Nobody won E3 this year and that's a good thing

Now we've had a few days to let the dust settle on the opening to E3, we can safely look back and write one of those conclusive articles saying why Sony or Microsoft "won" this year, or why Nintendo is in more trouble than ever, or why virtual reality is just a fad.

Except, things are a bit different for 2014. Unlike last year when Sony stood like giants among men, there really was no clear "winner" this time around. Everyone did okay, nobody was terrible. It was pretty much games, games and more games, and that way everybody wins.

Microsoft had the most to gain following a bizarre 2013 full of U-turns, DRM controversies and a lack of focus on the core gamer, and this year it definitely got its act together. New Xbox boss Phil Spencer opened the show and he comes across as a much more relatable human being compared to former boss 'We have an offline console it's called Xbox 360' Don Mattrick. Spencer had been promising a focus on games for months in the build-up to E3 and he certainly wasn't lying.

A Halo Collection, Crackdown 3, Phantom Dust, Scalebound and Dance Central Spotlight were announced exclusively for Xbox One, while we took closer looks at Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2 and Fable Legends. As for third-party games the new Call of Duty and Rise of the Tomb Raider were highlights and definitely got the audience excited. 90 minutes of games were promised, and 90 minutes of games was what we got. Combine that with Microsoft's previous announcements of removing the Xbox Live Gold paywall to access entertainment apps and bringing Games with Gold to Xbox One, it's clear the platform holder is listening to the players.

If 2013 was something of a PR disaster, 2014 is seeing the ship being steadied and Microsoft is now in a much better place to compete with Sony.

Speaking of Sony, the PS4 also had a pretty good showing. It was always asking too much to top last year, but keeping up the momentum was the goal and that was pretty much achieved. It started strong, finished well and kind of lagged in the middle, but I admit the reveal of a Grim Fandango remake gave me goosebumps (still one of the best games ever, 15 years on).

LittleBigPlanet 3, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4 and No Man's Sky were highlights, as was the news that GTA 5 is being built for the new consoles, but yet again there was no mention of The Last Guardian. Entertainment was also spoken about, such as PlayStation TV, and Sony can afford to dedicate time to entertainment because it has always made it clear that the focus is on games first. Take note, Microsoft.

As for Nintendo, they may not be competing with the big boys for now but they still had plenty for dedicated fans to cheer about. The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U appears to have generated the most excitement, and as usual there was Mario, Yoshi and Smash Bros. news. Whether all this can actually pump some life back into the Wii U remains to be seen, and 2015 will probably be the year where it gets back on track or is written off completely. 

So there was no new hardware on show for 2014, but there were plenty of games to get excited about and that's the most important thing. Unlike last year there was also a touch less animosity between the platform holders, meaning we could just be left to focus on what they had to show instead of the braggadocio. In the end neither Sony or Microsoft came away 'victorious', only the players.