XBox One and PlayStation 4 System Reviews

[VectorVictor]

Thought it would be good to get a repository of all the system reviews that are out there for the consoles since folks will likely be picking one or the other up in the next year or so:

 

XBox One:

Polygon (8/10)

Joystiq (No verdict)

Kotaku (Not yet)

Verge (7.8/10)

PC World (4/5)

NBCNews: "Compelling console with a strong lineup of games"

Engadget: "A fast and powerful work in progress"

 

Time:

$500 buys you more than a souped-up gaming portal: the Xbox One is a content assimilation engine, a vanguard move into a market the competition’s still toying around in by comparison. It’s an immature, somewhat glitchy content assimilation engine at this stage...

 

Gizmodo:

 

Not yet. It's generally dumb to buy any new console right at launch. PS4's have been having issues with a "blue light of death," and for all we know the Xbox One could have its own issues as well; the sting of the red ring of death is still fresh in most memories. Besides, the launch line-up of games—while a little better than the PS4's—is a bit soft. The real gotta-play system-sellers like Watchdogs, Destiny, and Titanfall, are still a few months out. Halo 5 is a mere glint on the horizon.

 

The software is still in flux too. We experienced a little jank with a few apps. Twitch streaming isn't coming until sometime early 2014. HBO Go is "coming soon" but hasn't shown up yet. These consoles are coming in hot, so just chill. Theoretically all will get fixed with time; hopefully right around when a game you just have to have finally gets released.

 

For now, the Xbox One is one impressive living room box machine—and it more than justifies its $500 dollar price with the inclusion of at least $100-worth of set-top boxitude—but you're going to be better off waiting for a little while to see how things shake out.

 

But—and this is admittedly a sizable but—if the Xbox One can straighten the few little quirks it has with some software tweaks, this thing is going to be unstoppable in a way the PS4 could never touch. It's too versatile, too feature-ridden, too future. So wait, yes. But while you do, go ahead and start clearing out plenty of space underneath your television.

 

 

 

PlayStation 4:

Polygon (7.5/10)

Joystiq (No verdict)

Kotaku (Not yet)

Verge (7.7/10)

PC World (3.5/5)

NBCNews: Fantastic console looking for a few good games.

Engadget: Fast, powerful, worth it.

 

Time:

That’s what $400 for a PS4 buys you this time around: a system that feels like something that’s been around the block off the block, instead of a feature-incomplete, overpriced collage of half-baked apps and feature hypotheticals.

 

Gizmodo:

Should You Buy It?

 

Not yet. I mean, if you're some sort of Sony diehard who can never possibly be swayed to the Microsoft side, then sure. The PS4 is a good console. There is nothing aggressively wrong with it as to scare away or displease a devoted fanboy. The console itself costs $400, games cost your standard $60. Both are reasonable. You will like it, you will be happy.

[Landlord]

Consoles are becoming a fossilized relic of an idea.

 

 

There's very little incentive to wanting one for me these days. Especially as long as sh**ty games like Madden and Call of Duty dominate the market.

[Landlord]

I did find this though:

 

[VectorVictor]

Consoles are becoming a fossilized relic of an idea.

 

 

There's very little incentive to wanting one for me these days. Especially as long as sh**ty games like Madden and Call of Duty dominate the market.

 

Or Battlefield 4 or Assassin's Creed 4 as it were...

 

...and the chart made me LOL. The only takeaway is that Sony has an awesome marketing machine, which we already knew was true by virtue of their ability to sell PS3s at launch.

 

That, and Nintendo really is on the outside looking in...which is sad, considering that they have the best games coming out this fall for any system.

[Landlord]

Consoles are becoming a fossilized relic of an idea.

 

 

There's very little incentive to wanting one for me these days. Especially as long as sh**ty games like Madden and Call of Duty dominate the market.

 

Or Battlefield 4 or Assassin's Creed 4 as it were...

 

...and the chart made me LOL. The only takeaway is that Sony has an awesome marketing machine, which we already knew was true by virtue of their ability to sell PS3s at launch.

 

That, and Nintendo really is on the outside looking in...which is sad, considering that they have the best games coming out this fall for any system.

 

 

You're right, and that's part of what has me jaded towards the entire market - the WiiU as it exists is a piece of trash, the XBOne and PS4 are both nice machines but already antiquated and hardly innovative by any means.

 

The only thing that intrigues me right now (and granted, I've kind of moved out of any heavy video game playing anymore) is Valve's console project, but even if that is a breath of fresh air, it will just serve to piss me off even more that they'll still likely miss out on the AAA console franchises that are actually enjoyable.

 

God - I miss NFL 2K.

[VectorVictor]

The only thing that intrigues me right now (and granted, I've kind of moved out of any heavy video game playing anymore) is Valve's console project, but even if that is a breath of fresh air, it will just serve to piss me off even more that they'll still likely miss out on the AAA console franchises that are actually enjoyable.

 

God - I miss NFL 2K.

 

I'm right there with you on that--got my friend in Lexington hooked on Steam, and I think gaming is going to move towards this route--the more multifaceted these machines become, the more they become PC-like, the closer they get to being replaced by a dude who makes his own HTPC box.

 

Also, if the Steam controller pans out, then we'll be able to have our cake and eat it too, from a KB/M vs. Controller POV.

 

And I miss 2K football too. Still have my copy from the XBox, and I break it out and play it on the 360 from time to time.

[tschu]

I don't like reviewing systems right at launch. Mostly for the same reason that I've never bought a console at launch (or anywhere close to launch for that matter). It's impossible to know what issues will pop up, what the network and user interface and support will ultimately end up being, the quality of the game library, the graphical capabilities (it takes time for developers to get a good grasp of how to maximize a console's computing and graphical power) and so on.

 

It is sad that Nintendo is getting sort of swept under the rug, but they really had a total failure of announcement, marketing, and launch with the Wii U. (Plus that name - Wii U is bad bad bad for a variety of reasons). Just disappointing since there will actually be some good games out for it now and it does have a unique peripheral that could be a lot of fun, but it's unlikely to get much 3rd party support again and will probably end up being an afterthought of this generation. But I guess the COD/Halo Bro culture doesn't mesh well with that type of console, and unfortunately the COD/Halo culture is what drives a lot of the market these days.

[irafreak]

Nintendo is killing themselves. Lousy gimmicky machines when they should be focusing on their games. Nintendo is capable of getting back in the game but they refuse to go all in. They clearly dominate the handheld market because they target the younger audience for it. They're capable but unwilling to target the adult audience for whatever reason.

 

Nintendo has always been a quality brand. Their games are still top notch (most anyway). Their lousy systems have begged companies to make crap shovel ware focused on motion controlled crap. I believe if they would have continued the tradition of putting their seal on the quality titles and not allowing the junk games to see launch they could be doing better. Why I don't buy wii stuff...most of it's crap. Give me a real game.

[Minnesota_husker]

Schu said it perfectly.. I will wait probably a year till i buy a PS4 and make sure the games are good and what not.

[NebraskaHarry]

I haven't owned a gaming system for years now. I figure it's better to waste my time and money at the strip clubs.

[VectorVictor]

Nintendo is killing themselves. Lousy gimmicky machines when they should be focusing on their games. Nintendo is capable of getting back in the game but they refuse to go all in. They clearly dominate the handheld market because they target the younger audience for it. They're capable but unwilling to target the adult audience for whatever reason.

 

Nintendo has always been a quality brand. Their games are still top notch (most anyway). Their lousy systems have begged companies to make crap shovel ware focused on motion controlled crap. I believe if they would have continued the tradition of putting their seal on the quality titles and not allowing the junk games to see launch they could be doing better. Why I don't buy wii stuff...most of it's crap. Give me a real game.

 

I dunno...part of the reason Nintendo hasn't gone third party is because Sega went from AAA to Meh almost overnight once the Dreamcast went tits up, sad to say. They don't want to follow in their footsteps...a proverbial man without a country, so to speak.

 

And funny thing about Nintendo's Seal of Approval--it was all crap. The reason there were so many great games in the NES days is that Nintendo strictly controlled the number of third party games a producer could release--for example, the original Metal Gear was released by 'Ultra', which was a production company made up by Konami, just so they could skirt the six games/publisher/year rule (if I remember the number correctly).

 

A good read on the early days of Nintendo is the book 'Game Over'. Depending on the print, it will end with the advent of the N64, GameCube, or Wii, but the info about the early and halcyon days of Nintendo is intact and interesting.

 

I haven't owned a gaming system for years now. I figure it's better to waste my time and money at the strip clubs.

 

Just like you wasted our time by coming into a video game thread on a tech forum to tell us this info?

[Army_Allen]

 

I haven't owned a gaming system for years now. I figure it's better to waste my time and money at the strip clubs.

 

Just like you wasted our time by coming into a video game thread on a tech forum to tell us this info?

I'm pretty sure the dude was joking, and even if he wasn't, what's the big deal?

 

On topic, I have the ps4 now and love it tons more than my ps3 or 360 (had both at each launch). Killzone is THE best looking console game I've ever seen. It looks pc like with a controller. The interface is simple and the party chat was a long overdue option that makes chilling with my buddies loads easier. tbh, a lot of those reviews are biased and blatantly so, I like neutral folks like Review Tech USA and the like. Rev 3 is another good one. Kotaku and those similar get kickers from certain companies to make sure they hit certain highs on their console and talk down a bit more on others. as far as the PS4 BLOD, I haven't heard of many cases. And it happens with all launches, all the way back to the panasonic systems lol.

[Saunders]

Consoles are becoming a fossilized relic of an idea.

 

 

There's very little incentive to wanting one for me these days. Especially as long as sh**ty games like Madden and Call of Duty dominate the market.

 

Or Battlefield 4

Yu take that back right now. BF4 has leaps and bounds better gameplay than Madden Warfare.

[Saunders]

I am in the process of dumping all my last gen stuff and picked up a PS4. Gonna use it for sports games and exclusives, and twitch stuff will still be played on PC (master race represent!). I might pick up a Wii U next year because my oldest will be 4, and more into games.

 

Sidenote: Picked up NBA2K14 for PS4 (first BB game in half a decade) and it's really, really good.

[VectorVictor]

Yu take that back right now. BF4 has leaps and bounds better gameplay than Madden Warfare.

 

Wasn't comparing BF4 to Modern Warfare--there's a night and day difference, and I agree that BF is the superior franchise currently. Sorry if it came off otherwise.

 

I'm comparing BF4 to BF3...there's not much of a leap between 3 and 4. And in some cases, there are regressions (SP, Co-op among them). The topic, as I understood it, was discussing incremental (or a lack of significant) change in subsequent title updates.

 

On topic, I have the ps4 now and love it tons more than my ps3 or 360 (had both at each launch). Killzone is THE best looking console game I've ever seen. It looks pc like with a controller. The interface is simple and the party chat was a long overdue option that makes chilling with my buddies loads easier. tbh, a lot of those reviews are biased and blatantly so, I like neutral folks like Review Tech USA and the like. Rev 3 is another good one. Kotaku and those similar get kickers from certain companies to make sure they hit certain highs on their console and talk down a bit more on others. as far as the PS4 BLOD, I haven't heard of many cases. And it happens with all launches, all the way back to the panasonic systems lol.

 

I'm sorry, but I have to call BS on that. Actually read the reviews--you notice the same trends over and over in each of them, and I seriously doubt that Sony and Microsoft would drop cash just to hear the same praise and failings come up time and again from each site, especially since the failings for each console end up being praise for the other. Not a very good, sound, smart business strategy there...

 

...plus, you mention Kotaku, who pretty much took the highroad in this and said all three (including Wii U) were too early to judge just yet. Plus, you seem to conveniently forget all of the PS+ ads that folks have been inundated for months on that site--were your statements true, then Kotaku would have told everyone to knife their neighbors for loot and go steal a palette of PS4s because they are the second (albeit wobbly) coming of Christ and you must bathe in their silicon goodness.

 

Or something akin to that.