The year 2024 is slowly coming to an end, the sales season has begun, and for the New Year you need to pamper yourself and your loved ones with something. And on the Internet you can often come across the question: “Which console should I buy now among the current ones?”
And in this material we will briefly examine all the pros and cons of modern consoleslet’s see who will suit what, and in the end we’ll try to choose what to buy – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, or Nintendo Switch in general?
Disclaimer in advance: we are talking exclusively about gaming devices. This means that the PC flies by. Why? I talked about it in a separate article and I don’t want to repeat it.
Pros and cons of PlayStation, which one to choose
Let’s start with the undisputed market leader. It’s not possible to say much about the PlayStation 5, everything has already been said for me, but it’s probably worth briefly formulating the arguments for the purchase.
PlayStation 5 can and should be boughtif you:
Love exclusive projects from Sony. On PS 5, you can comfortably play through hits from PS 4 and immerse yourself in great games for PS 5, many of which are still not available on PC.
Never played The Last of Us, God Of War, Bloodborne and other hits. PS 5 is a great entry point into the Sony ecosystem. Most games are available with the PS Plus Deluxe subscription.
Want an enhanced gaming experience?. For me personally, DualSense was a real discovery. Tactile feedback and adaptive triggers really change the gaming experience.
For example, I have Death Stranding on both Xbox and PS5, but the vibration on PS5 makes the game feel better. It’s quite difficult to explain in words, and Sony understands this themselves. That’s why there is Astro’s Playroom, which very coolly shows all the features of the controller. They are used, among other things, in other games.
However, there are also disadvantagesfor some they can become critical:
PS Store is completely closed in our region. If you have already purchased some games, you can still download them, but you won’t be able to pick up new ones, even free ones. The same goes for next-gen updates.
I wrote a separate article about this, I don’t see any point in repeating it.
You need to have multiple accounts from different regions on your console to buy games.. The most popular regions are India and Türkiye. The account is tightly tied to the region and cannot be changed. To register yourself, by the way, you will also have to pay for it on third-party sites.
It’s not so simple with regions. Türkiye used to be a very good and cheap choice, where games were much cheaper. However, price tags for games began to rise with alarming frequency, both for new and old projects.
Indie is more loyal in this regard, but there is another important nuance – localization. For example, “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” in the Turkish region was not translated into Russian at all, but was translated into Polish. Only the game is more expensive there. This happens infrequently, but it is unpleasant.
The DualSense gamepad has a weak battery. It is advisable to have two devices at once, so as not to find yourself in a situation where you forget to charge the controller after a long session, which is why you will have to play on the wire for some time. The gamepad does not hold a charge for very long, 3–3.5 hours, provided that all the features such as triggers, speakers and vibration are used.
The main question: how and where to buy games now? There are three ways:
Buy CDs. There are enough places – from official retail to marketplaces. The price range is very serious, but, as a rule, it is cheaper on Avito and marketplaces.
Use third party sites for purchase to a Turkish/Indian/any other account. There are many sites, everyone values their reputation and the range of prices (consider markups) is different for everyone. The process is as simple and safe as possible. Choose a game, pay and follow the instructions.
Buy positions on your account with the game. It sounds complicated, but in reality it couldn’t be simpler. There is a service where people gather in the so-called. “squads” – three people per account with the game. The price tag of the game is also divided into three depending on the “position”.
It’s simple: two buyers can play the game on their personal account and receive achievements, and one person can only play the game on the account on which the game was purchased. The latter pays only 20% of the full cost of the game. Those who play from their personal accounts pay 40%.
And after completing the “position” you can sell it to another player. It turns out to be a kind of digital “Avito” for PS 5 users. In my personal opinion, the method is the most convenient, but there are nuances. Payment is only in cryptocurrency, but you won’t be able to get to the resource just like that, registration is closed there, and new users get through those already registered.
And finally, which console should I choose? Everything is easy here.
If there is a possibility, then take the PS 5 Pro. You can play all the hits without compromise. If your budget is smaller, then it is better to look for the PS 5 in the 2023 version (unofficially called the Slim version). It is quiet and relatively compact. And if the PS5 still doesn’t interest you, then let’s go explore the green camp.
No, we’re not talking about torrents, get out of here.
Pros and cons of Xbox, which one to choose
If for some reason you are not interested in the PS5, but want to have a console at home, then the second and no less interesting candidate would be the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S.
Strictly speaking, I have already described in detail why a console from Microsoft is needed in a separate large article, so I will repeat the points from it briefly.
Who is the Xbox right for?:
You are not interested in exclusives from Sony, but you want to play current projects. The industry, fortunately, is not limited to just PlayStation games. Other developers also offer many high-quality projects, which sometimes work better on Xbox (compared to the base version of PS 5).
And games are sometimes cheaper than a competitor’s because Microsoft doesn’t periodically raise prices in cheap regions.
Do you miss the gaming classics of the Xbox 360 and PS3 era?. Backward compatibility on Xbox is truly a miracle. There are many reverse games, they are inexpensive, and many have graphical improvements.
Need a lot of games for little money. Yes, Sony also has its own subscription, but its main difference is that there are no so-called “Day one” releases. All games from internal Microsoft studios automatically end up in Game Pass on the first day, and some third-party publishers like to collaborate with Xbox and release their projects directly to the subscription.
For example, the upcoming dark fantasy role-playing video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be on your console without having to purchase it.
Do you want to save money on buying a console?. Don’t want to pay 40-50 thousand? Well, you can buy the younger version of the Xbox Series S – it costs about 30 thousand, is small in size, and it is still comfortable to play games on, especially on a 1080p monitor.
Do you need a custom gamepad?. There are many third-party controllers available for Xbox. And if you don’t want to use a standard gamepad or its elite version, then you can pay attention, for example, to options from 8bitDo or Gamessir.
These controllers have additional buttons and separate software for fine-tuning various parameters – from the dead zone of the stick to the sensitivity of the trigger and the logic of the vibration motor behavior.
True, there are also disadvantagesand they should be taken into account:
Problems with gray consoles and connection error. Some consoles are affected by a bug that prevents games from launching. Mostly owners of consoles from parallel imports face this problem. However, the error can be corrected by changing the DNS address in the console settings.
The gamepad is outdated compared to its competitors. No, don’t think about it, the standard Xbox gamepad (and its analogues) are excellent. But compared to the DualSense and JoyCon, it looks downright dull. It lacks cool vibration, adaptive triggers and other features that greatly enhance the experience of interacting with the console.
Extremely unstable situation with the regions. I wrote above that Microsoft does not periodically increase prices in low-cost regions. However, from time to time the company complicates the purchasing process in these regions, and sometimes closes it altogether.
For example, everyone used to buy games in Argentina at extremely low prices, but a year ago this opportunity was simply closed. And when buying an Xbox, you need to be prepared to periodically monitor news on the topic, because you can expect anything from the company. In Turkey, for example, buying games is much more difficult now than it was a few months ago.
By the way, how can you even buy games on Xbox in 2024? Everything here is somewhat simpler than that of competitors. There is only one way:
There are a lot of sites online that provide assistance. with the purchase of games and subscriptions in other regions. All you need to do is pay and provide access to your account so that the seller can buy the game.
In rare cases, they may send you a game activation code, then you just need to activate the key on the Xbox website. There is no need to create multiple accounts for different regions.
And with this, the material, in principle, could have ended and moved on to conclusions, but… We have one more option left.
Nintendo Switch has something to surprise you in 2024
The reader will ask me: “Well, what other Switch in 2024?“, and I will answer: “OLED. Stitched, preferably” Although the console is already 7 years old this year, it is still capable of surprising the player with a huge library of exclusive projects and a hybrid format of use.
And yes, I’ve already written a long text about the Nintendo Switch, so again let’s go over all the nuances briefly and concisely.
Let’s start with the positives:
Do you want to play anywhere. The main feature of the Switch is its hybridity. At home in front of the monitor or on the road – The Legend of Zelda or Fire Emblem will equally bring a lot of pleasure.
Have you ever tried Nintendo games and are not afraid to start playing them?. The company is known for its exceptional approach to game design, where addictive and unique gameplay is at the forefront. It’s worth buying Switch in 2024 solely for the sake of a large and well-formed library of exclusive projects that are not available anywhere else.
But, of course, you can’t do without minuses either.:
The console looks pretty dated. First of all, this concerns the filling. Most multiplatform projects on Switch look frankly so-so, even if you make allowances for the portable format. If you value the most beautiful pictures in games, the Switch is not suitable.
Questionable reliability of controls. The nuance is strictly individual, but Switch Joy-Cons die quite often. The main problem is stick drift and loss of signal with the console. You can avoid it if you replace the sticks with custom ones with the Hall effect, or buy an option from third-party manufacturers.
At the beginning of the section, I mentioned that it is worth buying a hacked console, but I clarify that this is not advice or a call to action, the author condemns piracy and all information about the fact of its existence is provided for informational purposes.
Buying games on Switch is relatively easy:
Keys and recharge cards. As is the case with competitors, there are a lot of reliable services on the Internet that sell accounts, top-up cards and keys for different regions.
Choose according to your taste and wallet. And they also import quite official cartridges from other countries into retail and marketplaces at quite affordable prices.
So what should we take in the end?
I will answer as honestly as possible: you need to choose a console with your heart. See what your heart is most drawn to, then buy it.
For the most interesting gaming experience, take the PS5 Pro.
If you are not a fanatical gamer, but want to launch a new game for half an hour or an hour at any time, buy an Xbox with an Ultimate Pass subscription.
If you spend a lot of time on the road and not driving, your choice is Nintendo Switch. Lightweight, portable, with a large library of great games for the road.
Or you can simply buy all 3 consoles and enjoy the benefits of each. Locking yourself within one platform means seriously narrowing your horizons and missing out on a lot of cool games. Therefore, if possible and willing, try to cover as many things as possible from console gaming.
It’s worth it.
I leave you with this thought. Have a good day!
Source: www.iphones.ru
