What to Buy; The Xbox Series X or the PS5?

There have been some epic duels over the years; Coca-Cola vs Pepsi (Pepsi), Mac vs PC (Mac), even dogs vs cats (meow). But nothing compares to the rivalry in gaming. Sony has been battling it out with Microsoft over the greatest console since the 90’s and their latest releases have perhaps been the closest. If only things could be as clear cut as the best casino bonuses Canada has to offer (https://new-casino.ca/bonus).

With the release of PlayStation’s 5 and the Xbox Series X last year, we’ve had time to try both (as the shortage of semi-conductors continues) and will answer that age-old conundrum; which is the better console!

Specifications

First up, what’s under the hood. They’re actually pretty similar with both boasting an 8 core CPU with AMD Zen 2, the PS5 with 3.5GHz vs 3.8 GHz in the Xbox (when the simultaneous multithreading is disabled). The RAM is the same at 16 GB, graphics slightly towards the X with 12.0 teraflop against 10.3.

They both support 8K resolution, which is great if we had monitors to handle it, as most TVs still don’t have HDMI 2.1. Both are offering the ever-elusive DirectX Raytracing too. So the only real difference is space; the PS5 packs 825GB of storage whereas the Xbox is killing it with an entire TB.

Price

Now, if you really want one over the other, the price isn’t going to ever be that much different to sway you, but we want a clean fight here. The PS5 is retailing at $499 and the Xbox X at …. $499. But if you are solely a digital gamer, you can flag the disc drive and save yourself $100 as the PS5 Digital Edition is only $399. That’s one more for Sony. Or is it?

The Xbox Series S is also a digital version and is a steal at only $299. But we’re trying to compare oranges with oranges and the S is an inferior product. It’s 1440p resolution focused rather than 4K, and it also targets the lower frame rates. The PS5 digital is the same beast, just minus one part. So, we stick to our original decisions. Next!

Backwards Compatibility

If you’re like us and are going to blow all your coin on the console so maybe stuck for games, being able to play your vast selection of older model games is a must. Could this be where the horse bolts?

No, they both go back as far as you would want them. The PS5 will play basically every PS4 game and the Xbox X will go back as far as Xbox One, most Xbox 360 and even original Xbox games. Now, we’re seeing where that difference could lie; the games. And yes, we will give this round to the Xbox.

Games

For us, this is where we would choose one over the other. Whilst we get that feeling that Xbox believes players are craving their old favourites but with a better version, PS5 is going guns blazing for better, newer games.

They both have joint access to third party titles but when November hit and the PS5 was released, it was matched with some hotly-favoured, exclusive games. Sackboy, Spider-Man, Demon’s Souls and even Astro’s Playroom were all decent enough to get our hairs standing. Titles to come out soon include Ratchet and Clank, GT7, Final Fantasy 16 and God of War: Ragnarok.

Xbox, on the other hand, released 30 titles that were “optimised for Xbox X”. We enjoyed them, as did many, but it just didn’t have the same wow-factor to it. Halo is forever being pushed and what we have seen from Avowed and the Medium is great, but just not as good.

Where Xbox hits back however is with their Xbox Game Pass Ultimate; a monthly subscription for downloading hundreds of games that can also be played over Android. Compared to the PlayStation Plus Collection, which gives free access to a good handful of the best PS4 games, it is a deal-breaker.

Conclusion

We’re not going to drag this out. For us, we’re sorry to say, it’s the Xbox.