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Ask Slashdot: Xbox One Or PlayStation 4?
An anonymous reader writes: I'm looking at getting the kids a new gaming console for Christmas this year. I'm stuck trying to decide between getting an Xbox One or a PlayStation 4. I'm really wary on the PlayStation because of the 5 PS2s with broken optical drives sitting in my garage; none lasted more than two years. On the other hand, I'm also wary of buying a Microsoft product; I'm a Linux user for life after getting tired of their crappy operating system. I've also considered getting a gaming PC, whether Linux or Windows, but it's more expensive and game reviews show most are not as good as a dedicated game console. The kids want Fallout 4, and I want Star Wars Battlefront and any version of Gran Turismo. We currently have a Nintendo Wii and a crappy gaming PC with some Steam games. So, which gaming console should I get that will last a long time?
This has no place on Slashdot. At all. Period.
Seriously, ask your kids. You seem to have plenty of negatives in the direction of both consoles, but you should ask your kids so that they can be able to use the device which better matches with their own social circles, since that doesn't seem to be a factor on your part of your decision.
Also I agree with the First Poster. This doesn't belong on an Ask Slashdot.
Microsoft products are forbidden in my house, I dont trust Sony either but at least they didnt try to sneak a constantly monitored microphone into my living room.
Hm.
the one your kids want.
And build your own PC. Replace outdated components every few years. Seriously, the 8th generation was underpowered at launch.
Without saying that I'm against Xbox, I went for PS4 and didn't regret it once.
"any version of Gran Turismo" well as that's only on Playstation I guess you already have your answer.
Extremetech had a decent article about this a couple of days ago (currently at 1013 comments and rising)
Link
Full disclosure: I have no kind of attachment to extremetech, other than enjoying their articles which appear to be rather more insightful than most of the tech press out there
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
You seem to be leaning towards PS4 since you want Gran Turismo (they are Sony exclusive). It is a great system and Battlefront has some extras on it that you can't get on Xbox. Fallout also runs a little bit smoother on PS4, but you can't get Fallout 3 on it (Xbox One can play it now with backwards compatibility). I own all of the major systems and don't have a dog in this fight.
XBox or PS, you're condemning them to be useless fatties.
Benchmarks have shown over & over again that Linux falls behind windows in gaming. Anyone that is familiar with Linux kernel architecture knows that this is going to be the case. Linux is designed as a multi-user server OS. If you want gaming, you should be as close to the metal as possible, even if it means that a game crash/tight loop locks up the entire system. Even windows suffers from this because it's constantly doing other things and the number of "other things" increases with each version. If microsoft was serious about PC gaming, they would have a "reboot into xbox mode" in windows.
to follow , I do fear.
For playing games, or running a tehrrust operation?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
First off, the PS4 is not the PS2. Second, the Xbox 1 is not Windows.
Both consoles are functional and reliable. I use my PS4 more than my XB1, but that's just because I like the Dark Souls series.
Really, you can't go wrong either way.
Although I've always had both Sony and Microsoft consoles in the past, the his generation I'm firmly behind the Xbox as I think it's exclusives are better personally. I also feel that gaming in general has gone slightly crazy this generation, with the whole industry obsessing over frame rate and resolution rather than concentrating on decent games, which are now few and far between.
If you're dead set on Gran Turismo, then you have no choice but a PS4, although I don't think there's a GT game available. There are three Forza games for the Xbox, which I think are decent alternatives.
Whatever you buy, remember to enjoy playing games, don't get upset because a game might not run 1080p. I look forward to the next generation when manufacturers are going to have to dig themselves out of the hole they're digging for themselves right now when games won't run anywhere near 4K. Good luck guys!
No brainer. Kinect is the future.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Well, for one thing get over your anti-microsoft rant. Microsoft has been far better of a evil corporate overlord than sony has for the last decade.
Win 7 feels like a linux desktop just as much as enlightenment.
Xbox 360s ran forever. Some crapped out but not nearly the failure rate of sony.
On top of that xbox live ran fairly smoothly for all the years i've used it. (it sucks that absolutely everything requires a subscription... but thats the model now)
Xbox one, the hardware just isn't impressive, but I imagine that MS will support it for at least 3 years with games, multiplayer and updated netflix/amazon applications.
Sony will most likely ban you and brick the unit.
Both of those have their exclusives, and if the other one is under manufacturers repair, there is still the other one to please the kids. Wait for price reductions, sales and special offerings. Implement a RAEGC (Redundant Array of Expensive Game Consoles).
don't get upset because a game might not run 1080p
Especially when "this game runs at 576p" whiners ignore that sub-1080p games on a given platform are more likely to use sophisticated lighting than "give me 1080p or give me death" games, and the human visual system draws more information from light and shadow than from edge detail.
sony-boycott here due to numerous problems but since you mention linux I'll e.g. "otherOS", thus it's got to be the (rrod...) xbox.
sag
Don't let them just get it. They must *earn* it.
Only because they develope the shitty linear on rails games on the cosnoles first because that is all they can handle . Then port theturd to the pc without polish.
I went through a similar analysis recently. I had no particular loyalty or bias to any one platform, though I began to lean towards the XBox because of Forza 6, which is the type of game that most interested me. After looking at capabilities, I settled on building a PC for about $1000. That's a lot more money than either console, but you get way more power and an upgrade path that will likely keep up for the next five or more years. The ability of the games on the PC is just better than either console, and I can swap in a better GPU at any time to keep it up there.
Project Cars, DiRT Rally and Assetto Corsa tick the boxes regarding my interest in Forza 6, so not having that on the PC was taken out of the equation.
It does mean running Windows, which as a Mac guy for day to day work is a bit hard to get used to - so many things suck it's a joke, but as a game-launching platform it's adequate. Once in the game, the OS is irrelevant. Steam is fine as a storefront and launcher as well. There might come a time when having Linux as the launcher is also workable, but right now it lags behind in terms of graphics support (e.g. many games require DirectX11) so Windows is a necessary evil.
Well, they're certainly far from perfect, but Microsoft has, piece by piece, improved their reputation since whenever you stopped using windows. Windows itself is still a shitty mess and even has spyware built in today, so certainly don't use that. But Microsoft no longer believes open source is a cancer and has, to some degree, actually decided to open source things here and there.
It's Google that's taken Microsoft's old place over the years, becoming a nasty behemoth that rarely wants anything nice for its users anymore, just embrace, extend, extinguish. Luckily, they're bad at it.
Ionize knew someone that bought an Xbox, but he sold it without opening it given Microsoft's history of rape.
My wife quit Microsoft after the ninth time she was raped at work.
Once in the game, the OS is irrelevant.
Unless the drivers are decidedly inferior on one operating system compared to the other, as demonstrated in Slashdot stories from July and October of this year.
Get them a Dreamcast, N64, Saturn, 3DO or Jaguar or any other old skool console. Dreamcast is awesome though event though I'm a die hard Jag fan.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I've had the same PS2 since I got it in November of 2001 when I was 10. I've played thousands of hours on that machine with a variety of games. I still play it a few hours a week. I think the OP's and his spawn are pretty idiotic for managing to break five of these things.
Get them a Dreamcast, N64, Saturn, 3DO or Jaguar
You said "Jaguar". Both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have a 64-bit AMD Jaguar CPU. DO THE MATH.
More seriously: Why is AMD reusing previous game console names for its technology code names lately? Jaguar was an Atari console, and GCN was the official abbreviation for GameCube.
Gran Turismo is a PS4 exclusive title, so...... PS4
Why would you buy one without a discount?
Force them to use PC. Build a kickass Windows 7 PC for them and install Steam on it. Nvidia GTX, solid state, Intel i5.
FPS split screen (e.g. halo) used to be something I would recommend for "the kids", but now it seems like those days are over.
Tell them about Blizzard games, Steam games, etc. Many people don't understand that PC won this console generation and that non-Nintendo consoles are simply inferior platforms. Counter Strike Go is actually the best FPS game out there, League of Legends is the most popular multiplayer game, and there are plenty of indie games on Steam if you have a nintendo itch that needs scratching.
Buy a few USB gamepads for them if it is going to be a living room system. Steampad might even be an option but I have never used it myself. A mouse and keyboard on a portable 25'-27' (keyboard height) table would also work for the living room.
Well.... I say skip it and let your kids help you build a PC. It will engage them in the activity. And hopefully we can pull this generation away from shitty bluetooth controllers that must be charged and drop packets and are general pieces of crap, non-backwards compatibility, and overbudget shitty AAA games. By the next gen the 'consoles' will just be PCs anyway. It was different when they were PCs with branded cases. The PS3 was interesting as far as engineering and look at it, it looked WORSE than the Xbox because developers didnt bother developing for it.
RANT - Business has shown that we will pay for nostalgia. I feel sorry for the newer generations and their games. I have boxes of NES, SNES, PS1, and Genesys games (and the like) and I love breaking them out and playing them. They are still in my leaving room entertainment shelves. I dont have to buy MegaMan 2 when I want to play it again. Will the PS3 generation and on be able to do that? no. They are games that are shut down (dark souls) and games that wont work unless the Big 3 are allowing them to work. They love this as that means they can resell the same game to us every 10 years. Not to me sir, I have all my games still!
I've worked for n the gaming industry for twenty-eight years, and I have never seen an Xbox in a home.
I have both, but I mostly use the Xbox One. The controller is better, I prefer Forza over Gran Turismo and EA access is a pretty good deal. Right now the Xbox would also be a good choice if you skipped the previous generation with its (limited) backwards compatibility.
I wanted a gaming console for one reason and one reason only to get our family exercising. The Xbox One with a kinect fits the bill. I bought just dance 2016, just dance 2015, shape up, fantasia, and sports rivals all of which can use the kinects and we can play with out controllers. The Xbox's kinect is really good at detecting movements and is pretty advanced.
PS4:
+slightly faster RAM
+(subjective): controller has a better layout
+Plays PS3 games
-Sony
XBox:
+Halo, Gran Turismo
?Windows 10 integration
-Only some XBox 360 games compatible
-Slightly worse UI
-Microsoft
I camped out with the kids for 30 minutes in Best Buy to test each one. Honestly not much difference. Gran Turismo didn't seem much better than the PS4 racing games, neither of which is a factor for us. Halo not a factor either. Barring any last minute holiday deals, they both are $299 with a free game. It's a coin toss for me.
I saw one once. Other than that, no one owns one of those damn stupid Microsoft pieces of shit.
And nearly all of those Xbox pieces of shit were bought by those racists.
I have everything, but only the PS4 meets your requirements.
Those Republicans want us to die. To die.
The consoles are, basically, the same. There are a few exclusives on each but the major franchises play the same on both. The biggest consideration when picking between the two is to get the one most of their friends use, so they can play online with them (and they will, even if you swear now you will never buy PSN/Gold).
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
One of those Xbox owners raped and killed my little sister.
Get the PS4... It's the faster machine, can run games at a higher resolution, and has a bunch of exclusives purely by dint of the developers not being able to make it work fast enough on the Xbox. There's something like 100 more games available for it.
I'm really wary on the PlayStation because of the 5 PS2s with broken optical drives sitting in my garage; none lasted more than two years.
There was actually a defect found, and due to a class action suit you could have gotten some or all of those 5 PS2s repaired free of charge (regardless of warranty status or even if you bought it third hand).
I bought for $20 a used PS2 in exactly this condition, knowing about the waived fee repair. There even were answers to the scripted questions the Sony rep would ask online so that you could streamline getting the repair approved (boiled down to saying "it says disc read error" "still says disc read error" and "nope, still the same error"). IIRC I didn't even have to pay for shipping...
Seriously? I'm guessing the problem is not the ps2. I bought a first generation ps2 and it lasted 8 years. Take a good look at how you treat your equipment.
That being said, look at what your kids friends have. I say this because they are probably going to want to play online with their friends.
I was raped with rebar while working at Microsoft and almost died from infection.
Just watch the "The Indecision Amalgamation" episode of Big Bang Theory. Sheldon covers all of the differences in great detail.
No one except one of those Microsoft Republicans would ever buy one.
If you are a moron that supports rape then an Xbox makes sense.
> I'm looking at getting the kids a new gaming console for Christmas this year.
> The kids want Fallout 4
You mean 6-8 year olds playing a post-nuclear holocaust themed "game" or do you actually mean teenagers? But why do you want them play that, just be glad you are not in Iraq or Syria and your representative is not yet named Isis Daesh. Maybe find something more peaceful for Xmas?
Anyhow, the Sony PS and Vita ecosystem can host Hatsune Miku and her Project Diva / Project Mirai rythm game franchise. It's essentially Guitar Hero with a bullet-hell style UI - but more like a pop-star simulator, including fully customizable 3D music videos. It can be played for hundreds of hours, being silly addictive and because the difficulty skyrockets with higher levels (especially the Diva F 2nd edition is infamous for being impossible to beat at extreme difficulty level). Each level passed opens up secret rooms, where players can interact with the characters. It's like ASIMO meets Miley Cyrus.
[ Amazingly, the CAPTCHA for this comment submission is: melody ]
If you only care about graphics, get a PS4. Of the two, it is simply the most powerful console (though a mid-end PC or better will easily beat it. However as we have seen with Ubisoft games and more recently, Arkham Knight, PC game ports are more likely to be unoptimized and buggy if not outright broken.) PS4 is the most popular console at the moment and will probably have the superior ports of multiplatform games. It also has some great exclusives like Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Infamous, and LittleBigPlanet.
If you don't mind the Microsoft Ecosystem (you said about considering a Windows gaming PC), The Xbox has some very interesting features. While the graphics are technically subpar vs the PS4, most people won't really notice. The backwards compatibility means you can pick up cheap 360 games (which are on the supported games list) in addition to more recent games. The best feature is that if you get a cheap Windows 10 PC, you can use the Xbox app to stream games from the XBone to your PC, which if you have a family, you don't have to monopolize the TV if you want to play games. The Xbox doesn't have as many great exclusives this time around (though it does have Halo, Gears Of War, and Forza Racing), but it will still get all the multiplatform games, is cheaper and the current bundles (especially the Gears Of War / Ori / Rare Replay bundle) are great for the price. Plus the MS store and various retailers are giving really good deals with buy a bundle and get free games.
However, if you just want to stay with Steam, you can also try the Steamlink with the Steam Controller and stream your games to the TV
Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
Mine killed herself which is better than living in a Mucrosoft/Republican-ruled world.
Buy an SNES or an NES or really any other cartridge based system and browse the used game stores for really cheap games. Actually, it'd be best to focus on precisely the games themselves because you want to know you can get the games you want before hand. Although if you're like me, you already have an NES, SNES, etc. So, the real point is get them out, hook them up, and actually play them.
The real truth is, instead of focusing so much on getting a new system or new games, how about focusing on playing the old games you liked with your kids? It wouldn't even have to be SNES or whatever. Truth is, like a lot of gamers, I have a ridiculous amount of games. The old "rush" of getting a new game, playing the hell out of it, and then basically forgetting it has left me with tons of games I've never really truly enjoyed. Back before I had the money, I had only a handful of games and played them to death, obviously figuratively, less because they were so super awesome and most because there weren't a lot of options.
To me, that's the real shame with the current state of gaming. It's nothing wrong with the market or anything. It's just that people, like me, don't devote enough of ourselves to the games we play. That's what makes a game or a book or a movie good much more than anything else. The raw content is only as good as the reflections you put upon it yourself and incorporate it in your life. To that end, you'd do more to play those games with your kids because, presumably, your kids are the most important reflection in your life.
So, buying a new game system or not is not what matters. What matters is playing with your kids.
I just purchased a 1TB Xbox One a few weeks ago. I typically purchase most major consoles per generation (although I'd tend to buy for Xbox if it wasn't exclusive), but wasn't impressed enough with any of the new generation until Fallout 4 pushed me over the edge. Here's why:
* I'm an Xbox gold member, and they recently started offering me free Xbox One games, so I already had a library building up
* Xbox 360 compatibility means I may be able to ditch my 360 sooner
* I prefer the Xbox style controller
That's pretty much it. I've also been purchasing all my games digitally, which means never having to swap discs ever again, although it meant a week straight of downloading on my poor DSL connection. I'm guessing once I fill the internal drive up, I'll then have to start actively managing the remaining space, so there's that downside, but I really like going disc-less so far. I never traded or sold used games, so this is a win for me. My understanding is that you can purchase all games digitally on both platforms. If your kids like to swap / borrow games with friends, then perhaps discs would be better for you.
I'll eventually get a PS4 so I can play some of the exclusive JRPGs that always seem to land there, but for the time being, I'm fine with the Xbox One. The two consoles are, to be honest, *very* similar in specs, with the slight edge going to PS4 - so slight, in fact, you generally need side-by-side comparisons to tell the difference.
MS has the better online experience, from what I've seen (considering I don't have a PS4 yet, it's been a limited view), and for $60 a year you get a number of free games every month, though I understand PS has something similar. More than likely your credentials and credit cards will be safer with MS, as they seem to have a better handle on network security, as demonstrated by repeated Sony breaches, but hopefully they've learned their lesson.
Overall advice: get the one you like, especially if it has an exclusive you really want. Most games will be available for both. I think your kids will be happy either way. If you really dislike MS that much, maybe go for PS4. But really... it's sort of a toss-up.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
They do which is why they want us to die.
One, wrong place for that question. Slashdot went downhill in the past years, but it's not THAT bad yet. ...)
Two, You either ask the children for their preferences or decide on your know since as their parent you should know them in detail.
Three, if you could afford 5 PS2 and more over the years, you can certainly afford both of them now. (there's this thing called warranty
Why would someone that isn't racist ever buy an Xbox?
All of those Mucrosoft rapists love the Xbox.
Go with "which platform has more of your friends using it" and "which controller do you prefer".
The irony with this generation of the console wars is that the fanboy bitterness is greater than ever, but the differences between the rival platforms have never been smaller. Yes, there are some minor spec differences, but for the most part, you need a magnifying glass to spot them. And single-platform exclusives are in decline; the cost of making games these days means that most games are multiplatform.
My first preference would be to recommend "just get a gaming PC", but I'm guessing that's not an option for one reason or another, or that you already have one, but want a console to go with it.
If you want to split hairs, then the PS4 tends to be better than the XB1 for running multiplatform games, but the XB1 currently has a very slightly better lineup of exclusives. The only real "stand out" exclusive on the PS4 right now is Bloodborne, which, judging from your post, isn't really what you're after (though it is an excellent game). That said, Japanese developers favour Sony platforms and if you like Japanese RPGs and the like, the PS4 is already slightly ahead in that category and its lead will grow. But the XB1 has clearly had a better holiday season for exclusives; Forza 6, Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Gears of War Remastered, vs just the Uncharted Collection on the PS4.
Funny thing is, the exclusives tend to more or less balance each other out anyway. Gears of War vs Killzone. Halo vs Uncharted. Forza vs Gran Turismo. Though I will say that Forza has been much, much better than Gran Turismo for several iterations now.
As for non-gaming functions, the features are more or less parallel now. Both consoles have been patched with DNLA support, though the PS4's interface for it is rather better. That said, the XB1 can act as a throughput device for your cable-box, if you are short of HDMI ports on your TV. So it's kind of even there as well.
tl;dr version - it doesn't really matter. Neither is quite as good as a decent gaming PC, but both are fine in their own right. Which platform gives you a larger friends-list and which controller you prefer are the biggest factors.
You say you are a Linux user, so you should be able to answer my question: Should I use vi or emacs?
They beat my wife to death after she broke the build.
Agree with comments above concerning home rolled gaming PC as best option, however the answer to the X-Box One vs. Play Station 4 question that was asked is clearly X-Box One, for the following reasons: 1. Best exclusive titles (i.e. Forza, Halo). 2. New version of Kinect works amazingly well. 3. Better home media center integration/functionality (can control everything through voice and gestures). 4. Supporting a US company vs. Japanese (yes, I know both are made in China).
I vote PS4 -- it's the more powerful machine.
I live in Bellevue, near Redmond, and I have never seen a Xbox except at work.
For an RPG like fallout 4, I'd say children should be at least 12-14 yrs old to grasp the full meaning of it. I remember my 10-12 yr old nephew playing GTA 3 back in the days, an he didn't get the whole open world / mission aspect of it.
My wife used to play one often until an Indian guy at Microsoft beat her to death. It was depressing, but no one at Micrisoft she worked with was surprised by her death.
As they did mine. Mucrosoft is such a horrific company.
No one would.
computer 300$
gf card 200$
joystick 50$
You usually can get the games dirtcheap at humblebundle and bundlestar
More expensive setup alot cheaper runningcost (including games)
Yeah. Go away. This is a technical place.
Assuming your kids have friends they want to play online with:
If you live in North America, get an Xbox One. By far the winner in North America.
Anywhere else, get a PS4.
A rapist would as is the way of their kind.
The money you'll save in the long run from steam sales and humble bundles will make it well worth it. 360 controllers work perfectly and big screen mode is great.
Repukuans love Microsoft.
In the same situation I ended up going for the PS4. All in all they seemed pretty similar but the PS4 seemed marginally better performance wise. It's smaller size was also a factor for me.
The swinger though was probably Morpheus/Playstation VR. Obviously it's not out yet, but I've been waiting for decent VR since I was a kid (ie for over two decades) so the possibility of it coming to a home console holds a lot of excitement. Whether I end up getting it depends on reviews etc but, with all other thing being relatively equal between the consoles, keeping that option open down the road was a factor.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Don't buy a console like you would buy a PC.
Consoles are not general purposes machines, they are appliances to play games. So you should focus on the game experience rather than the back end (hardware and OS). Sure, the back end has an influence but it is just a mean to an end. In your case, it's easy : Gran Turismo is a Playstation exclusive, and the other two are multi-platform, so that's PS4.
As for reliability, just because the PS2 had a notoriously failure-prone optical drive means nothing about the PS4. It's like not buying a WiiU because of the problems in the cartridge loading mechanism of the NES. As for the XBox, the 360 had the infamous RROD problem. In the end, noone is perfect and it doesn't seem that the track record of either manufacturer justifies choosing one over the other.
Let me guess. They can't play games on their desktop computer, or laptop, or tablet, or phone, amirite?
If you are looking to play Battlefront, you might want to go with the PS4:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/3toggx/star_wars_battlefront_has_more_players_online_on/
The question to ask is where do the majority of your kids' friends play: Xbox Live or PSN? That will determine your answer. I have both consoles and game choice/hardware/options wise they are pretty much even keel. But since the majority of friends, coworkers, family and acquaintances are on Xbox Live, Xbox One is usually the console for which I buy most of my games.
Get them an Xbox One and spring for a copy of Rare Replay. They'll have fun for months.
If you were just talking about older teenagers, I might say a PS4. But, the Xbox One has growing backwards compatibility and more and more games for kids. A PS4 might have slightly better graphics, but really you don't notice the difference while playing and, if graphics mattered THAT much, you'd be getting a PC instead of a console anyway. But, the Xbox One is much better for media AND offers backwards compatibility with a growing number of 360 titles. I have a seven year old and the Xbox One is great for both of us. We also run the TV through the HDMI passthrough, so you can actually watch TV WHILE playing a game or whatever else...just snapping the windows side by side.
Spend a few months learning the ins and outs and build a castle on Minecraft?
Or...
Buy them parts. Have them build a computer. Sit with them for half a year playing the LFS -> BLFS game until a complete system is built, with a recent version of "windows" in an emulator or in zen. Then, buy them some games and the real game will getting the games to run. If they win, they can play their "(mine/war)craft nextgeneration on their home built system, with full GL, and get a few years worth of computer education in a few months time.
from the dreamworld of stonerfish
I personally went for a PS4 as an "upgrade" to my PS3, but if looking at blankly recommending either, I'd still say PS4 at this point:
(cue people calling me a shrill)
* Larger game library (currently)
* minutely better HW specs
* upcoming VR headset (H1'16)
There are a few exclusive on XBox that people would be interested in (HALO?), though on the topic of exclusives it is a matter of checking out what games you want to play. The XBox-unique Kinect is dead in the water currently, as are the Playstation's PS-Move things.
A different thing to look at, though, is what do your friends/your children's friends play on - there is something to be said for being able to play with others, especially people you know, and the social features and multiplayer gaming on the 2 platforms are mutually exclusive (XBox support cross-play with MS' gaming platform on Windows, and Sony allows full cross-play with Windows/Mac/Linux games where applicable).
Finally, if you weren't looking at specific games limited to the current gen, I'd say to get a second-hand XBox360 or (and?) PS3 - they are plenty entertaining.
The kids want Fallout 4, and I want Star Wars Battlefront and any version of Gran Turismo.
Gran Turismo is a PS4 game, the other two are multiplatform. So, PS4?
Also, ask the kids if there are other games they want, and look at the other games you want, I'm sure you're not just buying this for three titles. If you don't have the money for more than one console (or a good PC), then it always comes down to the system with the games you want, and that's really all. We don't know of any major reliability differences between the systems yet (please put silly anecdotes aside), and while performance differences exist they don't really matter. Exclusives matter. If your console is more powerful but doesn't have that game you want, the power doesn't matter.
Also, if you are strapped for money, mind that PC games cost less in general, so a budget PC could actually end up saving you money over its life span. PCs tend not to need updating every 8 months like they did in the "glory days", since most AAA games are multiplatform releases and the consoles are slow-moving platforms. Steam has a pretty good TV/controller-centric interface now ("Big Picture"). YMMV.
I'm usually too lazy to post, but you're a fucking moron if you can't make up your mind on this...
I doubt you're a Linux user...
If this is for the kids, then they need to make the choice. Mostly because online play tends to only work in console. So if all their friends have an Xbox one and they have a PS4, then they can't play games together.
If you want any kind of technical considerations or the like the PS4 is faster than the Xbone because of details with hardware design so it will end up rendering things at a higher resolution and so on. Also the controllers feel very different in the hands, and some people have a strong preference. I like the Xbone controllers much better and they are what I use with my PC (I have a PS4 controller as well).
Really though what matters is choosing the one that has the games you want, and that plays with the people you want to play with. The rest is secondary.
To be honest, I'm not sure whether Fallout 4 is appropriate for kids - making the assumption that kid = 12 y/o. Of course it's the OP's decision what games are appropriate for their children, but it's 18 rated here in Europe.
Also, if you want Gran Turismo, as many other people have said, your only choice is a PlayStation, and by extension, the PS4.
First time commenter, long time reader.
They beat my wife to death with a CRT.
I write Xbox games for a living, and I think all of our customers are Microsoft employees.
Same here.
They need to die from blood loss from rape b
Fuck you racists. There is a nonwhite with an XBoaux.
A Microsoft employee beat my wife to death.
I know one person with one of those Cboxes. Pretty much no one has one.
1) What do their friends have? If they are all playing Halo, then you have only one choice.
2) There are more games available for the PS4
3) Generally speaking, many 3rd party games look better on the PS4
A guy named Todd beat my wife to death after she broke the Windows build.
Just because the Mucrosoft employees rape constantly doesn't mean that they support it.
I've seen the new price of shut garbage Dtar Shit mivie and they obviously hate us negroes because they make us like stupid beget make Bork alt people hate us and want to die. thRY make normal people want to make us for. Die
Microsoft beat my wife to death. Beat my wife to death.
The kids want Fallout 4
Why am I not surprised that on Slashdot all the comments are just about the technical merits or whether the kids will grasp the game play of Fallout 4? The game is rated M. That's like an NC-17 movie.
An Indian VP at Mucrosoft beat my daughter to death.
I have a lot of Indian friends that work at Microsoft si of course those rapists love the Xbaux.
My daughter died after those Indians at Microsoft raped her.
For my wife, it was a guy named Chris at Microsoft that raped her to death.
My fiancé was killed by a Muctosoft VP with a piece of rebar.
I first started coming to Slashdot because this site had some good articles about video games. I might not be an expert sysadmin, I'm a little bit fuzzy about the difference between Vi and Emacs, but I know a thing or two about the video games. Given all that we currently know about both consoles, I'd recommend the PS4. Most multiplatform releases are available on the PS4, and there are a number of upcoming impressive exclusives on the PS4 that aren't available on the Xbox One. In terms of hardware, the two consoles are roughly equal. Last gen, I would have recommended the 360 over the PS3, but this time the PS4 clearly has the edge.
Of course, if we broaden our options beyond the PS4 and XBONE, I'd recommend the Wii U. Triple-A games are a load of bullshit these days. I despise the money grubbing behaviors in the AAA industry. I hate seeing games released in a broken state, with large portions of the core experience carved out as DLC in order to nickle and dime the customer. Nintendo, on the other hand, releases games that are extremely high-quality and then releases DLC in the form of mini-expansions, which is what DLC should have been all along. So if you really like games and don't like bullshit, pick up a Wii U or 3DS instead of a PS4 or XBONE.
Gamertag: WyleType
A QA guy at Microsoft murdered my wife.
They are so Republucan.
BULLSHIT.
I don't know what crap reviews you've been reading but I can outfit a PC that would blow any console out of the water.
If you already have steam and some games, why on earth would you want to downgrade into a console ? You can build your own "steam machine" for under 500$ and it will have twice the horsepower of any console. For 25$ on Amazon you can but some xbox 360 controllers. Steam living room mode makes it look like a console except you are not locked into that platform. Steam now has native support ofr Kodi and can all be controlled from a remote or joystick. Unless there is some console exclusive game you have to have, I cant think of a single reason to buy either. just google "build a steam machine" for ideas and then involve the kids in the buying choices and building process. They will appreciate their home build console and dad time more then anything you can buy.
If it is then a gaming PC is the ONLY option.
Even with consolitis Bugthesda games are meant for modders which means PC only.
MS is coming off a 75% failure rate on new Xbox 360s and a 66% failure rate on refurbs so do not feel to bad about your PS2s. I have never met someone in real life with a failed PS2. I have never met someone in real life who hasn't had at least one 360 die on them (I am a very social person).
That said I have a PS4 adn primarily use it to collect dust.
A PC brings so much more to the table and you do not have to pay a monthly fee to play online games like you have to with PS4 or Xbone.
Same here. .
As they did mine. Microsoft seemed confused when I quit after they killed my wife.
They beat my mother to death in 1994, but that was a long time ago. I now work for Microsoft despite that.
Time and time again, with each console generation, the answer is the same: what games do you (or in this case your kids) want to play? Buy the console that has them.
My wife was raped to death in 2001, so I will never buy from Micrisoft again.
Some happened to me. She was an intern.
Exactly. No one buys one without an employee discount.
Microsoft fires contractors that are raped. My mother was one. After an Infian employee put her in the hospital for seven weeks, Microsoft fired her.
Same here. They raped my wife.
That's not fair. Bellevue is a bunch of people that aren't losers that would play one of those video games.
After my wife died after they worked her to death, they were confused when I quit. They killed my wife. Why were they confused when I let them kill me too?
That is so typical of the immigrants that Microsoft hires.
I have never seen an XBox except in an employee of Microsoft's house. They must not be selling very well.
My little sister was beaten to death by a cricket bat, but none of the other Microsoft employees around her would admit to seeing anything.
Mine died after an Indian guy at Microsoft beat her head against her desk.
They did mine too. Our lawsuit against them failed.
The notion of a console "that will last" is laughable. The manufacturers make money off the assumption that you will buy one, and replace it in 2-3 years with the new generation of the same. High fault rates might not be engineered in, but longevity most certainly isn't either.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Bill Gate's father runs a very powerful law firm so it is nearly impossible to sue them in this state.
It has a 50% faster GPU and faster RAM (GDDR5). This is why a lot of the multiplatform games have higher resolutions on the PS4. There are some games that do run at 1080p on the Xbox 1, but these were likely moneyhatted by MS to achieve some parity with the PS4. The PS4 also has better exclusives and you don't have to put up with that shitty Windows tile interface.
Buy both! (y)
Each have advantages that the other did not consider, and each other attempted to game the market but failed.
These things are cheap!
V
When shopping for any new gaming console, NEVER pick the hardware first. Since this is for some kids, figure out which games the kids are going to want to play. If any of them are exclusive to one console or the other, then your decision has been made for you. If Gears of War or Halo is on the list, your getting an XBox. If Gran Turismo or Ultra Street Fighter IV are on the list of games that they want to play, get the PS4.
If the games that they want are multi-platform, then the next things to consider are which controller is better in the opinion of the players, and what platform their friends play on (if online competitive play is a drawing point for the kids).
END COMMUICATION
Just get a PC, PS4, and XBone -- that way everyone is happy, and you can properly evaluate which one was the better investment down the road.
Note: PC kick console's asses to the curb and back. Consoles barely do 1080p @ 60 Hz, PC gaming is doing 4K at 120+ Hz. There are tons of Budget PC Gaming Rigs
In days past, the software vendors promised lower prices when we, as users, wouldn't pirate. This was always the justification for many price hikes ("oh, damn, pirates, the legit people gotta pay because we lost a billion sales last year".)
Guess what? Consoles have a 0% piracy rate. Are prices lower? Nope. In fact, when see a friend of mine buy a game on a console, he has to pay hundreds of bucks for DLC, stuff that should be in the original game.
So, no piracy, but in order to play a decent game, it takes a number of Benjamins for games that used to cost $70 or so, and the entire content could be obtained by opening the box?
We were lied to. For this reason, I don't give a rat's ass about consoles, nor the fact they have to be always on. Hell with that. There are far better places to spend cash, and even a shitty PC + Steam or GOG will provide far more entertainment value for far less. No, you may not have the prime titles... but in reality, who cares, unless one just -has- to blow the cash to be the top of the heap shoving all the other dweebs out of the way for the latest iteration of Call of Duty.
Keep your consoles. There is far better entertainment bang for buck out there.
And that is why it is sad Microsoft employees so many lawyers.
Same here, except it was a small refrigerator.
MS raped and murdered My Wife, Daughter and they even went after my Son. They come after me, but I beat them back with a BSD install disk.
That has happened several times, but I can't remember the Redmond police ever arresting someone for a rape or nudes at Mucrosoft.
Buy them an SNES off of ebay and be done with it!
This in no way answers the original question. However if you have a particular grievance against windows and a love of Unix like systems, it is worth noting that the Xbox One OS is based on Windows, whilst the PS4 OS is based on FreeBSD.
Of the two, I'd recommend the PS4.
Here's my reasoning:
1)- Sony is not very evil right now. Sony supports the gaming industry. Even most of their evil is in part dedicated to the continuance of the business practice of many smaller studios.
2)- Microsoft is at peak evil right now. Microsoft tried to kill off the revenue streams of all the local mom-and-pop stores (and of course, Gamestop), they tried to have an always on camera be required, they tried to eliminate disks, they tried to make the Xbone dial in every day to ensure it wasn't being used in an unauthorized manner. They also have just a shit ton of ads. Just so many fucking ads.
3)- The PS4 is more powerful than the Xbone and has sold a shit lot more units (so many that Microsoft stopped reporting consoles sold). To a lot of people this doesn't make sense- you may not care if something is slightly more or less powerful, and you may not care about graphics, and you may not be concerned about who ELSE is playing which console. But in the console world, this has HUGE ramifications, because it controls what gets ported, what is the core product, etc. If the more powerful console is the most powerful, it means that games will be designed for it (or PC) and ported over as an afterthought, losing stuff in translation. It's not about who is better, or how many pixels you get to pix- it's about the games being designed and tested on the primary gaming machine, which is without question the PS4.
4)- Better hook to the Japanese developers. Microsoft doesn't have much presence in Japan, and treated them as an aftermarket, which means that the J developers give them the cold shoulder- the products will appear on the PS4 and be very well supported.
But let me say this: for powerful games, the PC is the way to go. For portable games, a tablet or a powerful phone is the way to go. For unique games, a Wii U or portable Nintendo is the way to go. The PS4 and the Xbone are both fighting over the "I'm your blu-ray and I play PC ports plus a few system specific titles". In that niche, I think PS4 does it right, and Xbone takes it on the chin. If Microsoft can go two console generations without trying to "embrace, extend, extinguish" all of console gaming, maybe I'll give them a second chance. But Halo isn't worth giving up the host of system specific titles that PS4 has, and Halo isn't worth giving up all of console gaming to Microsoft's ecosystem.
But do consider the Wii U. The games it has are not that common, but they are truly excellent.
Depends on your kids. Personally, I got the XBox One primarily because of Kinect; I wanted something that would encourage physical activity along with playing, rather than just sitting on a couch. Unfortunately, my kids are probably too young for anything other than Nintendo (4 and 7) - Xbone games are really aimed at older people. So they basically just watch Netflix on it. A nice thing I've set up is facial recognition (which works extremely well) so they can't watch Netflix unless the XBox first sees my face.
Also, I am a Windows 10 guy (which I know just lost me 100% cred on this site), so the integration between XBone and Windows 10 is nice. I know others will bag that it's based on Windows but personally, I use Windows - like a lot - so I can actually (theoretically - I don't actually do it) play my Xbox games on my PC and sync the same accounts, photos, etc. without effort. That's nice.
You're choosing between Windows and FreeBSD. As a Linux user, you're probably unhappy either way.
As a BSD user, I reluctantly went with an Xbox One because I like the games for it better. That's how you should actually decide.
If you care what other people are buying, the PS4 has outsold the XBox One by quite a way.
The answer to the question is ask your kids. Their friends may already have a console, so if I was your kid and all my friends had a XB1 and none had a PS4 and I had a choice between the two, I would of course get a XB1. Games are always more fun when you get to play them with your actual friends instead of strangers on the internets.
Sony is famous for it's good optical drives. Optical drive failure is caused by scratched discs. If you buy xbox one and you keep scratching your discs you will have the same problem.
I still have the PS2 that I bought as an accessory for my Logitech G25 wheel for GT4 a few years ago and it still works fine last I checked (though some games are "sensitive" and take a little extra voodoo to load). But I thought everything since the PS3 loads everything from the internal HDD now.
Which platform-only games do you want to play? It's a console. It's not about the uberhertz or septapixels, it's about the games. Which games do you want to play?
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Sony put root-hacking malware on their ordinary audio CDs to try and stop file sharing, which opened security vulnerabilities in people's PCs. They got sued via class-action, and lost. Then they did it again. And got sued again and lost again.
They also acted with criminal negligence in failing to secure their online accounts, exposing all their users to identity theft.
I, personally, don't think they have done nearly enough firing of executive staff and self-reinventing to earn my trust after this combination of malice and incompetence.
So, I would recommend you skip the PlayStation and go with XBox One, since Microsoft is the lesser of the two evils.
Get them library cards and/or Legos.
My Android STB has 8 cores, plays 4k content decently well. My wife's Christmas present is going to be a Bluetooth NES controller so we can play the games we grew up with.
I'm really wary on the PlayStation because of the 5 PS2s with broken optical drives sitting in my garage; none lasted more than two years.
You're either extremely unlucky, or you're doing it wrong. I've never even heard of anyone else having this problem, and you've lost five units to the same problem? What are you doing different from the rest of us? Standing it sideways? Putting sand in the console? Stacking it on top of an AV receiver? Are you a smoker? Is your wall-power under/over voltage? Find out what you're doing wrong and fix it.
Voting to close as primarily opinion based
This is why i mainly browse soylentnews.
Only an absolute stupid cunt would ask slashdot which gaming console.
Fuck you in the arse op. With a big, AIDS infected nigger dick. Until you bleed.
PC
PC
PC
"and any version of Gran Turismo."
That somewhat makes your decision for you as it's a PlayStation exclusive.
On the other hand, Forza's largely interchangable and there are plenty of good non exclusive options.
As for which is better...
The fact that you have to ask, the fact that both have huge numbers of fans, the fact that both sell huge numbers... It's like Canon vs. Nikon or any debate where there's no obvious winner...
It. Doesn't. Matter.
Religious zealots on both sides will declare their option clearly the best. Religious zealots on the outside will declare neither option the best and only by going outside the core choices, making some huge sacrifices, can you find something hugely different and hugely better in some way.
And still none of it matters.
If they weren't both good options, everyone would have leaped to the one that was clearly the best option. That that hasn't happened means you can find a lot to love or a lot to hate with both and, really, it comes down to your personality. Will you take every good experience as confirmation you made a good choice? Will you take every bad experience as confirmation you should've made a different choice?
Get over all of that. Buy either one. Enjoy what it's good for. There's really not a huge amount separating them.
Except VR. The PS4 has VR on the horizon, the XBox One's really not mentioned it. If you really want VR and aren't willing to pay the $1500+ cost of entry to get a good enough machine and the headset for Oculus, the PS4's really the only way in at present.
There are two choices, and you have a difficult time choosing? WOW!!!!! Do you need you'r choices to be spoonfed by a nurse or something. THERE ARE TWO CHOICES. Ask you'r kid's, if you (by any chance) haven't noticed what they like the best.
Ask your kids, it is for them, right?
your kids want fallout 4? It's PEGI 18 for a reason, you know.
Very simply put: choose PS4.
Reason: Project Morpheus.
Now get off my lawn!
You buy the console that has the exclusives that interest you, not whichever has the "best" hardware, whatever that means. What's the point of a rock solid console that gathers dust because no one plays?
My 2 cents, the xbox has dudebro shooters and it's made for watching TV on it, while the playstation originated interesting titles like the Souls series. Demon's Souls (which was before Dark Souls, xbox and PC gamers) and Bloodborne are playstation exclusives. The Last Guardian is finally coming. PS2 has Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, back before Microsoft thought of making a console.
If you like Battlefield of Honor of Duty and its derivatives, I think the xbox has an exclusive or two that would interest you.
And in any case, if it's for the kids BUY WHAT THE KIDS WANT.
it's faster, better exclusives, and they've sold much more than xbones - so there will be a far bigger used games market and more of the kid's friends will have compatible games/accessoires. plus playstation plus is pretty awesome. the only reason to get the xbox is when you have lots of friends with one
If you want either of the latest two releases (5 & 6) Gran Turismo, you'll need a PS3. They won't run on a PS2 and the PS4 does not play PS3 games. I assume that the next version of GT will be a PS4 game, but it's not here yet.
FWIW, GT is the only reason that I have a PS at all. Just about the only other games I play are FPS, and they're (IMHO) orders of magnitude better on a PC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
et fin.
Dont worry, they dont want you using that drive anyways, download everything to get rid of the scumbags that would dare to buy or sell a used game.
Real patriots buy everything new and in download form that is easily controlled with DRM.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
None. Nor can "I want all the exclusives" work unless you're willing to buy used previous-generation consoles as well, as not all games have been rereleased in Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Store, or Virtual Console. Some games even get pulled from these stores after a while, such as BPS's Yoshi's Cookie. So perhaps a better metric to incorporate access to exclusives is number of worthwhile exclusives per dollar of hardware cost. And among current platforms, PC exclusives on GOG and Steam tend to come out ahead.
What on earth are you even thinking?
Wii U has a great collection of games available only for it, that no real gamer should miss. And you can play your Wii games on it. Almost everything worthwhile on PS4 and X1 can be found elsewhere.
A PC can be repaired when something goes wrong. Sony and Microsoft's consoles (Microsoft's in particular have been known to fail often) will need to be sent back for repairs. There is another minus against Microsoft you neglected; Do you want to pay for a subscription to continue to use what you thought you already owned?
You spoke to the quality of games, but I think you are misinformed. Dedicated consoles these days are pretty wimpy, so games that support them are often watered down to stay within limits; You have a Wii, so you might own a few games thst demonstrate this. You'll encounter the most bugs on PC with new releases, so wait a while to pick up Fallout 4, etc. and you'll have a much better experience. I was a console gamer for years, from Sega/Nintendo to Sony/Microsoft, and starting with this generation, I've totally made the switch to PC gaming on an AMD box with Linux. I don't regret it. The games are cheaper, I can run mods and dedicated servers, I finally get a billion valve-related jokes on the internet, and my old games will work on a new box if I upgrade. There is even VR support in titles I already own. However, obligatory xkcd link: https://xkcd.com/606/
Get them a WiiU. It has the best games.
I think most kids of recent generations are being cheated.
I got to play with Lincoln logs, all right, but I also got to play with several different Gilbert chemistry sets, including their largest, and including an "inherited" Gilbert U238 atomic energy kit which my dad bought for my older sister in late 1950. I still have (what remains of) it. Nothing like that is available now, and has not been for some time.
I built the digi-comp mechanical computer (and later built my first one out of TTL, definitely due to the influence of that digi-comp. I can still remember a great deal about the 74181 ALU. :) We built quite a number of Heathkits. I still have some of them. My Heathkit transistor tester is still something I use -- it is quick, easy, and usually tells me what I need to know in one step; it often saves me from having to go through a full curve-tracing undertaking. He got all three of us microscopes, a decent (for the day) telescope, taught us how to build cameras, scoop ponds for paramecia and the like, and took us on multiple rock-hunting and nature trips. We went spelunking, picked mushrooms, learned how to identify some geological formations and quite a few plants. The games my sibs and I played with each other and with our parents were poker, go, chess, mahjong, and scrabble. When other kids were screwing around all summer, he enrolled me in an NRI electronics course so I was occupied with something fun that had a little more focus to it. I'd row out to the middle of the river (the Delaware), drop the anchor, and lay back and read for hours out there, taking the occasional jump in the water to cool off. He would quiz me in the evenings. We got music lessons, martial arts lessons, and dance lessons. We listened to, and discussed in depth, every musical genre they could think to present to us. Including comedy. I still worship at the altar of Tom Lehrer to this very day, one of the funniest and definitely one of the smartest comedians to ever play to an audience. Talented otherwise, too.
Most kids now seem to grow up sitting in front of the television, not exactly focused on educational programs, either. Later they graduate to game consoles and smartphones. They think comedy is encompassed by asshole "shock jocks" and the like. They don't even know how to make conversation with each other - in a restaurant, what I typically see is a table full of kids, all with their heads buried in their smartphones, rarely even speaking to one another. I guess they're happy, but I look at them and I see failure in progress.
IMHO, the best thing about recent years in this sense is the easy and inexpensive availability of computers of significant power. Including smartphones, though most don't seem to actually realize what they are holding in their hands. In my community, at least, there aren't very many parents seeing to it that the actual standalone small computers are in the hands of their kids. Deb and I bought full Raspberry Pi setups for all the grandkids for them to experiment with (and it's been loads of fun teaching them how to write assembly language and Python), but according to them, none of their friends are familiar with the pi at all.
But hey, football sure is popular around here... :/
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
That's what I thought when I bought a used PS3, and NO; it's up to the game to decide if it wants to be installed to the HDD (even if it is, it still needs disc in drive).
I even had an extra SSD sitting around which I thought would work quite speedily with a couple games installed.
Case in point: Red Dead Redemption (the entire reason I bought the PS3), needs disc in to play and constantly reads it while you're galloping around (that was a disappointment).
Games can also choose if you're allowed to copy the save files (say to a usb drive to back them up). There's quite a large list of games with locked save files.
I personally would choose the Nintendo Wii U. It's cheaper, smaller, and more kid-friendly. However, the titles you mentioned are not available on the Wii U so that's out.
You may be willing to compromise considering the Wii U's build quality is unbelievable. I have violently thrown its controller in frustration many times, and it doesn't have a single scratch.
I've gotta know, why on earth would you let your kids play M-rated games anyway?
On the topic of HW differences, there is very little difference in their HW. DDR5 memory for PS4, DDR3 (or better now) for XB1. Other than that, the differences have very little daylight between them. New console HW is always in the pipeline, so whatever you think about the current HW technology that is available in retail today, rest assured that the next generation of HW is already being worked out as we speak.
What it comes down to is which titles you want to play.
Both SW/OS platforms have their share of telemetry-sending functions. To make a cause celebre over that seems silly.
My advice is to choose the library of games that your players will want to enjoy and then weigh the decision based on that.
But if your aim is to get the biggest HW bang for the buck, wait. The XB1 and PS4 have been out in retail long enough now that the next generation consoles are sure to be released soon. "Design to SKU" is about a 2-3 year development cycle. So, do the math.
This episode with Sheldon isn't even funny anymore.
I have various issues with Sony. Let's just say I dislike them a lot. (I have issue with Microsoft as well, but far less than with Sony.) However, consoles are all about the games, and if you don't have those, it's just an expensive paperweight. That being said, the vast majority of games I want to play between those two consoles are on the PS4, so I'd have to go with that one, even if I despise Sony.
If they want a particular console between the two that is what you should get. If they are indecisive or that won't work for whatever reason, if it's within your budget, I would suggest building a Windows gaming PC. With Big Picture in Steam, and modern video cards outputting HDMI you can use it as a living room device and it will be superior to a console in pretty much every way. You can use any controller you want with it, xbox, dualshock, Steam Controller, etc. and your back catalog of potential games is insanely huge. Graphics of a well built gaming PC will always be superior to console. The modern economics of games has made it such that almost every game you'll want to play will be coming to all three platforms, PC, xBox, and Playstation.
As a personal anecdote, my wife bought me a PS4 just last month for my birthday, because I really wanted to play The Last of Us. Now that I have a PS4, I went searching for console exclusives to play. I'm not finding more than a handful of games worth playing that aren't already on PC as well. And the PS4 is two years old, same as the xBone. Most games worth playing are simply on all three platforms now.
Another huge bonus of PC gaming is access to mods. You don't like the way a particular game mechanic plays, you can often find a mod to change it. I've found this incredibly helpful in increasing my enjoyment of a myriad of games. Since this is for your kids, using and understanding modding might also be a gateway for them to become more engaged with the technology. Many times it's not hard to write at least a simple mod of your own. Having the power to change something in game the way you want could be very interesting to them.
I don't know how old your kids are, but Fallout 4 is a pretty adult game, if they are old enough to play that they can save up the money to buy a ps4 themself.
Sure i used to play games rated above my age, but the worst we had in my day was mortal kombat and at that time i already was well into my teens.
My kids, they really really enjoy all that nintendo stuff. The wii is still getting a lot of playtime, sure they would like a wii u, but i don't have the spare money to spend. They are saving up for a 3 or 2DS themself, but they also still love to play in the normal DS.
Now, since you are a linux guy and you have an aging gaming pc, why not replace it with a steambox, or better build one yourself (just add the steam controller to complete the expirience). A gaming pc on-par gaming with a ps4 is cheaper to build.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
PC. I wouldn't waste my time with last gen hardware.
Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
We do have a Playstation 3, and I got into the habit of buying the games from the Sony web store. That way there's no possibility the disk loading times can slow game play and your kids don't tear the living room apart three times in two hours hunting for the next game disk they want to use.
You do pay higher prices for the games bought that way, though.
Build a gaming PC, set up with a Steam Link and enjoy all the benefits of the PC Master Race. Seriously, read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmas...
Owning both, I've found that the technical merits are mostly smoke and mirrors....with the caveat that a few games do run better on the PS4 than the Xbox One, and I tested this out on at least one title (Shadows of Mordor) and noticed that while it plays fine on the X1 it's performance on the PS4 was noticeably smoother. Beyond that.....Xbox One's two main advantages I've found are: you can add an external hard drive and run games from it (huge plus) and it has the Halo and Gears of War franchises if you're into that (which I am). Also, it's got backwards compatibility now (limited, but focusing on titles most people probably have or would want). PS4 however, is a smoother OS, better hardware, has the Uncharted series, and I love the newer Ps4 controllers, which are dramatically better than the old PS3 controllers. Miles of difference on the controllers (for me, anyway). That said, the X1 controllers are actually pretty decent as well. Owning both, what I do is get the "big, serious" games I plan to invest time in on the PS4, (such as Fallout 4, Destiny and CoD:BO3) and everything else I am slightly less serious about on the Xbox 1 since it has the space for it (ironically, I got Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max and Star Wars: Battlfront on the X1 and have been playing them to death). All other differences are superficial.
Yeah, I was thinking about doing that for RDR. I ordered it when I ordered the PS3, but paying more then twice what I paid for the disc version seems a bit of a ripoff :)
duh
Yeah, you pay a lot for convenience. And for example on the PS3 you have to subscribe to Sony's "Playstation Plus" service to get game software updates to run on a schedule. If you're not a subscriber - and I am not - then it informs you of a required update the next time you launch the game and you have to wait. That's a real pain, but I'm not willing to pay Sony $60 per year to solve a headache they created to get $60.
But again, my kids want multiplayer so it looks like the next purchase is going to fatten the pockets of some player. Dammit.
That's a real pain, but I'm not willing to pay Sony $60 per year to solve a headache they created to get $60.
To be fair, PS+ also gets you 10GB online storage plus 2 free games per month (some crap, some hidden gems) per platform. The scheduled updates are the least interesting of included benefits.
True. Plus you get access to Sony's show Powers, which I think is not available elsewhere except for purchase.
Actually, while I'm rambling - whenever I am shopping for two products, if they are more or less equivalent I tend to favor the less wealthy company because I think keeping competitors in the market benefits everyone (except shareholders of the wealthier company). My kids were leaning towards the Xbox One, but I'm inclined to go PS4 despite the fact that current holiday specials favor the Xbox One because last year Microsoft had 12 billion US in profit and Sony lost 1 billion US in net income.