There used to be a time when I told people to get all the consoles to be able to experience all that gaming has to offer, that one should pursue the games and not their association to a particular console. But things were different back then and I don't believe in that anymore. One thing still holds true however: there is no such thing as a "console war", especially when people have the freedom to own all the consoles and that war is just a figment of a one console loyalist's imagination, something that I suspect sparked from jealousy when one could only afford one over the others. I have now gained a new understanding to the non-existence of console war, in which when one can be free from their allure in the first place. I have been gaming all my life and my recent decision to abandon Sony and Microsoft in their supposed "next generation" crusade made me feel quite free. I now know that I will not be seeing the PlayStation 4 and the X-Box One consoles in my Game Room and that knowledge brought me unparalleled satisfaction. Both consoles insist on FEE-to-play online multiplayer and I don't support that whatsoever. I originally planned to at least get the PS4 down the line but now, the PS4 is nothing different than the XOne. While Microsoft wants to push non-essential non-gaming features down gamers' throats and bundling access to those things with the ability to play online multiplayer for a fee, Sony's now mandatory PlayStation Plus subscription for online functions means that Sony really wants to push their game rental agenda. They will offer a lot of free games through the PS+ service, just like what they are doing now and more people will be subscribing to the service because they want to access a crucial feature of any gaming platform: the online multiplayer. Once that program ends, all those free games that people thought they own will go away. If you think Sony doesn't care about digital rights management, you are clearly mistaken. It's a simple trick: convince people to stop buying games at retail by offering those games eventually on PS+ and people will then just wait for the eventual PS+ "free" releases that they never truly own. I don't see that PS+ is going to go away for a long time, sure, but I will never pay Sony for that rental program.
The PlayStation 3 and the X-Box 360: The last of their kind
Though there are some truths to Sony "winning" the E3 show, I do find it funny how PS4 loyalists are thinking that this spells doom for the XOne. Don't they know that just like them, the XOne loyalists cannot be deterred from buying a Microsoft console? I mean, these are the same people who have been paying for online multiplayer without questioning the audacity of such a fee so an extra $100 is nothing to them. They have survived the "red ring of death", the obnoxious fee, and Microsoft's non-gaming focus on the X-Box 360 so they will keep supporting the XOne even if that means having the console validated over the Internet every 24 hours. Also, the non-gaming portion of the XOne will ensure that non-gamers will eat the console up if they want a cool cable set top box! Yeah, I see the major success of the XOne for sure and hand-in-hand with the PS4, many will be buying these console, except for me. It's funny. I started with just one console during the Genesis vs. Super Nintendo Entertainment System era and now, history repeats itself. It'll be me and the Wii U and the powerful companion of the Personal Computer. The PS4 and the XOne are both unnecessary to me, especially the fact that their predecessors are still capable of giving so much more yet rudely abandoned by both companies. I am certain that many will say that I will be missing out but I do know deep within me that this new found feeling of total freedom is something that I could never let go. To think that I used to stress out about getting the many games under the many platforms, just look at how long my Purchase List is now, but with this epiphany, I now feel that I have things under control, not to mention I will have plenty of spare cash. I don't doubt that there are going to be games that I may be interested in that will be out for those new consoles but I have been interested in many games in the past and they normally ended up just sitting quietly in my Game Library untouched all these years because the proper moods to play them have not arrived yet. It's important to bear in mind that things should always be kept into perspective. Please, don't tell me that I should get the new consoles without paying for PS+ and LIVE Gold because that's telling me that I should get a meal at a restaurant that is already half-eaten. What an odd but fascinating twist in my gaming life that the gaming universe has thrown at me.
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