How is a discount, any discount, just a "buzzword"? It's a consumer benefit, regardless of the platform that is offering it. Yes, they only do it to get you "into the store", so to speak, but so what? You are still getting a discount. If you don't want to take advantage of that discount, that's your choice, but the fact that you don't want it doesn't make getting something for less than what you would normally pay for it meaningless.

I do tend to agree on this, but again, it doesn't change the fact that plus members will get access to these things before non plus members. It would be nice if things like on-disk DLC didn't exist, but the fact is, they do and any way to get around that manufactured restriction is a good thing.

This is one case where the publisher's benefit also equals the consumer's benefit. Who doesn't want to try out a game long before you shell out up to $60 for it? Games are far too expensive these days to blindly go into a purchase and any chance to try before you buy is a good thing.

* cough *

I hope we'll see some Shadow Warrior gameplay and news about Serious Sam 4 and Beyond Good and Evil 2.

A direct Mario sequel, a direct Donkey Kong sequel, and a bunch of crap I don't really care about. I'm really starting to regret my Wii U purchase.

My worst fears about Sony and Microsoft conspiring to make consumers "just accept" the "fuck you" treatment are relieved.

In fact, Microsoft may as well just get completely out of the game industry now before they lose money, jobs, and investors. They were crushed by the Sony-Nintendo juggernaut and there's nothing they can do to pick themselves up.

All of the games in Sony and Nintendo's lineup looked interesting and worthy of checking out. We're going back to the way the console industry was in the late 90s where it was Sony-vs-Nintendo and everybody who played console games was happy, and neither of the two companies felt pressured about having to catch up to the popularity of Microsoft's Americanisms with a game library full of product-tie-in shovelware and musclebound pea-brained space marines with giant guns shooting Arabs to dubstep remixes of Insane Clown Posse songs.

E3 2013: Microsoft's funeral.

You're either hard to impress or didn't really care for Nintendo Properties to begin with.

I love Nintendo properties (single player games anyway), but I want some damned iteration. They are in full rehash mode now when they need to be pulling in as many new customers as possible.

A discount on PS4 vs no discount on PS4 matters. A discount on PS4 vs no discount on Xbone is a meaningless buzzword. Same with other stuff. As of now, Sony, having announced plus bonuses, is committed to providing them. But MS, having announced a smaller list of bonuses, might as well offer free demos and whatnot to everyone.

Yes, if you already have a PS4 and there's a plus offer on the table, signing up may be beneficial. But within a larger field of possibilities, including comparison with Xbone, it's just Tom Sawyer selling fence-painting privileges.

The Xbox One will not have free games with the Gold service. This is straight from their website:

"Games with Gold free games offer available 6/10/13-12/31/13 for qualifying paid Gold members only. Xbox 360 games (selected by Xbox) available for free download from Marketplace only during specified half-month window; available games may vary by country. Some titles may only be available for download by account holders 18+. Kinect and/or hard drive required for some games."

So, it's only Xbox 360 games, which can't be played on the Xbox One, and it is only for 6 months, which is around the time that the Xbox One will be released. Thus, PS Plus and the Gold Membership are not the same.

Does that dis-include that mech-gear looking game?

Well I guess Nintendo canceling their E3 conference makes sense now. There was some good stuff shown, but not enough to get the Wii U out of the predicament it's in. Most of that stuff being 2014 with no announced price drop is going to hurt them bad this Christmas.

And Pikmin 3 despite being a sequal, is a franchise we rarely get.

I can't actually watch the Direct at work, what game is that? To be honest, the two things I was looking for were the new Mario game (was hoping for something a little more original) and the new Retro game (was hoping for something grander in scale). If there's a new game that I missed out on I'd be happy to know about it.

The only other potential positive for me is Bayonetta 2. I haven't played the first yet, and I'm not a huge fan of spectacle fighters, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Bayonetta 2 could potentially be that system seller the Wii U desperately needs. At least I know I will sooner or later have to get a Wii U when Bayonetta 2 comes out. The first one was just a phenomenal game - like pretty much everything Platinum has done.

And at the moment, it looks like Platinum Games could very well become a 2nd-party Developer for Nintendo, since their deal with Sega is now done, and there doesn't seem to be another publisher willing to take them in.