The gaming world has had new additions to it: the Ps5 and Xbox Series X.  The last time there was a console from Sony and Microsoft was 2013 when the Ps4 and Xbox One released, after then, nothing really occurred for seven years. However, 2019 brought surprising news when Sony and Microsoft announced that new consoles would be released the following year for, “The Next Generation” and the time finally came. On November 10th, the consoles were released and immediately were sold out in most retail stores. Since most people do not know much about these consoles and just bought whichever one was a part of the company they supported, this is what should gamers know before purchasing either one of these.

According to Sony, the Ps5 will have, “Lightning fast loading” after the Ps4 had complaints because everything was loading too slowly and that will be fixed in the majority of features on this new console. Many of the new features are actually just improvements from the Ps4: faster loading, better report systems, and many more. With one terabyte of storage, gamers don’t have to worry about running low on battery anytime soon. It has two USB slots on the back, an ethernet port, one HDMI and it’s power socket, on the front, there is one USB slot and a charging outlet. The best part for most players is the Ps5 can support 4k 60fps, which means if gamers decide to record or just play the game normally, everything will look gorgeous.

However, a console wouldn’t be a console without some issues. The Ps5 is big; most people that have owned a Ps1, 2, 3, or 4 know that they lie flat because it just makes sense when people play video games, but the Ps5 stands at 15.4 inches!  That is five inches off of the average size of a newborn baby. Many say this isn’t a problem but if people do not have much space in their bedroom for it then it’s quite unfortunate for them. It’s not very wide but it will still take up about four inches of space since that is how wide it is. The reason for the console being this big is because it has a very big fan to try to keep the console from overheating even a little, but this brings it to the next issue. Also, if gamers buy the digital copy, they will not be able to play most games whenever they feel like it because if their internet is slow or down, the digital copy will not allow them to play. Make sure to always buy the disc version. It may be annoying to keep switching out the games but it’s better than not playing at all. If gamers do have space for the Ps5, they cannot have it in a small area. Gamers have to give it a lot of space otherwise the heat will have nowhere to go and just shut down the Ps5. This is a nightmare because they have to sit right next to it and wait until they can turn it on again. The list of issues is very short but the issues are still there.

The Xbox Series X  is quite similar to Ps5 but the major differences are the Xbox Series is only a disc console so the issues with the Ps5 can never happen on the Xbox, a USB slot on the front, on the back there are two USB slots, one HDMI slot, a Storage Expansion slot (which is where players would put an extra memory card), and an Ethernet slot. This console also includes one terabyte of storage.

Xbox has only one main issue. Like the Ps5, players need a good amount of space for this console. The Xbox stands at 11.85 inches tall and 5.65 inches wide. The issue isn’t the size of the console, it’s what happens when the console is in a cramped area. Xbox’s are known for overheating quite a bit but the Xbox Series X, if put in a very small area with no escape for the heat, will begin to smoke. A lot of videos have gone around online about the smoking Xbox’s but the majority of them are fake, however, make sure to not leave it in a cramped area. The Xbox is just like humans; it needs to breathe. Every other “problem” with the console isn’t an actual problem, it’s more of minor complaints from the community such as the Xbox Series will not support games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360.

Personally, I prefer the Ps5. Although both consoles are great, I prefer the Ps5 due to the fact that there are more exclusive games that are very interesting to me, such as the Spider-Man games that are on it already, and many more games are coming to it.