Heading into the second holiday season since their launch, I felt it was time for me to size up my personal feelings about the XBox One and Playtation 4 - Granted, I did not buy my XBox One or my PlayStation 4 at launch, unlike every other console generation that I have participated in since generation one. I was a bit unimpressed with the launch lineups, and I am not so certain that I feel that much differently about the game lineups for either device at this point, either. At least in terms of the number of titles that capture my interest. As the two giants of the industry prepare to enter their second holiday season (when we said everything would be clicking on all cylinders, right? right????), I have been musing over which one I would recommend. That kind of recommendation is not always driven by which console I personally prefer, so I have been thinking about that aspect as well, and the ways in which it is discrete from the other. Let me deal with the latter first. And then Ill get around to the former later this week in a follow-on post. How I personally feel about the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 is a tough question. At face value, neither console has a more robust library in terms of the types of games that I am interested in. I do not need the indie titles, as every indie title that has come to the PS4 has been available on PC well in advance, and I have played it there if I have been interested. Yes, I decided to pick up Destiny for the PS4, but, for Petes sake, Sony cannot get a driving sim wired to save their lives. So the XB1 has gotten a lot of my attention in terms of hours spent in Forza Motorsport 5 and Forza Horizons 2. The controllers are a break even for me, as well. Whereas I have historically despised the Sony Batarang because of its slippery, rounded triggers, and the closeness of the analog sticks to one another, the PS4s controllers fix some of those problems, or at least make them less of an issue. Still, I do, overall, prefer the XBox One Controller, just not as much more so as I did during the 360/PS3 years. The OS are also a bit of a wash. I do prefer the status update area of the PS4s main page. Seeing what my friends are up to on the XB1 is a bit maddening in terms of drilling down to the Friends app and waiting for it to launch, and scrolling to each individual. I have noticed that there is one Friends summary widget on the XB1 homepage now; if you scroll over to it. On the PS4 end, I dislike the lack of transparency in terms of when the f*&! is a game REALLY installed, because those updates in the notification area that say that a game is installed often are not accurate, and I see additional downloads occur when I actually launch the game. On the XB1, I have seen some instability; games that do not recover and soft-launch from the standby state, apps that lock up or crash back to the homepage, etc. Overall, I am slightly more pleased with the accessories available for the XB1. I am still really disappointed at the lack of a first-party media remote being available for the PS4. I will say that both manufacturers got headsets right this time. Yes, you require an adapter with the XB1, but so many headsets include them in the box, that it is not a big deal. Even if you buy one that does not, plunking down for an adapter allows you to use any set of headphones when you just need the game audio, and dozens of full headsets. I remain confused as to how or why, on the PS4, despite the plethora of headsets on the market, I still see most players in-game without voice comms. Which brings me to an area where I wish I could call out a difference, and that is community. In the last gen, I was definitely more engaged with the XBL community. But then it became…lets just say that were more people there that I wanted to avoid than I wanted to meet (thank you, Call of Duty), and I felt better on the PSN. Of course, that was mostly because no one ever spoke to you there at all because none of them had headsets. So a good thing is that both XBL and the PSN now have great Party comms available on their flagship consoles. The problem is that they both have great Party comms available on their flagship consoles. So I have no idea what the communities are actually like because I spend all of my time in Parties with my friends, and rarely encounter any new gamers. Its a blessing. And also a curse. I will say that one place where the PS4 is kicking the XB1s butt nine days to Sunday is in the realm of free games for its premium service subscribers. Sony had to figure this out last gen, because the other features of its PlayStation Network were woefully inadequate in comparison to XBL. So out of the fire spawned by Sonys self-immolation within the pyre of its online strategy, which peaked with the security compromise of its entire online service backbone for all Sony gaming services in 2011, PlayStation Plus became a fighting platform for the PS3. That offensive has been extended to the PS4 and the gen 8 console battlefield. It is a campaign that Sony has waged as a blitzkrieg with no signs of slowing up. The good of it is that Microsoft has gotten a bit better, but they have not closed the gap. Games that become available via Games with Gold are still typically older games that have lost some of their shine. In contrast, PS Plus games that are part of the free, monthly offerings are sometimes new games, or very recent. When they are old, they are the marquis and flagship titles from the previous year. Subjectively, I have to say that the PS Plus games tend to just be plain out better than those offered via Games with Gold. There is a part of me that says that if my wife declared martial law and I was only allowed to keep one console, it would be the PS4 simply for the reason mentioned above; the greater perceived value that I feel in being a PlayStation Plus subscriber. But, again, there is a dearth of driving games on the PS4, and I do not see that changing. Microsoft seems to have that locked up. That genre is important enough to me that I am inclined to give the nod for my personal favorite to the XB1 for its staunch support of one of my favorite genres. The recent OS update to the PS4 sees it pulling further in front of the XB1s Metro-style UI. I am actually a proponent of Metro, but the PS4 v2.01 update puts a lot more both in the immediate front-end with fewer drill-downs that the XB1 OS, and organizes the library in a far more sensible manner than either the previous PS4 OS or the current XB1. Truth is, I cannot put my finger on it, but despite what I would admit or tangible advantages in the PS4 as a platform, I have to admit that my comfort zone is on the Xbox One. It is my personal favorite. Whether or not it is the one I would recommend is yet another discussion to be had. Originally drafted on an LG G3 using an Apple BT Keyboard and generic BT Mouse.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 00:05:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015