Game console: Xbox vs. Playstation: A New Round in the Battle of the Console – News

The new generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony is technically advanced. But at the moment it is still of little use.

When Microsoft first introduced the Xbox One in 2013, it was supposed to be a media center, much more than just a game console. It didn’t go well with the fans. Seven years later, another image: Xbox Series X (and its little sister, the S Series, see box) is about gaming. And this on a previously unknown level.

The technical details

Both the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 allow frame rates of up to 120 fps at 4K resolution. To do this, a display must support the HDMI 2.1 standard, which is only the case with new devices. If you’ve already played your Playstation 4 games on a 4K screen with HDR support, you may not notice many improvements in the image of the new consoles.

Both the Playstation and the Xbox also enable so-called “ray tracing” for more realistic lighting effects. The first test reports of both consoles come to the conclusion that, especially in games with fast and smooth movements, the higher frame rate contributes more to gaming enjoyment than ray tracing.

Both consoles are also extremely quiet, although they have significantly more power than previous versions. Furthermore, there are super fast SSD drives and new storage technologies. The loading times of some titles have been reduced by up to a quarter, according to early reviews. Reloading in the games themselves has almost no consequences, as does booting the consoles. This not only makes the gaming experience noticeably smoother, it also reduces the obstacle of sitting in front of the console.

At Sony, however, no course correction was necessary: ​​the Playstation 4, also launched in 2013, ranks fourth among the most successful game consoles of all time with over 112 million units sold up to to date. It’s far ahead of Xbox One, of which only around 50 million have been sold.

Console almost like a gaming PC

With the Playstation 5, Sony wants to maintain the market leadership and does not take any big risks, apart from perhaps the unusual design of the Playstation 5. For the rest, the new console does not differ fundamentally from its predecessor. Except it’s more expensive, faster and more massive.

Highlights: Quick Resume and DualSense Controller

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Early reviews mention the new quick reset feature for Xbox. It allows you to stop a game, start a new one and then continue smoothly with the first game without having to fight through any menus. This feature is not present in the Playstation 5. However, it is not yet clear how many of the upcoming Xbox titles will actually support the Quick Resume feature.

With the Playstation 5, the new DualSense controller is the main reason for the excitement. The new vibration motors would provide unprecedented tactile feedback and significantly increase immersion in the game world, they say. For example, you could use different types of vibes to make the floor texture feel in a game. In addition, so-called adaptive triggers react with different levels of resistance to certain game situations: drawing an arrow bow is very different from pulling the trigger of a revolver. However, it is also not clear to what extent future Playstation titles will use these possibilities.

A Playstation has never been bigger, and an Xbox has never been bigger than the Xbox Series X. No wonder, after all, underneath the chassis of both devices is technology almost as close to that of an updated gaming PC. Early reviews enthusiastically state that the console gaming experience has never been closer to that of a PC.

True potential still unknown

The same critics also come to the conclusion that the new consoles would hardly feel like a new generation, even less with Microsoft than with Sony. There has been a great deal of technological advancement, but the numbers are particularly impressive on paper. The difference in the game is more like an update than something fundamentally new.

Playstation 5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S

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The Playstation 5 is available in two different versions: as Playstation 5 with one drive (CHF 499) and as Playstation 5 Digital without drive (CHF 399), where games can only be downloaded digitally. Furthermore, both models have the same technical specifications.

In addition to the X Series (CHF 499), Xbox also offers the slightly reduced S Series (CHF 299). The smaller model has the same CPU, but has a slightly weaker GPU, less RAM and internal memory. Furthermore, the S series has no drive and only achieves a resolution of 1440p instead of 4K.

This is also due to the fact that there are hardly any new exclusive games available for the new generation of consoles. In the case of the Playstation, there are “Astro’s Playroom”, which is pre-installed on the console, and “Demon Souls”, specifically the remake of a Playstation 3 title. For the first time ever, Xbox has no exclusive title. The true potential of the new machines will therefore only become evident in a few months, when the first games begin to exhaust the new possibilities.

Backward compatible up to the first Xbox

Console manufacturers are not the only ones responsible for this situation. The crown crisis prevented the conclusion of many games for the important Christmas activity. At least in Microsoft, it seems that there are no new big titles but also programs. Because while the Americans are likely to remain number two in console sales, they are at least trying to catch up in game distribution.

With your Game Pass subscription, you can make more than 100 older Xbox titles available online. Additionally, the new Xbox is backwards compatible up to the first Xbox. Old games can also be played on the new Playstation, but compatibility is only up to Playstation 4. For Sony, the Playstation 5 is like the new book in a series, while Microsoft starts the next chapter of the same book only with Xbox. .