The age old struggle, Sony vs Microsoft, Playstation vs Xbox. It's been debated for what seems like forever in the gaming community. The last thing I want to do it spur a hate filled debate, because that's how these things can end up going, so I will be using this space to talk through my thoughts on the subject of the Playstation 4 vs Xbox One, and which one I will be buying.
I feel a little background is in order. I am a gamer, I have been for nearly my entire life. My parents bought me an NES in 1989 when I was 5 years old. The moment I booted up my new NES Action Set with my copy of Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt I was hooked. I spent countless hours in front of my TV playing the likes of the impossible Astyanax, nearly impossible Contra, Paper Boy, Zelda 1 and 2, and many others that I still have in a box in my closet. I never owned a Super Nintendo, but my neighbor did. His parents used to drive us to rent SNES games every weekend. I got to play all the classics, but for some reason Clayfighter and F-Zero are stuck in my head.
Over time my parents bought me a Game Boy and a Game Gear, but some of my fondest gaming memories come from the N64 generation. I was a Nintendo kid simply because that's all I had access to on a regular basis, not including my grandparents Atari 2600 I got to play during family parties and the like. My best friend in elementary school bought an N64 soon after launch, and we played it to death! I went over his house almost every weekend for about 8 years and we played NES and N64 practically non-stop from Friday to Sunday night. His parents would frequently drive us to rent games, but when I got a license in high school I took that responsibility.
A couple years after my best friend bought his N64, my parents bought me one for Christmas. I eventually bought a PSone and a couple years after that I bought a PS2 which I would usually bring with me to his house to give us a break from the world of Nintendo. In college I would frequently play with my friends Xbox, and after college I lived with 2 guys where we had 2 xbox's, 2 game cubes, and 2 PS2s. We actually spent about 2 months doing nothing but gaming before we realized we needed to find jobs, but that's a story for another time.
My wife bought me my first Xbox 360 for Christmas in 2006, back when we were still dating, and we got a Wii in early 2007. I say 'first' 360 because I had the red ring of death in 2008 so they traded mine for a referb. In 2009 I bought a PS3 for the exclusive titles. Then, when Saint's Row 4 and GTA V were released, my Xbox couldn't play either one without crashing. I figured out my old system just didn't have the muscle to play new games anymore and bought a new one.
So now you know my long history with consoles, I'll tell you where I am now. I have about 70 games for my Xbox 360, 15 for PS3, and about 8 for Wii. I also haven't turned my Wii on in a few years, Wii Fit would be yelling at me about that if it wasn't in a box in the garage. Strangely enough most of my favorite games of all time are PS3 exclusives. I hate the PS3 controller so much though that I buy almost everything for the 360, and therein lies my problem.
I'm in the market for a new console. Funny story, my wife told me she would have bought me a PS4 or Xbox One for my birthday last week, but she didn't know which one I wanted. I'd love to have gotten one for my birthday, but nothing out right now is a must have in my book, so I don't even know what I would have done with it. But, that changed when they announced Fallout 4. Fallout 3 was one of my favorite games of all time. I spent over 300 hours traveling the wasteland during 3 separate playthroughs. Once I saw the trailer for, and more importantly the E3 demo of, Fallout 4, I knew I had to have it. Now the big debate rages in my head. Playstation 4 vs Xbox One.
I'm not necessarily tied to either one as a company. I have bought most of my games on the 360 because I hate the PS3 controller so much, and a few specifically for gaming with my 360 owning best friends. So when it comes to what I should buy next, I'm at a crossroad.
I've heard the PS4 controller is much better than it's predecessor, and possibly better than the Xbox One controller, but I want to hold each one to gauge for myself. I don't care about the cameras. I own a kinect, and after the honeymoon faze I almost never used it. The interface isn't that big of a deal because I'll just get used to whichever one I own.
One big factor that I've thought about is what consoles are my friends getting. Since I only play regularly with 2 people that helps the decision a bit. One friend won't be getting a new console for a long time due to money, so that's a write off. The other friend is moving to Germany this week for 2+ years. He's considering an Xbox One, but with the 9 hour time difference I don't think we're going to be gaming together anymore anyway.
In the end, I want both consoles. Since I have kids now my money is best used on other things, meaning a second console purchase will probably be several years later, if at all. Looking back at the games of the previous generation, I would have been very happy with just a PS3. The only Xbox exclusives that I care about anymore are the Left 4 Dead series and maybe the Fable series. Even at that, I liked Fable 2 and 3, but I don't care about the other iterations. In comparison, there are many PS3 exclusives that I'm so thankful I got to experience.
With all things considered
Drum Roll!
I'm going with the Playstation 4.
Unless of course my friend calls me up saying he bought an Xbox One and he's working weird hours that'll let him game with me on a regular basis. I really don't see that happening though. Of course, after all of this contemplation, I don't plan on buying a PS4 until at least Christmas. I would seriously consider a Fallout themed PS4 though, if one is released around November 10th.