Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeros will have an exclusive mission on xb1 and ps4. In one you play as the original snake (PlayStation version) and on Xbox out get a raiden mission. It is weird though cause now I will need to decide which one will be the better one based on that content.
Here is the worst thing and it only hurts the industry as a whole. A developer is being forced to delay a game on ps4, vita, and wiiu or Microsoft won't let them release it on xb1. That is the types of practices they employ. So next time someone says we pick on MS, it is because they sometimes use strong arm tactics such as this "parity clause" that states you cannot release a game on xb1 that is already out on another platform. You have to release it first or at the same time. This developer has the game completed on other platforms but cannot release it because that dont want to limit their audience too much.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/09/studio-must-delay-multiplatform-game-to-get-xbox-one-release
Well spoken, and I fully agree. I'm not up in arms about it by any means with pitchforks, but it just reeks of gimmicky corporate manipulation, the result of too many stuffed suits plotting away in boardrooms, and too little effort put towards truly making things better for their customers. I think modern corporate culture has seriously become sick, with a big disconnect between the top execs and the rest of the guys who have to do the actual work.
I know in Microsoft's case, during the Ballmer years things became very disjointed due to their ranking system. It actually created mini fiefdoms within the company that competed against each other, blocked each other, and tried to cut one another's throats. Sony being the behemoth that they are surely has similar but different issues of their own which we can see in idiotic things like proprietary memory cards, proprietary music standards, and other nonsense which is just reinventing the wheel to try to keep you stuck buying their brand of crap. At least Nintendo, monolith of the old age, lets you use SD cards and such these days
This is capitalism, and I don't begrudge them their success, but I do feel that the model is somewhat askew today, and may even create an eventual crash or 'gaming recession'. The model of trying to take over the living room in a single paywall zone is in many ways a solution in search of a problem. I can't really think of very many people in the past decade that bemoaned "I can't watch TV! I need help!", or "How do I watch netflix? It's SO confusing!", or "How will I *EVER* find a new song or game to play".
Of course, the good thing is that XB1 and PS4 will definitely move the bar higher for capabilities, the previous consoles really did try to squeeze blood from a stone as the years fell away. And I have absolutely zero doubt that massive improvements will occur with the UI and features, and ease of use. This will particularly help XB1 to fulfill the promise that right now is severely flawed. The pre-launch boasting about Twitch support and the 'obviously superior to PSN online gaming' seem truly silly now. It's almost ironic that the massive goodwill built up from the XBL experience on 360 is completely wasted on the XB1 so far. However, by the time most of the XB1 owners actually get their XB1s (years 3 through 6 seem to be the most vibrant in terms of install base growth, as we should see the magic $299 barrier surely hit by then), these issues will be absolutely irrelevant.
I have full confidence that they will hit their marks, and at the same time I think they both suffered from releasing 6-9 months too early. PS4 needed more games and a couple of features, XB1 needed perhaps a slight boost in horsepower and a ready for primetime OS/feature set. We are truly beta testers, lol