With the holiday season approaching and the need for people to stay home due to the coronavirus, excitement has generated from the upcoming release of the new Playstation and Xbox consoles, with preorders for the consoles selling out within minutes.
The PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition are set to be released on Nov. 12, with the two models costing $499.99 and $399.99 respectively. According to Sony, the two models are “identical” with the only difference being that the PS5 has a disk drive, and the PS5 Digital Edition does not.
Both models are backwards compatible, meaning that you can play PS4 games on the PS5. However, the PS5 Digital Edition is only backwards compatible with digital downloads of PS4 titles, whereas the PS5 can play PS4 disks, as well as upgrade PS4 disks to digital PS5 games. For people looking to upgrade from a PS4 to a PS5, the standard PS5 is the better model in terms of being able to play old PS4 disks and having the ability to watch Blu-rays and DVDs via the disk drive — which might be appealing if you are buying the PS5 as a family console. If you don’t own any PS4 disks, the PS5 Digital Edition might be the better choice because it has the same capabilities as the regular PS5 but at a lower price: at the expense of losing the disk drive.
Similar to the PS5, two different Xbox models are hitting shelves on Nov. 10. The Xbox Series S will only cost $299. However, the more powerful system of the two is The Xbox Series X, costing $499. There are clear differences between the two models, the most obvious being the color: the Xbox Series X is black while the Xbox Series S is white.
Looking towards gaming as a form of entertainment and socialization during this time, many people are wondering which console out of the four is the better buy. The Xbox Series S is noticeably smaller than the Xbox Series X and even the PS5. Similarly to the PS5 Digital Edition, the Xbox Series X does not have a disk drive, meaning that you’ll have to buy games digitally.
However, just like the PS5, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S are backwards compatible. According to Microsoft, both new Xbox models are compatible with Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Original Xbox games, which gives you thousands of games available to be played on either new model. This means Xbox Series X is the better system compared to the PS5 if you want to play a wider range of games, as the PS5 is only backwards compatible with PS4 games.
Unique to Xbox, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are compatible with the Xbox Adaptive Controller, a controller that can be customized with other switches, buttons and joysticks for gamers with limited mobility. There is no official controller like this for the PS5.
The two systems are similar. Designed to immerse players in their games, the PS5 and the Xbox support ray tracing,which is an algorithm used to “trace the path that a beam of light would take in the physical world” an article from WIRED reported. Ray tracing allows light in video games to behave like light in the real world, meaning that games can have more realistic shadows and reflections, which enhances visuals and the overall gaming experience.
The upgraded processors in the new consoles push performance capabilities, with the target for both Xbox and PS5 being set at 120 frames per second. With the power of high frame rates and ray tracing, games not only look great but they also run smoothly. The only differences between the two consoles is that the XBox Series X has a slightly stronger processor and has 1TB of internal storage which is much more compared to the PS5’s 825 GB (Eurogamer).
With similar capabilities and pricing, the only argument for buying a specific console is if you’re looking to play PS5 or Xbox exclusive titles, like “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales” or “Halo Infinite”. If you’re looking to pick up a new console at launch, it is recommended that you sign up for email notifications when pre-orders are available at stores like Best Buy or GameStop.
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