Which Next Gen Console I will be Buying

Before we can begin a civil discussion, let us quickly take care of all the PC gamers in the room.

Now that they’re happy, let us continue.

So, the time has finally come where I am in the market for a next gen console. Why now and not last year?

Well, there are three major factors:

One. My three year-old gaming laptop can’t handle games like it used to, which means if I want to be able to enjoy the graphical splendor of newly released games I either have to dish out a good deal of money for a desktop or do the cheaper thing (at least initially) and buy a console to last me a couple years. Just a quick word of advice. Gently whispering to your laptop that you will forever love her if she plays a game on 1920 x 1080 won’t change her mind… Maybe she didn’t love me enough.

Two. Speaking of love, I’m getting married next year and no, it is not to my laptop. Well, we tried to make it work, but we couldn’t agree on resolution and frames per second. So instead, I’ll be getting married to a wonderful woman who also happens to love video games, despite the fact she owns a MacBook. There was just no convincing her otherwise. A puppy probably would have worked, but they don’t have backwards compatibility. Point is, we would like to play games together. Particularly, family games like LittleBigPlanet or games that are offered for the Kinect.

Third. My fiancé (Kayla) and I will be splitting the console cost, making the decision to buy much easier. Now, as much as I’d love to get a PS4 for $90, I couldn’t take advantage of Walmart’s (well-meaning) price matching policy like how some people did. They may see it as being thrifty, but I see it as being manipulative. While I’m more of a Target kind of guy (or Targé as I like to call it), I still wouldn’t want to rip anyone off. Simple as that.

Come on guys… Really?

My moral rant aside, Kayla is letting me choose which console to pick up this holiday and I have finally chosen! After much research and pondering, I have decided to go with the PS4.

Being a guy who still owns an Xbox 360 and the original Xbox, you may be wondering what could have caused this change of heart. How could I betray my precious? Golem, Golem! Honestly, it’s because there doesn’t seem to be a big difference between the two. Yes, the two possess different interfaces, exclusives, and certain console features, but nothing huge in my opinion. What it really came down to for me was performance, what my friends owned, and what would provide us with the games we wanted.

Performance wise, the PS4 is known for having a small advantage, but not enough to base a console-buying decision off of. In other words, I see it as icing on the cake so-to-speak. By the way, I highly recommend a buttercream meringue icing when/if you look for wedding cakes. Gotta’ love cake tastings!

Along the lines of what consoles my friends own, most of them have PS4s so that answers that.

Finally, Kayla and I are looking for not only fun, family type games we can play together, but also story-driven single player games. While I love the Halo franchise, I felt that wasn’t enough of a reason to get an Xbox One and to be honest, we have really been wanting to play LittleBigPlanet and The Last of Us most recently. Also, Kayla and I are hoping to see some comebacks of our childhood games like Ratchet and Clank (new game announced for 2015), Spyro, and Crash Bandicoot from the old Playstation days. We’re not holding our breath or anything, but we can dream can’t we?

I know you want it.

All-in-all, it really comes down to what your friends are playing on and what your game preferences are. Of course, many mainstream games are often available on multiple consoles (i.e. Assassin’s Creed, Destiny, Borderlands, etc) so you kind of win either way. If you’re planning to pick-up a next gen console and can’t decide, I would first recommend you to check out Kotaku’s very thorough comparison article. If you still can’t decide, then you may just have to flip a coin, do a Facebook poll, or find some random BuzzFeed quiz that answers the question, “Which Next Generation Console Are You?”

Update: There is no such quiz…

About the Author

Westin Westin ran a gaming based YouTube channel for a year, graduated with a B.A. in Radio/Television/Film, and will be getting married in Fall 2015. When he’s not doing production stuff or wedding planning, he’s working on his unplayed game list on Steam (or playing Guild Wars 2 with his fiancé).