Why I will be buying the PS4 and not the Xbox One

So the dust has settled on E3 and both Sony and Microsoft have said and shown everything that needs to be heard and seen. I was glued to my laptop watching all of the games that I was interested in and of course to see what the PS4 and Xbox One had to offer in terms of games, exclusives and all the extras. And here are 5 reasons why I will be buying the PS4 and NOT the Xbox One.

1. Pre-Owned Games and DRM

As you should all know by know (if you don't where have you been!?) Sony have revealed that they will be supporting the pre-owned games initiative and have no intention of charging you or your friends for borrowing/lending games or trading them into your local game shop. There are some rumors coming out that PS4 will not interfere if 3rd party publishers wish to charge for pre-owned games, however, this has not been confirmed. And let it stay that way I say.

UPDATE: See bottom of article.

2. Privacy

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I quite like my privacy and if these reports are true about Kinect always being on and registering everything that is happening in the room, I cannot say I would be too happy about that, especially given the news about the NSA. People have also said 'well you can turn the sensor around', but clearly it can also pick up on voice, speech and dialect.

3. Cost

For those who are strapped for cash and can only afford the one console, like myself, the PS4 is the way to go. The launch price of the PS4 in the UK is £350 compared to £429 for the Xbox One. But don't be confused, just because you are paying £80 less doesn't mean you are paying for a poorer product. Also, think of what you could get for that £80 if you are savvy with your pennies.

4. Exclusives

Okay, okay, you probably want to chop my head off but, personally PS4 have the more interesting exclusive games. Yes, I know Xbox have Ryse: Son of Rome. Yes, I know that Xbox have Forza Motorsport 5 and yes, I know that Xbox have Titanfall. In addition to this, Xbox will also have Halo 5, Deadrising 3 and Quantum Break, including others. The only Xbox One exclusives that made my mouth water were Ryse: Son of Rome, Quantum Break and Project Spark, now let me tell you why.

Titanfall is an MMO and Vince Zampella has confirmed that there will not be a single-player campaign mode in the game. Once I caught wind of this I was instantly disinterested. I love to lose myself in a great storyline - Think Farcry 3. I have never been a fan of Halo and I never will be, I admit that the storyline can be somewhat decent but the handling of the game just doesn't sit well with me. Forza Motorsport 5 - Once you have played one racing game you have played them all.

The PS4 exclusives got me extremely excited. The Order 1886 looks like it will be a great game. Developed by Ready and Dawn at Santa Monica studios, it is a story about an alternative history version of the Victorian era in London, should be a great storyline. Killzone: Shadow Fall speaks for itself. Knack, it may look a bit boring to you guys but to me, it looks like it could just be a bit of fun. But if I could choose, I would bring Project Spark over to PS4.

5. Console

As a whole, the PS4 console looks so much better, it looks slicker, and it is smaller than the PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The design features also look so, so slick.

Judging by the statement that has been released today by Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, Don Mattrick, Xbox One may have pegged one back on the PS4. The statement reads "An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games..." "Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today..."

To keep up with the goings-on with Microsoft's policy on this, stay tune to CVG

But will this be enough to hold on to me as an Xbox customer? Judging by the other 4 reasons, I don't think so. Xbox would really have to do something outstanding to keep me on board.

Thanks for reading guys!

XBOX One vs PS4 - Round 2

Hey guys! Welcome back to 3 Lives Left. Apologies for not posting in a while but fear not, I am here to give you all of the new information on the next-gen consoles. XBOX was the winner of the last round, but who will win this one? Let's find out.

Starting with the PS4.

Here is the design of the brand new PS4. In the last round I made a big deal of how slick I thought the design of the XBOX One is, but the PS4, to me, seems a lot slicker.

Now, as it has seemed for a while now, and was confirmed at their conference at E3, Sony's focus definitely seems to be on gamers. The console is being sold and marketed as a games console, not as an entertainment system, although these functions will still be available.

PS4 will offer their users the use of their current and additional media services, and a subscription to Playstation Plus will not be needed to access these features. You will also not need a Playstation Plus subscription to access single-player games. In addition, the cost of the PS+ subscription is said to cost UNDER $5. So for the price of a couple of pounds, dollars and euros, you can access all of the services that PS4 have to offer. and from what I can tell, these services seem to be the same to those of XBOX One. Baring mind that XBOX Live customers are already paying £6 p/m, this is a very good deal.

On top of this, Sony Pictures will also offer and exclusive programming network on PSN and PS4 - No surprise. In addition, PS4 will launch and offer a Live Events Viewer that aims to deliver huge live sporting events e.g. WWE PPV's, NBA, NHL etc.

Watch Dogs and Assassins Creed IV Black Flag are not exclusive to PS4, but judging by the fact that both of Ubisoft's next massive titles turned up on Sony's stage and not Microsoft's, there seems to be an alliance forming. Not only did you see exclusive trailers for the games, there were people from Ubisoft to treat the crowd at E3 to actual game-play. Quite interestingly, PS4 and Bethesda have partnered to offer users The Elder Scrolls Online, which also includes a beta version.

PS4 are also huge on indie titles with the following titles just some of the indie games you can come to expect on the PS4:

- Knack

- Outlast

- Secret Ponchos

- Don't Starve

- Ray's The Dead

Now for the big news, most probably the biggest and most well received news at E3 so far. PS4 promise that they will support used games. So it has been made possible that you can still borrow games from friends or go into CeX, Game, Gamestop or any other retail shop that you choose and purchase a pre-owned game and use it on your console for no extra charge, unlike XBOX One.

PS4 also promise that there will be no need for disc based games to have an online connection in order to play. This is great news for folks out there like myself who have very poor internet connection, or even for those people out there who do not possess and internet connection, again, unlike XBOX One.

Very, very promising indeed.

Now, Xbox One.

Before watching the XBOX One conference at E3 I was excited for lots of games, lots of new great details about the machine and the immersive-ness that would be offered alongside their games. But once finished, I felt underwhelmed, disappointed.

The conference and the XBOX One offered only 4 big announcement. They are as follows:

- A brand new open-world Metal Gear Solid title: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

- Exclusive new game: Ryse: Son of Rome

- Exclusive new game: Titanfall (from the makers of CoD: MW2)

- Exclusive new (old) game: Killer Instinct

In addition to this, XBOX One showed a second trailer for Quantum Break, Battlefield 4 and only some indie games, namely Minecraft. Moreover, it was stated that XBOX One would move away from Microsoft Points and move to local currency. Other than this, some of their team showcased the autosave clip/upload feature and the livestream feature through Twitch.

All in all, very disappointing from Microsoft and XBOX One.

For me, Sony and PS4 win the round hands-down on every section: Console design, support of indie developers, backwards compatibility, support of game sharing, online connection not needed.

That is it for the round. I'm sure there will be at least one more. Thanks for reading you guys.

Don't forget to comment if you have any thoughts.

Head on over to http://www.e3expo.com/ for the latest info.