The Playstation 4 is one of the most successful 8th generation gaming consoles ever made.  In the past Sony faced competition with Nintendo and Microsoft, but in recent years Nintendo’s strategy has pushed it toward developing the Wii for a different audience looking for a more low-key, family gaming experience.  That leaves only Microsoft’s Xbox One as a viable competitor.

When the Playstation 4 came out in late 2013, critics praised its focus on the gaming experience, with video streaming and watching DVDs as secondary but well-designed functionalities.  Sharing was made a major part of the hardware and software design.  In addition, the machine was sleek, beautiful and more compact.

In contrast, the Xbox One is designed for many more activities such as Skype calling, TV watching, and many ancillary, computer-like entertainment features.  This is not surprising given Microsoft’s history in generalized personal computing.  But this history has a lot of baggage.  For example critics panned the long download times for games, and the endless updates.  The Xbox is also priced higher.

One aspect buyers discuss often about the PS4 is the annual fee for playing online with others, but fortunately the monthly cost is lower than Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold service.  The number of games is massive – players are advised to consult with a PS4 reviews site to get more insight on how to navigate the gaming ecosystem.

The face-off between the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 continues to simmer.  Although both consoles have been out since November of 2013 last year, analysts are fervently tracking sales numbers to understand the evolving landscape of these two giants of the gaming industry.  Just this year in March, the business pages were excited to report that competition had heated up, and sales for both machines were now neck and neck.  This is in contrast to the beginning of the year, in January of 2014, when the Playstation outsold the Xbox One by a full two to one.

Because consoles have more features it makes them correspondingly more complicated.  We advise our readers to maximize the use of their console by thoroughly reading the PS4 FAQS written by experts.

(Photo Credits: Ricky Brigante / Creative Commons)