5 best reasons for buying Xbox instead of PS4

It’s November, and that means that next-gen consoles are finally on their way. Both consoles have their strengths and weaknesses, and both consoles are going to appeal to different kinds of gamers. In that spirit, I’m running a mini-series on whether you  should by the Xbox One, the PS4, or neither. Check out yesterday’s post on the argument for the PS4, and check back tomorrow for why you might be better off with neither. Cloud: Sony SNE -1.35% may have bought Gaikai, but Microsoft MSFT +1.94% is Microsoft. As this generation continues, we’re going to see the true benefits of having the resources of one of the largest tech companies in the world backing your console. “Project Mountain” is a $700 million data center built for Xbox One and Office 365, and more games will take advantage of that computing power as time goes on. In the early days, expect to see the full benefits of Microsoft’s cloud services in games like Titanfall — the developer explains what they’re capable of here. The 5 Best Reasons For Buying The PS4 Instead Of An Xbox One Dave Thier Dave Thier Contributor PlayStation Chief Jack Tretton: Riding High Out Of E3 David M. Ewalt David M. Ewalt Contributor 'Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag' Review -- An Assassin's Life For Me Dave Thier Dave Thier Contributor A lot of gamers would argue that Xbox Live was the more reliable multiplayer service in the last generation, so Sony’s got some catching up to do. The fact that PSN is now a paid service suggest that it’s working on it, but for right now I’d bank on Xbox Live for better matchmaking and more reliable multiplayer. Kinect: The Kinect never quite found its footing on the Xbox 360, but Microsoft believes in this technology. It’s a fully-featured depth sensing camera that, in my limited time with it so far, appears to be a huge improvement over the previous generation. If you want to do P90x with your Xbox, you can do that. If you want to use dragon shouts by actually shouting or command your squad with your voice, you can do that too. And I’ve got a feeling that the best uses of the Kinect are yet to come. It’s odd, new, and still brimming with potential. Why not take a chance on the future? Next-gen shouldn’t just be about playing the same old games with fancy new graphics. This is hardware that can really change the way we interact with games, and that’s worth exploring. Controller: The Dualshock 4 is a big improvement over the Dualshock 3, but the Xbox controller is still a beautiful little piece of industrial design. The Xbox One controller doesn’t fix what isn’t broken, but it  builds on the now classic design in every way. Offset analog sticks remain a great way to game, and rumbling triggers actually make the experience feel different. It’s also better balanced, and has an improved d-pad. We’ve come a long way since the dinner plates. For shooter fans especially — a giant chunk of the gaming public — the Xbox controller design is tested, successful, and worth sticking with. In an industry dominated by cross-platform titles, some of the biggest differences between these two consoles are not on the screen, but in your hand. Controller preference is a bigger deal than it appears. Exclusives: Software sells hardware. Titanfall is probably the next-gen game that has generated more buzz than any other, and it’s not coming to PS4. On day one we get Lococycle, Ryse, Dead Rising, Forza, Fighter Within and Crimson Dragon. Quantity-wise, that’s a little more to play with than on the PS4. In the future, I’m very curious to see what Project Spark can bring to the table — it looks something like Microsoft’s answer to Littlebigplanet. On top of that, Halo fans around the world have likely already made their decision based on that franchise alone. Exclusives come down to a matter of taste, and Sony performed very well towards the end of last generation. This, however, is a whole new ball game, and Microsoft is coming out swinging. Entertainment:  Much to the chagrin of gamers everywhere, Microsoft chose to focus on TV and entertainment options in its Xbox One reveal rather than games. But by now, we know that the system has games and, exclusives aside, they’re a lot of the same games the PS4 has. A wealth of entertainment options, complete with Kinect controls, represent a valuable expansion to the capabilities that Microsoft slowly added to the Xbox 360 over the course of the previous generation. Microsoft’s partnerships with the likes of Time Warner Cable TWC -2.58%, Verizon Fios, Comcast CMCSA -0.71% Xfinity and the NFL make this a very attractive option to gamers with cable. Plus, a Halo series produced by Spielberg is hard to argue with. Add in MP3 support, DLNA streaming and audio CDs, and Xbox One can handily serve as an entertainment hub for the whole living room. I play games as much as anyone, but I still use my console for a whole lot of other things. It’s worth making those things a priority as well. There are more reasons to like the Xbox One, and other reasons to dislike it (again, covered in the PS4 post). An honorable mention goes to the little noise the Xbox makes when you get an achievement.