Despite the battle having been raging for almost a year now, many people are still on the fence when it comes to which is the best next gen console – either frightened of picking the wrong one or swamped by conflicting reviews – so will you pick the PS4 or Xbox One?
The console wars have been consuming the gaming industry for quite a while now, and much like the phone wars, this has led to various biased groups and teams being formed, with each one a proponent for either one console or the other. When researching this sort of confirmation, this bias can lead to uninformative articles focusing on aspects which favour their particular brand for loyalty in a positive light and ignore crucial features which do the exact opposite.
No console is perfect of course and that’s why it’s best to get a well-rounded analysis of the hardware and services they boast, so as to be able to make an informed decision on which one will serve you best. With their prices pretty much neck and neck, it’s a close fight.
It could turn out that neither are actually for you, and you might have to look elsewhere, such as into PC gaming or something more active such as the Nintendo Wii. Before you make any big decisions, here is our break-down of what the PS4 and Xbox One have to offer:
Design
The Xbox One is a pretty big beast. Measuring in at 13.5 in by 10.4 in by 3.2 in, making it a rather menacing presence underneath your TV. Its outer layers are riddled with vents which is a very useful feature for making sure the system doesn’t overheat, a crucial component for a heavy, continuous gamer or families who will be using it on a daily basis.
The PS4, however, is a sleek (a description you will literally find everywhere), sexy and much easier to store, with dimensions of 10.8 in by 12 in by 2 in. The latter part of that volume should hint at how thin it is. The easy storage really is a telling factor and if I’m allowed to be a bit superficial, creates a nice futuristic aura around the whole contraption. It also weighs 700 grams less than the Xbox at 2.75 kg.
Power
It is a given that both of these consoles will have upgraded their systems to accommodate the next generation of gaming. Xbox One has a 1.75 GHz AMD 8-Core processor while the PS4 comes with 1.6 GHz; but that’s not the whole picture, since the PS4 has a far superior Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), using the much more acclaimed AMD’s Radeon technology, which means it will be rendering better graphics.
Although both have equal RAM with 8 Gigs, the PS4 also utilises the much faster DDR5. To put it in layman’s terms, if you were imagining these consoles as computers (which is essentially what they are, with joysticks!), PS4 boasts the better hardware.
Price
Price-wise, there really isn’t much difference. The Xbox One can be found for £324.85 and the PS4 for £328.99. Initially though, Microsoft had been dead-set on selling their prized console in conjunction with the Kinect but after some negative traction (after all, who wants to be bogged down by a Kinect when they have no intention of Kinect gaming?), they announced a Kinect-free Xbox One for a much lower price.
As a bonus though, Xbox One have done something smart by collaborating with EA Sports to offer an Xbox One + Fifa 15 bundle for a very cool £329.00. This is quite a deal when you take into account that not only is Fifa 15 one of the most sought after games in the UK, but generally costs around £40 to £50 as a stand-alone game.
Exclusivity
If you were (or are) an Xbox owner, you may remember the frustration you felt at the release of PlayStation exclusive game series God of War, which was arguably one of the best games at the time, if not ever. With less than 100 next-gen titles out, the list of exclusive games for each platform is, for the moment, a very small one.
For Xbox, there is of course Halo, their flagship game, which will be releasing its fifth instalment in the coming year. Other games include Gears of War, Quantum Break and Sunset Drive.
PS4 on the other hand, seems to be missing out on the big names, with only Infamous: Second Son in its list of exclusives. However, indie games and remakes are being made available exclusively for the PlayStation console, so if that is where your interests lie, this might be the better bet.
What else?
In the end, your choice should come down to the kind of gamer you are. If single-player gaming and campaigns are what you’re looking for, go for the one that boasts the games you really want to play and the stories you want to explore. However, if you’re into multiplayer gaming, your choice could be affected by social pressure rather than technicalities. Since games don’t support cross-platform multiplayer gaming, you’ll want to get the console your friends have.
No-one is saying the choice is easy, but at least now you have all the important facts!
