S456 ARCHIVES: New Game Consoles PS4 and Xbox One Release to Success

~~ the following is a piece I did for the 2013-14 school year of "The Ram Pride," Ringgold High School's school newspaper ~~

The new video game consoles from Sony and Microsoft just released this month. Sony’s successor to the Playstation 3, simply called the Playstation 4, came out on November 12^th, 2013. Microsoft’s successor to the Xbox 360 is called the Xbox One, which came out on November 25^th. The most substantial new features to both of these consoles is their greater horsepower which can handle more intensive games than consoles before. These two platforms were preceded by Nintendo’s Wii U, which released in November of 2012.     

Each new Playstation console ushers in a new controller, although each controller is very similar to each other. The PS4’s controller does offer some broad changes over the PS3’s controller, including sticks that curve in on the tip to fit around one’s fingertips, and a generally bigger build for more comfort. There is also a small, rectangular touchpad at the center of the controller, which functions similarly to a touchpad on a laptop. The most critically-acclaimed exclusive game for the PS4 is Resogun, a shooter that can be downloaded from Playstation’s online store, which has a Metacritic critic score of 83.

The Xbox One’s controller is more similar to the Xbox 360’s controller than the PS4’s controller is to the PS3’s controller. The most notable new feature is the now vibrating “triggers” (the buttons at the back-top of the controller), which are used in games like Forza 5, a simulation racing game, to give the player additional feedback. An improved version of Kinect, a very advanced camera/microphone device that was introduced on the Xbox 360, comes with every Xbox One system and is integrated into the user interface of the console as well as some games. The aforementioned Forza 5 is the most critically-acclaimed exclusive game for the console, with an 82 on Metacritic.

Brand loyalty is evident in Dwight Moore, a tenth grade student here at Ringgold High School, who thinks that the Xbox One looks better because he “just love[s] Xbox.” RHS Students like twelfth grader Terry Richardson find the Playstation 4 more compelling. Terry thinks that the PS4 has “better hardware” and is a “better deal” over the Xbox One. He does also own a Wii U, saying that he likes it despite not using it very much. On a similar note, some students like twelfth grader Adam Martin aren’t interested in any of the new consoles because they are satisfied with playing video games on their PCs.  

Both consoles have been selling incredibly well. The Playstation 4 retails for $400, while the Xbox One retails for $500. On their own first day of release, both sold over one million units each according to Sony and Microsoft respectively; it is, however, important to note that on its first day, the PS4 was initially only available in Canada and the United States, whereas the Xbox One was available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand.

The two consoles are both off to a successful start. It will certainly be interesting to see the two duke it out!