Sony's PlayStation 4 Comeback

Sony is poised to pounce on Microsoft and regain the gaming console crown.

Microsoft became the leader in the game console business but did not obliterate Sony entirely. Now Sony is making a comeback with the Sony's PlayStation 4 while the newest Xbox One will have to fight for market share.

There are plenty of reasons for this but in the end most people simply prefer the PS4 because it's $100 less. I've written about this in previous columns but the outrageous pricing decisions at Microsoft stem from Steve Ballmer's insistence that price be a reflection of development costs, regardless of the size of the market and the competition.

There is another factor here that Microsoft seems to ignore. We are in a depression! Hello! Earth to the billionaires who run Microsoft, come in, come in!

If you are Steve Ballmer, $100 means nothing to you personally. In fact, when a billionaire sees a $100 bill on the street, he will calculate the amount of time it takes to pick up the bill to determine if it's worthwhile.

Many people who love their Xbox360 and could not afford to buy a PS3 will gladly switch back to Sony to keep some balance between the two systems. And this is going to be even more of a trend if there are serious compatibility issues with the Xbox One as far as legacy games are concerned.

I should also mention that if Microsoft had kept up a torrid pace of development and brought out the Xbox One two years ago, it would now be introducing the Xbox Two against the PS4 and the game would have been over. But no.

Another thing to consider amidst the excessive and mostly illegal snooping by the American government is Microsoft's increased reliance on the cloud and its insistence that a spy camera, the Kinect, be attached to the machine at all times. This is just crazy. It actually looks like two eyeballs are looking at you, watching everything you do. Why aren't more people freaked out by this?

While Microsoft has reversed a few policies on the new system such as allowing the resale of games, I'm going to agree with the majority of pundits who place the blame squarely on the pricing.

That said, it may actually be a marketing ploy. During the holidays the company can announce a special sale: $100 off the new Xbox One! "Why should I buy a $399 PlayStation 4, when I can get a $499 Xbox One for the same price as the Sony?" the customer will wonder.

If Sony does not anticipate this with a $299 sale price, it could be decimated. But if Sony can afford to do the same $100 off, then its boxes will fly off the shelves and Microsoft will lose.

Let's all sit back and see what happens. I'm hoping for any sort of bloodbath.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/dvorak/~3/iioa94Rf3qw/0,2817,2422728,00.asp

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