Console Wars: Did You Know Sony Made a Handheld?
June 8, 2012
Aww, more console arguements. I really do enjoy these comics. I wish the big three consoles could talk, cause I really do think the 360 and the PS3 would pick on the Wii mercilessly, but sercetly wish they could be more like it, which is why Sony and Microsoft keep trying to copy Nintendo's tech. Sony and Microsoft may have the heart of the hard core gamer audience, but deep down they really wish they came up with motion controls. Anywho on with today's comic.
Microsoft! They announced this wacky whatchamacallit Smart Glass" during their E3 press conference. The gist of it is that it's an application that will run on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system as well as Windows, Android and iOS phones and tablets that will let you use that screen of your choosen device as an augmented screen for your Xbox 360. It will also make it easier to sync and share multimedia between devices, which is probably the main purpose of the upcoming Windows 8 version. As for the tablets and smart phones the demonstration shows the phone and tablet screens being used as an interactive menu screen for the Xbox, not unlike the Wii U's tablet controller, which Nintendo announced and showed off over a year ago, at last year's E3 in fact. Sony apparently also has plans on having the Vita perform as an augmented screen for the PS3, which makes sense for them, perhaps it'll help sell the thing, seeing as the Vita is selling way below Sony's expectations, having only sold 1.8 million units world wide, and most of them coming from Japan, with only an estimated 175,000 being sould in the US. Compare that to Nintendo's 3DS that has sold over 17 million units world wide, and also will have connective funtionality with the Wii U.
Getting back to Microsoft. When they announced this whole "smart Glass" thing I was a bit worried that it would only work on a Windows phone or tablet, and personally owning an iPhone I thought I'd be missing the Smart Glass train, but to my surprise they said they will have both Android and iOS suppost. So kudos to you Microsoft. This is actually a really smart idea. Why make a special controller that you'd have to buy like Sony and Nintendo are going to make you do, when you can just make use of something most people, especially gamers already own.