NEXT-GEN consoles from Sony and Microsoft are now just months away – so which one will you buy?
We’ve rounded up the key details about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, with everything you need to know before launch.
PS5 vs Xbox Series X design – which console looks better?
First off, what do these consoles look like?
It’s important! They’ll be sitting pride of place in your living room, so you don’t want your £400 gaming machine looking totally naff.
Sony has gone back to the drawing board with the PlayStation 5, offering an enormous, curved, ridged beast.
It looks like a console from a sci-fi movie, with white casing and a fancy blue trim.
Long-time fans will be surprised that there’s no black option, though we’d be surprised if one wasn’t coming down the pipeline.
The PS5 certainly looks cool – though won’t be to everyone’s tastes. Sadly it’s absolutely huge, bigger than any console to date, including the new Xbox Series X.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has gone for a slightly more familiar shape: a box.
This time it’s a towering cuboid, with a very minimalist exterior, which will suit some.
We think it looks nice, though its blocky design may make it difficult to fit in some TV units.
Let’s not forget the joypads either.
Sony has almost totally redesigned its controller, with the new joypad looking very different from previous generations.
Gone is the “DualShock” – instead we’ve got a “DualSense”, with a curvaceous and modern look.
It also promises haptic feedback and a sensory experiences that changes the controller based on your gameplay.
For instance, the triggers are adaptive, so you’ll feel increased tension as you draw an arrow across a bow string, for instance.
Microsoft has played it much more safe with a controller that looks near-identical to the old Xbox joypad.
That’s no bad thing: Xbox controllers are largely beloved, so why fix what’s not broken?
PS5 vs Xbox Series X specs – which console is more powerful?
Both Microsoft and Sony are pushing hard on the graphics front, promising better-than-ever visuals.
Part of that comes from smooth 120-frames-per-second 4K visuals, as well as highly detailed 8K graphics.
But the consoles are also powering games running on next-gen graphics engines, buoying “ray-tracing” lighting that looks more realistic than ever.
On paper, both consoles are extremely powerful.
Both consoles use 8-core processors, though the Xbox is clocked slightly higher at 3.8GHz versus the PS5’s 3.5GHz.
More important is the graphical heft, with Xbox seemingly having the edge.
The Series X promises 12-teraflops of graphical output, versus the 10.3-teraflops on the PS5.
Teraflops – or rather, trillions of operations per second – are a way of measuring how faster a graphics card can work.
And Microsoft’s console can, on the surface, handle more operations in a given second. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee games will look better, of course.
Both consoles use nippy GDDR6 flash memory, with 16GB to play with.
However, the Xbox appears to edge out yet again
Of course, the raw hardware can’t tell you everything about each console’s performance e.
Much of their tangible speed will come down to how fast content loads, which relates to the flash storage both consoles are using.
The architecture of this storage – and how games and other software interact with it – will be very obvious.
Both Sony and Microsoft have made much of their respective consoles’ slashed loading times.
Sadly, we’ll only know which one is truly faster after testing.
PS5 vs Xbox Series X games – who has the best line-up?
Both Sony and Microsoft have already announced too many games to list off or make sense of.
And we all have a limited amount of time to play, so the majority of people will be sticking to blockbusters and console exclusives.
PlayStation has a particularly tasty list of next-gen games.
These include a new Resident Evil game, as well as Horizon: Forbidden West – a sequel to the acclaimed Horizon: Zero Dawn.
There’s also Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which builds on the existing (and hugely popular) Spider-Man game.
Then there are other treats like Gran Turismo 7, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and a graphically stunning remake of Demon’s Souls.
It’s also likely that popular and recent PS4 games will land on the PS5, including Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part 2.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has offered up a slightly less mind-blowing list of games.
The big trump card in the Xbox deck is Halo Infinite – a Microsoft exclusive that will likely tempt longstanding fans of the franchise.
Other attractive titles include a new Forza Motorsport, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Dirt 5.
PS5 vs Xbox Series X price – how much will they cost?
The PS5 release date has been set for November 12, but not everywhere.
That date only stands for the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
In the UK, you won’t be able to get it until November 19.
The PS5 proper will cost £449.99/$499.99, while the digital edition comes in at $399/£359.
So how does that compare to the PS5’s biggest rival, the Xbox?
Microsoft’s pair of next-gen consoles will be out a little earlier, landing on November 10.
The cheaper disc-free Xbox Series S will cost £249/$299, while the Xbox Series X comes in at £449/$499.
Xbox Series X vs PS5 – which is better?
Until we review both consoles, we can’t say with any certainty which console is truly better.
On the face of it, the Xbox is marginally more powerful, while the PS5 arguably has a more competitive roster of games.
The PS5 has perhaps a more eye-catching exterior, but the Xbox design appears more manageable, which may make squeezing it into a TV cabinet easier.
Pricing for the consoles remains equal at $499/£449, which only makes the decision more difficult.
It’s also a good idea to find out which console your pals are buying, because that might be a major influence on your purchasing decision.
Of course, many games now have platform crossplay – so the console you buy is arguably less important than in previous generations.
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