Of course you are privy to news that Microsoft’s new hot cake, the Xbox One, sold 1 million in its first 24 hours of going on sale. Expected wasn’t it? After all Sony managed to achieve the same feat with the PlayStation 4 a week earlier. Whether the Xbox One is superior to the PlayStation 4 or the vice versa is one argument you’ll surely never find an answer to and my advice is, go for the one that tickles your fancy and arouses the inner gaming beast in you. It is about experiences, personal preferences and to fanboys, loyalty. Sony fans will always go for the PS4, no doubt about that. Microsoft faithful will flock to stores stocking the Xbox One in droves eager to get started with Killer Instinct or Halo.
Talking of the two, as usual, they have their differences and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
The Xbox One went on sale in several countries this ending week while the PlayStation 4 was only available on launch day to just two markets: US and Canada. It will be available in the UK from the 29th of November. I have checked on the stores/outlets and retailers I trust in Kenya on matters gaming and most of them will be taking pre-orders from the 29th November with deliveries expected to start a week later and some crazy offers on Blu-ray game discs in the period leading to the festivities (Christmas…). There’s no word on when Xbox One will be available in Kenya or other African countries for that matter but with the aggressive marketing strategy adopted by Microsoft from launch day, I won’t be surprised if it pops up unannounced around the same time as the PS4.
The PS4 is priced at least $100 lower than the Xbox One so I am pretty sure that will be reflected in the pricing of the two consoles in all the markets that they’ll be available in.
If you have a previous generation version of these consoles (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), you may want to hold on to these instead of spending top $$ on the new stuff since in my opinion they are still the best deals you can get and the new consoles are launching with just a handful of popular games and new titles. Holding out for a few more months won’t hurt. PS3 games (discs not the titles themselves) won’t work on the PS4 while the Xbox means spending more on all the premium stuff that Microsoft offers if you are to enjoy your gaming life. For PS fans, PlayStation Plus on the PS4 is Sony’s first foray into the subscription model that Microsoft has been using for a while now. You’ll pay $60 per year for an Xbox Live Gold subscription from Microsoft while $50 is all you need for a subscription to PS+ from Sony plus freedom to do much more (streaming shows) without paying anything extra. On your PS3, you get free access to most of the stuff online (multiplayer, streaming…) and you’ll hardly be worried about your credit card. It is the PS4’s beefed up specs, brand new look and those glowing LEDs that will blow you away though. Sony touts the PS4 to be upto 10 times faster than the PS3. Also the new PS4 Dualshock 4 controller is very much inviting.
The Xbox One-PS4 debate never ends and I won’t try to get into though if I were to pick one anytime it will definitely be the PS4 and jump right to Call of Duty: Ghosts even though the Xbox’s kinect and new exclusive titles like Ryse: Son of Rome are sure to get me jealous of all the Xbone owners.
Photo: defaultprime.com
