Xbox and PlayStation create excitement in the gaming industry

Read Time:6 Minute, 22 Second

by Davian Polanco

**CONVENIENT AFTER-SCHOOL FUN:** Freshman Kevin Crocker is playing on his PlayStation 5 that recently came in the mail to relieve and clear his mind after school. Next to the console there is one of the PlayStation exclusive new releases “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” that is only playable on the new PlayStation 5 console. *Photo by Kevin Crocker.*

On Tuesday, November 10, and Thursday, November 12, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 were released as new versions of the previous in their generations. This release was a huge deal in the gaming industry and was making people go crazy trying to secure themselves a brand-new console. Both consoles have their own advantages and people have their own personal likings on either one.

These consoles are the newer generations of the previous years in gaming. The gaming systems are popularly used for not only gaming, but streaming, music, TV shows, and even just talking to friends. As both companies, Microsoft and Sony released their consoles in the same week and quickly became a competition on which new release is better. The Xbox Series X currently runs at $500 with a cheaper version for about $300. The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is currently running at about $500 as well with their cheaper digital version at about $400. Each console has its own advantages, but at the end of the day, people still enjoy having fun playing games with friends or family on either one. Each console does come with a bit of a price.

“Even with the current struggles of just finding one of these consoles in stock, the price of them definitely makes it worth buying. For just 200 more dollars than the PlayStation 4, you are getting triple the power, and way more features that will make the PlayStation 4 features obsolete,” said freshman Kevin Crocker.

In the previous generation of the consoles, Sony’s PlayStation 4 vastly outsold the Xbox One. Both were introduced in 2013, and the PlayStation 4 has sold about 109 million consoles as of early 2020 compared to Xbox’s 49 million units sold. Sony’s business strategy is releasing games that can only be played on their console, which is luring fans of these franchises to the PlayStation. Nintendo has done the same with their consoles by releasing games such as “Super Mario Odyssey” and “Super Smash Bros Ultimate” on the Nintendo Switch which have not yet come to other platforms except for mobile apps. Many new Xbox titles, however, were released for both Xbox and PlayStation so those who have always enjoyed PlayStation don’t have to migrate out of their comfort zone to enjoy these games.

“Previously, I’ve owned other consoles such as the Xbox One and the PlayStation 3 (PS3), but I think this time, the PlayStation has won over the Xbox in my opinion because of its [PlayStation] exclusives and many new features,” said sophomore Matthew Amador.

Currently, the PS5 is winning over the Xbox in popularity but not many know what comes inside the consoles that let them run the games everyone enjoys. The Xbox has a slightly more powerful processor than the PlayStation, though the difference is not very noticeable. On top of that, the Xbox has a slightly better graphics system, and a huge capacity of storage of 1 Terabyte compared to PlayStation’s 825 Gigabytes. This can make a huge impact on most gamers and alleviates worrying about the amount of space they need to download their games. Overall, they both have the requirements to run these games smoothly and bring the most satisfaction to their respective customers.

“Although I prefer PlayStation, I think that both consoles have their own advantages to work with people’s preferences,” said freshman David Cruz.

Both consoles were built extremely powerful for the best performance in gaming, but can also be used for other things that many people out of the gaming community do not know about. Just like any other device people have nowadays, these consoles can be used for many things such as, browsing the internet, watching YouTube, TV shows and many programs all over just like you would on a cellphone or computer. The improvements the consoles have made also make a bit of an impact on this too since both consoles have implemented the ability to display at 4K resolution and be compatible with 4K TV’s. This makes not only games, but movies and TV shows display at a higher quality and makes entertainment more enjoyable.

“If the console can run video games that smoothly, I cannot even imagine what TV shows and movies would look like,” said sophomore Ryan Tarke.

These new consoles also have ways to communicate with friends and family over voice calls called “parties.” These parties are like group calls where you can invite many people to talk while playing or even just talk to each other on the platform. In addition, many online games have in-game parties to communicate with each other about the game in team games where the teammates need to talk to each other. Both consoles improved the 3D audio feature that makes audio sound better while talking with other people and makes the games feel more realistic as it makes it feel like you can hear things all around you a bit better than the previous generations of gaming systems.

“I enjoy action and sports games such as “NBA 2k” and “Call of Duty” and others, and I think it’ll feel more realistic and will be much smoother because of the improvements they have made,” Tarke said.

The release of these consoles is causing a huge competition over who can secure a new console before they sell out of retail stores. People are even staying outside of stores for up to 36 hours just to get their hands on the new consoles before they lose their chance. The new gaming consoles sold out almost immediately upon the launch week. As a result, resellers are putting their consoles up for sale for $850 to $1200, several hundred dollars above retail price, on websites like Ebay in order, monopolizing the fans that desperately want the new system. A bit of recent news has been going around saying, due to the release being so close to the holidays and major sale events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, both systems are experiencing stock shortages that have put an end to the war for the consoles as restock dates are far in the future.

“I managed to obtain my new PlayStation console only because I stayed up all night even until the next morning on my computer trying to order one and finally managed to get one,” Crocker said.

With their own advantages and factors that lure in customers, these consoles are equally great and extremely powerful. This release of powerful systems makes the generations of gaming proud. And all the new features make it even better for anyone from grandparents to the youngest of kids to enjoy their brand-new consoles for Christmas.

“Even though I prefer the PS5 I still think that both companies did a great job on these new systems and both of them have their own features and creativity put into the making of them,” Cruz said.