Microsoft is clearly fallen behind this generation, and is clearly hurting. Right from the onset, with a bad opening at the E3 reveal for the Xbox One, Microsoft managed to alienate its fans, and Sony smartly pounced at the chance and took the vast majority of gamers with it. Three years later, Microsoft and it’s Xbox division seem to have learned from their many mistakes, and look eager to win back the gamer audience with innovative and high-power hardware, and a customer friendly marketplace.
Sony sure has the audience’s attention now, not so much because of the power that the PS4 has to offer, but more so because of an extremely compelling library of exclusive titles. However, they have been very slow in making changes that their consumers and avid fans have been asking for years. You still can’t change you username on PSN. The PS4 UI, while functional, is very minimal and not all that appealing or user friendly. They have also been slow in adding other handy functionalities, like external HDD support, custom wallpapers, remote streaming to PC, and so on. Their PSN download speeds is absolute trash (I currently have Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom download stuck at 99+ hours for no reason whatsoever). Oh, and with them promoting PS Now, they have no incentive to introduce backward compatibility anytime soon.
Xbox One, on the other hand, has come a long way, and Microsoft’s consistent updates to the UI and their policies (including the recent announcement of the Refund Policy), shows that they are really trying to do their best to win back audience favor and prepare the stage for a successful launch of the Xbox Scorpio. Here’s what I’m excited about with the full Xbox Scorpio reveal imminent this E3 2017:
- Excellent UI design. Streamline everything that was missing in the Xbox One, and add more customization options.
- A stable online experience with the Xbox Live, unlike PSN.
- Customer friendly Refund policy, much like Steam.
- Xbox Game Pass – Access to a large game library across generations, at an affordable price.
- Download speeds that are up to par with today’s fibre connections.
- Competitive prices, and frequent sales.
- Expansive library of games, complimented by Backward Compatibility.
- Also, I can change my user name (c’mon Sony, is it really that tough?)
- Xbox Play Anywhere – Some games I would rather just play on a PC, while others I’d rather sit back with on a couch with the controller.
However, the one thing missing, and many would argue that it’s the most important factor, is the lack of good exclusives. Xbox One clearly suffered because of it. This E3 is their chance to redeem themselves, and all eyes will be on them. Sony has already shown that they have a strong line-up of games ready for the next couple of years, and the last few months have been great for any PS4 owner.
One way or the other, I do want both the major players in the console market to be in healthy competition, because it eventually only means good things for the gamer.
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Anonymous
meanwhile sony focuses on games
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
Which, as I mentioned at the end, is the more important factor.
keysy
I didn’t get one reason to buy and xbox scorpio from this article except somethings that Sony hasn’t updated. As for the PSn experience, its not Nintendo so who cares. Microsfot doesn’t have games and they could release a even more powerful system than the scorpio and it wont change. having a powerful system is great but that doesnt change that their isnt a reason to own an xbox besides for the games we have been playing for years.
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
Yep, games are where MS is lacking.
OHBOY
I stopt reading after you claim that Xbox Live is “a stable service” and PSN is not.
Are for real? Cous that is a big ly, thats what all Xbonefanboy’s are ranting this whole generation. And you know, you are wrong, and they are wrong. (FACT)
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
As someone who has both the PS4 and the Xbox One, and primarily plays on the PS4 because of the better library, I respectfully disagree.
THWIP71
“Download speeds that are up to par with today’s fibre connections.”
Um…that would be entirely dependent upon the the gamer’s internet connection. Just sayin’…
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
Then I guess it’s just a coincidence that digital games on my Xbox download way faster than on my PS4.
THWIP71
No, that’s not a coincidence….Sony’s PSN and PS Store sucks big time, and is a full generation behind what MS offers with XBLG and the XBOX Marketplace, both in features, and performance. But you still aren’t getting speeds “up to par with today’s fibre connections”, unless you actually have fibre or a comparable cable internet package.
mike
I think people should calm down, specially, the xbox fans.
We’re not far from 2018, and when we see what future 16-32 core cpus can do, and the current crazy specs on cards like the Titan, it’s easy to notice the ps4 pro, and now, the scorpio specs, aren’t a big deal.
Current 4k insane pcs, with triple titan cards, can barely keep a steady 30fps , at ultra settings, on current games. That, on systems with ultra fast ssds, 32-64gb of ram, and no restrictions on noise- heat (unlike consoles, where everything must run quietly and at correct temperatures ).
So, it’s funny, seeing those fanboys and websites, thinking the scorpio will be able to render games with uncompressed textures, 10 times bigger than gta5-worlds, insane amounts of npcs and 3d objects, characters/cars/horses/etc with 5 million polygons, hollywood-like faces, raytraced lighting, pixar-like particles/fx, etc etc, at 60 fps.
No.
No.
And no.
Like the pro, there will be toooons of concessions.
At the end of the day, 8tflops will look ridiculous.
*ohh, forza was running on the scorpio, at ultra, 4k60fps, only needing 65% of the total resources. Really ? Champagne anyone ?
That game should only be needing 20% max ! Not 70%.
And that is cars, terrains and stuff nobody has the ti me to look at.
Now, try to run a new nextgen game on it…. 100% of resources will be hit ultra fast. And there starts the concessions : compressing textures, reducing polygons, smaller textures, less 3d objects, less antialiasing, less everything.
Yeah, 8tflops isn’t some insane shiit some may tjink it is!
12gb of memory, only 7-8 for games . Really ?
It’s crazy.
Microsoft can spend 2.5 billions on minecraft. They could easily have put 16 to 20gb of memory, even if it costed 20 or 30 extra bucky.
16gb of video memory isnt just ‘double 8gb’.
No. It’s night and day.
With 2gb extra memory, you can double your world size… or have much better textures… reduce loading times… etc etc..
Microsoft won’t be making a new console before 2020. If they can waste 2.5 billions on minecraft, why not using,mor ‘losing’ a few bucks, and adding much better hardware, like more ram, faster gpu, etc etc ?
Just like the ps3, sold at 700 bucks, or over 1100, once exchange rates applied in some countries, it definitely was a console for ‘those who can spend 600, 700, 1000…), they will still buy it.
Why not adding 100 extra bucks worth of faster hardware, and probably, doubling the tflops from 8 to 16?
This WASNT the best time to try to save, microsoft.
Gamers WANTED a super xbox, no matter the price.
I skipped the x1, because it was/is unde rpowered, as we all saw, in 95% of the titles, where the ps4 would be 1080p vs 900 or 720p on x1.
I had a ps4, just bought a pro, to play horizon.
I will certainly buy the scorpio. But man, Microsoft could have made it so much more powerful… instead of saving a few bucks on this or that component, just to spend another 2 or 3 billions on anothe ft minecraft shiit, or company.
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
I didn’t really talk too much about hardware in the article, but you’ve got some valid points.
gamingninja
Xbox one is so crappy that their stocks are still pending every time I want to play, the device needs a heavy update ?
Ps also can’t transfer videos to a usb stick ? or live stream to YouTube
TotalDimwitTheCynicalTwit
Yeah, they really should add the feature to play as the updates download in the background. Also, transferring screenshots and video via USB
gamingninja
Hope the scorpions will be a fresh start for Xbox