Versus - Sony vs Microsoft E3 2016 - PlayStation LifeStyle

With this year’s E3 now over and done with, we’ve decided to check just how Sony stacked up against its main video game rival, Microsoft. It’s the battle of the E3 press conferences!

Both companies took to the stage to announce games, show off the future of their respective platforms and more. And that’s where we come in! Did Sony’s focus on a barrage of games beat Microsoft’s two hardware reveals? What are you waiting for? Hit play and see which one we declare the victor.

Do you agree with our winner? Which company won it in your opinion? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Versus is PlayStation LifeStyle’s recurring video series where we we pit a game, franchise, basically anything game-related against another and pick a winner.

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Disappointments From Sony's E3 2016 Press Conference

10 Disappointments From Sony's E3 2016 Press Conference
Ended Weak

Despite having an interesting trailer early on in the show, Sony Bend's Days Gone was a poor show closer. It looks to be a post-apocalyptic shooter without a real hook, and there was really nothing that stood out. Hopefully the game will turn out to be something special, but this gameplay demo just looked like a generic shooter with zombie mutants.
Poor Communication

Sony took a cue from Phil Spencer's playbook, and made the focus all about games this E3. That's a surefire way to have a solid press conference (and it's why Microsoft has had good ones the past two years), but Sony didn't have enough people discussing the games being shown off. Not only does this mean that gamers get less information on big games, it also led to confusion as the PlayStation VR block transitioned right into Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare without anyone stating that the VR portion was over.
Missing

The two big announcements last year were that Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy VII Remake were finally happening after heavy fan demand (at least for the latter). This year, both of these titles were completely absent from the press conference. That's incredibly disappointing, and considering one of the announcements last year was for a Kickstarter of all things, it'd be nice to get an update.
2017 & Beyond

After a sizzle reel showing off a bunch of great PS4 games that weren't shown off (like Gravity Rush 2), the press conference ended with this screen. It was basically a reminder that Sony doesn't have a ton planned for this holiday season in terms of first-party games (just like last year). While I get why Sony wouldn't want to give a year for something so early in development like Death Stranding, it's disappointing to see a gameplay demo of God of War and not even know if it's coming in 2017.
More Vaporware

One of PlayStation's bad habits as of late has been announcing games before there's really a game to show off. We've seen crowdfunding campaigns announced (twice!), and it's time to stop announcing games if there's not even a trailer. The latest culprit was the Crash Bandicoot remakes, which are being done by Activision. I'm hopeful these remakes will turn out well, but there's no reason to get excited when there's nothing to go off of.
LEGO Star Wars, Seriously?

The most baffling moment during Sony's press conference was when they showed off a trailer for a new LEGO game. Yes, the same LEGO games that haven't evolved in a gameplay capacity since the PlayStation 2 somehow got press conference time. I really don't get it (especially since the trailer was unspectacular), and it was filler at best.
No Sucker Punch

Rumors were abuzz about Sucker Punch unveiling their next game at E3 2016. That didn't happen, although the rumors about a Spider-Man game were true albeit developed by Insomniac. It seems like we'll all have to wait a bit longer to know about the inFamous developer's next game.
Where Were The Indies?

One of the great things about recent Sony E3 conferences is that indie titles have gotten time to shine on gaming's biggest stage. That wasn't the case this year, as indie games were barely shown off. It's a far cry from last year where publisher Devolver Digital got an entire sizzle reel for their line-up of games, and No Man's Sky got a gameplay demo.
RIP Vita

The PlayStation Vita got about 6 seconds of conference time last year. This year the console wasn't mentioned a single time besides a copyright at the very end of the show. Talk about another nail in the coffin for a handheld that could've been so much better than it has.
PSVR

By far the biggest disappointment was how poorly a job Sony did trying to sell PlayStation VR. Despite the device coming out this October, most of what was shown were dubbed as "experiences," and not full games. Tech demos really aren't the best way to show off how rad Virtual Reality is, and one of the few games that were shown (Resident Evil 7) received a non-VR demo immediately afterwards basically signalling to players that they don't need virtual reality to play it. That's a poor showing for what is supposed to be the future of gaming.