The whole “console wars” thing isn’t really my schtick. Just because I play most of my games on the Playstation 3 doesn’t mean I hate the Xbox 360. I prefered the Playstation 3, at first because of my love for the Playstation 2. I stayed with the Playstation 3 because I had invested a lot of time into my trophy count. Yes, something so frivolous kept me loyal. Granted, nothing outside of Forza ever caught my attention as far as exclusives went, but I digress. I was a Playstation loyalist. To the core.
People who have heard me on various podcasts over the years know that, and now you do, too. To those people, I’m about to break some odd news to them. I am now the proud owner of an Xbox One console, as of last April 24th. Between now and then, dozens of hours have been spent using this wonderful piece of machinery.
I, like some people, was on the fence between which console to purchase last fall. At the time, I was leaning more towards the Playstation 4. Familiarity, a near-full friends list, and just being a loyal Sony gamer all had me thinking the Playstation 4 would be mine come tax time. The two new consoles had a similar palette of launch titles, though Sony has had more little indie games released lately, so the differences were in the little details.
The NFL app on Xbox, at the time, seemed like something I wouldn’t get much use from and not a reason to tip the scales in favor of Microsofts new console. Skype built in to the Xbox One sounded neat, but I have Skype on my phone and computer. The Playstation 4 finally had cross-game chat, but Xbox has been doing that for years, so no extra points for Sony since it wasn’t really new to the home console scene. Xbox can do stuff just by talking to it, which sounded pretty cool. There were no exclusives that I was dying to have on either side when the system launched, and nothing major on the horizon. Titanfall looked cool, but not worth switching brands for, and so did Forza.
So what caused me to “jump ship,” so to speak? A few things.
First, friends. I love my colleagues here at Critically Sane, and they kept having community game nights, get togethers, etc., and I could never participate last-gen. One of my best friends that I moved away from had an Xbox One, so we would be able to reconnect in various formats, whether it be Skype to video chat, party chat while we played seperate games, or even better, just play games together. This is a tricky card to play, though, because in turn, I left all of my friends on the Playstation side of the road. But like most geeky adults that have to consume electronics faster than they can afford to, I will get a Playstation 4. That’ll just take a while.
Secondly, Titanfall. Sure it just “looked cool” last fall, but after hearing about it leading up to its launch, I was getting more and more antsy for this multiplayer-only shooter. I kept hearing stories from our resident Strategy Gamer, Tony, and saw ads on websites. Needless to say, I wanted to play Titanfall VERY badly. So much, that it was one of the two things to make me decide which console to get. Thankfully, that lived up to the hype. As did my first reason.
So my wife made the purchase (I love that woman so much, she spoils me) and surprised me with this new piece of hardware, knowing my reasons for adding a Microsoft product into our mostly-Sony household. I will say, I felt a little strange opening the box. Mind you, this is a two-PS3, two-Vita family, and now I was introducing a very foreign product to the fold. How do I feel after a few weeks?
Titanfall is amazing, and I can’t get enough of it. I have almost a dozen in-game hours in Respawn’s exhilarating shooter, and have had many “Xbox Record That” moments already. Forza 5 is better than I expected, but I’ll write a separate article about that. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is neat, but with Titanfall, I find it hard to be able to commit much time to it. As far as actual games go, that’s all I have at the moment, though I will be sampling many more over the next month or two, with NBA 2K14 on my list to play soon.
One of my (and my wife’s) favorite things, oddly enough, is Xbox Fitness. With my Gold account, I have access to a lot of popular workouts. The one I am anticipating the most is P90X, but for now, to get into shape, I am sticking to the 10-Minute Boot Camp workouts for a few weeks.
Talking to my Xbox One is something I didn’t think I would utilize much, but I do. A lot, too. When I come home, and it’s not on, I kick my shoes off and demand my Xbox One to turn on. And it does. Recording clips is very easy; though I haven’t uploaded many for public view, anyone on my friends list can see what I have been up to in their friends feed, which is equally neat. By the way, feel free to add me: GCSobaer.
Being an important factor in the decision, I have loved playing games with friends. I have been able to join my friends here at the site for a night of Titanfall, me and my besty back home get some Titanfall in, and I’ve even gotten to play with a few friends from Twitter. Skype has made chatting with my other best-friend back home convenient, too. I can kick back in my recliner and chat, or flip over to my game for a little bit if I want to. Plus, with the wireless controller, I can go anywhere in the apartment without saying “hold on, be right back”.
While this was a strange, unpredicted step, it just felt like the right choice to make. When spending what seems like a small fortune on something that is going to shape my gaming habits for a year or two (before I eventually get the other console), I had to be certain that I was making the right move. Everything fell into place, though, and when it came time to make the plunge, there was no second-guessing myself. If you happen to be asking yourself the same thing, don’t take my reasons into account, though, just the principle. Which console best suits your needs?
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