I’m what you would call console agnostic and I’ve always been that way even as a wee lad. To me games speak louder than any sort of console loyalty. That said growing up would make you think I was a hardcore Nintendo fan before the PlayStation came out and then it was PlayStation all the way. It wasn’t because I was brand loyal, or anything like that. It was and has always been about the money. My parents couldn’t afford to get me multiple consoles let alone all the games I wanted. Now that I have a job where I can justify owning every current console I no longer have to worry about cost because in my mind everything will even out in terms of business expenses. That logic may one day bite me in the behind, but so be it.
Anyway long story short last year I bought not just an Xbox One, but also an Xbox 360 and an original Xbox. It just sort of happened. Not really sure how it worked out as 2017 was a blur for me. Point is it’s great getting a huge backlog of exclusive games I never got to play before and or even heard of. As a budding retro archivist, or whatever it’s been a great history lesson. Now in my brief time with the Xbox One specifically I surprisingly found a lot of things I wished the PS4 did better. There’s also some stuff not so great about the console. Here are the results!
30 Better: Don’t Let The Past Die, Revive It
Probably one of the biggest complaints I have with the PS4 is the lack of backwards compatibility. It can’t read a PS1, PS2, or PS3 disc, which is fine if it could read them digitally, but it can’t. There are the PS2 classic ports that tweak the graphics and implement trophy support, but they are few and far between and expensive to boot. It’s weird considering PS Plus members still get PS3 only games. Who still has that hooked up?
The Xbox One can play original and Xbox 360 games at no cost.
Just pop that disc in, it’ll download a client, and voila. And if you don’t have a disc then previous generations are fairly cheap. I’m astounded how well it works and how good it looks to boot.
29 Worse: And The Reward For Most Canceled Games Goes To…
That’s all well and good for Microsoft, but I feel like their hand has been forced to include backwards compatibility to give them an edge on the PS4. After all what big first party games are coming? Sure there’s been a few here and there, but now I’m to the point of being hesitant toward press releases and trailers.
Microsoft keeps canceling games
Scalebound from PlatinumGames was the biggest loss last year. Phantom Dust was going to get a sequel, or a more in depth remake, but the studio working on that project was shut down. At the very least Microsoft released a free to play enhanced version of the original as sort of a make good. Who knows what could get cancelled next.
28 Better: The Most Powerful Console On The Market
At the end of the day the biggest boost Microsoft has going for itself right now is the fact that the Xbox One X, technically, is the most powerful console on the market. Not to mention it’s even sleeker than the Xbox One S and is the smallest console out there. It may not have a stellar library of third-party, or first party support, but if it matches that of a moderate PC, then who knows how 2018 will shape out. Perhaps everyone is going to jump the Sony train for the Xbox One X. Right now it is expensive at $500, but again, give it time and I’m sure it will go down. I wonder if Sony is going to counter with a PS4 Pro X.
27 Worse: Where My JRPGS At?
My biggest complaint with the Xbox One library is a combination of everything I’ve reiterated on before regarding first party and third party support, but a more specific one. Where are the Japanese games? The simple answer is it’s selling terribly in Japan.
Japanese companies aren’t going to support it.
That’s why Nier: Automata and Nioh aren’t on the thing, but it goes deeper than that. As a hardcore JRPG fan, there’s just really not out there to satiate fans of the genre. Microsoft has said they’ve been in touch with Japanese developers, but after years of lackluster support it’s hard not to be skeptical.
26 Better: More Is Better Than Less
Another great feature to sort of circumvent the controversy surrounding their canceled games is Xbox Game Pass. It’s sort of like Sony’s PlayStation Now service only better. See with that package you can stream games like a Netflix app for games. It works reasonably well, but the pricing and catalog isn’t terrific.
Xbox Game Pass gives you a huge library up front you can download.
No, this isn’t just streaming, and as long as you’re subscribed you can play the games seemingly forever. It’s super cheap too plus if there’s something you want to buy the game will be discounted. It’s astounding really. Plus it had one of the best ad campaigns of last year featuring Danny McBride as the spokesperson. To quote the funny man, “More is better than less, it’s math.”
25 Worse: Batteries Not Included
It’s hard to enjoy playing games when constantly thinking about cords. That’s why the first HD era was so great in that they introduced wireless controllers. Now you could enjoy games from across the room. Trouble is a new issue arose: battery life. It didn’t matter for the PS3 controllers since they used built in rechargeable lithium batteries, but the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 did not. Nintendo learned their lesson with the Switch, but Microsoft didn’t with the Xbox One. It still uses two double AA batteries and costs just as much as a rechargeable PS4 controller. It’s a rip off. Yes you can buy rechargeable batteries, or packs for the controller specifically, but it increases the cost. It’s lame is what it is.
24 Better: All For Xbox One and One For All
Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world where we had one console, or at least one unified game account? Well, until we get there, there’s a smaller dream that is steadily becoming more prevalent and that’s different systems talking to each other. Minecraft, for example, now connects to multiple systems.
If you have a Switch and your friend has an Xbox One then you can still play together.
This is not the case in the PlayStation family, unfortunately, and the same goes for Rocket League. There was a mistake online that connected the Xbox One and PS4, which eventually got taken down due to Sony not wanting to play ball. Technically I get it, but it makes them look bad when Microsoft both wants to and does it with other games.
23 Worse: Last Place To Get DLC
On that same wavelength, Xbox One doesn’t get the third party support for DLC like they used to. On the Xbox 360, Microsoft dominated the DLC landscape with exclusive offers when it came to getting map packs and the like with Call of Duty and some other big name titles. They loved it and they sure show the PS3 last generation. Sony has flipped the switch and now they’re the ones with the exclusivity deals with Call of Duty, Destiny, and others. I mean that’s not Xbox’s fault on a console level. It’s not like the system can’t handle the DLC. It’s a business decision led by user integration aka money. That said, it’s another check against the Xbox One whether it’s fair to say so, or not.
22 Better: Bragging Rights
Activision may have all, but abandoned Microsoft on a DLC level, but their biggest competitor, EA, stepped in to save the day. Well maybe not save the day exactly. It’s not a phenomenal deal, but it is an exclusive win for the Xbox One in terms of consoles. I’m talking about EA Access, which is a similar service to the aforementioned Xbox Game Pass.
You can play a wide range of EA games for almost free.
That’s only about a week in advance on average, but that’s some pretty boss bragging rights if you care about that stuff. It’s a tad expensive and unless you’re a huge EA fan the catalog is lacking, but again it is a neat idea.
21 Worse: Abandoned By Your Bros
While Microsoft does have third party support in terms of services and cross console support, they don’t have the same kind of backing when it comes to console exclusives like Sony has on the PS4.
Some of the biggest third party games were only on PS4 last year.
I was a little shocked actually just how many were exclusive to PlayStation (with some PC support later down the line). For example, Nier: Automata and Nioh debuted on PS4 and later on PC. Those were two pretty high profile games and I just assumed they were on Xbox One too since most non-first party games come to the Xbox One, but 2017 was a year of change. In a lot of ways I fear the Xbox One is going the way of the Wii U.
20 Better: No One Does Shooters Better
What Microsoft lacks in third party support they make up in their own first party games. Well, sort of. They, at the very least, can make good shooters. Halo isn’t the system selling series it used to be, but it’s still a great shooter compared to Sony’s seemingly now dead Killzone franchise, which was always trying to be that big PlayStation FPS. Even Resistance tried to be that and failed. Then there is Gear of War, which is third person, but still a shooter. I like Uncharted more as an overall experience, but there is no denying the mechanics are better in Gears of War technically. Point is Sony has had a lot of attempts to make shooters and they do have a lot of good ones, but they pale in comparison to Halo and Gears of War.
19 Worse: But What Else Besides Halo And Gears?
You can have all the backwards compatibility and exclusive services in the world, but they don’t mean a thing if there aren’t games to back it up.
A healthy console has to have a good balance of pluses and minuses.
That’s why this list can exist in the first place. Again, the Xbox One has some good services, but so does Sony and more importantly they also have a healthy catalog of games both in the past and future. As I said before Microsoft seems to just like announcing titles and then canceling them. Guys, what are you doing over there? Halo and Gears of War may be good shooters, but they need more than that and even with them they aren’t the blockbusters that they used to be.
18 Better: Indies To The Rescue
While the Xbox One lacks consistent third party, or first party support they make up for with indie games. Remember when the PS4 was announced and how humble Sony was with these type of games? They were showcased at their live events like E3 and now that they are in the lead. There are still plenty of indie exclusives on the console, but Sony themselves aren’t going out of their way to pump them up especially compared to Microsoft. I would argue that last year’s Cuphead was their biggest console exclusive and that’s saying a lot since Halo Wars 2 came out. This year is starting out with a bang too with Full Metal Furies: the newest title from Rogue Legacy developer Cellar Door Games.
17 Worse: The True Power Of The Vita
Speaking of Indies my favorite thing about them on PS4 is that most are cross compatible with the PS Vita and if they’re not you can just use Remote Play. What is Remote Play? It allows you to essentially stream anything from your PS4 to your PS Vita via Wi-Fi. It was the Wii U before that even existed. Yeah, it’s a little more complicated than that, or the Switch, but it works well especially for grinding out dungeons in RPGs like Persona 5, or again with smaller indie pieces.
You can’t do that on the Xbox One.
Sure there was that short-lived second screen experience stuff, but that was more for media stuff. I’m curious what an Xbox One, or mini PC handheld would look like.
16 Better: Early Access Gets The Worm
One of the biggest trends to hit gaming in the past few years is Steam’s Early Access program. You essentially buy a game before release and can play it to your hearts content while the developers tweak and add stuff.
Last year’s biggest trend was PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG for short.
It started out in Early Access back in March and officially launched on Steam in a 1.0 status in December. Along with it came an Early Access version on Xbox One, but their system is called the Preview Program, but it ultimately works the same. There are other games on there too like We Happy Few and Conan Exiles. Personally I’m not a fan of either service, but it is a nice program for those interested and something they have over Sony.
15 Worse: Statutory Update
Okay so I live in the country and I have a very limited amount of data I can use per month. If I had to update every game that pinged on my PS4 that data would be gone in a heartbeat. The updates may take up a huge amount of data, but the nice thing about them is you can pause their status, or delete them to play the game anyway. That is unless you want to play the game online. Then you can’t, but that’s understandable. It’s pretty much the exact opposite on Xbox One. In fact if you try and delete the update file on Xbox One it’ll delete the whole game. It’s not just the dashboard that’s whack; it’s the whole dang thing.
14 Better: Xbox On The Go
The Xbox One may not have a PS Vita equivalent, but they do have a similar cross buy type initiative. For most big first party games you buy on Xbox One you can unlock a PC version for free and saves can carry over.
If you want to continue that Gears of War 4 campaign on the go via your laptop you have that option.
A laptop may not be as sleek as pulling out a smaller handheld, but at the very least Microsoft is trying something to match Sony. That PC version may look even better on your laptop than on your TV. It really depends on what kind of laptop you have, but it is possible. You’d never say that about a PS Vita version.
13 Worse: Denying The Future Of Game
Another peripheral that is missing from the Xbox One is a VR headset. I thought one of the big things they’d showcase with the Xbox One X at E3 was some kind of VR support. It didn’t have to be a first party thing like an Xbox official headset either. I was sure they’d partner up with the Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive. I mean they boasted so much about it being the most powerful console that I thought it was inevitable. On that same point they have also been doing a lot of cross compatible talk regarding the PC too as I already mentioned. What better way to showcase that then with a partnership with one of those two aforementioned companies? Why deny the future of gaming on your console?
12 Better: Are They Really?
Maybe Microsoft isn’t too keen on VR because they think their solution, the HoloLens, is better. It was first showcased at Microsoft’s E3 2015 press conference and it stole the show.
Think of it like a mixture between virtual reality and augmented reality.
There’s still a headset involved, but the design is more reminiscent of the Google Glass aka it doesn’t make you look ridiculous wearing it. The system then projects your games into your world. So in the demo the presenter was playing Minecraft on a table as if it was a 3D model in the real world. The PSVR and all other headsets are cool, but the HoloLens has me more intrigued. My nerdy brain has me pondering what it could for future D&D sessions.
11 Worse: Kinect, We Hardly Knew Ye
While the HoloLens has me curious, I am hesitant. It’s been almost three years now since that demo and Microsoft really hasn’t shown it off again although it’s still listed as in development. These things take time I get that, but what with their trigger happy fingers canceling games left in right, well, it has me on edge. After all they made a big deal about the new Kinect for the Xbox One and then basically threw it in the trash after like a year.
It’s not like the technology for the Kinect wasn’t sound.
Way to stick to your guns Microsoft. It just made the package more expensive and they needed to trim the fat as it were thus support for the peripheral fell off. Will this happen with HoloLens too?
