The next generation of gaming is here. Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s Playstation 4 have already been out for well over a month. The PS4 has clearly been the top seller, with 4.2 million units sold by the end of 2013, compared to the Xbox One selling 3 million. Regardless of sales figures however, which is the superior console for virtual play?
Let’s take a look at prices first. There’s no point in buying something you can not afford, regardless of how superior it is. Microsoft’s Xbox One is quite pricey at the price of $499. The cheaper option is PS4, which is $100 less than the Xbox One at $399.
The most important question: Will you get your money’s worth? With the sheer lack of games for both consoles, that question can not be firmly answered yet. These consoles are still relatively new, and the few launch titles that have come out have not had spectacular reviews. So, the smartest course of action is to wait. While there are other games that were previously released on the last generation of consoles that have been ported to the next generation, unless you have not bought them for your last generation console, there will not be any new experiences. Comparing exclusive games for the consoles is not the best way to determine which console is superior since so few are out. So, the best way to compare the consoles is on their processing power, the amount of storage on hard drives/cloud saves, and both consoles’ policies on used games.
Based on processing power, the PS4 wins, being able to process or generate textures at 14 megabytes per second, while the Xbox One can process 12 megabytes per second.
The amount of space on the hard drives of both the PS4 and Xbox One are both at 500 GB, and both do support cloud saves. So, both consoles are exactly the same in this area.
However, a major controversy has erupted among gamers about Microsoft’s treatment of used games. Many of Microsoft’s initial announcements of the Xbox One led to many mixed to negative reactions. Microsoft originally planned for the Xbox One to have online DRM, a requirement to have the Kinect plugged in at all times, and, most importantly, that used games were about to become a thing of the past for Microsoft. Once a game was played on a certain Xbox One, that game could only work on that Xbox, which would effectively destroy the used game industry. Since the announcement, Microsoft had revoked all of these features, including the one about used games. However, the damage was already done, and Microsoft lost many faithful fans. Sony, on the other hand, had always supported used games, and continued to support them for the PS4.
Sophomore Zach Frank said he would prefer the Xbox One saying that “More [friends] are on Xbox”
Junior Kyle Grimm was an avid supporter of the PS4. “Definitely the PS4” he said saying “It has better exclusives, plus it’s cheaper.”
However, there are outliers in all of this. Junior Bradley Caldwell does not wish to purchase either console, “There are many games I have missed out in the last generation so I want to get a chance to play those”
There is also junior Adam Browne, who says that when coming to online gaming, “getting a PC is the way to go.”
It seems that when coming to consoles people seem to care less about processing power or hard drive space, but more about the experience they get out of it. Most people will get a console because all of their friends have one or their favorite games are exclusive to that console. However, because both the PS4 and the Xbox One do not have the exclusives or games that are able to support the massive communities yet, the next generation has not truly arrived yet. So, the best decision would be to wait and be patient for what is to come.