Next Gen Consoles - Don't Get One

 As some of you may have heard, there are brand-new consoles out there for us to spend our money on. Recently released where both the Xbox One, colloquially named the “X-bone,” and the PlayStation 4, called the PS4.  Since both consoles were released this past November, we’ve had plenty of time to take a look at which is better. However, I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t buy a next-gen console, at least not yet. Let’s start by talking about the consoles themselves. Since the systems have similar hardware stats, let’s focus on the differences.

The Consoles

 Both systems hardware capabilities include Blu-Ray players (FINALLY, XBOX!), game DVR, 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive space, 8 core processors, cloud storage, play while downloading, remote download, multiple account access, no required internet connection, no used game fee,  and no digital game sharing.

Features that both systems offer are almost identical as well: no backwards compatibility (this is a big deal so I’ll emphasize it), there is no backwards compatibility. They do offer game chat, rechargeable wireless controllers, motion sensing controllers, voice commands, online subscription services, USB ports, Live streaming, Web browsing/connection, HDMI output, and neither unit is regionally locked. For the majority of gamers, these are the things that matter.

Most of the online features between the two consoles are different. However, there is one thing that they both share: online play must be done through subscribing to their online networks, PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold.

Let’s talk about differences (edited list from IGN):

Feature	PS4	Xbox One
Price	$400	$500
Game DVR	Yes, PS+ subscription not required	Yes, XBL subscription Required
RAM	DDR5	DDR3
GPU	AMD Radeon – 1152 Shaders	AMD  Radeon – 768 Shaders
Peak GPU Shader Throughput	1.84 TeraFLOPS/s	1.31 TeraFLOPS/s
External Storage	None	Yes, USB
Removable Hard Drive	Yes	No
Mandatory Game Installs	No	Yes
USB 3.0	2 Ports	3 Ports
A/V	HDMI Output	HDMI Input/Output
IR	No	IR Out
Power Supply	Internal	Power Brick

Online Apps and Features:

Feature	PS4	Xbox One
Netflix	Free App	XBL Gold Required
Amazon Instant Video	Free App	XBL Gold Required
Redbox Instant	Free App	XBL Gold Required
Hulu Plus	Free App	XBL Gold Required
Twitch	Free App	XBL Gold Required
CrunchyRoll	Free App	No
Skype	Possible	XBL Gold Required
Game DVR	Free App	XBL Gold Required
Streaming Game Video	Free App	Via Twitch App
IGN App	Free App	No
Web Browser	Yes	IE
ESPN	No	XBL Gold Required
NFL App	No	XBL Gold Required

Look at all that! When you break it down, it’s hard to choose which console to buy. The features are pretty comparable… what one has, the other doesn’t. One might have better games, but worse gamers; the other might have better online features but require you to pay for it. It’s all difficult enough to choose which to buy… in the end, I don’t think you should buy either of them.

That’s right, don’t buy either of them, and here’s why:

Backwards Compatibility

As I’ve already mentioned above, neither station is featuring backwards compatibility. This probably won’t hold true forever, as it didn’t with their predecessors, but for now, this is not a reason for you to buy this console. When my friend’s little brother told me he spent his X-mas money on an XBone because his old 360 was “dying” I laughed and said “Bad reason, since you can’t play your games on the new console.” Why he even tried to convince me of that is a strange thing in itself… but whatever. If he’d simply said “because I wanted it” I would have been more okay with his decision.

Ultimately, we want to be able to play our game libraries on our new consoles and get new life out of the games. For now, however, we’re stuck playing both consoles… for people with other responsibilities than gaming, this can make life difficult.

Console companies usually offer a feature to digitally play previous games which takes both hard drive space and emulation software. Since someone is building these programs, that usually means you have to pay for it. How many of you like to buy your games twice? As I said, this is not a good reason to buy a next-gen console, so don’t do it.

Hardware Issues

On launch, Xbox 360 featured as much as a 30% failure rate. One article states that as many as 68 out of 100 consoles coming out of manufacturing were nonfunctional. For the PlayStation 3, this article shows failure rate was much less, about 10%, which is still more risky than I want to deal with. What this tells me pretty clearly is that all the hardware kinks won’t get worked out for the first couple of years. I hope that these companies have a better plan going into this generation of consoles but I wouldn’t expect it. Any one of you that has worked for a corporation can tell me how forward-thinking they are… and it’s not very much. Really… why buy this console now?

Cost

On launch, game consoles are EXPENSIVE. I’m not saying that consoles are more expensive now than they used to be, since that’s not true, for the most part. Most consoles that have gained wide popularity have hovered around the $400 mark, with the exception of the Wii and the Gamecube, both cheaper options than the hard-hitters these days. Today’s money is one thing to spend $400 dollars on a console, but back 10 years ago would have meant something different. For the most part, these consoles have had costs that have risen along with inflation. Unfortunately, our wages have not. According to a few different articles, the median annual income since 2000 has fallen by 7%, not increased like is typical over a decade.

Since the recession in 2008, there has been both a sharp decline in wages, and an increase in inflation. Depending on whom you ask, our inflation is between 4 and 14 percent. Even the low end of that spectrum is considered high.  Prices for consoles typically show their first drop around Christmas time of the year following launch. This is not something that’s really all that easy to figure out though. On one hand, XBone and PS4 consoles have already said they won’t have any price cuts until 2015. So unless you want to sell one of your children, I’d avoid getting one of these consoles right away.

Game Library

From where I’m sitting, the best reason not to get a new console on launch is that the game libraries are typically atrocious. Meaning you don’t want to get stuck with only one game for the next 6 months, unless you’re one of those gamers that only sticks with one or two games a year, even though you’re probably not.

Regardless, let’s look at the games available on each system so far (taken from IGN):

Italics are console exclusives – released nowhere else

PS4	Both	Xbox One
DC Universe Online	Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag	Crimson Dragon
Warframe	Battlefield 4	Dead Rising 3
Don't Starve	Call of Duty: Ghosts	Forza 5
FinalFantasy XIV: Realm Reborn	EA sports UFC	Killer Instinct
Killzone Shadow Fall	FIFA 14	Lococycle
Infamous Second Son	Just Dance 2014	Powerstar Golf
Knack	Madden 25	Ryse: Son of Rome
Tekken Revolution	Need For Speed: Rivals	Titanfall
The Playroom	NBA 2k14	Zoo Tycoon
Blacklight: Retribution	NBA Live 14	Zumba Fitness World Party
Resogun	Peggle 2
The Pinball Arcade	Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare
Flower	Thief
	Skylanders Swapforce

Have you read any of the reviews for these games? I’ve read a couple, and they suffer from typical AAA game problems. Some of them missed the mark entirely, others just some of the time. The point is that these game libraries aren’t exactly spectacular. As much as I enjoy Zumba Fitness World Party, I don’t think I want to be playing it for 6 months. Additionally, how many of these games are exclusive to those consoles? The majority of these games on that are found on multiple platforms are playable on PC, a good argument for becoming a PC gamer.

Conclusion

Since this is already rather long, I’ll have a short conclusion. These consoles are pretty similar in most characteristics… make the decision which one you’d rather have, and then wait to buy it. At the very least, I will probably wait 2 years to purchase either of these consoles. In this time, it should be more clear which technology is better, which console has the better games, and which one is  going to be more gamer-friendly. If it weren’t for Titanfall, I’d say pick up a PS4, so we’ll wait and see if that game ends up being any good.

Until next time, enjoy the games you have, and beat the ones you haven’t beaten yet… since you probably don’t beat games anymore.

- Jack