2020 has been a big year for gaming. Both Sony and Microsoft released consoles within a one week period. Each of the consoles is different and has different additions to them. One thing is for certain, they have improvements from the last generation of consoles. 

Playstation 5

Sony released the Playstation 5 (PS5) on November 12th 2020. This is the first Playstation to be released since the PS4 Pro in 2016. The Playstation 5 costs 500 dollars USD. The Playstation 5 has better specs than the last generation and can support movies and games in 8k (most games and movies today can reach up to 4k) at 120 fps. It is also a lot more powerful than the previous generation of consoles; it has a GPU of 3.5 GHZ, 36 CU’s, and 10.28 teraflops. Because of its powerful GPU, the loading times are significantly faster than the PS4. For example, the game Spider-Man: Miles Morales has loading times of about 1 minute 27 seconds on the PS4 and loading times of about 17 seconds on the PS5. That is a significant difference and improves the quality of games a lot. The PS5 has a large storage capacity, It has a hard drive of about 825 GB. Some of this storage is used for the operating system and helps the console run so you will be left with about 667 GB of storage. 

In addition to releasing a regular Playstation 5, Sony also released an all digital version. This version will cost 100 dollars less and has the same features as the regular one. The only difference is that this version doesn’t have a disc drive and due to this, games will only be able to be bought on the Playstation Store. The reason that this is cheaper is because it saves Sony and game developers money by not having to produce physical copies of games and prevents them from having to pay a portion of the revenue to retail stores. Being only digital also removes the option of watching Blu-Ray discs on the Playstation. 

The Playstation 5 had a bit of a rough launch. Many PS5 consoles had glitches and problems on launch. Some of these issues include consoles overheating, constant crashes, games not working, and consoles dying. These glitches only happened to a small amount of PS5 owners and they weren’t very widespread. Sony released an update to fix some glitches and are working on releasing more.  

The Playstation 5 had really good sales on launch day, with most places being already sold out because of pre-orders. Because of COVID-19, there were a lot of sales online and this made it even more difficult to get. Right now it is extremely difficult for people to get PS5’s, they are going for over 1000 dollars on Ebay. With the holidays just around the corner, demand for the PS5 is high and it doesn’t look like it will lower anytime soon. 

The Playstation 5 has had really good reviews, most critics have given it four stars or more out of five. Many reviewers noted that the new dualshock controller is unique and innovative. In addition to the updated graphics and improved quality, Sony also added a new controller, the DualSense. The DualSense has been built to be more comfortable to hold and use. The DualSense has what’s known as Haptic Feedback. Haptic Feedback adds precise vibrations on the controller to simulate what is going on in a game. For example, if there was water dripping a game then you feel the vibrations of water dripping on the controller. This is a new feature and not a lot of games use it yet, people are excited to see what they use it for in the future. 

XBOX Series X and Series S

The Xbox Series X was released on November 10th 2020 by Microsoft. It was the first Xbox released since the Xbox One X in 2017. The Series X costs 500 dollars USD. The Xbox Series X can support games with a resolution of 4k at 120 fps, this gives games really good quality. It has an impressive GPU with 12 teraflops, 54 CU´s, and 3.8 GHZ. With such a powerful GPU, loading times are decreased by a lot. On the game Forza Horizon 3, the loading times for the Xbox One X were about 44 seconds and the loading times on the Xbox Series X were about 10 seconds. The Series X provides 802 gigabytes of storage to be used and it can be expanded by buying expansion cards. 

With the Xbox Series X´s release, the Xbox Series S also came out. The Xbox Series S is a cheaper and digital only alternative to the X. The Xbox Series S is for the most part the same as the series X. The main differences are that It has a slightly less powerful GPU with only 3.6 GHZ and that it is digital only. The Xbox Series X costs 300 dollars USD, 200 less than the Series X does. 

Upon launching, the Xbox Series X and S had their fair share of problems. There were audio glitches, many games had performance issues, there were random crashes, etc. Luckily, some of the glitches were fixed. Unfortunately, the performance issues on a lot of games have not been fixed yet. These games aren’t necessarily not working but they are running much lower in quality than they should be. Microsoft has taken notice of the problem and are working on a solution. 

The Xbox Series X and S have had a good launch, they were sold out quickly online and at retail locations. They have been restocked many times and continue to always sell out fast. Buying the consoles online can be frustrating, many people attempting to buy a new Xbox will face the problems of availability and the issues of glitches and problems on the websites. Those attempting to buy them will have trouble getting it but those who are desperate can buy one from a third party online for a lot more money. Xbox Series X´s on Ebay range around 800-2000 dollars for just one console and Xbox Series S´s range from about 500-800 dollars. 

The Xbox Series X and S have had good reviews so far, with most of them being four or more stars (out of five). Many reviewers have pointed out the lack of new additions to the console compared to last generation. It does have a new controller but it is nearly identical to the previous. The main new feature is the quality that games can run and how powerful the console is, besides that there isn’t much else. Some of the most popular games and well running games that can be played on the Xbox Series X are Assassins Creed Valhalla, Call of Duty: Cold War, Forza Horizon 4, Watch Dogs Legion, etc.