With the holiday season approaching and everyone making their wish lists, two new gaming consoles are possibly the hottest commodities on the market entering 2014. The close release of Sony’s PlayStation 4 (Nov. 15) and Microsoft’s Xbox One (Nov. 22) raises the classic question that gamers have been asking for years: PlayStation or Xbox? Here are the unique characteristics of each console and some input from owners to hopefully make the decision easier.

Xbox One-$500

Sales Pitch, according to xbox.com: “Xbox One was built by gamers, for gamers. The perfect balance of power and performance, Xbox One takes gaming to a whole new level. Stunning realism. Advanced AI that adapts to the way you play. And a new generation of multiplayer that is both smarter and faster.”

Features, according to xbox.com:

Processor: An 8-core x86 processor lets you instantly switch between a game and your favorite entertainment apps with ease.

HDMI Pass-Thru: Connect your cable or satellite box to your Xbox One and prepare for lift off. HDMI pass-thru enables you to watch T.V. through your Xbox, which makes switching inputs seem almost pre-historic.

Memory: 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive give you plenty of memory for your games, demos, movies, apps, music and more.

Blu-ray: Watch movies and play games in stunning HD with a Blu-ray player.

PS4-$400

Sales Pitch, according to playstation.com: “The PS4™ system is centered around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art 1.84 TFLOPS graphics processor with 8 GB of ultra-fast GDDR5 unified system memory, easing game creation and increasing the richness of content achievable on the platform. The end result is new games with rich, high-fidelity graphics and deeply immersive experiences.”

Processor: Single-chip custom processor; low power x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores; AMD Radeon™ Graphics Core Next engine (same as Xbox).

HDMI+Digital Output (optical): Same input as Xbox, but doesn’t have same seamless integration of console and T.V.

Memory: GDDR5 8GB+500GB hard drive-on paper, same amount of memory as Xbox, but it was revealed by IGN that the PS4 actually makes more memory available than the Xbox-408GB for the PS4 vs. 362GB for the Xbox.

Blu-ray: Same quality Blu-Ray that set the PS3 apart from the Xbox 360.

Sometimes, however, technical specifications aren’t enough to decide between two products. To help clear the smoke created by the pitches from Sony and Microsoft, Whitman students pitched in with their opinions of the new consoles:

Senior Jack Puglisi, who purchased the Xbox One on the date of its release, said what really sets it apart is voice control. Users need to just say “Xbox on” and it turns on both the Xbox console and the T.V. He also said the feature allowing users to watch T.V. without changing inputs is a great new innovation. His favorite game on the console is “NBA 2K14,” which demonstrates the power of the new machine.

“The graphics are unreal,” he said. “If you looked quickly you would think it’s a real basketball game on T.V.”

Senior Ryan Hannegan, who purchased the PlayStation 4, is also impressed by the visuals of NBA 2k14, but can’t note any drastic differences in graphics between the two consoles.

“I would say the graphics are much better [on the PS4] and the in-game sound has improved a lot,
he said. “The games that I have played seem to have improved gameplay dramatically.”

The downside of the Xbox, Puglisi said, is its cost. Users have to buy the $500 console, spend $60 more if they want online Xbox Live service and spend another $60 on each game. In comparison, the PS4 is $400, with the same costs for games and its online service, PlayStation Network. Previously, PlayStation Network was offered free.

When it comes down to it, as it always has, the difference between the consoles is personal preference. Most people who have owned Xboxs in the past will choose them again, and most who have had PlayStations will stick with those. Some are deterred by the hefty prices of both consoles, but for those looking to buy the next revolution in gaming this holiday season: the choice is yours.