Below I offer my thoughts from these reviews.
The PS4
The PS4 is a very pretty console, smaller than the 2nd gen PS3 slim which is very impressive considering it contains an internal PSU. It really looks the business and I can see it selling extremely well in markets like Japan where a small form factor is really important. So from a hardware perspective Sony really nailed it. One gripe I have is there is still no USB port at the back of the console although the PS Eye camera has its own proprietary port (what was wrong with USB I wonder?).The redesigned dual shock controller looks good fixing some of the complaints in the PS3 controller such introducing inverted stick nubs. I wonder how some of the functionality like touch, microphone, speaker and light will work in practice and affect battery life. I doubt 3rd parties will put it to any more use than they did with the six axis stuff in the PS3. What is certain is that these controllers are going to cost a lot more money than the SixAxis / Dualshock 3 did so I hope that functionality DOES get used.
But while the hardware is getting high praise the firmware certainly isn't. Reviews have been somewhat confused because Sony dropped a day 0 firmware update on reviewers and sometimes it is hard to tell if the bulk of their review was using 1.0 or 1.5. But even 1.5 seems to lack DLNA playback, local file playback and other functionality which people take for granted on the PS3. In fact media support seems almost deprecated which is a shame - the console is quite capable of serving as a media player and it should do so. I have no doubt the media story will improve in time (the PS3 only got stuff like DLNA after a few major updates) but the important point is it doesn't exist right now.
The 1.5 firmware update does enable remote play on the Vita which could prove a sales boost to that platform - it definitely needs it. I read that remote play support is mandatory now and the burden to support it is relatively low (just a different control scheme) so the Vita could prove to be a really useful thing to buy. I wonder if games can use the Vita like a smart controller (like the Wii U) since that would be useful too.
As for launch games, the only one which piques my interest is Resogun. I LOVED Super Stardust HD and this looks like its spiritual successor. SSHD was the best value for money I ever spent on game on the PS3. The remainder of release titles are mostly some play-it-safe exclusives and 3rd party ports. Knack is the runt of the litter. Killzone looks like a technically proficient but unimaginative shooter. The 3rd party titles like Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Need for Speed: Rivals are basically the same as the PS3 version with a higher resolution and minor improvements to shaders and antialiasing. It's all very safe and not very compelling.
The XBox One
The XBox One console could be charitably described as bland, less charitably as fugly. It's even bigger than the original XBox 360 which is in stark contrast with the PS4. It is strange that Microsoft would make so little effort to make the console smaller, more attractive or integrate the PSU which is a giant brick just like the 360. As I mentioned in the PS4 section, some regions such as Japan high regard good design and there is none in evidence in the console.
Just look at the difference in size between these consoles:
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| (from ars technica) |
The main curiosity of the hardware is the HDMI-in. The idea is that you could plug your satellite or cable box into XBox One via the HDMI in and use the XBox for reminders and EPG and to change channels. The Kinect can apparently blast out IR pulses so that even IR controlled set top boxes can be controlled this way. But I question why anyone would want to run up a power bills by running the XBox One in addition to the set top box. I hope it will act as a pass thru when the console is in standby. I suppose it lets someone watch TV while playing a game. Beyond that I don't see much point. It is unlikely that Microsoft could add trickplay, live tv pause or recording since content is likely protected with HDCP.
Reviews do complement the controller which is almost identical to the 360 controller. It looks very nice, although the controllers still use replaceable batteries. Somewhat bizarrely there are stories that Microsoft spent $100 million developing their controller, trying out all kinds of strange ideas and eventually incorporating none of it. http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/18/the-xbox-one-controller-projectors-smells-and-other-stuff-that-didnt-make-it-in-part-1-exclusive/
Microsoft doesn't have remote play but it does have a SmartGlass app which allows smart phones and tablets to control the console. Presumably some games could make use of it to add soft keys, maps, inventories etc.
The firmware seems a lot better and more rounded than the PS4's. It offers some DLNA support out of the gate and stuff like Skype which is really neat. Every XBox One has Kinect so it means a lot of households can benefit from video calls (assuming you want to make video calls). What I think is less useful is all the Kinect integration and the relatively unintuitive layout that hides functions that require voice control to access. Some reviews describe the accuracy of voice control as only 80-90% which I think would prove very annoying. I think voice control will also lead to some epic arguments in some households where people shout "xbox off" or similar. I wonder how they will stop people in team chat / video calls, or even on pranksters on TV from griefing somebody through the voice control.
The XBox One doesn't seem to have fared better in its launch line up than the PS4. The exclusives are getting some mediocre reviews. LocoCycle and Ryse are the XBox's runts. The exclusives Dead Rising 3 and Zoo Tycoon are drawing the better reviews but not great. The 3rd parties fare the best and largely the same as their PS4 counterparts.
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