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GAMING

PS5 and Xbox Series X released for holiday showdown

By Ben Mullins & Ninian Carter

November 10, 2020 - Sony and Microsoft's long-awaited next-gen consoles are finally here, but which one will players prefer, the PlayStation 5 or XBox Series X?

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X game consoles have finally arrived, albeit in limited numbers of sold out pre-order units.

They both retail for the same price, both have solid state drives, both feature fan-cooled innards and are both incredibly powerful – putting them on the same level as some of the best gaming PCs on the market.

The decision as to which next-gen machine to invest in has never been harder, especially as neither of them are launching with a killer, must-have game – many game developers have had a hard time this year meeting deadlines while negotiating Covid-19 restrictions.

There are a handful of next-gen games at launch, but just not any that have got gamers pulses racing in anticipation.

Thankfully though, both machines are backwards compatible – the PS5 will play most PS4 games and the XBox Series X will play games going right back to the original XBox, 20 years ago.

Both Sony and Microsoft also offer monthly subscriptions, which give gamers a back catalogue of classic games available to download and play. Many of the last-gen games will be enhanced on the new systems, giving them blisteringly fast loading times and better frame rates.

To decide which console is best, probably depends on what console you're using now. Shoppers are most likely going to be PS4 owners jumping to PS5 and XBox One owners upgrading to XBox Series X.

In the coming months, more advanced games will be published that start to push the new machines hard, and then we might be able to decide on which console is the best.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 12/11/2020; ORIGINAL STATIC GRAPHIC: GN40464 Ninian Carter; TECHNICAL SUPPORT: Phil BainbridgeSTORY: Ninian Carter
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