On Nov. 15, North Americans can go out and buy Sony’s new PlayStation 4. A week later, other North Americans might buy an Xbox One, Microsoft’s professed “all-in-one entertainment system.”
While early Xbox One development kits started appearing in 2011, the PlayStation 4 has been in development since 2008, according to Sony employee Mark Cerny.
Each console features redesigned controllers and more powerful processors, which means the games should look and perform better.
A quick trip to my favourite place to spend time— the Internet—finds all kinds of people arguing about which to buy.
I’m not buying either one right away. I want to explain why neither of them is worth owning when they come out.
There isn’t a big selection of games that will be available for either console in the beginning. There’s no reason to spend $400 on a PlayStation 4, or $500 for the Xbox One when you’ll struggle to find games.
Many of the games are going to be available for both consoles, and they often have a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version coming out earlier.
What if you already have a bunch of PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games? Well, you better keep your current consoles. Neither new system will play the older games. Sony and Microsoft want us to buy their new games.
Sony and Microsoft have struggled in the past with making sure their new consoles worked properly.
Many early PlayStation 2 models could’t read the game discs. People had to buy a new one.
For Xbox 360 owners, many came to know the “red ring of death”, when the power button’s green lights suddenly appear red—Xbox death. The failure rate for the system is around 25 per cent, and that’s the lowest estimate I could find.
There are bound to be issues with both systems at first, especially when they’re working as fast as they can to get them out for the holiday season.
Waiting is a good idea, especially if you hate dealing with warranties and that kind of stuff. Even as one of the lucky people who has never had a game console break, I’m not taking a chance.
Waiting can also solve the price problem. Many of us don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on stuff like this, especially around the holidays. Game companies like to release new consoles to cash in on the big holiday spending.
If you read my last column, you will see I spend way too much money on this stuff. But I wait for good deals.
My plan is to wait six months or so, giving the companies time to work the bugs out. Once the systems are proven to work and have games worth playing (that I can’t get on an older system), that’s when I’m making my decision. If I can wait, so can you.
And, for the record, I’m getting a PlayStation 4. But I’ll save that for another time.
