Well it's two years into the current generation and Black Friday 2015 I finally decided to take the plunge on not one but both consoles as Christmas gifts for my family.
Okay the Xbox One was just for me.
Anyway, since my Retron 5 impressions post seemed pretty well received I thought I'd give my impressions on both of these beasts.
For this post I'll break it down as follows:
My Motivation
First Impressions
My Thoughts After One Week
My MotivationOver the last year I've been picking up PS4 games I wanted that finally hit the $20 bin. Since many of these were simply remasters of games I already had (and in some cases have already beaten) on PS3 I didn't feel the need to jump right into a PS4 purchase. But I wanted the games before they left the local stores and jumped back up in price on eBay.
To take the plunge on a PS4 console I told myself:
- Get a backlog of at least 5 games I want to play
- Don't spend more than $300 on the console
With the The Nathan Drake PS4 bundle at $300 during Black Friday I knew the time had come.
My motivation for an Xbox One was totally different. Microsoft was going to need to play some very smart chess to win my interest. In the end they checkmated me with 3 moves.
- 1: Rare Replay with Conkers Bad Fur Day, Battletoads, and Battletoads the arcade game and 27 other games for $30 this was a deal too good to pass up
- Rise of the Tomb Raider timed exclusive
- the announcement of backward compatibility (even though there are no games I want to play currently supported I wanted to show with my money I support the direction they are trying to go)
Like with the PS4 I wasn't going to pay more than $300 for the console.
At $340 the 1tb Tomb Raider bundle had me at hello when Best Buy threw in a second controller for free.
First ImpressionsAbout a week before Christmas I thought it would be wise to take both consoles out and make sure they had all their updates. I did not want to be doing updates Christmas Day.
Powering on the PS4 and completing the initial setup (which was a breeze) I was greeted by what I would come to consider the 2nd most confusing UI I've ever used on a game console.
Updating the console and my 11 game PS4 collection took 3 nights (about 6 hours total). Every. Single. Game. Required an update. Every. Single. Game.
The controller is familiar but lighter and more comfortable to hold. I could see immediately why folks like it so much.
Next up was the Xbox One.
First thing I noticed is it is much more bulky than the PS4. Second thing I noticed was the controller was very light and much cheaper feeling. I immediately discovered this is because the Xbox One wireless controllers do not come standard with rechargeable batteries. True story.
Regular AA batteries are included, but if you want the controllers to be rechargeable you'll need to shell out for the upgrade kit. What the hell Microsoft? The directional pad is also a clicky pad. Anyone that's heard me piss and moan about the Retron 5 controller knows how I feel about clicky d-pads.
I hadn't even plugged it in yet and already I was feeling buyers remorse. "Eye on the prize Dash." I hooked it up. Setup again was a breeze. But then I was greeted by the most confusing game console UI of all time.
Although I had fewer games (just 2) the Xbox One took just as long as the PS4 to update. Rare Replay is practically all digital. I'm not kidding. 10% of my 1tb drive is just Rare Replays downloads. Wtf!?
Both systems required an update to play Blu Rays.
The Xbox One failed to load the first Blu Ray movie I tried. Scott Pilgrim vs the World. PS 4 loaded it fine. I haven't and likely won't be trying to play anymore Blu Rays on the Xbox One.
As I was about to package the Xbox One back up I noticed the controller has a mini USB connector... I wondered what it was for since the controller doesn't support rechargeable batteries out of box.
I looked for the USB cable. Couldn't find it. Did some googling. It doesn't come with the USB cable. Seriously Microsoft!?
Even better both Microsoft and Sony picked micro USB as their cable type for this gen. What's that mean for you? None of those mini USB cables you've already got by the dozen from your PS3 is going to help you. Double damn you SONY and Microsoft.
Anyway. Finally dug up a mini USB cable (the one I use to charge my PC mouse). I plug the controller in...
"An update is required". I am not kidding. Now you can enjoy the thrill of software updates for your controllers! By the way they take a long time to install. Multiply this by the number of controllers you have.
With everything updated and me feeling like a chump. I repackaged both consoles and wrapped them up for Christmas.
One Week In...I've watched a couple of Blu Rays on my PS4. Some Netflix. Even watched an MKV streamed from my network attached storage. PS3 could never play MKV. Downloaded a ton of PS Plus freebies I'd accumulated, nothing I'm really itching to play. PS Plus has really sucked in the freebie department since PS Now has launched.
It bugs me they have a "buy" option right below "play" for disk games I put in the console. I see my son accidentally clicking that for something I already own.
All the social and digital store stuff is fine but it shouldn't take the front seat. I got this thing primarily to play games. SONY seems to have forgotten that this generation.
In a lot of ways the PS4 seems like just an in home Red Box machine now.
But they are not alone.
Apparently one of the updates I did to the Xbox One revamped its interface. I wish that meant it was easier and smoother. The truth is I now have absolutely have no clue what the hell I am doing anymore. Simple things like redeeming a digital download code took me 30 minutes and a lot of googling to figure out. So did using the hdmi in. So did using the in-game DVR. Worse is most help online assumes you have a Kinect and I don't.
Non-Kinect navigation was clearly an afterthought. Without it most of the advanced features are so cumbersome to activate-deactivate that they aren't worth using.
Dammit now I need a Kinect AND 2 recharge kits!
With my buyers remorse toward the Xbox One at its zenith I popped in Rise of the Tomb Raider.
40% of the way into the game I'm loving the hell out of it.
The first day was a challenge sharing the TV with my son. Then I learned I could stream my Xbox One games on my Windows 10pc.
The visual quality of the feed varies wildly depending what else is using your network but overall the feature works great and I didn't notice any input lag.
Based on all the positive reviews I got Sunset Overdrive. Holy shit I was not expecting it to be as fun as it was.
My Brother-in-law got me Fallout 4 for the Xbox One and that edition comes with Fallout 3 digital download for free made possible by their 360 backward compatibility, nice.
One week in Little Big Planet 3 and Minecraft Story Mode has my son loving the hell out of the PS4. meanwhile with only 4 games my Xbox One is seeing the lions share of MY attention right now.
It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can hold my attention when things like FF7 and Kingdom Hearts 3 hit PS4 first.
For now I'm just happy to be over the buyers remorse. I'm getting enough out of TR and SO to make the purchase worth it. Rare Replay is going to be an on again off again thing when I get that Rare itch. (see what I did there?)
ConclusionFrom a physical space, build quality, and overall experience standpoint the PS4 is hands down the superior console right now. I haven't done side by sides the same game on each console. Nor do I intend to. General consensus is that many Xbox One games get 60fps with slightly lower than 1080p resolution. PS4 generally gets many 1080p games at 30fps. Both run quieter than my Launch model PS3 which is great for watching movies without distraction.
To me it always comes down to which has the games I want to play?
If you are on the fence about either but can afford both I say get both. Why limit your options if you don't have to? There is plenty to like about both. Both have their fair share of quirks.
If you can only afford one and you have no existing 360 investment I say go with PS4. Microsoft has said they are done actively looking for exclusives so the trickle they are going to get going forward may not be worth hitching your wagon to the technically inferior console.