New to Gaming? Which System Should You Buy?

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Perry Brauner:
1. I don’t have much experience with PS4, so I would have to go with the Xbox One here.

New to Gaming? Which System Should You Buy?

2. The Xbox One is better than the PS4 because of the exclusive games, like Titanfall and the Halo series. It’s also superior because of it’s better online service, media streaming, and Kinect 2.0.

New to Gaming? Which System Should You Buy?

3. The PS4 is known as being more powerful and therefore delivering better graphics, but I have had no complaints playing the latest generation of games on the Xbox One. The Playstation Network is free, which is nice, but it’s not as robust or reliable as Xbox Live. The PS4 also has some exclusives like some Destiny content, and other games like The Uncharted series and The Last of Us.

4. Yes, the Xbox One is great for beginners, however if someone is just getting into gaming, I would recommend easing them in with the Wii U. It’s perfect for kids, beginners, and even experienced gamers. I recently bought a Wii U, and I’m happy I did. I honestly believe that the Wii U beats out the Xbox One and PS4 in terms of first party games and inventiveness. As far as games go, Nintendo brings the heat with Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros. With their Gamepad, you can play games directly on the pad without the need for a TV, which is perfect for families who are always fighting for TV real estate.

5. For serious gaming, I love the Xbox One’s wireless controller. But for casual gaming, the Wii U Gamepad is hard to beat, since you can play games directly on the gamepad.

6. I don’t own gaming headphones that are compatible with consoles. The only gaming headphones that I own are for PC gaming, which I rarely do anymore. The gaming headphones that I own are the Logitech G430 Surround Sound Headphones.

New to Gaming? Which System Should You Buy?

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She got her start in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie has written for or been profiled by nationally known sites and magazines, and she has served on multiple industry hardware and software award panels. She is best known for her device-agnostic approach, enjoyment of exploring tech, gadgets, and gear, and her deep-diving, jargon-free reviews.

4 Comments on "New to Gaming? Which System Should You Buy?"

  1. PolyGeekism | February 3, 2015 at 4:07 pm |

    Personally I think it can be a little simpler, and you can take personal bias out of the equation mostly.
    First do you have friends who play games that you want to play with? In today’s world that is becoming even more important than it ever was in the past. If they are all, or mostly on one console, that is the one you need to get.
    Have some deep roots with Nintendo properties,(Mario, Zelda, Metroid etc.) and do not really care about having the best available graphics, Wii U that one is easy.
    Is this taking the role as an entertainment machine? Right now the Xbox One would have a slight edge. It already supports DLNA for home network streaming, and if you have a cable/satellite box it can run through the system for dual control as well. Also if they can pull off the forthcoming Windows 10 updates this will be even better. PS4 should get DLNA support sometime, so it’s close, but the Wii U is terrible in this aspect, no blu-ray, not going to ever be able to network stream, and it is solely designed for gaming, for better or worse.
    Game’s is mostly a tossup. They all have some impressive first party stuff, with Xbox One probably being slightly ahead of PS4 as of now. One big caveat though is Japanese RPGS. Playstation is way ahead here and that won’t likely change soon.
    Controller is probably more personal preference than anything, although it is hard to argue that the control stick layout on the Xbox controllers isn’t better than the PS4.

    Going back to my first statement though, if you are a social gamer, and all of your friends are on one console, that is going to be where you want to be, regardless of the other qualities of the competing systems.

  2. GREAT points, thanks! So … which one do you have? =)

    • I am betting XBONE due to the controller comment … I am more familiar with it as well so it feels more natural to me, but I find that is one of those ‘what you know’ things.

      But I love all of his points!

    • PolyGeekism | February 3, 2015 at 8:32 pm |

      Personally I do have an Xbone, and have been an Xbox guy since Halo 2 or thereabouts. The main reason at the time was Xbox Live. To put it simply, it just worked. Playstation guys always cried about it costing money, but it also never went down and was very very well supported.
      Now it is kind of a wash in that department. They are both pay services, and both have so many little outages it can be frustrating. These new systems seem to have some pretty big growing pains that have come with the package, even though the hardware is more computer-like then ever. I was not an early adopter last time though and I am sure there were hiccups then as well. Eventually I will get a PS4, but it probably wont be until Gran Turismo 7 as that is the only title I even own the PS3 that I bought over the holidays.

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