As part of our upcoming December magazine, we spoke with Norman Fong, CEO and Founder of Buy Via, about his thoughts on the new gaming consoles by Sony and Microsoft and where the industry is heading.
We are sharing section of the interview regarding what he had to say regarding the very heated war between the two new consoles and what it all means for Nintendo.
Looking at the PS4 how would you classify the launch and the console overall?
We expected what occurred to happen. There was pent-up demand after many years of no new hardware, and they sold out quickly. It continues to be out of stock.
How would you describe the launch titles for the PS 4?
Sony and its developers did a good job coming up with the mix of casual and hard-core games. Many of the games were available on other platforms, and really only Killzone was the exclusive title for the PS4. (OK game, not great)
How would you classify the Xbox One Launch and the console?
The Xbox one launch happened Friday, October 22, and judging from the crowds in San Francisco that we saw, there is definitely a lot of demand. We wondered who would buy this over a PS4 and found that many people were interested in its media capabilities in addition to gaming. We found that users really liked Xbox live, and it was natural for them to transition over to the Xbox one instead of the PS4.
Do you think that Microsoft has addressed enough of the concerns regarding the system and that they will not re-introduce the more controversial aspects of the system at a later date?
We think the requirement to go online was overblown. Every console needs to go online to get the system updated or to patch games and the PS4 had people to go online right away, before you could
even fully utilize the console. Microsoft may prevent used games sales in the future, but only if there are major issues forcing this.
Should gamers care that the Xbox One is reported to be mainly 720 while the PS 4 is mainly 1080?
This issue would show itself when comparing the same titles present on both platforms Iike Call of duty or Battlefield. People are saying the issue is with development, and in time, more titles will be native 1080p. Few people will be able to tell up-converted 1080p from 720p from the real deal.
What do you think both systems need to do and where did either miss out or come up short?
Both consoles are very similar hardware wise, so the big differentiating factor will be software and exclusives. Getting developers to exploit the system fully will take time. Both consoles need to fill out their online services, this is probably the most important piece of the puzzle, we believe Microsoft has an edge there, based on the past.
Where do you think Nintendo and the Wii U are in the bigger picture for Next-Generation?
It’s pretty apparent that they lost the battle. They aren’t catering to the hard-core gamer, and more the more casual gamers have moved onto iOS or Android smartphones and tablets.
Norman all talks about the next ten years of gaming and how the PC will fit into all of this. You can see the full interview in our December issue at Barnes and Noble.com and other outlets.
