Playstation 4 or Xbox One? Which One Should You Buy?

You are probably wondering which next-gen console you should buy, the Xbox One or the PS4. Maybe you are biased and have already decided that you want to be loyal to your favourite company, Microsoft or Sony. I will show you the positives and negatives of each console to help you decide which one you want to buy.

Specs Comparison

PS4

CPU: low power x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores

GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon™ Graphics Core Next engine

Memory: GDDR5 8GB

Hard Disk Drive: Built –in

Optical Drive (Read only): BD 6xCAV, DVD 8xCAV

I/O: Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0), AUX    

Communication: Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)

AV Output: HDMI, Analog-AV out, Digital Output (optical)

Xbox One

Optical Drive: Blu-ray/DVD

RAM: 8GB DDR3

CPU: 8 Core Microsoft custom AMD CPU

Storage: 500GB Hard Drive

Communication: Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi

The Xbox One and PS4 are similar in terms of specs and power, the CPUs are almost identical and the GPUs are similar. The PS4 has more RAM however, so it will probably be more powerful with better graphics and faster performance. It won't be miles more powerful but it will probably be noticeable. The Xbox One will have Blu-ray, which the Xbox 360 didn't have. The PS3 had Blu-ray as will the PS4. If you want a console with Blu-ray then you now have 2 options. It just depends on how important that little bit of power is to you, they will both be able to run the exact same games at almost identical speeds.

Controller Comparison

The Xbox One's controller is not a huge change compared to the 360's controller. It is very similar in shape and the button layout is identical apart from the guide button being moved higher up. Microsoft have made 40 subtle design changes to the controller to make it more ergonomic, comfortable and easy to use. These changes include an adjusted d-pad, vibrating LT and RT triggers and an integrated battery pack.

   The PS4 controller, the Dualshock 4, is more innovative than the Xbox One controller. It has been made slightly larger than the Dualshock 3 controller, this will make it a more similar size to the larger Xbox controllers. The 'start' and 'select' buttons have been moved out to the sides and have been replaced by 'share' and 'options' buttons; they have been moved to make room for a touch pad in the centre of the controller that can be used in games. The thumbsticks and shoulder buttons have been redesigned for better grip and control. A light bar has been added to the controller that will allow it to be tracked by the PS4 Eye.

PS4 Eye vs Kinect 2.0

The original Kinect was a bit of a failure, games that relied on the sensor were not appealing to gamers and games that integrated Kinect only used it for unnecessary voice control. The Playstation Move, a blatant copy of the Nintendo Wii controllers had a very small roster of games and never really caught on. This generation both Microsoft and Sony have developed a camera that will enhance the player's experience of gaming.

 The Kinect 2.0 has been highly speculated over the past weeks, according to Microsoft it will be a massive improvement on the first Kinect. It will be able to be used by 6 people at once, with a 60% larger field of view, you will also be able to use it in smaller rooms because of its improved depth perception. It is also capable of tracking smaller details, such as finger movements and joint rotations. It can even track muscle tension to calculate the force of punches and kicks. Amazingly, it can even monitor your heart rate and emotion by measuring blood flow!

 Less details have been revealed about the PS4 Eye. It features dual 1280x800px cameras that have an 85 degree range of diagonal angle views, this will allow for precise depth and player recognition. The PS4 Eye will be compatible with the Playstation Move controllers as well as the Dualshock 4 controllers, it will be able to track the colour of the light bar on the Dualshock 4 to determine where the player is. This can be used in split-screen games, if player 1 is on the left then their half of the screen will be on the left but, if player 1 swaps places with player 2 and goes to the right then the screens will swap and player 1 will be on the right.

Final Verdict

I am currently completely undecided about the PS4 or the Xbox One, I owned 3 different Xbox 360s and no PS3s so you would expect me to be biased towards Xbox, however, I cannot choose which console I will buy when they are released. The PS4's controller looks very interesting and the heart rate monitoring Kinect 2.0 is appealing to me. It's not my choice though, It's yours. What next gen console will you be buying?  Xbox One or PS4? You might even want to buy a PC, maybe they both will be terrible, maybe you will get a Wii U instead.

Who will you decide?