Well guys, you might have noticed my absence as of recent, and in big part it's due to my involvement with the EB Expo 2013, which I'm going to give you a nice insight to. It was one hell of a massive and crazy thing, and while it can't really compare to the likes of E3 or Gamescom, it was the biggest convention in Australia (as far as gaming is concerned), and it certainly showed. Working for Ubisoft game me a nice VIP pass to get through on things fast, so I was able to give quite a lot of what was featured at EB Expo a go, and today, while I can't show you anything (photography was mostly banned, in case anybody claimed that a picture taken out of context looked bad", I certainly give you everything you'd want to here. Welcome to McJobless' Ultimate EB Expo 2013 Wrap-Up.

Because I'm very tired, and there's a HUGE amount to cover, I'm splitting this all up into parts. This is part 1, covering what you probably were most interested in; the very hardware you'll be using to play your awesome new games in the coming year. That said, stuff like the Oculus Rift will likely get covered in another part.

The Consoles: PS4 vs Xbox One

The biggest selling point of the show, without a doubt, was indeed the consoles, and actually being able to use them was in itself an amazing feeling, as I was one of the first people in Australia to use a PS4 to play Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. So, without further ado, let's break them apart and see what stood up as the proud warrior.

(Quick note: I'll talk about the controllers shortly. They're actually pretty damn awesome, and I want to compare them separately)

PS4

Sony's confidence in the console is at an all time high, since unlike their main competitor at Microsoft, they were more than happy to leave the consoles out in the open for people to touch, lift and give a very good look at. The PS4 itself weighs as much as two slim PS2s, and is about the same size as one of them. To be fair, it's actually significantly light for something packing as much power as it does. Sony was quite happy to show off about ~20 titles for the PS4, and while a fair majority were indie, there were some quite beastly games such as AC4 and Drive Club on offer. The console is a savage beast and it devours anything you throw at it with ease. It might not top a computer with 2 Titans and an i7, but it can still stand up to the best of the rest and fight back.

The PS4's main menu interface is pretty simple after you get the hang of it, but getting to it was of course by accident, so in all possibility the interface was limited on purpose in case anybody stole the console. The power and disc access buttons are not actually buttons, but seem to be more like sensors that require you to simply hold your finger over a very slim light. This might be the console's one fault, in that the On/Off switch is so tiny, but it's rather minute to the overall advantages it has to offer. Another minor problem is that the lights on the console don't change colour when it changes state, which means figuring if the console is on or off can be tricky. Especially considering the PS4 is actually super quiet. It's almost impossible to hear the thing running, which I think is quite incredible.

For those who want the PS4 to stand up, it currently doesn't look like an option due to the slanted sides and the absence of any kind of hole to screw a stand in. That's not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as the PS1 couldn't stand either. I couldn't unfortunately get a picture of the back of the console so I could remember specifically how much ports the console has, but needless to say HDMI, Ethernet and a minimum of 2 USB slots are definitely there. The PS4 uses the same tray-less disc loading system as the PS3, the controller ports do (from someone who doesn't own a PS3) seem to use the same connectors as the PS3.

Xbox One

Microsoft played it safe, and put their new console behind what seemed like bullet-proof glass. The console seems to be roughly the same size as an original arcade Xbox 360, and my guess would be that weight is the same. The console has the same power button as the Xbox 360 S, which is the silver button you need only lightly tap to turn off and on. There definitely is a disc tray, so don't worry about any rumours floating around regarding Microsoft going all digital just yet. It seems like the exhaust vents make up a significant portion of the consoles design, which is actually kind of cool, even though the console itself sported an odd sort of brown-ish colour.

To my dismay, the Xbox One is actually a pretty powerful box. Although my time spent around with it was fairly limited to just one game and watching over the shoulders of others, there were no freezes, stutters or slow-downs, and everything looked consistently beautiful at what seemed to be either a stable 30/60FPS (hard to recall). Microsoft wasn't going to let Sony have all the pretty visuals this time around, so they've pushed back, and their demos were entirely focused on AAA games including Dead Rising 3, Titanfall, Ryse and Forza 5. They certainly gave us the eye-candy, and you can find out about gameplay a little later onwards, but know that, for all the jokes we may have made earlier in the year, Microsoft does seem to have at least some kind of ground to stand on. For now...

I was able to take a very quick sneak peak at the menu interface, which is indeed based off the infamously "popular" Metro interface. Hooray. Sony's wasn't much better, if I'm honest, but at least theirs was a consistent colour scheme. The clashing blues and greens were quite the eyesore. However, it's quite obvious the interface was entirely built for Kinect 2.0, which strangely enough did seem to be absent from the EB Expo (either it was hidden away deep inside the Microsoft fortress, or they were scared of the Oculus Rift...).

Other Stuff

Of course, they weren't the only gaming platforms to feature. nVIDIA absolutely pushed it's GeForce GTX line of GPUs for all of the Ubisoft PCs, with all of the boxes giving off the green glowing words through a small window, "GEFORCE GTX". Meanwhile, many other manufacturers featured, including Dell's Alienware and Origin Systems all providing hundreds of boxes to the event. Nintendo brought along its Wii U and 3DS, and Sony played the hand-held market with its PS VIta. Sony also brought along a lot of PS3s showcasing Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus and GT6, giving us the idea that there's still life in that poor old console. Ubisoft also brought along iPads to show off some of the smaller mobile games available.

The Controllers

Sony and Microsoft are both proud of their new controller designs, and their both quite sophisticated and are significant improvements over the previous gen. But which one wins the bragging rights?

PS4 Controller

Sony's offering fixed my major problem with all Playstation controllers up until that point; in the words of Master Chief, "It feels like LEGO". They were stiff, hard bastards (*giggling*) and it could really strain the fingers if you were on a gaming spree. Thankfully, Sony has finally found my list of things they need to do before I consider buying their last gen console, and now the thumbsticks and buttons are a lot smoother and easier on the fingers. The thumbsticks themselves are now made out of a different material to previous iterations, making them much softer which will increase the amount of time you can use them before your thumbs completely snap. At first, I didn't understand the round circle on top of the thumbsticks, but it made control a lot easier when I finally got into intensive action bits. I can also confirm that the D-Pad is now slightly less annoying.

Of course, while you would want to know more about the "Options" and "Share" button, the later being disabled and the former I talked about the results of earlier, what you really want to know is how the touch-pad works. Well, frankly at this moment, I didn't play any games that actually had a use for it. inFamous: Second Son will make use of it, but there was no gameplay demo avaliable at EB Expo, and so it became a useless waste of space for the time being. That said, as a touch screen it has an interesting feel; it's not glass like any old iPod. It's kind of like the plastic of the console itself, and its feel is very distinguishable from the rest of the controller, so using it shouldn't be difficult, provided you were blessed with the gift of three hands. As much as I don't like to, I need to say something negative in that actually getting your hand onto the touchpad during gameplay is an exercise in masochism, as it's likely you'll need to release control of movement if you're right handed (which is trying to operate all the other buttons and your view). Of course, I could be wrong, so we'll just need to wait and see what happens in the not-so-far future.

Xbox Controller

The new Xbox controller is, as I thought it might, pretty well done. Despite the weaknesses of the console that still exist, the controller is one redeeming point in its favour. Just like the PS4 controller, the buttons have been softened up a little bit to help ease off the strain of long-session gaming. The D-Pad is no long the ridiculous single piece of plastic used in the original 360 design, and now resembles that of the Playstation's singular buttons. As weird as it sounds, the impulse triggers actually are kind of cool, giving more precise vibration for when you fire a gun or something similar. The new ergonomic design of the controller actually feels kind of nice in your hands. Hell, the thumbsticks are made from a new material that feels something special.

Of course, it's not all perfect. The weird plastic-glassy bit at the top doesn't make a lick of sense and offers no practical function (that I know of), aside from making the controller taller than it needs to be (the guide button could easily still have been placed in the middle of the controller). These new buttons, "Menu" and "View" did nothing at all when I used them, which was likely disabled features. These replaced the Start/Select buttons too, so how this is going to affect gameplay with any games that needed the Select button for leader-scores or the mini-map should be interesting. That all said though, the controller was fairly light, considering how heavy the old 360 controller was, and the black colour scheme is pretty cool, even if Sony has been doing it for years now.

Other Stuff

Unlike Activision, who gave all CoD players the Xbox One controller, Ubisoft opted to stick with the most traditional Xbox 360 Afterglow AX.1 controller, a nice glowing aftermarket controller that I also own, and I've found to be quite reliable. Meanwhile, the mouser and keyboard warriors were fighting for controller, with Razer and several smaller manufacturers demonstrating their brand new products. From what I tried out, there was some super awesome stuff out there that I'm jealous of, including one mouse that had the Xbox buttons on its side, and a keyboard that came with a hand fan, to help you get rid of the sweat from a big gaming session. There was just so much variety, it's become more of a choice in what you don't need, as opposed to what you want, which in itself I think is kind of cool that even our peripherals have become super advanced.

Conclusion

We have lots more to talk about, but right now, a very tired and sore McJobess has just wrapped up the thoughts on the consoles and the controllers. Being one of the first to try this stuff is a unique feeling. It's likely that, with my memory the way it is, I've got facts muddled up and confused, but overall, despite what seemed like the Xbox's rather large popularity (ultimately for the games, not the console itself), the PS4 has won me over several times during the Expo, and while I'll still be trying to get a good gaming PC first and foremost, my sights are clearly set on getting a PS4 in the near future, but maybe even getting an Xbox, just to see if they can expand on the positives and defeat those evil preconceptions the majority of us still have. It's too early to call this generation won just yet, but we know who is in the clear lead. Now we just have to see the games.