"This Is Your Next Console"

I know it's this morning's news, but I felt it was threadworthy nonetheless. Here's the front cover of the latest issue of EDGE:



So...EDGE aren't pulling any punches, are they? What's everyone's opinion of this? Personally, I feel it's quite fearless - I can definitely see the XBox mob being up in arms about it, and perhaps even boycotting it so it sells about as many copies as this month's Nintendo Gamer. Though I still maintain that EDGE is a bitter anti-rag that should have been scrapped instead of Nintendo Gamer, this is as close as I've been to being interested in it in years.

I get the logic behind it, and I even agree with it, but...it's EDGE.

Ehhhhhhhh...

+ They're absolutely right, and hopefully even those who may not be as well informed on the situation as us may see this and be prevented from giving MS any money for their shambles of a console.  
+ Part of me thinks that it's nice to for a games magazine to have its heart on its sleeve.  As Silver says, it's quite daring.  
- I can't help feeling that such heart-sleeving should take place between the covers, and that having it on the front of the magazine is a cheap sales trick, tabloid-style.

Overall, the X1 being what it is, I'm just about okay with this.  I think the worst that could happen is that Edge's credibility takes a knock, and I can't say I care terribly about that.

I suspect that I might have a different opinion if I disagreed at all with the sentiment, or if things were less cut-and-dried.  But I don't, and they aren't.

Do have to wonder why they're putting Gamestick on the cover as well if the only option is PS4.

Eh, I'm in two minds. On one hands, it's like you guys said - nice to see a games mag being ballsy and throwing all their weight behind a console like this. But on the other hand, EDGE is meant to be multi-format. If PS4 is "the only option", then what's stopping EDGE from becoming a bitter version of OPSM? Will their X1 exclusives reviews be filled with snark saying "oh, it's a good game, but the console's shit so don't buy it"?

Not sure about it really.  

Ballsy but there suppose to be a unbiased multi-platfrom mag with some cred but now i think any they had have been lost.

Problem with this statement is that it reflects an editorial that was clearly written before recent happenings with the Xbox One.

Microsoft have backtracked on their plans, Don Mattrick has left. It's a headline that has lost its relevance quite a bit, with both systems being all but identical now, and (to me) also smacks of close-mindedness (the "only option" bit). This is further amplified by the "right now" on the front cover, perhaps EDGE hoping things will change down the line (they did) before it went to press (the hoping, not the changing).

EDGE is a magazine about videogames culture, where its readers should be open to every gaming option out there, so telling its readers they should only consider one console right now (don't forget they've written off the Wii U with this cover statement) doesn't quite sit well with me, even if the story should be a good read and examine exactly why we should invest in a PS4 first.

Maybe it would've been better to pose it as a question? Someting like 'Is ps4 your only option?' Then they could way up the pro & cons of each system to spark a debate from its readers.

What a foolish way to do things. The stomachs of everyone at EDGE must have turned when they saw the u-turn news. Humble pie slices all round.

To be perfectly honest I still view the Xbox One as a failure of a console despite the u-turn.  It still has the cloud integration, it is still weaker than the PS4, it still requires Kinnect, and it still costs a fair amount more.  Well, unless some of these changed since the 28th, I've been rather busy since then, but unless they have I still see the Xbox One as a failure of a console and the PS4 to be the far superior choice.

What do you mean by the cloud integration? Doesn't Sony have effectively the same set up now?

Just to throw a spanner in the works, the article was apparently written AFTER the U-turn.

But yeah, EDGE has done this kind of thing before. Remember the Original Xbox "F**K" cover, for example?



The strange thing for me, however, is that in terms of GAMES, the Xbone line up is far, far more appealing than the PS4's line up.

andyman949 wrote:

What do you mean by the cloud integration? Doesn't Sony have effectively the same set up now?

I've honestly no idea. All I've heard about Sony's system is that it will have something to do with streaming PS3 games or something. Honestly I've hardly heard about it.

If it's the same thing Sony can consider that a strike against them as well. Cloud integration has and always will to me sound like a useless limitation of a console that doesn't add anything that couldn't have been done to begin with.

Axis1500 wrote:

But yeah, EDGE has done this kind of thing before. Remember the Original Xbox "F**K" cover, for example?

That did lead into an amusing "Next Month" page two issues later which was just "FXXKED", teasing next month's lead feature of how xBox was doomed to failure. Maybe they're trying to recapture that joke?