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whats up guys i'm Scottie ladeaux is this is the fortress of nerditude. This is the
first installment of a video series I'm doing with my good friends at mobile network comparison
in London England. We're going to be counting down what we believe to be the top 10 Tech
related stories of 2013 throughout the month of January.
If this is your first time visiting the channel, welcome and for those of you returning I want
to encourage you to check out mnc. Like me, they cover consumer electronics and do things
like tutorials and product reviews but they have more of an emphasis on mobile phones
and a website with tons of unique information on the mobile phone market in the UK. I'll
leave a link to their page and site in the video description.
So without any further ado, introducing story number 1: the arrival of the next generation
gaming consoles. January 31st
Last year in late January Sony emailed invitations to some of its investors and several media
outlets to a mysterious press event in New York City... attached was a cryptic video
clip that revealed nothing more than a PlayStation logo and a date. Apart from a time and location
all the message itself contained were the words: "see the future".
So there was some speculation that a new game system could be on the horizon given that
it had been nearly a decade since Microsoft or Sony announced a new console, but nobody
really knew. The day after the invitations went out the
wall street journal confirmed reports that the event would be about the successor to
the ps3. So early February leaked photos of an actual
new dualshock controller prototype began surfacing, not to mention dozens of concept images predicting
the appearance of the new hardware. Needless to say the tech world was buzzing in anticipation
of Sony's yet unnamed flagship game console, that up to that point had only been know by
its developmental code name: orbis. February 20th (Sony press event)
(Clips of Andrew House speaking) The PS4 would be built like a supercharged
gaming PC Game play could be suspended and resumed by
simply pressing the power button, with no need to sit through a long boot up process
Players would be able to upload and share game play video seamlessly as they play
There are social features that allow consoles to communicate not just with each other but
with other mobile devices and make use of third party apps like Facebook and u stream
The console would not be backwards compatible but the ability to stream Digital PlayStation
3 titles was in the works The acquisition of gaikai a cloud gaming start
up made possible the free trial of any game in the PlayStation Store
Also gaikai's technology made remote play possible by using the console as a game server
that can stream to a second smaller screen like the PlayStation Vita
The new dualshock 4 controller had a vita style touch pad and a light bar on the back
to track players via a 3d camera A variety of game demos were done and we got
a close look at the dualshock 4 right on stage... But no console, no exact release date and
no price would be revealed April 24th
Invitations went out to the members of the press announcing an unveiling at the Microsoft
campus in Redmond, Washington donning the Hashtag #xboxreveal
Like PlayStation, xbox had last announced new hardware back in 2005 so there was a tremendous
amount of anticipation for the new console May 20th, 1 day before the Xbox reveal event,
sony released a short video on the internet that teased the ps4 hardware and announced
the date and time for their e3 press conference ... remember, no one had any idea what the
new PlayStation looked like yet May 21st
The new Xbox 1 featured a redesigned Kinect sensor with 1080p, a wider field of view,
USB 3.0 and a similar 8 core possessor to the one in the ps4
The All in one entertainment console would boast voice and gesture control features including
the ability to switch from games to movies to music and to cable all with voice commands
An interactive split screen function let users view fantasy sports, browse live programming,
and Skype, all while watching TV There would be no backwards compatibility
now or later, and they did not disclose a price or an exact release date
The stage was now set for a head to head console battle at the Electronic Entertainment Expo
June 6th A
few days before e3 on the Xbox blog Microsoft announces its policy restricting the use and
sale of used games, also a requirement for a live internet connection check in at least
once a day for disc based games to work on the console
June 10th At e3 both Sony and Microsoft would make their
final presentations For Microsoft it was mostly about establishing
that there would be great games available on their platform
they announced that the Microsoft Points system would come to an end and local currency would
be used instead Finally the price tag of $499 in the us was
revealed... The audience seemed to be luke warm on this price point
When it
was time for Sony to take the stage three statements were made that, to say the least,
changed the game
In a
post show interview x box chief Don Mattrick made a statement that would alienate a large
portion of his audience
and all but de-rail the product rollout June 19th
Microsoft posted a statement on the Xbox blog reversing its policy on used games and required
check ins as a result of the feedback back from the Xbox community
July 1st Don Mattrick left Microsoft to be the CEO
PlayStation 4went on sale November 15th while the Xbox one hit stores November 22nd. Both
companies sold over a million units on their first day. As of today sony has reported global
sales of 4.2 million units and Microsoft has reported 3 million units. The PlayStation
4 is now available in 53 countries and territories while the Xbox one is in thirteen countries.
Both companies have a keen eye on subscription services. Gamers who sign up for Xbox Live
Gold or Playstation Plus will gain a host of benefits from Social Media to free games.
technical aspects of the hardware aside, this is the major difference with next generation
consoles. So that's pretty much it guys, I hope you
enjoyed this look back at last years game console events and be on the lookout for the
next installment of our top 10 tech stories of 2013. The next video will come from the
Mobile Network Comparison channel, and as I said before, I will leave a link to their
channel in the description of the video. So thanks so much for watching, and I'll see
you in the next one.