PS4 or Xbox one an Update.

I wrote a piece long before the release of the Playstation 4 and the Xbox one discussing their relative merits and in particular which of the two I was going to buy. Now the long and short of it was that I had sat and weighed up all the positives and negatives I knew about and decided that the PS4 was the machine for me. I followed this up after I found myself getting an Xbox but now it is a lot further down the line so I figured that it would be time to take another look, a third look at the two consoles and what they have to offer.

Originally before the machines launched I might have cared a little bit about there stats how powerful this or that component is but in seeing them both run side by side I have to say that what you see and what you get game wise is close enough for any technical specifications to be nothing but a series of numbers. Each machine has its own exclusive games but when it comes down to the third party games if you owned both machines like I do then I would tell you to simply buy whichever version you could get cheapest or to make your decision on which pad you prefer holding, or on which machine still has some free storage space.

I made the argument that In the early years of a console’s lifespan when even second hand games can be quite expensive, paying a yearly rate for services like PS+/Games for gold seemed like a good idea.I also went on to say that PS+ was better value because you would get more games, well Microsoft have done something to level the playing field a little. Microsoft have introduced backwards compatibility allowing you to play some Xbo 360 games on your Xbox One. They are adding to the number every month an basically any 360 games that end up on games for Gold they are making run on the Xbox One, not only does this make Gold a better prospect than it was its also a nice little touch in itself.

Of course you can also pick up a lot of second hand games for cheap prices now for both systems which helps if your thinking of jumping on board now buying one of these machines and grabing a few games to keep you busy.

I originally said that the 500gig Hard drives that both machines come with were inadequate for anything more than the most casual of gamers, this is something I still stand by. Once you find yourself with anything more than 10 to 15 games on either machine you will find your hard drive space is becoming a real issue, and you really dont want to end up in the dance of having to uninstall and reinstall stuff just to play it. I installed a 2 Terrabyte hard drive in to my PS4 and it is still holding up for the moment, I have about 500gig left. I then added an external 500gig hard drive to my Xbox one, followed by a 2 terrabyte one, I now have about 800gig left. As I have previously stated this is one key area where the Xbox one is at an advantage, it can use up to 2 external hard drives at a time to increase its storage capacity. The PS4 cannot install games to an external hard drive so if you run out of space it is a much larger pain in the behind, basically you will need to buy a bigger hardrive, save all of your game saves to the internet, install the hard drive and re-download/install all of your games and saves. This is something that Sony still has not addressed for whatever reason. My recommendation is that if your planning on some serious gaming if you pick the PS4 then factor in a good sized hard drive you think will last you and buy it alongside the PS4 and install it from the start to save yourself a lot of trouble, as a side note the drive you take out of the PS4 can be blanked clean and used in a PC or other device. If your looking at buying an Xbox One then its a little easier either buy it when you can afford it and worry about storage latter or price up a external hard drive and buy one alongside it if you have the money. Now another important thing to remember is the Xbox One can only use two external drives at a time, but that doesn't mean you couldn't end up with 4 with a label on each letting you know whats on them so you can swap between them.

I still find the pad a little better on the xbox one, but then despite all of the updates both machines have had I do find the PS4 to just run better as a machine, there are a few times when the xbox one has refused to load games somehow having become stuck and I have had to reset it and I do not have any similar issues to report for my PlayStation hardware. This was true on the Xbox One's original OS and its still true with all of the updates, its not something that happens a lot but when it does its annoying.

I still stand by the closing statement I made in my last post on the subject so I will simply quote it here ''In short though I have gotten almost equal enjoyment from both machines, If you haven’t jumped on board this generation yet and are looking for some advice then here it is ‘’Look at the deals you can get for each machine, look at the games currently available on both machines, look at how many second hand games are around in your area and how cheap they are and then make your own informed decision from there, I don’t personally feel there is a wrong or right choice, just the one that’s right for you.’’