OT: PS4 vs. XBOX One

Submitted by Darker Blue on

This has probably been discussed on the board before, but its the offseason and I'm bored. And curious. 

So I'm going to buy either a XBOX One, or a PS4 today. I'm leaning towards Sony, mostly due to my immense hatred of Microsoft. But maybe you can change my mind. 

I'm your standard gamer. I play a lot of sports games. I like some shooters. I'm probably going to buy Watch Dogs with whatever system I do buy. 

So what do you own, why do you own it, and why should I buy it?

MLaw06

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^

I used to have all the systems, but got kind of bored with them.  I think PS4 is better for casual use, but I personally don't feel the need for a console anymore.  I play some computer games from time to time and others on my phone.  Most of the time I'm working, playing sports or spending time w/ the famz. 

I Like Burgers

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^

Several months ago, I traded in my xbox and PS3 at Best Buy for $100 each.  I had planned on getting a new system, but decided to wait.  And I found that I don't really miss them.  Stupid little games on the phone or iPad keep me entertained these days.

stephenrjking

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^

I have a 360 with MLB 2K to play. It's nice. I hear the Show is better, but I wouldn't know--I'm happy with what I have.

But it's not made anymore.

So if you find value in playing a good Baseball simulation, that is a big point in favor of the PS4. 

And, frankly, checking the game library and any differentiating features is the way to go. Just look at what games you want to play on what. With that, you can't go wrong, as long as one of them doesn't tank so badly that developers stop making games for it (looking at you, Wii U, almost certainly the first Nintendo console that I will not own).

FWIW Apple just announced some beefed up gaming development potential. Of course, they are current the dominant portable gaming device player right now, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they might go further. Like, a $100 Apple TV device that plays games with either an affordable controller peripheral or a digital touchscreen controller on your favorite i-Device.

I firmly believe that Nintendo completely missed the boat when they did not go that direction. In-home digital streaming consoles are a booming business, and Nintendo could have developed a genuine differentiating winner, but they went for a third-rate console instead.

HipsterCat

June 3rd, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^

hey man dont hate on the WiiU, mario kart 8 is freakin awesome! it had an awful launch for sure and the selection isnt great but I've had one for a few weeks now and I actually really like it. Being able to play all the games on the game pad is so nice, expecially during the playoffs with games to watch most nights. 

stephenrjking

June 3rd, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^

I'm a lifelong Nintendo loyalist. I still own my Nintendo, Super Nintendo, N64, GameCube, and Wii. I still enjoy the rare opportunity to play them.

But Nintendo still has issues in the way it runs its business that are catching up to it, and (crucially) they don't have the traction to attract serious 3rd-party development right now. Honestly, while the Wii was great for a lot of stuff, even then its 3rd-party games were pretty tame compared to the competition. 

I have no doubt that it is a capable system, but it takes more than hardware to make it worthwhile. The Wii was an unexpected success because they broke ground on a previously un-tapped space of gaming that crossed over into non-gamer households. They have provided nothing so revolutionary here. 

I'm glad you enjoy yours, and I'm sure it has some strong features; so did the Sega Dreamcast. And, like Sega, but unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo does not have the diversity of product to recover from a bad system. I fear their days may be numbered.

Hannibal.

June 3rd, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^

IThe Wii was the opposite of a blessing in disguise for Nintendo.  That company needs to stop making hardware and the Wii delayed the inevitable.  The time has long since passed where Nintendo should just become a software developer.  With every first party game they are probably pissing away the sales of 5-10 million units by making it a Nintendo platform exclusive instead of opening it up to all of the other platform owners who like Nintendo's games but not enough to buy a console just to play those games.  A multiplatform release of the next Mario game would easily rival the sales of the next Call of Duty or GTA. 

mvp

June 3rd, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^

The Wii was near death and so we bought a Wii U, mostly for my son, the first Christmas it was available (18 months ago).  The big problem is the self-fulfilling prophecy.  Launch was bad so 3rd party game companies stopped supporting, so console sales didn't grow, so more companies stopped supporting.

I do think the problem is a bit more subtle than it is made out to be, though.  The problem is that there is no XBox or PS equivalent for the two screen experience.  Playing Pikmin or Lego City Undercover, it is cool because you can have the full screen on the game but look down and see the map.  But playing Madden it really shines... While you're about to snap the ball, you can touch a reciever and draw a new route for him on the screen -- my son LOVES that feature.

It has to be really expensive, though, for EA to develop a fundamentally different version of their games to take advantage of the gamepad.  So they're just not doing it.  My son's true sporting love is soccer and he can't get the new FIFA for the Wii U.  It won't be long before he truly starts jonesing for the XBox One or PS4.

And as the poster above me noted, Mario Kart 8 is great.  A couple of bizarre programming choices, but in general, new tracks, new features, new powerups, 12 racers, and same old Mario Kart fun.  My son pulled money out of his bank, collected old games to trade, and started negotiating with me for how much I would chip in to get it.  And, to be fair, I should chip in because after I put him to bed Saturday night, i poured a Scotch and went back to racing!

Regardless, for a serious gamer and the best value -- buy a decent gaming PC, set up a Steam account, and add all the games you're interested in to your wish-list.  Then wait for the sales to come.  If you're willing to wait a bit to play the games, you can get tremendous value.

Mike Kenn

June 3rd, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^

I have never seen anyone with a negative opinion about The Show. Best sports game on the market. Period. The ps4 verison is amazing. I love it. They always add new features and upgrade things. The developers seem to stay motivated. Being a sports gamer, I know Madden never adds anything or upgrades anything. The Show is the polar opposite. 

Michael

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^

This is mostly because the PS3 architecture was significantly different (and as I understand it, notoriously more difficult to code for) than the 360. This generation, the XB1 and PS4 are virtually identical in architecture. Last generation was like comparing apples to oranges in many ways; this generation it's apples to apples and the PS4 is clearly the superior machine.

tsabesi

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

Michael was mostly spot on. I'll add that this generation the CPUs are x86 architecture and the GPUs are custom AMD chips, but based on the current generation of PC GPUs. There are slight differences in the RAM type used but these days RAM shouldn't affect performance too much. The CPUs are nearly identical if I recall correctly and the GPU in the PS4 is more powerful so the PS4 should be more powerful pretty much universally.

For the first time the consoles really are just normal PCs with standard hardware and a custom OS. We can expect all 3 platforms to behave similarly, given similar specs (except that the PC probably needs a slightly better CPU to deal with the extra overhead that windows will have).

cbuswolverine

June 3rd, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^

There's a much larger gap this generation and it has shown from day one.  Every single multi-platform game to date has run better on PS4, ainec.  There's no reason for that not to continue, basically for the reasons Michael stated.

Unless you're into the multimedia/Kinect stuff, paying more money for less powerful hardware makes zero sense whatsoever.

dothepose

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^

I bought one in December, got Battlefield 4 and Madden. Just bought MLB The Show as well. The graphics and system are amazing. Sometimes the downloads and updates can take a while, but I have no complains and I had a Xbox 360 before. I didn't trust Xbox after its seemed everyone had the red lights of death on it. There aren't a ton of games yet for it, but I'm hoping that will change soon. The new Call of Duty should change my mind on that though.

nuclearblue

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^

I have the Xbox One, and I personally love it.  

 

But, since you say you're already leaning towards PS4, then you should probably go with your gut.

DMill2782

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^

PS3 and PS4. I like Sony's exclusives (Uncharted, Last of Us, God of War, MLB The Show, Infamous, Killzone, Resistance, etc.)  more than Xbox's. I typically play sports games and adventure games. The only shooters I play are Resistance and Killzone. I have been very happy with my PS4. Killzone's graphics are beautiful and really show off the systems capabilities in the early life of the PS4. Things will keep improving as developers move more towards exclusively producing games for the current gen systems. All third party game studios are still making games for last gen and current gen. 

PS4 is the more powerful gaming system. You can read about that anywhere. If you want the best console for gaming, go with PS4. If you care about being able to Skype etc. while gaming go with XBox One. 

Michael

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^

I really struggled with this, having owned the original Xbox and then the 360 for over a decade. I really liked those systems and was a fan of Xbox Live. I ultimately decided on the PS4 because I feel like Microsoft abandoned the core gaming audience for a more casual entertainment approach, and the lack of performance from a graphics and framerate standpoint is substantial.

There are fewer and fewer exclusives, and I think Sony wins out here too. I was a die hard Halo fan but the franchise has gotten stale. Since I own a PC that is a superior system to either, I can get any game I really want between that and a PS4. Plus I hated not having a good baseball game to play, so it's been nice having MLB The Show for a change.

Unicycle Firefly

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^

I usually wait a little while before purchasing new systems just to make sure all the bugs get worked out. However, this time I'm really impatient and want to get PS4 with Watch Dogs. Can anyone with a PS4 comment on any possible issues with the system right now?

Voltron is Handsome

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^

The lack of games is one major reason I am waiting. My favorite three franchises are Halo, Call of Duty, and Assassin's Creed. Well, I already had AC4 for 360 at the time of release of X1 and the next Halo game won't be on X1 until later this year. I also had CoD Ghosts for 360, which is a shitty game anyway (the multiplayer that is - the campaign is good), on 360 when X1 was released, so I didn't feel the need to get the new console at the time. I do want to play Titanfall, which is now available for 360, but since I plan to get an X1 sometime within the next year, I am just going to wait for that game. By the time I am reay to buy the X1, Titanfall will be very cheap, as will (hopefully) AC5 and Halo 5.

bamill010

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^

And it's definitely not necessary to have both of them. They have similar power and now that you can get the xbox one without the kinect they cost the same. It just depends which exclusive games you want to play and which controller you like better. I personally like the ps4 controller better. Here is a decent list of the exclusive games for each console. Whichever one you get add me, my gamer tag on both is bamill010.

Sllepy81

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^

I bought the xboxone mostly for racing games. ps4 has better internals, hardware so games on both Look better on the ps4. like I sad I like racing games, that's the only reason I bought the Xbox. if you like baseball you better get a ps4 since there are no options on Xbox. Also try the controllers out at a store, this is a big deal to me,I've always felt better with the Xbox controller. Either way I will eventually own both. what games do you like?

Sllepy81

June 3rd, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^

It's flopped though on the ps3 imo. They got lazy and reused ps2 models on most of the cars. They have better track selections but you get no interior views on about 2/3 of the cars and they look bad. Forza is better now, no idea about a Gran Turismo 7 since they just released 6 in December on the ps3 instead of ps4. Forza actually branched off to make Forza Horizon also, it's an open world racing game.

maize-blue

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^

I've always preferred the Xbox over Playstation and in about 2 years I'll buy the Xbox One.

Voltron is Handsome

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^

Xbox One fo sho, but I am biased and hate Sony consoles. You have to consider games, as both consoles have exclusive titles.

I will be getting an X1 either around Christmas or sometime in the spring of 2015. I'm just waiting for a good deal because $400-$500 is a rip-off. If I find it for < = $350, I will get one.

Schembo

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^

I got a PS4 for naughty Dog games and the PS Now service, which should let me play some games from previous PS consoles that I missed out on. Right now I only play BF4, and I've slowed down on that quite a bit. Still waiting for the HBO app to show up.

elaydin

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^

Out of curiosity, why the immense hate for MSFT? Gamers tend to forgive Sony for a lot of sins, but hold decades old grudges against MSFT.

Darker Blue

June 3rd, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^

Its mostly my love os Open Source software. I find it absolutely ridiculous that I have to pay for MS-Office when I can use a Linux OS and have all that shit without paying for it. 

I've also had a 360 RROD. I know I'm being petty but that's just how I roll.

BlueReign

June 3rd, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^

OpenOffice is free and 100% compatable. Plus most students get Office free and most white colar employees get it at a massive discount ,$15.

Realistically there is nothing Microsoft offers that you cant find open source for free on a windows platform. There is also nothing Microsoft offers that you cant "aquire" for free. 

Anyone who is competent enough to use Linux should know that already though.

That said, RROD sucks. I feel you there. Thats just how electronics work sometimes. 

 

ALL THAT being said. PC gaming for life. Consoles only make sense if you are willing to spend $460 to play football/basketball games. Every other game is available for PC (most every) and play with higher resolution, frame rate, functionality, and best of all... You have a computer anyway, why pay for a seperate box you will occasionally use as opposed to spending slightly more on the box you use more often.

 

 ALL ALL THAT being said. At the end of the day the only decernible difference between the two will be the exclusive games. Halo vs FFXXV. If i was you I would wait for E3 next week and take a look at the upcomming titles. Figure out which gives access to the ones you will play more. 

Happy Gaming.

-PC MASTER RACE-

 

 

gbdub

June 3rd, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^

I used to feel similarly regarding PC games, but unless you have the need for a pretty high-end computer at home, the delta cost between an "office and internet" PC and a gaming rig capable of playing the latest games (and maintaining that systerm) is pretty high. Plus given the myriad of hardware available, there are always compatibility issues. As someone who enjoys games but is by no means hard core (I max out at about 10 hrs / wk, and probably average 2-3), it's nice to know that I can buy a console, drop in a disk, and play, for any game for the next several years. They are still releasing games for 360 and PS3 - try playing a new PC game on your unmodified rig from late 2006, and it probably won't work without a lot of tweaking. Incidently, the Steam Box approach might help but won't fix this, since there's still a lot of variety.

Besides, while it's certainly possible to hook up your PC to your living room home theater with big screen and great sound, most people don't. So that plus the boot up and go convenience keep the console a good choice for a lot of people.

BlueReign

June 3rd, 2014 at 4:33 PM ^

I hear you. I managed to make it from 2006-11 on my college laptop. I probably qualify as hardcore though. You can set up a play current games on normal/high desktop for ~600, and its hard to find a internet/office laptop for under 300. Plus the ability to upgrade pieces as you go has appeal to me. 

I understand the appeal of a ready to go box for casual/once a week gamers as you said. Im clearly a bit bias, just trying to convert a TV watching casual to a PC master race cable cutting gamer!

 

P.S. All hail Valve, may Steam box's set our entertainment systems free.

elaydin

June 3rd, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^

That did sound harsher than I intended... pirate away.

Back to your original question... I have 2 XBones, 2 360s and a PS3.

To tell you the truth, the 360 is still the most often used console in the family.

I do think the "One" has the highest upside, given the delta between what the 360 used to be and what it is now.  The upside is based more on non core gaming functions (integration with the MSFT ecosystem, entertainment/TV integration, etc.).  

I do think the PS4 is a slick looking machine.  MSFT was a little too cautious this time around with cooling post RROD.   I've never been a big fan of Sony's software capabilities (outside of their gaming studios), but I do tend to lean Japanese in my gaming taste.

If I were you, I'd wait for the 2nd revisions of both machines and enjoy the newest PS3 or 360.

Sllepy81

June 3rd, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^

I imagine everyone had at least 1. I had 1, I admit though I also had a ps1 die on me. If the 360 was as reliable as the ps3 I imagine Sony might of considered dropping out or even Nintendo. And as the other said it's MS, when I think of good OS I don't consider MS.

Hannibal.

June 3rd, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^

I can't speak for everyone else but I have a deep, seething, passionate hatred of Microsoft for what they did to PC gaming in order to prop up the X-Box.  Specifically, they bought out developers like Bungie while paying others huge sums of money (like Bioware and Epic) to not put their games on the PC.  There is a massive graveyard of formerly great PC developers who no longer make PC games becauase they jumped ship for the X-Box.  PC gaming used to be a wonderful experience but now 90% of the games that are worth playing are ports of console games with shitty controls and interfaces.  Before the first X-Box, the PC provided unique experiences that were specifically tailored to the platform that would take advantage of it strengths and weaknesses.  That barely happens anymore.  There has been a small resurgence in this lately, thanks to Kickstarter and Steam, but even then PC gamers still only get small time indie games. 

And then there's the XBox One DRM fiasco and the shocking sense of arrogance and megalomania displayed by Microsoft last year.  Every company is out to make money but where they differ is in their attitudes about how to do it and the level of respect that they have for the consumer.  Microsoft communicates a horribly arrogant and condescending attitude towards the consumer nowadays, and they have been doing it for a long time.

And I didn't even mention Windows 8 yet.