20 Things the Xbox One and PS4 Got Right and Wrong

The new consoles are almost here, and just like with any console launch it's been a rocky road so far. Since their announcement earlier this year, both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have had plenty of ups and down in fans' eyes.

For a while it might seem like one is clearly ahead of the other, but then something unexpected happens, or Microsoft or Sony unveil a new feature, and everything is turned on its head again. There's no predicting things this time, and only time will tell whether the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4 will ultimately be more successful.

Isn't that always the way, though? Who the hell would have predicted, seven or eight years ago, that the Wii would have such success, or that the PS3 would get off to such an uncertain start? The XB1 and PS4 should have even longer life spans than the current generation of game consoles, and their futures could be just as volatile.

That leaves us now, in the weeks leading up to their releases, to examine what they've each done right and wrong so far. You'll just have to make your own predictions from here!

The Xbox One got off to a very bad start when it was unveiled earlier this year. It had a lot of strange policies and features involving not being able to play used games, not being able to share games with friends, having to constantly connect to the internet, and more.

Microsoft swore that there was a purpose to these features. Maybe if they had explained what that purpose was, they wouldn't have had to backtrack on every single one of them, changing the console back into what fans thought they wanted. We'll never know how Microsoft's controversial policies would ultimately have manifested, but Microsoft might have avoided all of this if they had been open about everything to begin with.

The Xbox One is not compatible with any previous Xbox games, either from the original Xbox or the Xbox 360. That includes digital games, which despite remaining tied to users' Xbox Live accounts won't be playable on the new console.

That's because the Xbox One is built on a completely new architecture, and backward compatibility is conceivably something few players take advantage of. But it's still something that some gamers will miss. And unlike Sony, Microsoft hasn't even announced any plans to implement backward compatibility, through streaming services or otherwise, in the future.

Microsoft spent its first ever Xbox One press conference talking almost entirely about TV and sports. But if that wasn't a sign that the new Xbox console isn't really for hardcore gamers, then the company's baffling policies toward independent developers certainly were.

Indie devs were pissed off when Microsoft announced that they couldn't self-publish their games on the Xbox One. Microsoft made up for it later by changing that policy as well, but one could argue that it was too late by then, especially considering the love indies get on PS4. Many independent developers are not firmly in Sony's camp.

Xbox gamers are used to paying money for their Xbox Live subscriptions. If they don't then they're locked out of online multiplayer, as well as services like Netflix.

That was possible before because Sony's PS3 online services were so inferior to Xbox Live, but with the growth of PlayStation Plus that's no longer the case. Sony took a step backward by making PS4 gamers pay for online multiplayer, but other entertainment services on the platform are still free. Microsoft could have taken this opportunity to change its own policy there, but instead it chose to keep charging users for services they're already paying for.

We're not saying that the Xbox One and Kinect are not worth their $499 price tag. They definitely are. But the PS4's $399 price tag certainly looks more attractive to your average buyer, especially someone who's on the fence about which console to get.

The inclusion of Kinect with every Xbox One is what drove the price up, and the Xbox One will probably ultimately benefit from users having a more universal experience. Everyone will have access to Kinect, and that's a good thing for gamers and developers. But the cost up front is higher.

We thought the Xbox 360's controller was perfection until we held the Xbox One controller in our hands. Ever since the original Xbox's smaller "controller S" came out Microsoft has been iterating, not revolutionizing, and the Xbox One control is the perfect evolution of that stellar design.

It feels great to hold, from the weight to the textures to the button, trigger and stick placement. And best of all are the "impulse triggers"—both triggers give off separate rumble feedback, an interesting effect in all sorts of games.

Twitch is used by millions of gamers, who stream their gameplay over the internet and watch countless hours of others' content. The service is really incredibly successful, and it was positively ingenious of Microsoft to get it integrated into the Xbox One at the hardware level.

The details are still somewhat fuzzy, but we do know that Twitch streaming and Twitch accounts will be a big part of the Xbox One's offerings, and that's a master stroke for competitive gamers or those who simply like to watch others play. The PS4 has some similar functionality, but right now it looks like Microsoft will win in this area.

Microsoft has not been shy about what it seems to consider the Xbox One's best feature: its powerful cloud services. The Xbox One users the cloud for everything from game saves to extra processing power, allowing developers to use the console's powerful hardware for some functions while offloading some of the load to the cloud servers.

From what we've heard from developers like Respawn Entertainment, that's going to make a big difference. Respawn's game Titanfall looks great, and they say there's a reason it's an Xbox and Windows 8 exclusive.

It's healthy to be skeptical about the Xbox One's new Kinect sensor, considering how unreliable the Xbox 360 Kinect could be. But in our experience the new Kinect is much more accurate and responsive.

That's exactly what Kinect needed. There are so many intriguing ideas and applications behind the device, and now that it actually works—as far as we can tell—we're excited to see what developers do with it.

Microsoft has their shit locked down tight when it comes to Xbox One exclusives. Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall, which is like Call of Duty but with armored mech suits, is the big one here.

But while Titanfall won't be a launch title, there are plenty more Xbox One exclusives releasing earlier. Just check out Dead Rising 3, Forza 5, Ryse, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct, Sunset Overdrive, D4, and plenty more as evidence of that. PS4 has some as well, but XB1 comes out on top here.

The PlayStation 4 has got some great-looking exclusives, like Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, and Infamous: Second Son. But Microsoft definitely wins in the exclusives department with big titles like Dead Rising 3 and Titanfall, not to mention upcoming games like Halo 5, which we expect will be unveiled at some point in the next year.

Plus one of the most anticipated PS4 launch titles, Driveclub, was recently delayed into next year. The PS4 has plenty going for it, but it could definitely use some help in the exclusives department, particularly from third party developers.

Sony announced recently that the PS4 will be subject to a substantial day one update that will enable seemingly indispensable features like DVD and Blu-ray playback, voice chat, and PS Vita Remote Play. Given what happened with the Wii U, when day one purchasers couldn't use the console for several hours while it downloaded and installed a massive patch, gamers did not take this as good news.

Thankfully, the update will be released ahead of the console's launch, and users can put it on a USB stick and install it manually instead. But those features should definitely have been included on the PS4 to begin with so it could work out of the box with minimal set-up required.

Like the Xbox One, the PS4 omits one feature that's very important to some gamers: backward compatibility. Unlike Microsoft, Sony at least has plans to use streaming services to make older games, including PS3 games, playable on PS4 in the future.

But that will leave gamers with extensive collections of PS3 discs unable to sell their old consoles without losing the ability to revisit old favorite. What a bummer for those who'd like to put the money from selling a PS3 toward a PS4.

Don't get us wrong, the PlayStation Camera itself looks fine. It's no Kinect, but many gamers don't want a Kinect anyway. No, Sony's problem as we see it is in selling the camera separately instead of packaging it with the console.

Yes, it allowed Sony to keep the PS4's price down, which is definitely a good thing. But if Kinect actually winds up winning the hearts of gamers, then the PS4 might look less attractive; many Xbox One games will take advantage of Kinect in some way because developers know that every Xbox One owner also has Kinect. The same won't be true for PS4, and the PlayStation Camera might be underused. Besides, the PS4 pack-in title, The Playroom, uses the camera extensively. What's the point of including a PlayStation Camera game with the console when the camera is a separate purchase?

Sony messed up when it comes to PlayStation Plus. Against odds, the company grew its online service into a force for Microsoft to reckon with. Even with the cost of a subscription, Sony offered so much value, with tons of free games and new ones every month, that many PlayStation fans didn't mind paying.

But on PS3, playing online games with a free account always remained an option. That's no longer the case on PS4 now that online gameplay is locked behind the PlayStation Plus paywall, and suddenly a PS4 without a PlayStation Plus subscription is looking a tad less great.

Sony "won E3" in a lot of ways, chief among them the PS4's price tag. At $399, it's a full $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, and that makes a big difference to a lot of people.

The Xbox One is more expensive because every console includes a Kinect sensor. The PS4 features a new PlayStation Camera, but unlike Kinect, it's not included by default. So Sony kept the price down and made fans happy.

Remote Play is one of the most underused features currently available on PlayStation platforms. Playing PS3 games on your PS Vita (and before that, in even more limited form, on PSP) is just plain awesome, but it was rarely used in the PS3 generation.

That's going to change on the PS4, where Sony has promised virtually every game will feature Remote Play support. It hasn't been talked about much, but we get the feeling that PS Vita owners who pick up the PS4 are going to be pleasantly surprised by what they can do.

Much as we love the Xbox One's controller, we can't fault the PS4 controller either. You could argue that Sony's PlayStation controllers have been stuck in a rut for the last, oh, decade and a half. The PS3 controller was practically identical to the original PlayStation controller, after all.

But with the PS4 the controller has finally evolved. The touchpad in the middle should provide some interesting opportunities, but more importantly the PS4 controller is finally comfortable to hold and use, with responsive control sticks and actual, real, not terrible triggers.

The PlayStation 4 is the platform for indie games. That's the message that Sony sent to fans and developers early on, and it drastically affected the public's view of both consoles.

When Microsoft was still talking about changing the TV channel, Sony was unveiling dozens of artsy, cute independent games that will release on PS4. Are indie games the new hardcore? Either way, plenty of gamers are excited to get their hands on the new Sony console for that very reason.

Sony saw Microsoft's early blunders this year as an opportunity, and it jumped on the chance to make the PS4 look better than the Xbox One by marketing it to hardcore gamers and being clear about certain policies. That's how the company won E3, and to many gamers won the next-gen console battle months before either console had even launched.

Just think back to Sony's E3 press conference, at which it announced that the PS4 would play used games, that gamers could share with each other, and that the console would not feature any inherent DRM. We've never heard so much applause at a press conference before, but in that moment the PS4 got a standing ovation.

What else did the Xbox One and PS4 get right or wrong? Disagree with us on any point? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!