Your Next-gen buyer's guide!

[goh]

Xbox One
Price: $499 including non-optional Kinect
Kinect is no longer required for the Xbox One to function but it's still coming with which means you're still paying for it.

Backwards compatible?: "If you’re backwards compatible,you’re really backwards." "People can keep their 360."

Specs: Very nice.

Online: XBL Gold $60 a year with 2 free 360 games a month from now until December. You can keep 'em even if you go silver. Required to play online and developer pending download roster updates/upload highlights etc. Also required to get demos on time. Must check in once every 24 hours.

Games: $60 standard. Requires XBL Gold for most sales. Weekly sale. Currently hides indie games away and requires an online check in to play them. Trade-ins or rentals if the publisher lets you. MS won't. Some confusing "Xbox Family" bull to share games. *Update* No DRM,no online check-in,do whatever you want with your games as on 360 currently: http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-remov...-drm-514390310 Requires internet for ONE time set up.

Currency: Money switched from points.

Available: November,22nd 2013

PS4
Price: $399 + $60 optional PSEye + the souls and pride of Chinese university students that were blackmailed into building the physical system (http://kotaku.com/report-college-stu...n-4-1443353519)

Backwards compatible?: "Cloud based emulation."

Specs: Very nice.

Online: PSN+ $40 a year with various free games as long as you keep paying. Now required to play online. No info on what you can access if you don't pay. Can play and share offline. *update* "The main pillar for the PS4 will be online play. We're developing many new ways to play and connect which requires a large investment of resources,Considering the cost, to try to keep such a service free and consequently lower the quality would be absurd. We decided that if that's the case, then it would be better to receive proper payment and continue to offer a good service." (http://www.gamespot.com/news/sony-ex...e-play-6410806)

Games: $60 standard. Requires PSN+ for most sales. Frequency: Unknown. At least some effort towards indie. Can trade in/rent if the publisher lets you. Sony will. Indie game content a bit on the restricted side: http://kotaku.com/good-thing-gta-v-i...use-1443028714

Currency: Straight cash homie. Charges tax where applicable.

Available: Nov. 15th,2013

Wii U
Price: $350 deluxe,$300 standard (if you can still find it)

Backwards compatible?: Yup. If you have the stuff for it anyway. Many Nintendo classics available for download.

Specs: wompwompwomp

Online: Free. Everything works offline.

Games: Quite mixed between $50 and $60. Appears to have nice e-shop/indie support. Rentals and used games supported.

Currency: Non-sense points. No tax.

Available: Now!

PC
Price: How much ya got? $300-$10000 + optional Oculus Rift currently rumored at $300

Backwards compatible?: and then some. I can play Syndicate right now and that's from 1993.

Specs: The best...if you want it. 4K support.
AMD's Mantle making it even better,starting with Battlefield 4: http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/09/26/am...battlefield-4/

Online: Free. Can run all services in offline mode and still play your games.

Games: $50 standard often with 10-25% pre-order discount. All sales are free. Frequency: Multiple daily. Thousands,if not millions of free games. Huge indie support. You can "trade-in" games on Greenman if it doesn't use Steam. No rentals but due to the massive ammount and values of sales it doesn't take that long for things to get cheap.

*Update* Steam will allowing sharing with 10 accounts but you can't play the same game at the same time.

*Update* Origin will now take EA games back within 24 hours if you don't like them/finish them. Only for EA games.

Currency: Money or Steam gift cards. Origin is the only game service that's charged me tax.

Available: Now! or whenever you want. You can do even better if you wait.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Lol @ the Wii-U Specs. Good little guide. I need a new pc, but even when I do get one most of my gaming will stay on a console. That's just how I grew up, hard to change that. I went on a Counterstrike kick for a little bit back when that game was popular and a bit of Delta Force, but other than that I haven't gamed on a pc much at all.

[Yubbed]

Soooo undecided on what I really want, I'm a huge Xbox fan but at the same time PS4 looks and sounds attractive. That $100 difference may make the difference.

:/

[raiderphantom]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yubbed

Soooo undecided on what I really want, I'm a huge Xbox fan but at the same time PS4 looks and sounds attractive. That $100 difference may make the difference. :/

I'm not saying $100 isn't a lot to some people but this is the console you'll be playing for what? 5-10 years? I wouldn't let $100 be the deciding factor for a decision that big.

[Evan_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by raiderphantom

I'm not saying $100 isn't a lot to some people but this is the console you'll be playing for what? 5-10 years? I wouldn't let $100 be the deciding factor for a decision that big.

In the long run a 100 dollars isn't a lot of money, but you are not paying in the long run. You are paying right now. A 100 bucks can be the deciding factor of putting food on the table for kids for some families.

[MrSerendipity]

Quote: Originally Posted by Evan_OS

In the long run a 100 dollars isn't a lot of money, but you are not paying in the long run. You are paying right now. A 100 bucks can be the deciding factor of putting food on the table for kids for some families.

If $100 is truly the difference between feeding your (Not your as in Evan_OS, your in General) children or not, I'd like think you're not buying a new gaming system. If it is, you should probably just hold off until you've got the money all within your budget and $100 isn't as big of a difference.

Just my .02.

[rockchisler]

I just pre-ordered my PS4 from Gamestop Im in line to get the first shipment allotment. Ill get a Xboxone maybe 6 months later.

[goh]

Updated with today's news of all of XBO's bullcrap being removed and Steam's possible sharing system.