Category: Game Opinion (Mine)

So I get asked reasonably often which of the ‘new’ generation consoles I would recommend.  My recommendation would be ‘all of them’, but if you can only afford one then here are some of my thoughts.

First off, they all play games, which is good.  There are currently very few ‘must have’ exclusives on PS4 and Xbox One, with most the AAA games available on both.  The Wii U has some awesome games, but only a few of them.

Xbox One Pros

  • Has my favourite interface of the bunch, which is intuitive and easy to navigate
  • The controller is in my opinion the best of the lot (probably the best standard controller ever made)
  • The rumble triggers on the controller are cool
  • I can tell my Xbox to turn off, and as of this week to also turn on (update came out this week for Australia)
  • Is as quite as a mute mouse
  • Can now play video off USB
  • Has Achievements (Gamer Points)
  • HDMI pass through (My second Wii U goes through the Xbox, with no perceptible lag)
  • I like talking to my Xbox, even though I could use a controller
  • The camera on the Kinect is really quite amazing, it’s great for Skype

Xbox One Cons

  • Installing new games has sucked in the past, as they need to fully install to the hard drive, and then sometimes download and install a mandatory patch.  This can take hours depending on your bandwidth and this size of the update.  Some games I’ve wacked in when I got home so that I can play them the following day.  Though funnily enough I could start play Diablo 3 not longer after I started installing it.
  • Indie game choice is currently quite small (compared to PS4)
  • No ‘handheld’ companion device (I’m not counting Smart Glass)
  • They are now bundling without the Kinect, so I expect the Kinect support to diminish, which is a shame
  • It’s can’t stand on it’s side and is bulky (but does look pretty cool)

PS4 Pros

  • Great selection of indie games
  • PS Plus is awesome, good selection of ‘free’ games every month
  • Cross Buy/Cross Play/Cross Save with Vita
  • Remote Play with Vita
  • Arguably the most ‘grunt’ of the lot, however realistically I don’t think the average gamer would notice any difference between games that have been released on both the Xbox One and PS4.
  • Use Remote Play on a different TV with PlayStation TV (out in November), so can play PS4 on a different TV
  • Has achievements (Trophies, I like them better than Gamer Points)
  • Can lay flat or stand on side

PS4 Cons

  • On/Off and Eject buttons are tiny and easy to hit the wrong one
  • Is too noisy (compared to my PS3 Slim, Xbox Slim and first Wii U, which all sit together)
  • No ability to re-arrange the interface, can be hard to find games
  • No DNLA (yet), which was a cool feature of the PS3

Wii U Pros

  • Ability to play a lot of games purely on the Game Pad
  • Mario games, currently Super Mario 3D World and Mario Kart 8 are almost worth buying the console for
  • Not very power hungry for those who are power conscious
  • Very quiet (not as quiet as Xbox One, but close)
  • Backwards compatible with Wii games
  • Virtual Console for playing older Nintendo games
  • Can lay flat or on vertical on stand
  • Cheaper than the other consoles

Wii U Cons

  • Almost no support from the AAA third party publishers, thus most the cool games are the first party ones (which is not a bad thing, Nintendo make great games!)
  • Need to buy too many controllers that don’t come with it, especially if you don’t already own a Wii, e.g. Wii-motes, nun chucks, Wii U Pro Controller
  • Game/DLC purchases tied to console you buy them on
  • Comes with a very small amount of memory, 32GB with Pro, 8GB with standard, though easily upgradable (it’s only a SD card)
  • Not as much ‘grunt’ as the Xbox One or PS4
  • No trophies/achievements

My summary would be:

  • If you have young kids and already have a Wii, then there are some great kid friendly games on the Wii U (not to say that they are just for kids, but that kids can also play them!), making the Wii U a good cheap(er) option.  Be aware though that the current game pool is very limited.
  • For gaming in general, between the Xbox One and PS4 at this stage I would lean towards the PS4, especially if you already have and use a PS Vita.  If you have and use a PS Vita then the PS4 is the only sensible choice.
  • I think at this stage the Xbox One makes a better media hub and has a better controller, but the combination of cool indie games, great first party titles in the works, PS Plus (which you definitely should pay for), and the cross buy/cross play/cross save features with PS Vita, make the PS4 the console to go for at this time.