PAX PRIME 2013: NEXT GEN CONSOLES
PAX Prime 2013 is the first PAX to be on for 4 days. Like every year, it is once again held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. We also got to stay at the Sheraton this year which is great as it’s only just across the street from the convention. Great for unloading things or if we just want to go back and relax after hours and hours of walking/waiting during the event. Every year it’s always been fun with a lot of things to do, but for many attendees like me, this would also be our chance to test out the upcoming next gen consoles: the Xbox One and the PS4.
PS4
The PS4 console and its accessories was on display inside a glass box at the Playstation booth. Console itself is smaller than what I thought it would be. It reminds me of the PS2 slim back in 2004. I was never a big fan of the Dualshock 3 for the PS3. it’s not broken or anything but it just seems a bit small for my hands and the trigger buttons are a bit awkward for my liking. The Dualshock 4 re-design are just perfect at the time I was using it. Being a bit bigger with longer handle, it’s more comfortable to hold and the buttons just feels right even the trigger buttons. I wish I could say anything about the touchpad but none of the games I tried uses it.
There are a few playable PS4 games at the Playstation booth but the games i’m most interested in are Drive Club and Killzone: Shadowfall. Drive Club looks good for an arcade style racing on Playstation 4. Although I have no information on what the framerate is, the game runs smooth and the details are great. I really wish they would release Gran Turismo 6/7 for the next gen soon. Although Drive Club looks and seems it plays great, it is more of an arcade style racing game. Killzone: Shadowfall also looks great on the PS4. The only caveat I have that I notice in the multiplayer demo, there are some areas that the frame rate would drop. I hope it’s just because it’s an older build. Being a launch title with only a couple of months to spare, hopefully they still have time to iron out kinks in time for release.
XBox One
Microsoft’s booth is just right next to Playstation booth but unlike Sony, they don’t have their console inside the glass box. almost all stations for Ryse, Forza 5 and Killer Instinct have the Xbox One and Kinect 2 on display just under the TV. I would say that the Xbox One Console seems as big as a VCR. It doesn’t look ugly but in my opinion it doesn’t look as slick as the PS4. The controller is some what the same just a bit smaller than an Xbox360. it holds the same but the thumb sticks on the controller are a bit thinner and have a different grip on them. Unfortunately, just like the touch pad on the Dualshock 4, I wasn’t able to feel the rumble on the triggers for the Xbox One controller as none of the games I tried has that option enabled.
At the Microsoft booth, the longest lineups would be for Battlefield 4 and Titanfall as playable demos. Both looks great and was awesome to play as you would expect. I wish Titanfall is also a launch title as I think it would be one of the games that would sell systems for Microsoft. Forza 5 playable and they have a few stations available during PAX for attendees to try out. But there’s only one station that has the steering wheel set-up. It’s what you would expect with Forza if you’ve played it before but with better graphics and details. Would love to play this at home with the steering wheel as the controller, even though playable, is not doing it any justice.
Even though i’m still excited to own both consoles in the future, I was a bit underwhelmed after seeing the launch game exclusives for each systems during the event. Most of the games that I know i’ll be playing are in multiple platforms and, for me, I can just get them for my PC. But then again, i didn’t pre-order either of the next gen consoles and who knows if I can even get one in stores weeks after the release dates. Also, who needs next gen consoles when Grand Theft Auto V is out in 10 days?
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