New Xbox or new Playstation? The agony of choice.



[ad_1]

9. November 2020

  • The next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony will be launched in the coming days.
  • Both companies will each send two new consoles in the race, Microsoft’s competitive price for the smallest console model is just under $ 300, Sony is getting $ 100 more.
  • Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are 11/10. Available, Playstation fans will have to wait until November 19 for new models

Simple cuboid or futuristic extravaganza

The Christmas party for gamers is organized: after years of development, both Sony and Microsoft bring the devices of the new generation of consoles to the market: Playstation 5 meets Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. In terms of price, the top versions of the two new consoles are priced at around 500 euros, the same price, with the new smaller and leaner versions, the Xbox One S is just under 100 euros below the smaller Playstation model at around 300 euros. In terms of design, Sony had to accept a lot of mischief: on zeit.de, for example, they wrote that it looked like “a WLAN router, coupled with the” fantastic “fantasies of a 12-year-old spaceship”. Another author sees the curved side panels as a sign of “a new self-confidence and self-image” of the Playstation. The new Xbox Series S or X, on the other hand, leaves little room for interpretation in terms of design: they come in a minimalist form as simple black or white rectangular boxes.

Under the hood

First of all, there are some similarities, especially in the flagship models of consoles with such a different design. Both the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 run on the same chip architecture – both have Zen-2 processors from AMD and both use the same graphics hardware – even from AMD. Also, SSD storage is installed in both for the first time. This allows the upper two consoles to perform ray tracing, which was previously reserved for PC gaming only, i.e. the highly realistic implementation of lights, shadows and reflections. In the “younger brothers” of the new generation of consoles, the cheaper Playstation 5 lacks the UHD Blu-Ray player. When buying games, buyers therefore mainly depend on what is offered in the Sony store. The Xbox Series S differs from the more expensive model in that it has no significantly weaker drives and hardware.

Highly compatible with previous versions and tactile feedback

The Xbox Series X triumphs with high backward compatibility with games from previous console generations (with the Playstation this is limited to PS4 games) and the Quick Resume feature – here, players can switch between games without losing game progress goes. With the Playstation, the gamepad in particular makes the difference. Dual Sense is the name of the new controller, which – as Sony writes in its blog – provides players with a particular “tactile feedback” and integrates “adaptive carriers”: this should be felt when a car is driving in mud or how strong it is. bow Throwing an arrow is armed. Speaking of sensations and games – a big disadvantage of Microsoft’s new consoles: they start without an exclusive title (the release of “Halo Infinite” has been postponed to 2021). Sony, however, does present various exclusive titles such as “Gran Turismo 7” or “Demon’s Souls Remake” (a list of the exclusive titles can be found here).

Available or not

“We would like to inform you that you will be shown an estimated delivery date that may be delayed by 24 hours,” so either Xbox series customer can currently read. However, this email indicates a delivery problem on Amazon’s part rather than a console shortage. The console is said to have hit retail at the end of last week. The situation is completely different with the Playstation 5, which theoretically will be available from November 19, 2020. It had already been sold out several times in advance and then it was said once again that various stores would accept pre-orders after all. According to a recent report from the Games-Wirtschaft news magazine, pre-orders should have a good chance of getting the Playstation 5 on November 19. to be able to hold it in your hands at home. After that, the Playstation 5 will likely only be available in online stores, but “the chances of getting a PlayStation 5 elsewhere before Christmas are incredibly slim”.

The eternal war of the consoles

Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft, PlayStation, Switch or Xbox: the three console manufacturers fight hard for years. Sony has been one step ahead in terms of sales for years. The Playstation 2 is the best-selling console of all time with nearly 160 million copies sold. It’s just one step ahead of the Nintendo classics – Nintendo DS and Game Boy – and way ahead of the most successful Xbox model to date: Xbox 360 has been sold around 85 million times. Even with current consoles, Sony is ahead of Nintendo and Microsoft. And the perspective? According to a sales forecast from British data analytics firm Ampere Analysis, Sony remains in the top spot and is expected to sell over 20 million more consoles than Microsoft in 2024.

[ad_2]
Source link