PS5 or Xbox?
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X change the console game. A guide to choosing the right one for you.
Todd Martens’ advice on what’s right for you.
After an almost eight- year run, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One eras are coming to an end. Taking their place with new releases from Microsoft and Sony this week are the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 — the two consoles that will officially herald the start of the next video game generation.
The timing could not be better. Many, after all, will no doubt relish an escape after monitoring election news this week.
Granted, among the debates and choices that Americans have had to face in recent weeks, the discussion over which piece of video game technology to plug into your TV may seem relatively minor. But while the release of new home game consoles from Microsoft and Sony were destined for this year regardless of the pandemic and the increased political tensions it brought, their arrival as 2020 nears its end feels more than a little serendipitous.
Most mainstream media — our film and television productions, our live theater, our theme parks — have had to pivot or struggle to reach anything approaching normal in 2020, yet video games have continued to thrive.
I’ve spent the last week jumping between the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5.
What is being released and when can you buy it?
Xbox Series X and S: Microsoft is releasing two consoles on Tuesday, the enthusiast Xbox Series X ($ 500) and the smaller, less costly Xbox Series S ($ 300), which is seemingly aimed more at the entry- to- mid- level player. In this sense, Microsoft is pivoting slightly from viewing the PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch as primary pieces of competition. Content of course is the most crucial factor in choosing a console, and both Xbox units are geared toward a world where hundreds of games can be downloaded on demand via a subscription service.
Microsoft’s consoles are essentially entryways into the Microsoft ecosystem, home to the subscription Xbox Game Pass. At $ 14.99 per month for the most attractive tier, Game Pass
remains the best deal in gaming, as well as the easiest way to transition an audience weaned on the ease of the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and more into the gaming sector.
The Xbox Series X is designed to make use of top- of- the- line televisions and all the graphical and lighting tools at a developer’s disposal. The Series S packs a slightly lighter punch. But those who opt for the Series S and aren’t using games as their primary at- home entertainment medium — or lack an upper- tier 4K TV — likely aren’t going to complain or notice anything too drastic. The end goal of both, ultimately, is to get owners to subscribe to Game Pass.
PlayStation 5: Two editions of PlayStation 5 launch Thursday — a $ 500 console with a disc drive that can play games and media and a $ 400 option without the drive. Technical specs are otherwise identical, with promising graphics that heighten the believability of game universes by emphasizing a greater fidelity with lighting and shadows.
Those who own 4K televisions, especially sets with high refresh rates and HDR compatibility, will experience the greatest boost, one that boasts significant smoothness and sharpness.
Unlike Microsoft’s approach with the new Xbox, in which the company is releasing two consoles Tuesday with different capabilities in the hopes of selling people on its subscription service and setting them on a regular upgrade path, Sony is taking a more old- fashioned route. Sony is betting people want a new console that looks and
feels significantly different than the previous generation — and also comes with some nifty tricks in the hopes of increasing immersion.
While it blissfully includes backward compatibility with the PS4, PS5 games will require PS5 controllers, and Sony’s subscription endeavors haven’t as yet been as robust as those of Microsoft.
The look
PlayStation 5: The PS5 diverts heavily from the thinner, flatter black look of the PS4. This white curved box is a behemoth. It’s close to 16 inches tall, and its curved design means it won’t disappear into an entertainment center, especially since it glows when turned on. It’s also heavy, at around 14 pounds, meaning you likely won’t be tossing it in a backpack to bring to a friend’s.
But this plays into the console’s ambitions. It’s designed to be a statement piece. While I think Sony was going for something that looked futuristic, I worry it will soon look dated. It wants to be the Frank Gehry of home video game console design, but there’s a sci- fi coldness to it, a box with a bold flair but also one that diverts from any attempt at home comfort. I’ve slotted it between my TV stands and turntable stand, sliding it closer to the wall with each day
While it’s true that few are buying the PS5 for its design — or conversely not buying it for its look — it’s worth highlighting because the PS5 wants its games to demand attention.
Xbox Series X: Much fun was had on the internet when
Microsoft and Sony unveiled the looks of their new consoles, with people immediately comparing the Xbox Series X to a refrigerator. But its vertical look — think a “2001” monolith — more closely resembles a speaker than a bulky home appliance. In other words, something that is more or less designed to become invisible in your home entertainment setup. At only about a foot tall and 6 inches in width, it doesn’t feel that big. I’ve slotted it behind my bookshelf speakers and it’s out of sight and out of mind, except for when I pick up a controller and hear it beep on.
While it’s true most people don’t buy a video game console for its living room aesthetics, much thought goes into making these consoles eye- catching rather than just functional. The unassuming look of the Series X reflects Microsoft’s goals for this generation ( the Series S, which I haven’t seen up close, is thinner and white rather than black but also maintains the speaker inspiration). That is, a home video game console should be as restrained as, say, a cable box or a receiver because games will soon be as commonplace in our households. At least that’s the hope.
The breakthroughs I love
Xbox Series X: There has never been a game console as seamless to set up as the Xbox Series X.
As soon as I logged in I had easy access to my entire game catalog and began downloading older titles with ease. I moved my Xbox One to my bedroom, and saved
games were automatically synced to any older game I loaded. I am a subscriber to the Game Pass Ultimate, and my full back catalog was immediately recognized. While it took time to download games of course, switching from one Xbox to another was easier and quicker than transitioning to my new iPhone a couple months back. Everything just worked, including my older controllers.
All of this will go a long way to keeping consumers gaming. It also reassured me that if there’s an Xbox Series X update three years from now, the upgrade will be painless. After all, the biggest challenge facing games is accessibility — I want everyone I know to be playing — and the Xbox Series X isn’t focused, out of the box, on wowing you. The console wants to get you logged on and playing. Its goal is to show you that all of this is easy.
The Xbox Series X also has a refined version of the feature I’ve wanted my entire life: the simple ability to start a game at the exact moment I left off. No, not the start of a mission or the start of a “check point” — the Series X has a feature called “Quick Resume,” which will allow players to jump almost instantly between pause points in games.
This is important. . I remember where in the game I was when I set my controller down, but too many modern games rely on check points to save your progress ( changing this, it should be noted, is a very complex development process). I appreciate Microsoft building into its console a solution to one of the most
frustrating traits of modern games — there is a long list of games I simply stopped playing because I was asked to replay 30 minutes.
It’s only been a couple days, but so far I haven’t run into any major issues. I have four games in a pause state at the time of this writing — two of which haven’t been released — and the Series X has dropped me in each of them in about 10 seconds or less after booting up.
PlayStation 5: I thought my days of praising a game controller were over. Each generation gets a bit more refined, a bit more ergonomic, but doesn’t really change the way we play. I was wrong. After a week with the PS5 my favorite aspect is the controller. It has gimmicks — you can actually blow into the controller to affect gameplay, which wasn’t fun when Nintendo did it and it isn’t fun when the PS5 does it — but other aspects succeed in pulling you deeper into the game.
For instance, in “Marvel’s Spider- Man: Miles Morales,” when the main character rides a subway, our controller ever- so- slightly vibrates to mimic the forward- moving bumping sensation of a train ride.
In “Astro’s Playroom,” a game that comes with the PS5, the controller can mimic the feel of zipping up a spacesuit. By moving your finger along the controller’s touchpad, the controller will sputter and stop as if zipping up a jacket. I probably did this for 20 minutes.
And there are other effects as well. For instance, the left and right triggers are
able to adjust to pressure — that is, they can adjust the level of resistance to your fingers.
But there are also less pronounced tweaks that make gaming a little easier. On PS5 games, you can pull up a page from the menu that will show you what missions you’ve completed, what mission is next and how long those tasks are estimated to take. It’s a nice little feature, especially if you’re debating whether you want to take on another chapter before calling it a day. Welcome, too, is the ability to go to specific chapters or missions that have been completed, in case you want to revisit a game or fully complete a section.
Any drawbacks?
PlayStation 5: The difference in console generations can be profound, and that holds true with this one for the PlayStation 5. But there’s a catch.
Like the Xbox Series X, you’re going to need to upgrade your television if you don’t already have a top- ofthe- line 4K model and you want to truly see a difference. Next- generation games also look to be big, and while the PS5 comes with a large internal hard drive ( 825 GB), I have less than a third of it left after installing six games, meaning I’ll likely have to purchase a compatible hard drive, which is another small investment of $ 100 or $ 200.
And while PS4 controllers will work with PS4 games, they won’t work with PS5 games, making the PS5 feel more like a closed system than the Xbox universe. That holds true when moving over saved games from your old PS4. While it works, it requires some digging into the console’s system settings rather than everything just syncing like it does on the Xbox Series X. A small thing, but one that makes it clear that the PS5 is designed primarily for PS5 games.
Xbox Series X: A strength of console gaming over PC gaming is relative ease in use: Buy a box, set it up and play. But as games evolve and get bigger, one will likely need to engage in memory management, either downloading and deleting games for new ones or investing in an external hard drive. Heavy gamers will likely need to eventually invest in the official storage expansion card that runs for $ 220 to better manage nextgeneration titles. Older games can be more easily stored on a host of external SSD drives.
There’s also the drag of needing to upgrade my television to fully take advantage of the consoles’ graphical prowess. For now, I’ll be sticking it out with a decade- old television and will consider an upgrade in a year or two when more games that take advantage of the new consoles start to hit the market.
So how fast and pretty is it?
PlayStation 5: It’s fast. From a cold boot to my saved game in “Miles Morales,” it took less than a minute. Once the PS5 was already up and running, I was able to jump among open games in 15 to 20 seconds. Compared with the PS4 launching of “Ghost of Tsushima,” it took about the same amount of time, but the PS5 allows players to bounce to content that’s already open at a fraction of the speed.
Xbox Series X: Those with 4K TVs, and especially TVs that can accommodate 120 frames per second ( a narrower, often pricier field needing an HDMI 2.1. port), will recognize the biggest graphical boost. I’m not in that camp — my 2011 TV isn’t going to cut it. But even on my TV, running older Xbox games that received an upgrade, I noticed some differences. Namely a game such as “Gears 5” overall felt smoother. Pans up and down the screen had a more cinematic sensation. Everyone, however, will notice the speed.