Xbox One vs PS4 - one man's opinion

[dashv]

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 Motivation
Over 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 Impressions

About 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?)

Conclusion

From 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.

[seberhusky]

I think people have lost the entire point of videogaming in general. You play what system YOU are comfortable with, and what you like. Not what's more valuable or what all the other people in your school clique plays.  I got a PS1 for Christmas 2000, and that's what I grew up with, and moved on through the PS2, PS3, etc. I also got a Genesis around 2001/2002 and that got me into the Sega aspect of gaming consoles too. The Genesis, Dreamcast, Game Gear. Keep in mind I was only 9, 10, 11 years old. I am more comfortable on the Playstation, so that is what I always stick with.

Also, when you get a console late or don't play it enough, there will be  backlog of updates or patches to games. That's normal. The game developers issue those patches, it has nothing to do with the system or Sony. 

Also, you do know you can change the hard drive in the PS4 right? I did that first thing when I got my PS3 Slim. I took out the stock hard drive and put in a 700 GB Samsung drive in there. I am a game collector, so I have a lot of game data that gets on the system over time,so needed something I'd never have to change out again. 7,200RPM drives are what you need, and that will really speed up the system (don't go any higher as that will generate more heat which you do not want). You can put in an SSD too, but they are more costly than a HDD.


PS: The Xbox One navigation WAS an afterthought. You remember what happened in 2013 right?

Microsoft initially announced a different game licensing scheme for Xbox One than what was used upon its release: all games, including those purchased at retail, would be bound to the user's Xbox Live account. Users could access their purchased games from any other Xbox One console, play games without their disc once installed, and allow users to "share" their games with up to ten designated "family" members.

Users would trade games at "participating retailers", and could also transfer a game directly to any Xbox Live friend on their list for at least 30 days, but only once. To synchronize licenses, the console would be required to connect to the internet once every 24 hours; if the console could not connect, all games would be disabled until the console was connected again.

Microsoft also stated that publishers could impose restrictions or activation fees on second-hand copies of games. Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi explained that the system was built with digital distribution in mind.

Microsoft also backtracked on a similarly controversial requirement for the Kinect sensor to be plugged into Xbox One at all times for it to function. Privacy advocates argued that Kinect sensor data could be used for targeted advertising, and to perform unauthorized surveillance on users.

[fighterpilot562]

Great write up Dash, looking forward to tuesday show

[dashv]

Also, when you get a console late or don't play it enough, there will be  backlog of updates or patches to games. That's normal. The game developers issue those patches, it has nothing to do with the system or Sony.

I see you're new here. First off, welcome to the forums.

Don't misread my post as merely a rant. I know many folks on the fence and I am just sharing my experience and opinion. I'll be doing it again in 1 month. And again in 3.

Backlogs of updates only became normal 2 console generations ago. Prior to that we had 5 complete generations where we got by just fine without a single thing needing to be updated. I'm just lamenting the loss of that.

[xsuicidesn0wmanx]

The PS4 really hasn't done anything to win much favor in my game room, whatever performance advantage it has isn't noticeable, and the controller quickly fell apart on me. I played a lot of Destiny and FFXIV on it, but lately it's just been collecting dust while my Xbox gets all the attention.

The PS4 dash isn't all that different from the PS3 dash, though somehow it feels more clunky. It's great if you don't switch games a lot, or only play via disc, but going back to play a digital title you last played in May requires a bit of searching to play it. As for the X1 dash you'll get used to it pretty quickly, I'd suggest going into My Games & Apps and pinning your games, from that point they're a simple pull of the right trigger away @ startup. Most of the other features you would want to use are quickly accessible by double tapping the Xbox button the controller, makes checking on friends, starting a party or taking a screenshot/recording a vid pretty easy for non kinect users. You can use the same double tap on the PS button on PS4 to quickly switch between the dash and game.

Also it seems like your X1 took abnormally long to download the new dash & update 2 games. I did the same and updated my X1 a few days early because of the threat of Xmas DDoS again. I gave my launch X1 to my mother and bought a new Halo Edition X1 on black friday. Took about 30 minutes to upgrade to the new dash, never even saw the old dash during the process. Installed 2 games as well, was playing them both w/in 15 mins. The only thing that is probably different from my X1 and yours is that I use an external HDD for games, internal is OS & apps only. If you have an external HDD to add to your X1, you may notice some increased performance, the usb 3.0 transfers data faster than the internal Sata II. When Black Ops 3 came out I did a test and installed the game on the PS4 & X1 at the same time, X1 version installed faster with updates. I have also noticed that this also affects FPS in games that have had issues maintaining a solid frame rate. I use a Western Digital 4TB 7200rpm My Book.

[dashv]

Thanks for the additional about the double click functionality, game pinning, etc. Consoles are becoming more and more like PC's with every generation.

The biggest update offender was Rare Replay. Since MS owns Rare I felt it appropriate to blame them. .

Also, welcome to the forums!

[kmacdw]

Backlogs of updates only became normal 2 console generations ago. Prior to that we had 5 complete generations where we got by just fine without a single thing needing to be updated. I'm just lamenting the loss of that.

Not entirely true; updates weren't possible, that doesn't mean they weren't needed. Plenty of broken games throughout those generations that could have done with some fine tuning.

I'll admit that the ability to update games has made developers somewhat lax in their polishing of games; however there have always been failings in that department.

[dashv]

Backlogs of updates only became normal 2 console generations ago. Prior to that we had 5 complete generations where we got by just fine without a single thing needing to be updated. I'm just lamenting the loss of that.

Not entirely true; updates weren't possible, that doesn't mean they weren't needed. Plenty of broken games throughout those generations that could have done with some fine tuning.

I'll admit that the ability to update games has made developers somewhat lax in their polishing of games; however there have always been failings in that department.

Still, you are correct bugs themselves are nothing new. Some we came to love like world -1 in Super Mario Bros. Others we lament like the clinger winger 2 player bug in Battletoads.

I do appreciate the ability to add features, content, and fix bugs. This is an area where PC gaming dominated for years.

But it used to be those things were optional and only in rare case required for normal enjoyment of the game. By and large now that flexibility on consoles is being exploited to enable half baked releases.

For example I just realized the physical copy of "Minecraft Story Mode" I bought for my son is little more than a key on a disc enabling him to download the rest of the game as they finish it.

He doesn't see a difference now. But he certainly will when he goes to show the game to his children.

I had expected it was more like "Back to the Future the Game" where the entire game is actually on the disc.

Digital content masquerading as physical content I hate the most.

[retroone]

The "Buy Game" option on the drop down menu on the PS4 is a real pet peeve of mine. I hope they move it or get rid of it soon!

[dashv]

Me, TPugmire, and FighterPilot talked about this topic at length on the Unofficial Podcast of VGCollect. Retro Reload!

Also... TPugmire drops details of a contest soon to be revealed here in the forums that might net you some gaming goodness! :)

[kamikazekeeg]

For me, it comes down to mostly the games, and I think the PS4 is more interesting, almost solely on something like Bloodborne at the moment.  Halo hasn't been interesting in a long while (I just beat Halo 4 like two months ago and it was pretty weak outside of a few parts), Gears of War was never much of a thing for me, racing exclusives I don't care about, Sunset Overdrive mostly just seems like a lesser Infamous, and then there's just Rare Replay, which is the only truly interesting game that bums me to not have.  Much of the Xbox exclusives have gone to PC, with Rise of the Tomb Raider out at the end of the month, and even stuff like Killer Instinct is going to PC.  Dead Rising 3 was originally one of those games I wanted for the system, but again, PC release.

Coming up this year, PS4 has some pretty solid hits on the way...Not including PC releases...Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, The Last Guardian, Nier: Automata, and possibly some other big RPG's.

Xbox one has...Crackdown 3?  Most of the stuff on a recent listing they made will be coming to PC, other than Gears of War 4, and Quantum Break, which I got no interest in.

It's strange, cause I was big 360 gamer.  I didn't even get a PS3 until I got one as a gift like 3 or 4 years ago I think and I still never played it a TON outside of some of the bigger games.  But this year, it's looking like my set up will be PS4, PC, and possibly Nintendo NX if that releases this year or not.  My only disappointment about going PS4, instead of Xbone, is that all my Rock Band stuff is on my 360, which means I can't transfer over the 100+ songs I have if I get the game on PS4.

[argyle]

The "Buy Game" option on the drop down menu on the PS4 is a real pet peeve of mine. I hope they move it or get rid of it soon!

I honestly have never even noticed / paid it any attention until reading this thread, and I've had my PS4 since launch. I also don't have kids so I suppose that's a factor, but aren't there parental controls to make it so your kids' account can't buy anything?

At any rate, I haven't even considered buying a 'bone and probably won't until they get REALLY cheap - we're talking after the next gen launches sub-$100 range. There aren't enough exclusives on it to justify it IMO. I have a hard enough time keeping up w/ the PS4 releases I wanna play regardless.

[gf78]

Never had any difficulty with the UI on the PS4 myself.  It's easy as can be to find your digital games.  Scroll to the end and select library.  You can then choose to only show games and they are all there alphabetically. 

In contrast, the UI on the Xbox One as well as the final setup on the 360 were a disaster.  You have to look around those tiny squares to find what the hell one to select to start your game.  It's big freakin' advertisements shoved in your face for the most part.

At this point, Rare Replay is the only game I would even want to play.  I bought it cheap on black Friday and run 90% of those Rare games through an emulator on my PC.  The only games from the collection that are unavailable are the newest Xbox and 360 titles and for the most part, those suck.  It also doesn't help that many of Rare's best games used Nintendo characters and hence are not in the Replay collection. 

I personally like a wide variety of games for many genres.  RPG, adventure, action, arcade, racing, fighting, etc.  All of the best of these genres are on PS4 and every day, more and more are skipping the Xbox One.  Microsoft used to claim sales of the One were outpacing the 360, but that must not be the case anymore as they are so ashamed they refuse to post sales figures.  Meanwhile, Sony Japan just announced they have sold 35.9 million PS4 systems.  The way things are going, we will be seeing more & more games completely skip the 'bone. 

Their best holiday lineup game - Rise of Tomb Raider - is coming to the PC this month and PS4 later this year and future exclusives are already being announced for a PC release as well.  Scalebound was one of their most promising-looking titles and it was just announced it won't arrive until 2017.  Halo 5 sales have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the series is past it's prime.  The secret sauce that is the Cloud and DirectX 12 have done nothing to improve the graphics as everyone believed.

And we really need firmware updates....for controllers???

[ignition365]

I agree with most of what you have say kind sir.

I'm still on the fence on which is my preferred platform this generation.  Mind you, if a console exclusive comes out that I want, obviously I'm going to play it on that platform, no choice.  But multiplatform games like Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, I made the choice XB1 and PS4 respectively because, well, from my experience, Bethesda doesn't know how to handle Sony hardware, and MGS just feels right on Sony hardware.

If I hear a multiplatform game is locked at 30 fps or 720p on one platform and unlocked and 1080p on another, I'm going to take the latter.  But when most games get similar FPS and resolution, it's a tough decision.  That decision I think would have to come down to my current console preference.

From my experience, I've had a much better time playing games on the PS4, no crashes, quick update times, no forced shutdowns.  With the rechargeable batteries, when the battery dies, I'm SOL, I don't own a cord long enough to continue playing and charge the controller.  Luckily I own 2 controllers, but if I stupidly forget to charge the second controller, I have to stop playing until one charges.  It's a minor issue, same issue I had with the ps3.  Note that last generation, ps3 was my media center of choice and 360 was my gaming console of choice, so the charged controller issue wasn't that big of a deal, only need the controller on for a second to press play.  On the media side of PS4, I'm quite disappointed personally, it seems to have a lower compatibility with video files compared to the PS3, and that's with the added capability of MKV files.  On top of that, I've been having a lot of trouble getting my PS4 to read external drives, to me it seems that the usb ports can't provide enough power to power the drive and transfer data.  When you DO play videos or blurays, I find the triggers are too sensitive and easy to press, fast forwarding and rewinding your videos, and when you use the triggers it fast forwards and rewinds too much, there doesn't seem to be a 1x,2x,4x,8x,etc.  In my experience, just placing the controller down will hit the triggers.  When watching videos X is pause and O is back; when watching blurays O is pause, and I don't know what X does.  Very confusing.  PS4 good for games, bad for media.

XB1 on the other hand, I've had many occurrences of games crashing while in the middle of gameplay, title updates are GBs in size and take a long time to run (more on this), and on a few occasions I've had forced shutdowns (more on this as well).  I won't go into the game crashes, that could be title specific and maybe I'd have the same crashes if I played them on PS4, who knows.  When a game crashes, hit the xbox button, you go back to the main OS screen, I don't know what they call it now, select options, quit game.  It's actually pretty nice not having to shut off the system to reset the game.  I figure PS4 works the same way since you can do that same thing.  From my experience, when I pop in a new title, it needs to install the game AND download and install a title update.  Game install can go upwards up 50GB and title updates I've seen them as high as 18GB.  Downloading 18GB can be quiet time consuming.  So doing the install and title update can take all day.  I have personally set a game up to install before going to work, come home 8 hours later, and it's still installing.  I've also heard it is orders of magnitude faster to install the game and the title update separately.  As for the forced shutdowns, I've been in a few situations where I'm playing games for long periods of time, or I leave the system on over night because I can't save and I'm tired, or I just have impeccable timing, but a title update will be released while I'm playing the game.  On Xbox 360, when this happens, you get kicked off of XBL until you update.  On XB1, you aren't even asked or notified, your game is shut off and title updates are applied.  I have lost tens of hours of gameplay progress because of this "feature", and I've spoken with Xbox Support about this, they claim it is in fact a feature.  If you attempt to load a game that needs a title update, and you say no I don't want to install the title update right now, it stops loading the game and goes back to the OS screen.  I think this is a remnant of their always connected policy.  On the other hand, I find the XB1 is compatible with almost all video files I throw at it, and provides enough power to power my external drives.  Playing videos and blurays is a much better experience, the triggers aren't easily accidentally triggered (PUNNNNNNN!) and seeking around in a video isn't as painful.  Frustratingly annoying to play games, quite awesome to play media, may even best the ps3 for media center.

In retrospect, I suppose I'm not on the fence... am I?

[fighterpilot562]

Me, TPugmire, and FighterPilot talked about this topic at length on the Unofficial Podcast of VGCollect. Retro Reload!

Also... TPugmire drops details of a contest soon to be revealed here in the forums that might net you some gaming goodness! :)

Good stuff, and i am looking forward to the contest!