This holiday season will witness a catastrophic war. A war that will decide which game console - the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4 - will get to rule your home.
Microsoft launched Xbox One on Friday midnight, exactly a week after Sony launched the PlayStation 4 in North America. However, there was slight difference in their launches in the sense that Xbox One launched in 13 countries on Friday whereas the Sony launched only in the U.S. on November 15 and will not go on sale in the UK and the Europe until November 29. And gamers in Japan will have to wait until next year to witness either of their game consoles hit the shelves of local stores.
Both the video game consoles have similar hardware components. Even their design appear to be uber similar (cool rectangle boxes, though PlayStation 4 chasis is slightly sleeker than the Xbox One's). So what will really matter for us to make a decision between these two game consoles?
Well, price is one thing. The PlayStation 4 is priced at $400 and Xbox One is priced at $500 and this is where Microsoft will have to convince the users that it's worth paying the extra $100. And, probably it won't be too difficult as the console comes bundled with Kinect 2.0 sensor which can also sense your body heat and heart beat..
And there's more. Xbox One also posseses the potential to replace your cable and satellite set-top boxes as Microsoft has designed it not just to be a stand-alone video gae console, like the PlayStation 4, but be an all-in-one entertainment center for the living room.
Having said that, are these reasons enough to turn users to a $100 more expensive device? Reviewers and critics say no.
"With Sony's PlayStation 4 being such a similar device and £80 cheaper, Microsoft will face significant challenges convincing shoppers that Xbox One is the smarter investment," said Rob Crossley of ComputerAndVideoGames.com.
"From a purely hardware-focused perspective, the PS4 provides similar-to-slightly-better power for $100 less. The Xbox One tries to justify the added cost with its improved media capabilities and interface. While these features are nice, they're probably not worth the extra cost on their own at this point," said Kyle Orland of Ars Technica.
However, the early sales figures suggest that gamers don't mind paying the extra $100 to take home the Xbox One, especially as Microsoft is well-known for teaming up with popular developers to bring out exclusive game titles. Reportedly, Microsoft sold 1 million Xbox One units within 24 hours of its market launch, equalling the debut sales record of PlayStation 4.
