RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Gamers from around the world are gathered in Los Angeles for E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's the annual videogame industry convention. Xbox and PlayStation kicked it off yesterday with dueling press conferences. NPR's Travis Larchuk was there.
TRAVIS LARCHUK, BYLINE: It's been one year since Microsoft and Sony introduced their newest consoles - the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. And while it's too early to declare a winner, there is a clear leader.
MIKE SCHRAMM: The PlayStation 4 has been doing phenomenally well.
LARCHUK: That's Mike Schramm, an industry analyst with Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.
SCHRAMM: It's definitely the current leader in sales but both of these consoles are just getting started.
LARCHUK: Out of the gate, Xbox cost $100 more than PlayStation and Xbox tried to be everything to everyone.
SCHRAMM: They talked about how you could watch TV on it and do all these things that weren't video games and the fans were a little bit unhappy about that.
LARCHUK: So this year at E3, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, shifted the focus.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PHIL SPENCER: Today, we're dedicating our entire briefing to games.
(CHEERING)
LARCHUK: Then came one trailer after another for blockbuster franchises like "Halo" and "Call of Duty." Sony also showed a bunch of new games. Though this year, it was the company that dared to veer away from gaming. Sony announced the new TV series streaming on PlayStation. It's based on the comic book, "Powers." And it went beyond the living room to the movie theater with an animated film based on the game, "Ratchet and Clank." Travis Larchuk, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
