Both Sony and Microsoft gaming consoles, PS5 and the Xbox Series X are set to be released this year. So, what is new, and how has the public reacted to both consoles? Here is a quick rundown.

There is not much to know about the appearance of the console for the PS5, but there is plenty of information on the technology and controller. The PS5 boasts an SSD that is faster than an HDD, it loads 2GB in 0.27 seconds and allows game designers more freedom. The SSD has more bandwidth, so only the necessary data will be loaded from the SSD when needed. That basically means games will not have to suffer as much from texture pop-in, load times will be reduced and booting up from standby will be faster. 

There are also a lot of custom parts, such as a custom decompressor and RDNA 2 AMD GPU that puts out 10.28 seconds TFLOPs of processing power. The dual sense controller has impressive features with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and a built-in mic. As for the appearance, it is very minimal and sleek, with a space-age black and white color

The Xbox series X boasts grand technology as well. It has an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a maximum clock of 3.8 GHz, but will not operate the same as a desktop chip would. Instead of boosting up the core clock automatically, the processor will stay at one clock speed at all times, depending on how CPUs are used by developers. It will also have a GPU stronger than an RTX2080. 

As for the appearance of the console, it sports a blocky and almost tower-like structure, with a cooling vent on the top that appears to have a green light underneath it. The controller has a new D-pad and a share button located on the center of the controller that will allow gamers to capture screenshots or clips with ease. Luckily, all existing Xbox One accessories will work on the Xbox series X.

The public’s reaction to both consoles has been pretty average. Although, there were several fans who complained that the PS5’s reveal event, which was originally scheduled to be presented at GDC but had to be canceled due to coronavirus concerns, was boring and utterly pointless. 

As for the Xbox, a trailer was released that revealed what the console and controller would look like, which many fans responded to on twitter with funny remarks to the console design such as “New York looks different…” and photoshopped images of the console in a kitchen serving the purpose of being a refrigerator. Regardless of the various responses, there is no denying that these two consoles are definitely the next generation of gaming.