After months of hardship, tears, and quarantine in 2020, things may finally be turning around. The highly anticipated next-generation consoles will finally release at the end of this crazy year. With the Xbox Series X release on November 10th and the PlayStation 5 on November 12th, the new fleet of consoles will be available for the holiday season. This means kids and teens will be fully equipped to spend their holiday vacations gaming away.

The question everyone will be asking is whether to buy the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5? Many people will base their decision upon personal bias and the technical features of each console.

Sony and Microsoft communities have essentially become cults. With each fan base so dedicated to either Playstation or Xbox, it would take a lot to get them to switch brands. Both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are advanced consoles and will be a major upgrade from the previous generation of consoles.

Visually, the new Xbox and PlayStation have different designs. The PlayStation 5 offers a sleek, futuristic look that is very appealing to the eye. The Xbox Series X design is boxy and rectangular, opting for a simplistic look. While the look of both consoles is important, the inside is what really matters.

“Budget consoles” Image: Pocket-lint.com

Internally, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are nearly identical. Both consoles will feature up to 8K video support which supports movies and streaming, and 4K gaming resolution for high definition gameplay. In addition, the two will also feature frame rates of up to 120 fps and a 4K UHD Blu-ray disk drive. The Xbox and PlayStation will both see a major upgrade in the graphics department as well. However, the Xbox Series X has a slight edge in their graphics hardware that may provide slightly more realistic gameplay than PlayStation 5. For many Xbox fans, this slight edge in graphics capability will be their rallying cry in the battle for console supremacy.

Fortunately for buyers, there is no bad choice between Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. If you opt to purchase the standard model with a disk drive, be prepared to spend $499. Both systems will have “budget” models for a cheaper price. The PlayStation All-Digital Edition will be priced at $399 and will be the exact same console as the standard device except for the lack of a disk drive. The cheaper model for Xbox, the Series S, has a price point of $299. Unfortunately, with a cheaper price tag comes a cheaper product. The Series S will be physically smaller and have less storage, less speed, and a poorer screen resolution while gaming in comparison to the more powerful Series X.

One of the biggest improvements from the previous generation to the next-gen consoles is download time. Both systems will utilize an SSD drive that will likely allow games to download in minutes rather than hours…. or even days it took on the PS4 and Xbox One.

Controllers seem to be the area where PlayStation has a clear advantage. The new DualSense wireless controller is a complete revamp of the already popular PS4 controller. The new controller matches the sleek design of the console itself and will feature a comfortable design with haptic feedback and trigger effects. The haptic feedback allows for players to feel gunshots, explosions, and other in-game events. Xbox chose to stick with the same controller design as the previous generation because, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

Moeller student and owner of both the PS4 and Xbox One, Luke Heilmann '21, was asked what he thought about the new fleet of consoles. “I think the price is very fair. It was kind of surprising to me that they were not more expensive honestly. I will probably wait a while a few months to see which console is best before buying one.” In a poll of 390 Moeller students, 46% plan on buying the Xbox Series X, 37% want the PlayStation 5, and 17% say they will not buy either.

One of the concerns with the new consoles being released is a lack of hype for video games being released around the time of the launch. Aside from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Halo: Infinite, and the regular fleet of sports games there will be very few hyped games in the near future.

Fortunately, with cross-platform capability on most games, you will be able to play with your friends no matter what console they purchase. According to Business Insider, PlayStation 4 has destroyed Xbox One in total sales. Since release PlayStation has sold over 100 million units compared to the 50 million Xbox consoles. In comparison a national poll completed by Ladbible found that out of the 7,500 surveyed over 2/3 plan to purchase the PlayStation 5. It will surely be interesting to see which company sells more consoles this time around.

Console Wars: Microsoft vs. Sony