Xbox One
Pros
1. Truly next gen system philosophy with slick, fast UI, voice and gesture commands and seamless integration of all sofa-based entertainment, Skype, fast switching, multi-tasking, snap mode has a thousand possibilities
2. Games launched instantly without disc switching due to installs
3. Add as much extra storage as desired through external HDD
4. Kinect 2.0 included finally frees up developers to explore the tech and its possibilities for integration into core gaming, unnoticeable latency, provides high quality Skype camera, and will be great for UI and media control via voice command and gesture
5. Smart Glass can finally show its potential now it will be linked directly via Wi-Fi to the console (rather than the old SG to web, web to Xbox method that lagged a lot)
6. Controller looks amazing with surround rumble and every area subtly improved, and overhauled D-pad
7. GAMES the launch window games for Xbox One contains loads of exclusive titles Im actually interested in Ryse, Forza, Dead Rising 3, Killer Instinct, Project Spark, Titanfall, Quantum Break, D4
8. General good track record with online services and reliable media and UI performance
9. Sharing family is an amazing feature. Really surprised me how generous the terms are.
10. Huge cloud advantage to 300,000 servers (I read somewhere Sony has access to 30,000?)
Cons
1. Refusal to allow self-publishing on Xbox One is a huge mistake in my mind, and will rob the platform of some of the most interesting games next gen. Its a possible deal breaker for me.
2. 24 hour check in is an obvious and necessary way of protecting against piracy within a system where games are fully installed, instantly launched and sharable with friends digitally BUT lack of any fail-safes for times the internet goes is a major concern. Another possible deal breaker in my mind.
3. Slight lack of power over PS4 could become an issue later in the generation, and could lead to superior PS4 versions of cross platform games
4. Huge size of the console, obviously due to overheating paranoia, makes it less of an attractive proposition in my entertainment centre
5. Higher price over PS4
6. Used game restrictions only bother me in that it seems to favour big businesses like GAME and Gamestop. Will my local games shop be allowed to sell on Xbox One games? I dont patronise the used game industry personally as I think it is choking the real games making industry, but I dont like these big-corporate favouring policies.
7. Fear over what could happen at the end of the generation. While it is more logical to think that theyd just run an update that removed the online check, there is the spectre of risk that all your paid-for games could become unplayable.
PS4
Pros
1. No worries or hassles about online requirements, used games, long term ownership
2. £80 cheaper than Xbox One
3. Slight power advantage could allow some unique experiences later in the generation, and could lead to superior PS4 versions of cross platform games
4. Lots of quality first party studios such as Naughty Dog promise some special next gen experiences
5. Much improved control pad over the DS, looks actually usable
6. Touch pad should help with UI/media/web aps control
7. Much smaller box, more discreet in entertainment centre
Cons
1. Lack of next-gen vision, still relying on disc swapping (or going digital download wholesale, which I will if I go PS4 as I hate disc swapping), UI smoothness and usability still and unknown quantity, media functionality undetailed and general historical poor form on these fronts (even as recently as the Vita) do not bode well for a slick, usable ecosystem
2. General lack of reliability when it comes to online services and updates this morning it was announced that the latest PS3 firmware was bricking some PS3s. Seven years into this console and five months away from the next this sets off serious alarm bells for me as to Sonys competence in this area.
3. Much less servers to rely on for cloud functionality
4. Throwing their one innovation under the bus to score cheap points. They drop the Eye so they can be £80 rather than £20 cheaper than Xbxo and instantly make it an irrelevance. Developers wont support it if they dont know every console has it.
5. Small box with little ventilation makes me think this will either be a) a noisy system with powerful fans or b) prone to overheating
6. Lack of launch window exclusive games that really appeal. Only SecondSon and The Order: 1886 really appeal to me and it's a bit depressing that the two launch titles I would likely buy Watchdogs and FIFA 14 would both be on Xbox One as well.
7. Lack of support for external harddrives. No matter how much Sony fan boys may insist on it the ability to replace the harddrive is not a better feature. In an ideal world Id want both features, but just being able to replace the harddrive means you are paying for something you will eventually dispose of. If I want 2tb+ on day one, for Xbox One I add an external and then have 2.5tb, nothing wasted. On PS4 I replace the internal harddrive with a 2tb model and then I have basically paid for a 500gb harddrive I have no further use for. If I do it further down the road I have to go through the laborious process of transferring data over, whereas with Xbox One I simply add more, keeping everything where it is on the internal one. Sorry Sony fanboys, this is a worse situation to be.
So in all, for me, Xbox One is the more exciting system with slick and usable services and UI and (so far) the better games but has some deal-breaking drawbacks. PS4 is the safer and risk-free console with great promise for the future but at present is underwhelming, and has a high risk of having poorly implemented services and UI.
Its still the PS4 for me at current, but with a few U-turns in some areas of contention, Xbox One could very much be back in contention.
