Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo

Until last year, I'd say video game market has been pretty quiet, not because there weren't great games, but because Sony and Microsoft did not announce much.

Yet, starting last year, many exciting news were breaking through for gamers, that Sony, Microsoft, and of course, Nintendo, will be launching new gaming consoles throughout late-2012 to early-2013.

Nintendo was the first runner. In November, 2012, it launched its next version of Wii - Wii U. Just like its predecessor, Wii U is somewhat specialized in casual and family games. It has a monitor on the control pad, so some of the lower-spec games can be played without turning the TV on. However, its hardware specifications are on the lower-end that playing high resolution games is not very good on this piece of device.

Wii - U

Sony, staying quiet for 7 years since November, 2006, has announced Play Station 4 in New York in February, 2013. Only the control pad and approximate specifications have been revealed, and the actual design will be announced in E3, which will take place in this coming June.

PS4 will support a screen share, which can be easily done by hitting the share button on Dual Shock 4 controller. The cool part is that PS4 will support game streaming, without actually inserting the CD.

Of course, as always, PS4 supports TV, Movies, Music and Internet browsing. However, it is more-focused on game itself. Hirai Gazuo, Sony CEO, indicated that the target market for PS4 is real console gamers. It does support and connects other platforms, but its core is still games. To support such comment, PS4 does have very high hardware specifications, and it is known that its graphic processing ability is about 50% higher than that of Xbox One.

On the other hand, Microsoft announced Xbox One on May, 21, 2013. It's been 8 years since Xbox 360, which was released in November, 2005.

Microsoft's goal with Xbox One is an entertainment hub for home, meshing-up gaming console and TV. It supports TV, Movies, Musing, Sports, and Social Networking via Skype, etc., which is a result of the efforts to consolidate and control different types of electron devices into one. Yet, many complain that Xbox One is not as powerful as PS4 for gaming. According to IGN, about 75% of those who participated in the survey were disappointed.

Anyhow, this will be an interesting year to see which device(s) will be displayed in your living room and TV rooms.