The Presi-Console Election

I first heard this analogy on one of Giant Bomb's excellent podcast. They likened the E3 press conference between Sony and Microsoft as the presidential election with one trying to take a jab at the other. So in the spirit of me being bored on a Tuesday afternoon, I thought I will have a bit of fun and go a little bit insane.

Microsoft is Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney did have a hard time avoiding some bad gaffs. About.com (amongst many websites) wrote an article titled “The ten dumbest Mitt Romney quotes” (1) which was hilarious from an outsider perspective. This gaff proneness is extremely similar to Microsoft’s delivery of the Xbox One at the unveiling events with my favourite quote coming from, the now departed, Don Mattrick. He infamously said in an interview,

“Fortunately, we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360” (2).

This was the most hilarious thing to come out of E3 since the Sony’s giant enemy crab demonstration. Now I know Mitt isn’t the only ones to have gaffs and nor is Microsoft but a big theme between the two is flip flopping. Mitt changes his mind on a few key issues over his race to become president. One of the more notable examples is,

"Well, I'm not getting rid of all of healthcare reform. – Mitt Romney, Meet the Press interview (Sept. 9, 2012)” (3)

To this one a day later

"Obamacare must be repealed in its entirety. – Mitt Romney, Hugh Hewitt Show interview (Sept. 10, 2012)” (3)

There is an argument here that bad wording attributed to this but that is exactly what has happened to Microsoft. Recently, Microsoft has had a problem explaining their direction. A good example of this is the always online thing they announced at E3. A lot of people were confused about how it really works and what are the benefits for such a feature (4). Over the last couple of months, Microsoft has also changed what the Xbox One is and has gone back on previous statements like,

“We can’t just flip a switch to turn off DRM. The console was built around it.”-Major Nelson (5)

Well they flipped that switched weeks later. I will give some credit when it is due, at least Major Nelson laughed at himself for this gaff.

Sony is Obama. Before I start, it isn’t because they are both not American (if you believe Trump). I haven’t gone that insane. Obama didn’t take the advantage last time around. He isn’t being regarded as the president who changed everything. This is very similar to Sony last generation. Sony, with its giant ego, waltzes into the last generation without a plan of action. The spent three years at the beginning of the last generation struggling and doing very little even though they had a monster of a machine. They finally got their act together to finish the generation in a much stronger position. In a way, that happened to Obama with the PR boosting event that was the Killing of Osama Bin laden (6). A film, albeit it not very good, was shown on the National Geography channel just before polls open (6). Sony isn’t shy of doing a big PR move either. Looking at their recent E3 conference shows it was more about taking a large dump on a flogged horse than actually doing the right thing. Sony, at their E3, didn’t really go much further than what they have already announced before. There were no surprises or excitement as their show was more about them appearing like they one-upped the competition before opening night. The best example of this is their “game sharing video” (7). It was very funny but a little bit unnecessary.

Nintendo are, well, the outside parties. They are the insane parties who try something new. These parties were, at one time, quite popular but that popularity has begun to slip. This is Nintendo who are struggling to make a consumer want to by the Wii U. Recently, Iwata gave an interview on the poor sales of the Wii U and how the price isn’t the issue. He said,

“If the price is actually an issue [with Wii U], then there is some contradiction between the current sales balance between the Basic and Premium versions of the Wii U,” (8)

Iwata could have been having a crazy day (I do have this image of him playing with Mario toys humming the Mario theme while the office screams at him to do something about the Wii U). We all do but it does highlight Nintendo’s eccentric side. The Wii was a radical and risky idea. That is very similar to these outside parties who do some radical things but are quite influential. This again is Nintendo with them bringing the motion controller craze.

Overall, who should you vote for? Don't ask me. Just vote for the one who, according to you, makes the best of a bad situation.

References:
1. http://politicalhumor.about...
2. https://www.youtube.com/wat...
3. http://politicalhumor.about...
4. http://www.inquisitr.com/67...
5. http://gengame.net/2013/06/...
6. http://www.dailyrecord.co.u...
7. http://www.youtube.com/watc...
8. http://www.computerandvideo...