Sony did a great job announcing the PS4 to the world earlier this week, but here are some of the things we think Microsoft should do in order to surpass their competitor for their own reveal:

 

 

 

All of the PS4’s features are certainly very interesting. With Gaikai joining the party, we can certainly expect fantastic social features from Sony’s console. Add in Vita streaming, cloud-based backwards compatibility, shades of "The Netflix of Gaming" as well as live streaming and uploading, and you’ve got a fantastic package that could interest a lot of people for sure. The only problem with that is that Sony remained quite vague about what features will actually make it into the PS4 at launch. Knowing their track record, it’s certainly not far-fetched to think that some of those may not make it at all, or simply never work as intended (see PSP remote play with PS3 titles such as lair). If Microsoft can remain very clear and upfront while showing their new console’s features by stating everything that will be there from day one and ignoring future possibilities and vague concepts, they might paint a much clearer, understandable and attractive picture for their customers. Especially if they can match most or all of Sony’s promises.

 

 

 

The PS4 conference was surprisingly heavy on game reveals, but it’s clear that Sony is holding back some of them for later. While Sony decided to announce a handful of games while interchanging between live gameplay, tech demos and trailers, Microsoft could beat them to the punch by announcing every single game they have in the works for their new console, while saving the good stuff such as live gameplay demos for their E3 conference.

 

 

 

To be honest, I didn’t particularly care when Sony decided not to show the actual system at their PS4 meeting. Like they said afterwards, it’s just a box... there’s nothing special about it. Or is there? Look, I know it’s a shallow thing, but I do believe that it’s exciting to see new hardware, if only to get a good idea of what we’re purchasing in the near future and to associate all the cool features we saw with a neat, tangible thing. As many fans have pointed out, it just makes it all feel more "real".

 

 

 

Will PSN still be free? What features will be included? What happens with PlayStation Plus? For a system with enhanced social features and network connectivity, Sony certainly didn’t feel like sharing all the details on their online model was that necessary. People want to see these things, and hopefully Microsoft will decide to show what they’ve got.

 

 

 

Sony definitely had a stellar conference earlier this week, but if there’s one thing they really nailed, it’s showing us what the system was capable of. Beyond the game demos and shiny new visuals, they spent a lot of time explaining what the PS4’s specs were going to be like... and people came away impressed with the new tech. Now, many people are speculating that MS will be trailing behind in terms of raw power. Even if it’s the case, Microsoft needs to reassure its fans that console parity will still be achieved on the technical side of things.

 

 

All in all, the main thing Microsoft needs to avoid doing is taking the same approach as Sony. The PlayStation manufacturer did a stellar job presenting their new product and if Microsoft uses the same strategy, it’s unlikely they’re going to stand out since the effect of being first to reveal the next-generation is a clear advantage. Instead of holding back on announcements and overall details, they need to go all-in and show us more, then leaving E3 to focus on live gameplay demos and pricing details. Whatever they decide to do, it’s certainly going to be interesting to be a gamer in the next few months...