The console war continues to heat up between the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. This is now eighth generation of the console war. Game shops are gearing up as millions of avid gamers descend on their stores to buy their new consoles. But the two main players, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, are matching each other blow for blow.
Here are the main aspects of each console. See who you think is winning the console war right now.
AMD CPU
For the first time, both systems have settled on the heart of their consoles. This is the x86 octa-core CPU with eight core processors. They’ve even used the same maker, AMD. It’s a change for both companies.
Microsoft previously used the IMB PowerPC processor and Sony utilised Toshiba and IBM to create a complicated processor exclusively for them.
Graphic Design
Both console makers have also enlisted the help of AMD to design their graphics processors. This is undoubtedly a way for both companies to entice more people into game stores and away from the oncoming smartphone market.
The Xbox One uses a system-on-chip design with GPU and CPU, along with Direct 11.1 support. It also uses a single 40-nanometre chip.
The PS4 differs only slightly as it uses an AMD CPU combined with the chip maker’s GPU. It also uses a partially customised AMID Radeon chip which is powered by the 1.8 TFLOPS.
In English, when you go to the video game store to pick a console, you can expect similar levels of quality in the final result.
Sony Speed
Sony has one major advantage over Microsoft and the Xbox One. It’s decided to use an 8GB GDDR5 RAM system. This contrasts to Microsoft’s DDR 8GB RAM system. It’s not as big as you think. The advantage is only small. What it will mean is Sony will have a slight advantage in the speed of the machine.
For gamers, the difference will be marginal. It’s not something to shun one console over, but it’s something to bear in mind.
Controllers
The one thing which remains constant is the controllers. Xbox and Playstation have stuck with the same style of controllers for their next generation consoles.
There are some slight differences. The DualShock 4 controller is slightly bigger as it utilises a touchpad at the front and centre of the controller. It’s continued to stick to its frontal dual analogue sticks. To make gripping easier, there’s now a central divot.
The Xbox One controller has also seen some slight modifications; although Microsoft has technically made 40 design changes. Most of these only change the ergonomics ever so slightly. It has made a major change by tweaking the D-Pad on the bottom of the pad.
You won’t see any real changes to the controllers in the game shops and at E3 this year.
Kinect and PS4 Eye
Traditional gamers didn’t care about Kinetic or the advantages of touchscreen. And they probably won’t when they trot along to the store this time. Nonetheless, both corporations have made attempts at using motion-sensing devices to cater to the more casual gamer.
The Xbox One Kinect is supposedly an advanced camera controlled by humans. It processes 2GB of data every second and analyses everything from the rotation of the wrist and shoulder to your current heart rate.
We know very little about the PS4 Eye. Sony did claim it would use two 1280x800px cameras. There’s also a multi-coloured lighting bar on the DualShock 4 controller. This would indicate the controller will play a part in controlling it.