Hey,
after seeing all the hype around the PS4 and (often even unjust) hate against the XBone I felt like I should post this thread. First of, note that while I'll try to go by facts, I can't be completely objective. I'm fully aware that I'll go against popular opinion with this post, but looking at prior experience with the Escapist forums I hope to find at least a few people who are willing to discuss like proper people and without all the hype.
Now, let's get started. I've been checking different sites over the last few days and have talked to quite a bit of people about the new generation. As Yahtzee already said, you don't have to buy any console, but people feel like they do, so that's what causes these problems. That divides sites into either a PS4 fanbase or an XBone fanbase, because others just don't want to join a thread where people are going wild about the other console.
Let me start off that personally, I think both consoles are good. Both are on par when it comes to technical details and so on, they are just aiming to do different things. And let me note that even if the XBone will fail horribly (more than certain it won't, more about that later), that's not the end of Microsoft. That's just the vocal voices of a few on the internet.
Let's address the main points that people have been criticizing over the last few days:
I am going to address each point below with some counter points, I think you bring up some excellent discussion topics though. I will be the "bold" text
1. Used games:
The blockade of selling used games is entirely up to the publisher, so are the fees. What Microsoft has done here is an official way of what already happened before. Remember the Online Passes? That's just like that. Nobody
has has to use them. They
can. Now, if EA would decide to be a dick and use it - what would happen? They'd do it on every platform. They won't be interested in holding up Sony's image of the messiah console, they want their money. So afaik, it doesn't matter. The possibilities are there on both platforms.
The "blockade" as some call it (and as you have mentioned here) and more about the fact of how a publisher saying "yeah screw you consumer, you gotta pay me to use a game your buddy sold/gave you will come across. Cheeky video aside from Sony, thats how I trade games with people, by actually giving it to them.
2. Game sharing:
After Sony's admittedly hilarious video about sharing games (which was also perceived as childish by some, but I think these little slaps are fun in a way) people have been saying that you won't be able to share games on the XBone. Well, yes and no. You can still share games, you can give your game to up to 10 of your friends without even having to hand them your disc, they'll just have it on their account and can easily download and play it right away. The only thing here is, you need to have them on your friends list for at least 30 days and you can only give them them every game once. But honestly, I don't think that's too limiting. I wouldn't hand out my games to people that I just met either. And if you know them for a while and they just made a new account, then 30 days isn't bad either. Apart from that, I've never seen anyone rent a game twice. If you like it after playing it, you usually just buy it.
Your edit covered this point, and I think its a neat idea for Microsoft to do, the ability to share a game with 1 other person at the same time is cool, and a good way to promote their games to a newer audience. Especially if you have a person like me (the guy who buys all the games/consoles) and has friends who want to try things before they buy them. This should be a bigger selling point for the Xbox one imo.
UPDATE: Mixed this up a little bit, but thankfully [user]9thRequiem[/user] clarified it:
9thRequiem said:
This is two separate things.
One is that up to 10 friends can be in your "Family", and can play your games whenever they like, though each game can only be played by one friend at a time. This is "Sharing" games. I have no idea why this feature isn't widely loved - Share games, with close friends, without needing a disc. If Microsoft went down the Sony route and made a snarky video, maybe things would be clearer.
Separately, there's "Giving" games, which can be done to anyone who's been on your friends list for at least 30 days and can only be done once. After giving someone a game, you no longer have it. This is a much less useful feature, but still beats Steam's game giving.
3. 24h offline time:
This is a point I can't say much about. I can think of many reasons why they'd do such a thing, but there's nothing I really want to defend here. For me it's no problem at all, I like my games and consoles (and PC) for the online multiplayer, but I see why it would bother people. On the other hand, I'm sure this is nothing they couldn't change. It happened before, so you can hope. If you know you'll be offline for longer than a day, then definitely don't buy the XBone yet though.
While I personally don't have an issue with this, I have had the occasional instance of my net going down for 2-3 days due to someone hitting a line, or the smart people at hyrdo severing them while they dig. The issue though DOES come down to the people who may not have a steady connection all the time, or may not have internet at all. Why are they to be punished for not having internet?
4. Evil spying Kinect:
This wrong, just wrong. It has been confirmed that the Kinect can be turned off completely long ago, and you won't be spied. The Kinect itself is also a fairly useful tool, I own a Kinect 1 and there are some fun games for it out there, and it adds functionality by voice commands etc. I know people don't like being forced to get a product, but it's entirely possible that there will be an "Arcade" edition like with the 360, which is cheaper and delivered without Kinect. "Why did Microsoft do this in the first place?" you could ask now. To prevent segmentation. This way everyone has the same setup and games can be designed in that way. Apart from that I believe that if people don't try something new over time, things can't evolve.
While I personally think the Kinect, in any format is still a gimmick waiting for a truely good idea, the idea of it being able to see me at all times unless I specifically turn it off is not a pleasant one. I already plan on putting a patch over the camera or facing it away from me as I don't need to be recorded/viewed while I am playing. Maybe paranoid, maybe silly, but when it feels like your home is being surveyed by your toys, its time to really re-think the steps you took to get there. About the "segmentation" I personally disagree with that. While its a very tiny test size, I know around 200 people (work, social, xbl) who have a kinect. nearly all of them say the voice commands for pausing a movie is the best thing about it. to say "Xbox pause" or tap the start button on the controller takes the same amount of time/energy, and to me that is where the functionality of it ends.
5. Hardware:
The hardware isn't too different, really. You have about the same specs in both consoles, if I trust some of the other posts I read the XBone is slightly worse, but that's nothing you could notice. Apart from that, Microsoft has the whole cloud computing thing going, and while you might start laughing at me now, this is the future and even Sony knows it.
I think the hardware will prove to be basically the same across both consoles for the crossplatform games. The only things I see being different are the rumour about the cloud server doing a bulk of computing for each system and how much the PS4 makes use of the GDDR5 ram
6. Features:
The XBone is an entertainment device, and it's being marketed as such. Personally, I'd be happy if my device could do more, not mad as many others. I can use Skype, watch TV, play games, record, upload and stream... I'm happy about features. It works just like a small PC (I know, PC master race bla bla), and I think that this is good that way. I would like to see a unified experience over all devices one day.
This comes down to personal opinion (imo). While you find these things appealing and useful, I find them cluttering resource/time wasting points on a checklist. To each their own. I DO however see how these can be useful for people who use them, and for those people who do, this should be pretty awesome for them.
7. Controller:
For some reason I also found some people complaining about the controller. I can't really understand that, for me the XBox controller has always been the best one on the market right now. Wasn't able to hold a PS4 controller so far, but the PS3 ones were none I could really play with.
Again a personal opinion moment. While the 360 controllers are pretty good, My favorite controller is the Xbox Duke (that massive one from Xbox) and the PS2/3 controller. the Duke fit me perfectly, but the PS2/3 controller allows me to curl my hands naturally to get all of the buttons. I say each to their own, and as long as your hands don't get sore right away it should be okay
8. Design:
The simple design (even though it really shouldn't matter) is used so it can fit anywhere in your living room. It's elegant and I like it. Your choice. Although both consoles don't look too different.
Agreed with you here. One looks like a giant eraser, one looks like a VCR and the other... well actually I still don't know what the Wii U console looks like.. but i imagine its also resembles something from when I was in grade 8
9. Games/Exclusives:
This is anyone's game. If you like the PS4's exclusives, go buy that. If you like the XBone's games (of which there are more announced at the moment), go buy that.
This should be the most important thing we (as gamers) are talking about. If you like the games then that will be the console for you. Who cares about gigaflops and terrahurts (being sarcastic here) the games should be the primary goal of people looking to play good games.
10. Price:
I know, I know, money doesn't grow on trees. However, the console price is essentially the same for both. What makes up the other 100 dollars are the extra things in the package, like the Kinect, that you'd have to purchase separately for the PS4. And Gold doesn't count as an argument either, Microsoft and Sony both do the paying for multiplayer now. And so far, Microsoft's servers seem more powerful (waiting for statement on Sony's side), and they've been that way in the past as well.
Price should be discussed closer to launch once all of the "options/bells/whistles" have been revealed.
Now, as you can see, both consoles are not too different. They are both good. They are selling well, and none of them has any big advnatge. The amount of pre-orders is basically the same for both (according to Amazon). This is still early in the "war", so we can only see how it ends once both are out for a while. The XBone will grab a lot of the casuals, while the PS4 currently is mostly bought by "hardcore gamers" as you could say. It's a choice of target group that can go either way. Apart from that, nothing is set in stone yet, we still have a couple of months to go. So, a plea of mine, if you see any of these ridiculous fan circle jerks, don't join them. You can decide what you want to buy, and you can tell anyone why you'd want to buy it, but we don't need another post about how great one console is. It changes nothing if you say Microsoft is doomed a thousand times, look at SimCity - everyone said they're not going to buy it, but it still sold well. The people on forums don't make up the largest amount of buyers.
Both consoles are
good. And please don't forget that no company is an angel, they all don't know you and need to make profit, that's how it works. We've seen that often enough in the past.
Okay, this rounds up all the things I wanted to comment on (if I didn't forget anything). I'm open to discuss anything on this topic with you, if you deliver valid arguments.
