A year in: PS4 vs XB1

dbm · Nov 19, 2014

Hi folks,

After resisting manfully for a year, Dragon Age Inquisition looks like it might be the trigger for me to join the latest generation of consoles.

I've been a PS guy up until now, but there aren't really any exclusives which would force me down that route anymore, so I am wondering whether to buy an XB1 rather than a PS4. I mostly play RPGs and driving games. I've never really been an FPS fan but I do like action games (e.g. Tomb Raider) and stealth games (e.g. Metal Gear). I'm quite interested in Project Spark, which is XB1 only.

What are people finding about the new consoles now that they have been out for a year?

Janx · Nov 19, 2014

From the previous gen, I own a PS3 and 360 (actually 2 PS3's with bad lasers, and 3 360's, one fat red-ringed, and one of the slims died recently). I guess it's hard to say which had better hardware, but I got a lot more miles from each of my 360's.

Software-wise, Microsoft is king. Sony is a hardware company and their PS3 OS showed it.

As such, I assumed Sony would make similar mistakes again on the new generation. So I bought the XbOne.

I haven't seen a PS4, but at launch the core feature sets and paid services were relatively equivalent. Once MS dropped the Gold requirement to run Netflix, that pretty much equalized them on features.

Since MS dropped Kinect and lowered the price, XbOne sales have apparently caught up and MS claims to be in the lead. I don't think who's leading is a big deal, so long as you're not buying a Wii. Generally, both the PS4 and XbOne have done well in the market.

Most of the games I like are cross-platform (been true to me since the PS1 era). So exclusives don't excite me. Ultimately, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence as the other platform gets a cool exclusive game. One can't fret about that.

Deset Gled · Nov 19, 2014

dbm said:
I mostly play RPGs and driving games.

If you want Japanese RPGs, your best bet will be to stick with PS4. While Xbone may have recently had an uptick in sales in the US, it has been doing absolutely horribly in Japan. All of the big name RPGs (expect Final Fantasy) will be available on both platforms, but as time goes on a lot of the smaller, less well known RPGs that come out of Japan will only be released on PS4.

Mallus · Nov 19, 2014

dbm said:
After resisting manfully for a year, Dragon Age Inquisition looks like it might be the trigger for me to join the latest generation of consoles.

I feel your pain, err, consumerism.

I watched the trailer for DA:I just last night. On my almost-brand-new 55'' TV. In retrospect, I shouldn't have done that. I went from "maybe I'll pick up a current-gen console in a year or two" to "WANT NOW!".

(I'll likely get a PS4, but only because I have a PS3 with a Playstation Plus subscription)

Janx · Nov 19, 2014

Mallus said:
(I'll likely get a PS4, but only because I have a PS3 with a Playstation Plus subscription)

That's a reasonable decision path honestly. Buy the one you already have a subscription for as there are pass-thru benefits and synergy bonuses (MC360 upscaled to MC-XBone for a mere $5).

As for DA, my wife is playing the PC version right now. She liked the controls, graphics and modding on the PC versions of the older DA games better.

Though right now, she's not happy that her new Alienware 14 isn't capable of running in a higher quality mode on the game. Might be a driver issue, as this thing should kick butt.

dbm · Nov 19, 2014

I'm erring towards an Xbox; my friends with earlier Xbox consoles got a lot of value out of them.

Janx · Nov 19, 2014

dbm said:
I'm erring towards an Xbox; my friends with earlier Xbox consoles got a lot of value out of them.

I am happy with mine. the pass-thru for HDMI is kinda useful. I don't have to flip video inputs anymore.

dbm · Nov 23, 2014

Well, I took the plunge yesterday and first impressions are good. Been playing Halo CE for the first time - still excellent however many years later, I can see what all the fuss was about.

Mallus · Nov 25, 2014

At lunch today I failed my save vs. unnecessary discretionary purchases and picked up a shiny new PS4 + DA:I. The local Walmart is having a decent pre-Black Friday special; a $50 gift card with every PS4, so the console & game ran me $410 + tax.

The odds of me getting anything productive done over the long holiday weekend just decreased dramatically. Which is fine, things have been stressful of late.