How Microsoft can avoid the pitfalls of Sony's PS4 announcement

Press events are a tricky beast. No one ever said they were easy to pull off. But with Sony casting the first stone in the next-generation console gaming war, Microsoft can learn a lot from what worked and what didn't.

When the lights went up, Sony execs were shaking hands and congratulating each other. But the packed house at the Hammerstein Ballroom wasn't exactly participating in the same adulation. Instead, it was left with a heap of unanswered questions, most notably the lack of physical hardware and a price tag.

By now it's safe to assume Microsoft will strike back with an event of its own, possibly before the company's E3 2013 press conference. If that's the case, one-upping Sony's coming out party shouldn't be much of an issue.

Here's what Microsoft can do:

Give us a box and give us a price This one's a no-brainer. Sure, the PS4 and next Xbox will most likely just be a box, not much different than the PS3 or Xbox 360. But I think some critics who've downplayed the absence of a physical console might be forgetting that the box itself can be news, too. What if it's shockingly small? What if there's some sort of functionality built into the casing the likes of which we've yet to see so far in the industry?

Let's also not forget about the branding side of things. For all intents and purposes, the Sony event was made to be the PS4's coming out party. This was to be the world's first exposure to the future of PlayStation. ... [Read more]