Friday, June 14, 2013

Xbox One and PlayStation 4

After spending some time watching both conferences and thinking about the systems I feel that I've got enough information to weigh in on my take on the systems.

Sony definitely had the stronger press conference in terms of what gamers want. That said, Microsoft had some better games but the issues with the Xbox One are going to hinder people's like for the system.

Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 will support used games without restrictions placed by Sony. The publisher must decide if they want to allow a gamer to buy a used copy of their game. PlayStation also seems to be supporting the indie game developers much more, bringing several indie games to the console first, and allowing the developers to self publish over the PlayStation Network. There is also no online check in for the PS4, and players are allowed to swap games with their friends at will. Also, the system was revealed and I think that it looks more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. The PlayStation Eye is also not a requirement for the system to function.

Xbox showed some more of their exclusive titles, but seemed to be more focused on announcing that DLC for several games was coming to the Xbox first. Not that it was exclusive, but that it was coming first. There were several great looking exclusives, like Titanfall and Quantum Break. Xbox One has placed a one time use license code in their games, and only allows you to gift your games to one of your friends once, providing they have been on your friends list for at least thirty days. There is also a once every twenty-four hour check in online while playing games on your own console. If you are playing your content on another Xbox you have to check in online every hour or the games stop functioning. Xbox does also support a much more robust suite of entertainment features than the PS4, but that comes at the cost of freedom for playing your games.

Both systems have pros and cons, as is with all systems. The thing is, Xbox says that they are for the gamers, but are being extremely restrictive on how the players are allowed to play. Sony has placed it into the hands of the publishers to decide how restrictive they want to be. At this point, I think that is I were to buy an Xbox One it would be for the entertainment aspects, not the games. That said, I do have a preorder placed on the PlayStation 4, but not for the Xbox One. I want to see how things play out over the first year or so with Xbox before I decide to join in.

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