This year’s E3 will present a two-company title bout the likes of which we haven’t seen since... well... the first HD consoles were revealed nearly a decade ago. With the next generation PlayStation and Xbox on the horizon, Microsoft and Sony are preparing to duke it out in hopes of securing next-gen domination. E3 is their ring.

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“ In 2006, Sony started this generation out with a massive stumble.

“ The good news for Sony right off the bat is that it only has to worry about Microsoft.

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“ Sony can – and should – rely on the hardcore gamer, just like it did back in the ‘90s.

“ It’s hard to believe that Sony can beat Microsoft at its own game.

In 2006, Sony started this generation out with a massive stumble. Full of bravado following the historic success of PlayStation 2 – a console that has gone on to outsell Xbox and GameCube combined three times over – Sony took its unprecedented success for granted. It quickly found out that a ridiculous price point alone could sink the PS3’s fortunes, and it nearly did. Only a steady stream of excellent exclusives and a timely series of price drops culminating with the release of PS3 Slim saved it from falling into a distant third place, and perhaps even into relative obscurity.The good news for Sony right off the bat is that it only has to worry about Microsoft. Nintendo has tacitly admitted it doesn’t want to compete with Sony and Microsoft – at least this year – and has left center stage to PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox. That means Sony can look in one direction and needn’t worry about protecting its flank as it prepares to roll out new wares, announcements and more. It can therefore prepare a single unified message that will accent what’s already a clear divergence in approach between the two companies.This year, Sony needs to make sure to get out of its own way and let the games speak for themselves.Games are Sony’s trump card. The PlayStation ecosystem, and PS3 in particular, has found its success with the hardcore through exclusives that simply can’t be played anywhere else. The tantalizing truth is that Sony owns a dozen studios that only make games for its platforms, and the company also has on its side the industry’s single biggest roster of second-party studios to boot. We don’t even know what eight of Sony’s 12 fully-owned studios are working on in terms of PS4. You can expect to see some of these yet-unknown projects for the first time in just a few weeks.It’s hard to believe that Sony can beat Microsoft at its own game. There’s no doubt Microsoft is preparing a ubiquitous piece of hardware that’s designed to do everything. If this is the case, Microsoft’s renaissance man-like approach will leave Sony the opening it needs to talk about games, games, and games. It can abandon its gimmicks, like PlayStation Move, and deliver what its consumers want most. It may not spell outrageous, mainstream commercial success, but then again, the Wii U’s disastrous showing following the great success of the Wii is proof of how fickle a mainstream audience is. Sony can – and should – rely on the hardcore gamer, just like it did back in the ‘90s. The core won’t disappear.Oh, and expect to see what the PS4 actually looks like – if not in person, then a render of it – and a release date, too. Pricing? Something tells me Sony will keep that close to the vest for a little while longer, not only to obscure what could be an unpopular price point, but to admit that it might not have the cost of the console locked down yet.E3 can be Sony’s way to continue all of the positive momentum it built back in February when it finally revealed PlayStation 4. It has a lot of goodwill on its side from gamers eager for their first taste of the next generation. The bad news for Sony is that the new Xbox will have been revealed by then as well, so it no longer controls all of the next-gen mindshare by default. But by focusing on gamers and games – and unique services like Gaikai and PlayStation Plus, too – Sony can steal the thunder back from Microsoft and run into the summer with everyone chattering about all of the exciting games they can’t wait to get into on PlayStation 4.After all, where can’t you watch Netflix?

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.