Game time: Xbox One vs. PlayStation Four

By Donte Medder |Staff Writer|

Microsoft and Sony are once again slated to go heads up in the release of their new gaming systems the Xbox One and PlayStation Four. The release of these gaming systems call upon a gamer’s allegiance to these two brands.

If you’re considering investing in either of these consoles upon release, let me give you the inside scoop on them.

The gaming systems have a lot in common and thanks to modifications in the policies, there are now positive similarities to the prior Xbox 360 and PlayStation Three.

The Xbox One was originally supposed to come with a completely new digital rights management policy in which gamers were required to connect to the internet once every 24 hours. Microsoft required connection to an online server to enable offline gameplay.

Gamers saw this as a negative because internet servers have been known to crash and this would leave them unable to play during these times.

Feedback from Microsoft’s faithful buyers however got Microsoft to go back to the original Xbox 360 policy which allows gamers to play offline.

Sony and Microsoft have chosen to charge for multi-player this time around but only Microsoft will lock applications into its Xbox live subscription. Video content such as Hulu Plus, MLB TV and Netflix will not require a subscription to PlayStation Plus.

Consoles will have similar graphics because they both use the same advanced micro devices. Both companies have chosen to use a usual set up which links together both the central processing unit and the graphic processing unit into one complete unit.

Microsoft and Sony have chosen to keep their controllers relatively the same. The PlayStation Four Dual Shock controller is slightly bigger because of the touchpad added to this year’s edition.

Consoles have changed their appearence with PlayStation creating a more sleek look.

The PlayStation Four is set to release Nov. 15 in the United States and the Xbox One is set to release Nov. 22 everywhere.

The cost for the PlayStation Four will be $399 excluding the PlayStation Four Eye camera, which will cost an additional $59.

The Xbox One is set to release at a cost of $499 with the 1080p Kinect camera coming standard.

Sony is banking on beating Microsoft’s sales because they are releasing their product earlier than Microsoft.

But Microsoft believes that the hype generated by a later single release date will help trump Sony’s sales. Both consoles have very faithful followers and most students are sticking by their choice of brands.

Student Jordan Burris plans on sticking with the Xbox even though the price has risen. He believes that both are the same as far as graphics, but he prefers Xbox online play.

Student Stephanie Villana has a preference for the PlayStation Four because she likes the games that release specifically to the PlayStation.

These game system titans have squared off before. The question is: Who will win this round of game console rivalry?