commit to Microsoft's console for life (especially given that you can't port your old game over anyway), and people who were wondering if it was time to move on from their PlayStation if the Xbox One was looking like a better option.
Those people may well be waking up this morning thinking that it is the cheaper Sony option that is currently topping their want list, and not the One that they may have expected.
