INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
This week, we finally learned what the PS5 specs and Xbox Series X specs are
Series X." There's a lot more to dig into than that, though, and we recommend reading both of our in-depth specs analysis articles, linked
above, for some informed opinions on the new consoles.Historically, it's hard to tell how important hardware specs end up being to a
Usually, there are other factors to consider, most obviously the range of games, but also the price of the console, or its appeal beyond
Timing, too, can play a key part, and additional features may also inform their success
remember how they came out on top, which might give you some idea of what'll determine the victor this time around.Why the PS4 beat the Xbox
OneDid the most powerful console win the generation? In terms of the base consoles, yes
The PS4 had an edge in performance over the Xbox One from the start, with many games achieving higher resolutions on PS4 than Xbox One
(there's a long list of comparisons on this front in IGN's database)
But the later-released Xbox Series X is more powerful than the PS4 Pro, and Xbox is still ending the generation well behind overall, with
The Xbox One was more expensive at launch, and experienced a PR disaster around its stance on pre-owned games (which it was forced to
Its Kinect peripheral was also removed entirely after release, which seemingly showed a lack of confidence in the offering, though it
enabled Microsoft to bring the price down
The Xbox One has also never had the quality of software that the 360 did, despite highlights like the Forza series and Sea of Thieves
The PS4, meanwhile, has thrived with big, story-driven narrative exclusive titles like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn.Why the Wii beat the
The Nintendo Wii won with over 100 million units sold, and it couldn't even output in HD
But there was no clear loser in this generation, really
The PS3 and 360 both ended in similar positions sales-wise (80 million+ units), and despite the PS3 being tricky to develop for (to the
point where PlayStation's Mark Cerny referenced it this week), games ended up performing similarly across both after a rocky first few
2012, had a better GPU than its competitors did (and a reportedly less capable CPU), but otherwise ran games to a comparable quality
Its real problem, though, was that its USP of a second screen simply didn't catch on
The Wii U didn't look like a serious upgrade to PlayStation or Xbox players, either, and proper next-gen consoles would follow a year
The Wii's promise was all about gaming as part of your family's lifestyle, with Wii Sports promoting local multiplayer, and Wii Fit
expanding Nintendo's remit beyond Mario, Zelda and company
Motion control had a serious novelty factor that sold the Wii to many people outside of the traditional gaming audience
But the PS3 and 360 both had solid generations, ultimately, and Microsoft in particular made huge strides over its preceding console in
sales thanks to the quality of its software and industry-leading online offering
The PS2 was considered less powerful than the GameCube and original Xbox (here's a good old Popular Mechanics article on that), but that
The PS2 is the best-selling home console of all time at over 140 million units, while neither of its competitors broke 30 million
The consoles had so much overlap in their software offerings, too, that you'd be hard-pushed to notice the difference between the consoles
The PS2's DVD player combined with its massive third-party library of software won out, eliminating the Dreamcast early on
The PS2 was also first to market after the Dreamcast, beating the GameCube and Xbox by over a year and a half, giving it a serious advantage
N64 and Sega Saturn(Image credit: Sony)Did the most powerful console win? No, but this case is complicated by more factors than the N64
having a more powerful CPU and more RAM than the PlayStation
Sony's decision to use CD-ROMs gave it a serious advantage in terms of capacity and audio, while Nintendo stuck with 4-64MB capacity
Games like Metal Gear Solid wouldn't have been the same on N64 because of the amount of audio (dialogue, in Metal Gear's case) stored on
That's why it's a miracle that Resident Evil 2, say, released on N64 at all (here's a great feature on Eurogamer about that).What
actually won the generation? This one was all about software: the range of it, the quality of it, and the price of it
And Sony won on all counts, while the N64 struggled with third-party support after dominating with the SNES
The PlayStation killed the Sega Saturn, too, by costing $100 less in North America, and it didn't help that Sega's console never had a
proper Sonic game to help it sell
When people see what a Horizon sequel looks like on PS5, they won't be thinking about how the specs line up next to the Xbox Series X
They'll just be wishlisting the console to themselves.That's why it's so important that Xbox gets the right balance of games during this
And while you can tell Microsoft has an immense amount of pride in its new hardware, its spate of developer acquisitions like Obsidian and
Ninja Theory underline that it knows great exclusives are fundamental to the success of each system.This feels like a generation where both
manufacturers should avoid their past mistakes, and really provide each other with some effective competition
Still, we don't know how much these consoles will cost yet, and so much depends on that.jMrbZtQ8eNtoW3KGvcAA2h.png?#
