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Microsoft hands gaming crown to Sony

The Microsoft Xbox One console will retail for around R1500 more than the PS4 when it arrives in South Africa, and this combined with game restrictions placed on some of the Xbox games may send many consumers rushing out to buy the Playstation, writes GEOFFREY TIM.

Microsoft started off this year’s E3 with a bit of a whimper. They kept to their promises and showed off nothing but games and for a while, it seemed like they were killing it. Metal Gear Solid 5, Dead Rising 3 and a new Killer Instinct got it off to a good start but then they skirted around the DRM issue, and finally, revealed a launch price for their new console, the Xbox one. It’ll be released at a price of $499.

As our local pricing is generally more based off UK pricing which is ¬£429 we can expect to pay about R6499 for the console when it releases here, probably next year. The biggest issue with that price it it certainly feels like there’s a $100 surcharge for that Kinect unit.

Compare that to Sony’s PlayStation 4 which will launch at $399 or ¬£349 which means we can realistically expect it to retail locally for about R5299. that’s nearly a R1500 difference and it’s all the difference in the world.

And that’s just the pricing. One of Sony’s big salvos at its conference was the reassurance that their system would not impose any DRM or used game restrictions at all not even the publisher mandated stuff previously rumoured. Sony even released this cheeky instructional video just moments after their conference.

Lastly while Microsoft’s expanding its Xbox Live gold service to start giving out free games like PlayStation Plus, the inaugural games are Halo 3, and Assassin’s Creed two. Yeah, those old games you could probably pick up for half a ham sandwich if you really looked. Sony, on the other hand, gives away brand new games on its service and will be giving away PS4 games with the system’s launch.

* Article courtesy of Lazygamer.net. Follow Geoffrey Tim on Twitter on @WobblyOnion

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