Xbox One S - Should you buy one?

25/11/2016

Blog post by Gemma @Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24

Xbox One S - Should you be thinking about buying one this Holiday Season?

We have not seen the last of the Console Wars. The Xbox One Vs PS4, PS4 Vs PS4 Slim, The Xbox One S Vs PS4 Pro and let’s face it we could go on right?! A lot of people out there continue to moan about how unfair it is to compare the Xbox One S with the PS4 Pro due to the overwhelming power of the PS4 Pro over the Xbox One S. Okay so the PS4 Pro is missing a 4K Blu-ray player whereas the Xbox One S contains one but of course they are going to be compared. They are the latest video game consoles from each major camp and the Console War is very much alive just as it was in the 90s when we argued over the Sega Mega Drive Vs. Super Nintendo. Perhaps we should be saying the the PS4 Pro is only comparable to the Xbox Scorpio should we? For me I believe this to be a rather redundant statement considering the Scorpio is not out yet and we do not truly know how it will perform. Trusted Reviews rounded up the Scorpio’s graphical ability pretty nicely here and when it is finally released to the public then it would seem fair to start barking about making comparisons between the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio. Until then it seems completely uneducated to make a true comparison between a console on paper and the PS4 Pro:

In simple terms, the graphics core will be more than capable of going toe-to-toe with today’s top-end graphics card – comparison, the brand-new Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 has 6.5TFLOPs of performance. By the time Scorpio launches, it’ll be equivalent of a mid-range PC in 2017, which is how most consoles tend to launch.

Source: Trusted Reviews

Click this picture to Design your very own Xbox One S Custom Controller

I chose to hold off on buying the PS4 Pro and despite pre-ordering it I could not being myself to spending £350 on a console that included minor upgrades from my original Playstation 4. Additionally I could not find a 4K TV to fit in to the small streaming space I have where my PC is setup. That being said I purchased an Xbox One S instead as well as a copy of Gears of War 4. Did I make the right decision? A lot of my Subscribers on YouTube seemed to believe I’d made the right choice and for the most part I believe I’d made the right decision. If you like your Video Game Consoles to look sexy then the Xbox One S boasts a lot in terms of the updated aesthetics. It is 40% smaller than the standard bulky VHS looking Xbox One and certainly makes a lot less noise. The fan is located on the top of the console which seems to dominate the look. The Xbox One S Wireless Controller looks and feels stunning. Coming from a woman who prefers any Sony this is a big deal. Which wireless controller do I prefer? The PS4 Wireless controller is slightly smaller so suits my hands a little better than the larger Xbox One S Wireless controller. This is a minor detail and should not detract from buying an Xbox One S at all. The ergonomics of the Xbox One S Wireless controller are spot on. And let us not forget that Microsoft now allow you to design your very own custom Xbox One S controller with the Xbox Design Lab software!

Arguably, the Xbox One S' most talked about feature is the 4K Blu-Ray player enabling ultra HD Blu-Ray capabilities. This is something the PS4 and PS4 Pro lack. In terms of price (£249.99) the Xbox One S offers immense value for a Games Console as well as a 4K Blu-Ray player all in one? Is the 4K blu-ray player really worth it thought? According to whathifi.com the 4K Blu- Ray player lacks picture quality compared to other leading blu-ray players. On the contrary Pocket-lint.com reviewed the 4K blu-ray quality as "excellent" and aside from some odd menus getting in the way the movies played in stunning 4K fashion. As I am choosing to avoid 4K blu-rays this feature did not sway me to buy an Xbox One S at all but if you're planning on using your Xbox One S for more than playing games then I'd say it's a win/win idea to purchase the mighty Xbox One S.

Like with any video game console we can angle our decision on the games. Like Super Mario was the Super Nintendo and Sonic was to the Sega Mega Drive in the 90’s, the Xbox One and PS4 have had their fear share of amazing exclusives. Gears of War is a huge franchise alongside Halo that helped thrust the Xbox 360 up against the might Playstation 3 in the last generation. In the current generation there are certainly more game exclusives over in the PS4 camp compared to the Xbox One. Ask yourself: what games do I want to play? If the answer if Uncharted 4 then you are clearly wasting your time considering an Xbox One S but if you can make do with Halo 5, Forza and Gear of War 4 then the Xbox One S just might be for you this Holiday Season. Let’s face it the games are really what it can come down to for a lot of gamers. Both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One S are amazing consoles in their respective rights but it’s games that really separates these two consoles. If you want less exclusives then snag yourself the sexy Xbox One S but if you want a richer library of exclusives then the PS4 just might be for you.

- Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24