Microsoft have eluded to adopting those services sooner rather than later<\/a>, so hopefully it won’t be too far off.<\/p>\nThe PS4 of course, has none of this. It was never meant to.<\/p>\n
Sony said they were building a machine for gamers and gaming, not a media hub.\u00a0Still, that didn’t stop them popping their music and movie services into the menu front and centre and removing one of the PS3’s best features — the ability to stream content from any DLNA device.<\/p>\n
Since launch, Sony have publicly stated they’re looking for a way of restoring the media-server capabilities previously found in the PS3, but there’s been no word on when.<\/p>\n
The reality is that both of these are game consoles\u00a0and the majority of those purchasing them in Australia are gamers.\u00a0<\/span>That gaming experience should be the focus of anyone’s attention at this point and yet is largely the most overlooked.<\/p>\nGaming Experiences<\/h1>\n
The experiences are largely the same. The triple-A titles are made up of identical catalogues, with a sprinkling of launch properties thrown into the mix (like Killzone<\/em> for the PS4 or Forza<\/em> for Xbox One).<\/p>\nBoth camps have not included any form of backwards compatibility, so you can expect 2014 to be the year of cross platform & generational re-releases.<\/p>\n
We’ve already got the Tomb Raider<\/em> reboot earmarked, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag<\/em> spans every console known to man. Hell, Call of Duty: Ghosts<\/em> was available to buy for next-gen the same day it launched for 360 & PS4. That date happened to be a full month before either next-gen console was released!<\/p>\nSo what is going to make one console stand apart from the other gaming-wise?<\/p>\n
Exclusives will play a large part, just as they did the generation before.<\/p>\n
Microsoft is putting a lot of eggs in the Titanfall<\/em> basket, hoping it will be the Halo of the new generation. A system-seller. A title that leaves no doubt in the mind of gamers: \u00a0this is the game I have to play, and I need an Xbox One to play it.<\/p>\nSony has their own system sellers too. But they’re covering their butts a little more. Not only by introducing new game properties like 1886<\/em> but ensuring we all know about sequel releases in big name money-earners like Uncharted<\/em> and Infamous<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe reality is, as an Australian console gamer there are no glaring reasons to buy one over the other at the moment.<\/p>\n
It comes down to your personal taste. Personal taste in exclusive titles, personal taste in controller (they’re largely the same as last generation – although the new PS4 DualShock 4 is a huge improvement), personal taste in that my friends all own one over the other and that’s whom I enjoy gaming with.<\/p>\n
Beyond the PS4 having a slight<\/em> tech advantage, the only valid point I can make is that the Xbox One costs fifty bucks more for better voice controls.<\/p>\nI’ll summarise my thoughts up in a list, because everyone on the internet loves a list, and let’s be honest; most of you will read that before the rest of the article anyway. So without further ado:<\/p>\n
Raj’s top 5 reasons to buy an Xbox One<\/h1>\n
1) The interface<\/strong>: Even though it is based on Windows 8’s UI, that is still better than the PS4’s. Seriously Sony, just throw a bunch of money at an Apple employee and fix that already.
\n2) The controller:<\/strong>\u00a0The bumpers have moved but the offset thumb-sticks and their new ridged inverted handles are awesome, not to mention the independent rumble system that Forza makes fantastic use of.
\n3) Kinect:\u00a0<\/strong>No, not because of the fact it can track up to 6 people in the same room. I still haven’t seen a game that uses physical movement tracking to any useful or fun degree.<\/p>\nNo, it’s the voice control that I love.\u00a0I’ll rarely pick up the controller unless I’m going to play a game and even then it’s not until the last moment. I turn the Xbox on, launch the game all before I’ve even sat down. I’m pleasantly surprised by how much better this is over the 360 and the original Kinect.<\/p>\n
4) Titanfall:<\/strong>\u00a0It’s hard to say you should buy a console based on a game that isn’t out yet but if you’ve watched a trailer or heard from someone who’s actually played it you’ll see just how crazy excited they are for it. Could it be the next Halo?
\n5) The promise of the “One” experience<\/strong>: Yes, like most new tech it’s very US centric but the idea of the Xbox One being your one hub for entertainment in the lounge room is a very real possibility when those extra features do make it all the way to `Straya. It’s an exciting possibility that can’t be ignored.<\/p>\nRaj’s top 5 reasons to buy a PS4<\/h1>\n
1)\u00a0Price:<\/strong> It’s cheaper. You can’t really argue with that.
\n2) Real name support:<\/strong> This is the best feature of the PS4 and the PSN. Instead of having a friends list filled with their random nicknames I can actually see who people are by their real names! Yes you have to authorise that to happen, but it’s such a better way of interacting online. Well done Sony!
\n3) Tech specs:<\/strong> It’s beefier than the Xbox One. Technically, it has more gigawatts of flux capacitor in it, but not by much. Devs are locking Xbox One cross platform games at lower frame rates or resolutions as per CoD: Ghosts saga<\/a>.
\n4) Available games & indie:<\/strong>\u00a0Sony has consistently talked up their relationship with indie developers and the PS4. With titles shown off to come like Jonathan Blow’s upcoming The Witness<\/em> as well as currently free titles (with PSPlus) like Resogun<\/em>\u00a0& Don’t Starve<\/em>\u00a0they look to have a brighter future here.
\n5) Size:<\/strong> The PS4 is about 70% the physical size of the Xbox One, add to that the Kinect sensor and it’s almost half the size!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few months post-launch, which console is truly making an impact?\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[648,193,43,373,119,446],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"reckoner_social_message":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}