E3 2006: Microsoft Reaction to Sony Press Briefing

Much of the media assumed that the reason Sony was being so quiet about their briefing, was because they were going to drop a bombshell of exclusives and jaw-dropping gameplay demos. That simply didn’t happen. Don’t get us wrong, there were still plenty of highlights to Sony’s shindig, but no one walked away with the same buzz as last year’s briefing – yes, the CG fantastic briefing.

But what is Sony’s chief competitor thinking at this point? We were lucky enough to stir up a quick chat with the head of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, and GM of the Game Developer Group at Microsoft, Chris Satchell.

Our first query to Chris Satchell was to step outside of his competitive structure and simply provide thoughts on the briefing, purely as a gamer. “I’d have to say that I came away a little disappointed.”, claimed Satchell. “We really didn’t see anything that was innovative – it was the same experiences we’ve seen before.”

When asked to comment on the briefing from a competitive standpoint, Shane Kim elaborated, “I’ve said this before, but there was nothing from Sony’s briefing that would make us change anything regarding our plans. We are very confident in our approach, especially now. We have a much better online story and much better content. Finally, we feel that our superior price point provides us an advantage.”

Two areas where Sony demonstrated forward thinking was in the EyeToy card demonstration and the 6-axis controller, but we still question how mainstream these will become. Does Microsoft feel in pressure in being the only next-generation system to not feature a motion-sensing controller?

“We actually had a very similar product on the market for the PC – the (Sidewinder) Freestyle Pro.”, Kim recollected. “It was a great controller for a very specific set of games, but wasn’t accepted as an overall controller. We considered the technology when developing the Xbox 360, but felt it wasn’t the way to go.”

Satchell mentioned, “I view Sony’s motion-sensing controller more as an attempt to address what Nintendo is doing with the Wii. While I thought the EyeToy demo was cool, I do question if the masses will play a game that way.”

As for Sony’s online focus, Microsoft appeared confused. “They talked a lot about building an online community, which is something we’ve already established very well on Xbox Live. Surprisingly, they didn’t mention anything about their online gameplay structure.”

When asked if they were surprised that Sony was now adopting many of the same principles that Microsoft has touched on in previous E3’s, such as giving the game creators the power to realize their visions, Kim stated, “I think we found that Sony was touting much of the leadership thinking that we’ve previously shown.”

So what can we expect from Microsoft’s own E3 press briefing tomorrow?

“I’d say you can expect a lot of leadership to be demonstrated tomorrow.”, proclaimed Kim. “We are in a good position with our first-party lineup, not to mention the stellar support from our third-party partners.”

At this point, Microsoft has no announcements regarding a price drop on the Xbox 360 to combat the PS3 launch, nor did they mention eliminating the Xbox 360 Core package. We’ll admit, for the mainstream consumer, when comparing at $299 Core package with a $499 base PS3 package – Microsoft’s value approach wins out. Obviously this isn’t an apples to apples comparison, but most mommies and daddies of the world don’t know the difference between 1080p output and a hole in the ground. Money talks.

Until Microsoft’s press briefing ends, we’ll still be left to wonder exactly how much they’re packin’ for E3 2006. Rumors continue to fly regarding a Halo 3 demo and Shadowrun being announced for the Xbox 360 and PC. Will Microsoft truly show leadership? They certainly have an air of confidence going into tomorrow’s event. Check back tomorrow for our full recap, directly after the press briefing.