Meus Renaissance
Member
What impresses me most? The attention to detail. It's quite apparent from the moment you boot the console up that the UI was designed, and refined, for gamers in mind. For instance, the option to view the bandwidth usage of your console and be able to see a history of that usage hour-by-hour. How many times have you felt a download was taking longer than usual? Whilst the PS4 shows you a progress bar of how much data has been downloaded thus far, the Xbox One allows you to monitor the actual speed (Mbits per second).
Friends & Parties
With the PS4, you go through at least 3 different inputs (Home, Up, Find Party Icon, Create Party etc) just to create a party session. It's fine as it is, I was happy with it. But then I experienced something different with Microsoft's console. Double-tap the Home button, you have your friends list snap to your screen . As you highlight a friend, the party icon prompt appears and you need only press X to start a session with that person.
Store and Friend Activity
Although a marked improvement over the years, Sony's integration of their store is abysmal as many of you know. Their Friend Activity wall is an eye-sore of a jigsaw puzzle mixed in with ads. The Xbox One allows you to scroll through all of this pretty smoothly, and again, something that is consistent, the UI is clean and organised. The eye icons are not an eye-sore and 'liking' or commenting is actually pretty simple to do. This leads to a greater level of engagement within the community.
The Store is just there - it's not an app you have to open.
The controller
This is it. This is what I really want to talk about. The controllers of both consoles - in my opinion - epitomise the difference of perspective when it comes to designing games consoles. Whilst Mark Cerny is a godsend when it comes to introducing/explaining the hardware of Sony's machine, Microsoft made just as much a fuss in drooling over their new controller.
The grips on the side of the controller as well on the new, smaller thumb sticks give it the impression of being a better made device than Sony's offering. Whilst I - like many others - found the rubber peeling off the DS4 sticks frustrating, the One's controller made me smile as I felt the triggers vibrate. Seriously, the triggers vibrate. And upon notifications, you feel another vibration from...somewhere. I haven't pinned it down yet but it's really subtle.
The PS4 does a lot of things well. I still have mine. But wow, this Xbox One console feels like another generation ahead of Sony when it comes to it's UI.
Friends & Parties
With the PS4, you go through at least 3 different inputs (Home, Up, Find Party Icon, Create Party etc) just to create a party session. It's fine as it is, I was happy with it. But then I experienced something different with Microsoft's console. Double-tap the Home button, you have your friends list snap to your screen . As you highlight a friend, the party icon prompt appears and you need only press X to start a session with that person.
Store and Friend Activity
Although a marked improvement over the years, Sony's integration of their store is abysmal as many of you know. Their Friend Activity wall is an eye-sore of a jigsaw puzzle mixed in with ads. The Xbox One allows you to scroll through all of this pretty smoothly, and again, something that is consistent, the UI is clean and organised. The eye icons are not an eye-sore and 'liking' or commenting is actually pretty simple to do. This leads to a greater level of engagement within the community.
The Store is just there - it's not an app you have to open.
The controller
This is it. This is what I really want to talk about. The controllers of both consoles - in my opinion - epitomise the difference of perspective when it comes to designing games consoles. Whilst Mark Cerny is a godsend when it comes to introducing/explaining the hardware of Sony's machine, Microsoft made just as much a fuss in drooling over their new controller.
The grips on the side of the controller as well on the new, smaller thumb sticks give it the impression of being a better made device than Sony's offering. Whilst I - like many others - found the rubber peeling off the DS4 sticks frustrating, the One's controller made me smile as I felt the triggers vibrate. Seriously, the triggers vibrate. And upon notifications, you feel another vibration from...somewhere. I haven't pinned it down yet but it's really subtle.
The PS4 does a lot of things well. I still have mine. But wow, this Xbox One console feels like another generation ahead of Sony when it comes to it's UI.
