By Angel Lopez Bello
The time has come once again to make a decision that will affect you for the rest of your life. Are you going to go with Xbox or Playstation, Microsoft or Sony? Not since the 2013 release of the PS4 and Xbox One, has there been such a decision to be made. Sony and Microsoft finally released their newest generation of consoles for this year’s Christmas season. Perhaps the best thing to remember 2020 for is the duel between these two contenders for the next generation of consoles and of course all those new video games that will be designed to take advantage of the new technology.
The new PlayStation 5 arrives in two versions, digital and physical. Sony enters this battle of the consoles with a price of $499 (for the Blu Ray version) and $399 (for the Digital only version). The new Xbox Series X/S from Microsoft compete with the same price of $499 (for the Series X) and coming in at a price leading $299 (for the Series S). But like any other console that releases from these companies, it always begs the old same question, Which console should you buy?
Which of them are more powerful?
The processing and video power of these consoles is the biggest selling point and major upgrade for these two systems. The Xbox Series X/S has a slight advantage on this front with 18% more processing power than the PlayStation 5, although some people at Digital Foundry had tested the hardware to their extent and they found out that while both of these consoles are seem to be very close when it comes to their power in specs, the PS5 will outperform the Xbox Series X/S in terms of frame rate, such games as Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition handled the frame right slightly better on the PS5 than it did with the Xbox Series X/S.
Which consoles have the better games?
In the end it is the games that make the system. If there is some great hardware without anything fun to play, it might as well be a toaster. These systems are still brand new, so there is still some way to go before all the latest titles start coming out for these systems. However, a majority of the titles being released in the near future will be console specific, which means that some care must be taken to choose the right console.
However, most third-party games such as the new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla are available for both platforms, and every single Xbox Series X/S games are playable on PC.
At launch, the Xbox Series X/S again has the biggest advantage in games, mostly due to the availability of Microsoft Game Pass. With the payment of a monthly subscription fee, a user gets access to hundreds of games from both Xbox one and Xbox 360. Microsoft is also going to bring new games to the Game Pass on launch day, such as Halo: Infinite. They are also updating some old games like Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4 to make the most of the new hardware.
The PlayStation 5 at the moment only has some exclusive games such as Marvel’s, Spiderman: Miles Morales, Astro’s Playroom, Bugsnax, and the remake of the 2009 PlayStation 3 game, Demon Souls. Other franchises such as God of War, Ratchet and Clank, and Horizon will have new installments coming for next year, and games such as Final Fantasy XVI, Deathloop, and GhostWire Tokyo are also set to release next year. So purchasers of Sony’s box will not have to wait long for a pile of games. It is also worth mentioning that the PS5 will also have a PlayStation Plus subscription service which will grant new free games for each month. With the PlayStation Plus Collection, you get to play 18 excellent games from the PS4 on the PS5 as long as they’re subscribed to the PlayStation Plus membership. But at the moment, Microsoft’s offering is more valuable but we’ll have to wait what Sony has in store in the future.
Which controller is the best?
There really isn’t that much more to say about these contenders, but to add that the controller for the Playstation is also new. The all new Dualsense controller for the PlayStation 5 has far more advanced features such as haptic feedback and more adaptive trigger buttons. The Xbox Series X/S controller is what is considered to be an upgrade over the Xbox One’s controller, so it really doesn’t give many new features. Although it feels nicer to play it on PC for the time being.
Conclusion – Which one should you buy?
Since both of these consoles have recently been released to the market, there really isn’t a lot of reason to pick these consoles right from the get-go. If you want to buy them right now (if you’re able to since they are already sold out in stores), then don’t worry, you are not missing out a lot as there isn’t a lot of exclusivity to purchase these consoles, meaning they will be in all the stores completely restocked soon.
The winner of this battle depends on what the purchaser wants to get out of this machine. If you want to have a gaming console which almost has the same capabilities as a gaming PC, then you’ll want to go with the PlayStation 5 as it will allow you to play games that you would not play on a non-gaming PC. However, if you’re looking for loads of games to play for more entertainment and without spending a lot of money, then the Xbox Series X/S is the console for you. For this reviewer, more games, right now, means more fun, so look for the upcoming review of the new XBox console in the next issue!
