It’s that time again, when once every 5 years, fanboys gather to debate whose console is bigger, badder and stronger while Nintendo fanboys stand in the corner with a glum face waiting for their chance to talk (sorry not sorry). The age-old debate of PlayStation vs Xbox is resurging as the next generation of consoles is getting ready for a release this holiday season.
Our first contestant is the PlayStation 5, which has come to be known as the ‘alien router’ thanks to its rather striking looks and redesign. A new controller model with advanced haptic feedback and more features for developers to use in their games to deliver new experiences and a complete console redesign, define this generation of PlayStations. The controller is known as the ‘DualSense’, a new line compared to their ‘DualShock’ range of controllers which spanned the previous generations.
The second fighter, Xbox series X, also called the mini-fridge. The Xbox, as always, is in a weird place. With the last generation, they initially announced it would serve as a “home entertainment unit” which obviously was met with a lot of backlash. Since then their focus has been on gaming and they’ve found a way to patch up that image. The primary promise that Xbox now pushes is a connected environment. Game anywhere, on PC, on Xbox or even on mobile devices through xCloud streaming.
Anybody who made the decision 5 years ago between the PS4 and the Xbox one knows what drove most people to the PS4. Exclusives. Sony has been on top of their game with acquiring exclusives that set them apart from their competitors. Titles like Death Stranding, God of War, Spiderman and Last of Us carried the PS4 across the finish line way before Xbox had even gotten a start. It seems that is going to continue to be the trend with exclusives this year-round as well. Sony has already announced several heavy-hitting exclusives for their console such as the ghost of Tsushima, spiderman: miles morales and Horizon Forbidden West.
Xbox on the other hand hasn’t always been the one we look to when we hear the word exclusive. However, Microsoft Game Studios has been working on acquiring more developers and IPs (Intellectual Properties) one of which is Ninja Theory, who acquired critical acclaim for their franchise Hellblade: Senua’s Saga. The second installment of which promises to be a launch exclusive for Xbox. And obviously let’s not forget the great-granddaddy of multiplayer shooters, Halo, which returns with a spiritual reboot alongside the series X.
But is it just exclusives that carry this console generation? I don’t think so.
One of the major improvements that we saw with both contestants this time around is the inclusion of SSDs (Solid State Drives) which will enable games to load much faster than their predecessors ever could and as a result, developers can pump up the resolutions and fidelity of their games. It’s a common trend to see games sized over 100 Gb in 2020 and faster load time for heavier assets can change the way we experience games. How else are these consoles pushing this technology? The PS5 has its own proprietary memory architecture designed solely for the console that enables them to draw faster read/write times without having to invest in more expensive components. In this aspect, Microsoft has been a lot quieter and we have yet to learn how their console handles memory.
For more on the PS5’s memory structure check this out :
Apart from hardware or exclusives one major change we can expect to see is how we acquire and consume games. And in this regard I have to admit Xbox is doing a great job. I have been using their “game pass ultimate” on both my PC and my Xbox one S and it honestly has changed the way I play. Major AAA titles are available on game pass shortly after release and each subscriber gets access to hundreds of titles for just 1000 rupees a month (cheaper if you want only PC/Xbox access and not both). Combined with what they have been working on in project xCloud the game pass shows us a future where we no longer need to budget our FUP to download games and wait to play. Just stream any title you want to play whenever you want to, the Netflix of gaming per se.
Both consoles have played most of their cards already and they have but one card left to play. The price card. Console wars have been won or lost simply on price tags and this time around as well, we see both companies working long hours to predict what the competitor would price their offerings at, how the market would react to that price and what their own price tag should read. Rumors have been heard through the grapevine that the PS5 will initially cost $650 due to scarcity of parts resulting from a global pandemic, we just have to wait and see if one kidney alone will be enough to afford this new generation.
But we can safely say that all of us are in for a massive upgrade this time around, graphical fidelity rivalling computers that cost thrice as much is no longer a pipe dream for consoles and we have a sneak peek at that already. So I’m just gonna drop a few clips that had me in awe and leave the rest of the impatient waiting to you. Cheers!
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