Note:
Perhaps a better title would be
Xbox One and PS4 reviews were kinda wild, with totally wrong projections on how this gen would shake out.
While we wait for the coming of the next generation I thought it would be interesting to look back at the current generation's PS4 and Xbox One and look a how they were initially reviewed on launch. What I found was pretty surprising when I polled some of the larger sites and you'll be somewhat surprised by first impressions compared to how they eventually panned out. As a cross section I used the following outlets:
- Polygon
- The Verge
- IGN
- Eurogamer
- Kotaku
PS4
Polygon: 7.5/10
http://www.polygon.com/a/ps4-review
The PS4 hints at plenty of other possibilities. Local network play via the PS Vita has an enormous amount of potential. The PlayStation App and even the Playstation Camera may provide opportunities for developers to broaden the appeal of the PlayStation 4 beyond the hardcore audience it currently seems so intent on courting. Unlike the PlayStation 3, Sony's latest effort was built to evolve.
But the PlayStation 4's focus on gaming — and only gaming — is undermined by a distinct lack of compelling software. That failing is sure to improve — better games and more of them will appear on the PlayStation 4 — but right now, this is a game console without a game to recommend it. Early adopters of the PS4 this fall are buying potential energy. We're just waiting for a place to spend it.
While Polygon notes the camera might open up more opportunities for developers it wasn't a pack in like Kinect so devs mostly ignored it until it became a requirement for VR years down the line. It turned out there wasn't really a need for bringing more than core games to the audience because that's what people wanted. Still, they're right in saying the first week of releases was pretty dry.
The Verge: No score
https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/15/5106888/sony-playstation-4-review
What Sony's done, though, is mark its territory. Stake its claim. Sony's not making big, grand gestures about the future of the living room the way Microsoft is, or attempting to alter the way we watch TV and talk to our families. It just wants us to play games. The PlayStation 4 is absolutely, unequivocally a gaming console for people who want to play video games, and it never pretends to be anything else. And even though the games aren't yet there for Sony — as is really always true with launch titles for consoles — they will be. Sony's earned the benefit of the doubt on that.
For right now, though, there's little incentive to spend $399 on a PlayStation 4. Not only are there few games worth the price of admission, the vast library of PS3 games is more compelling than anything the PS4 currently offers. If you're desperate for a new console, rest assured that eventually the PS4 will be one; it has plenty of power, a great controller, and a lot of good ideas about how we can play games better and how we can play them together. But for right now, they're mostly still just ideas.
The Verge were right in that in the early days there wasn't enough variety in PS4 to jump in, but the quality ramped up quickly and became the first launch console for most titles. The line about good ideas on how we can play games better was perhaps foresight at the coming VR space Sony would inhabit but Microsoft were more trailblazing during their chase of second place.
The moves towards Play Anywhere and cross play we're behind any social initiatives Sony aimed for - even if the audience appreciated the solid, unbending message from day one.
IGN: No score
https://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/11/13/playstation-4-review
Like any launch console, the PS4 isn't perfect. The software is lacking some key functionality, the DualShock 4's more distinctive features are underutilized, and remote play is still rough around the edges. But in spite of these issues, the PS4 is an exceptionally well-crafted console. It's impressively small and attractive design sets a new bar for the industry, and its powerful hardware offers not only stunning visuals, but higher player counts, constantly connected experiences, and larger, more detailed worlds. And did I mention how great the DualShock 4 is? It's pretty amazing.
Not a whole lot here other than some thin marketing speak, but otherwise in point with how it's been received by the audience.
Eurogamer/DF
No score
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-hardware-test-playstation-4
Where the jury's still out is on the user interface. We've just not had anything like enough time to put it through its paces. With that said, while some of clunkiness in the PlayStation Store is a touch off-putting, there's a sense that everything is well organised and easy to find, with a rich vein of useful functionality. The fact that the proliferation of the PS3's download/install progress bars has now been reduced significantly can only be a good thing.
PlayStation 4 may well be based on PC hardware, then, but based on these first impressions, it feels like much more of a console - a pure gaming thoroughbred - than its predecessor.
Again, Eurogamer calling Playstation what many would agree with - from the start it was a console designed for a singular purpose even if it didn't have a refined infrastructure to support it at this point in 2013.
Kotaku
Buy: Not Yet
https://kotaku.com/the-playstation-4-the-kotaku-review-in-progress-1463521231
In November 2013, the PS4 is hopefully both a great extension of the PS3 and, oddly, a clean break. It's not backwards-compatible, after all. Not yet, not until 2014 when Sony plans to deliver streaming games to those of us with good enough Internet connections to remote-control PS3 games housed on some Sony server somewhere. For now, the PS4 sits next to the PS3 without fully displacing it.
Picture this Friday as a crucial moment in the great Sony relay race. The PS3 is handing off the baton, and just as it happens, time seems to freeze. The next runner, the PS4, has taken the hand-off but hasn't quite landed its first stride. The PS3 will keep running for a time, coasting on its own momentum. The PS4 looks poised, ready charge forth. We assume it'll happen. But that hand-off is still in progress. It's too soon to tell what happens next.
Kotaku saw promise but not enough at launch to recommend an outright buy. It's hard to imagine a world today where backwards compatibility could be so severely crippled at launch but this was a point of contention with the PS3 still deserving of its spot alongside the PS4.
Xbox One
Polygon - 8/10
https://www.polygon.com/a/xbox-one-review
Microsoft has insisted it has the software gamers want. But it's also maintained that this generation is about more than that. It's repeatedly outlined a vision for a console based around entertainment, apps and connected experiences, tied together by Kinect, which has been met with apprehension by the enthusiast audience.
To be clear, Kinect isn't a fully realized product yet. Gesture support is functionally non-existent, and there's a lack of good examples of how Kinect can contribute to games. There are certain elements of Microsoft's strategy that are missing at launch, like support for Twitch streaming and HBO Go. And the console's television functionality impresses … if you watch television.
But in many ways, the Xbox One's bold direction for the future is well in place. The integration of voice controls and its media strategy are a boon to everyone, and the ability to run apps while playing games is something we now want on every gaming console we have. That it has a handful of strong, exclusive games at launch only supports its legitimacy as a gaming console and not just an entertainment hub.
The Xbox One is an impressive marriage of software and hardware that raises the bar in terms of what we expect from a living-room machine. Looking forward more than it looks back, the Xbox One feels like it's from the future.
If any review shows the perils of making terrible bets it would be this one. While Microsoft would eventually get there with Xbox One X it's hard to picture any of this as being accurate in hindsight. The promise was there but unfortunately for Microsoft nobody was buying into this vision.
The Verge: no score
https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/20/5117320/microsoft-xbox-one-review
When Microsoft says it's building a console for the next decade, it's not lying. Where the PlayStation 4 is designed to simply become an ever-better version of itself, the Xbox One is poised to turn into an entirely different, entirely unprecedented device.
It may not only supplement, but replace your cable box; it could have a rich, full app store; games are only going to get better, more impressive, and more interactive. The blueprints are all here. Virtually everything Microsoft is trying to do is smart, practical, and forward-thinking — even as they've undone some of the Xbox One's most future-proof innovation over the last few months, Marc Whitten and his team at Microsoft have clearly kept their heads in the future.
Another review that falls into focusing on the all in one aspects which are nearly nonexistent in 2020. Forward thinking, yes, but in the sense of thinking perhaps too far ahead for a different audience whose focus wasn't gaming. The problem is those people were never going to buy a games console for television or Skype.
IGN: No score
https://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/11/20/xbox-one-review
Xbox One is an exciting entry into the new generation of home consoles that improves on the Xbox 360 in many ways. It offers a broader set of home entertainment features than its closest rival, the PlayStation 4. But it's also more expensive, and because it can't parse natural language, it'll force you to learn its specific vocabulary of commands in order to take advantage of its interface. Whether that's something your entire household is willing to do is up to you – and them. Fundamentally, it's one of the biggest barriers to entry if Microsoft hopes to take over the living room on a massive scale. If you're purely interested in gaming, you may want to wait until the platform stabilizes or drops in price. However, if you're more like me and are tired of the dumbest screen in your house being your TV, the Xbox One will change your living room forever. Sure, you're likely to experience some quirks – but Microsoft is pioneering new territory here. I, for one, will never turn off my console and TV with a controller again.
I enjoyed my voice commands with Kinect, but my wife was regularly frustrated that it could never get her accent right enough in the parser. One time a friend of ours cackled for about 20 mins as I kept trying to turn up the volume but my Irish lilt was just too confusing.
Either way, the IGN review was spot in that Microsoft wanted to aim higher here with some novel actions but it never translated into a language an audience wanted to learn. Ask my wife!
Eurogamer/DF
No score
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-one-hardware-test
Microsoft's vision is very different. It has taken a broader view of the market perhaps not entirely compatible with the needs and wants of the core gamer. It is willing to make the trades on gaming power in order to potentially revolutionise the way we interact with entertainment in the living room - Microsoft is betting that once we've experienced it, we'll never be able to go back. It's a bold gamble, but the key issue is that much of this revolutionary functionality just isn't there right now. The price differential with PlayStation 4 clearly is.
There are some great ideas here, then, but we've had just a small glimpse of what the machine is capable of. Cool functions like resuming gameplay from standby are flaky, while the centrepiece of the media experience - full integration with live TV - just isn't there yet outside of Microsoft's home market. It's coming, but we have no idea when. The core of what's left, beyond some neat features, is very much a games machine: one whose capabilities are proven, but which remains considerably more expensive than PlayStation 4.
Probably the most prescient of all the main console reviews, Richard Leadbetter had the clearest line of sight for what the Xbox One would struggle with for most of the generation in both its messaging and perception at the very least. Full integration with live tv never materialised outside of NA, and many features that were promised at launch never lived up to its full potential.
Kotaku
Buy: Not Yet
https://kotaku.com/the-xbox-one-the-kotaku-review-1467960010
I admire what Microsoft is trying to do with the Xbox One, and I'm rooting for them to give their console that final push to get it to where it needs to be. The whole thing is almost there. The Kinect almost works well enough to get me to use it all the time. The TV integration is almost smooth enough to make me plug it into the heart of my living-room setup. Multitasking almost works well enough to get me checking the internet while I play games.
The skeptic in me says that while many technology manufacturers seem hell-bent on making the next great
convergence device, technology tends to diverge. New devices are more likely to take on a role we didn't know we wanted (e.g. people now own a smartphone, a laptop and a tablet) instead of pulling together multiple roles we didn't realize could be combined. Successful convergence devices like the iPhone will forever inspire others to swim upstream, attempting to replicate a one-in-a-million success. Will our living rooms ever be governed by a single device? And if so, will that device be the Xbox One?
There was admiration here for trying something new but the convergency they guessed at never emerged. New versions of the hardware stepped further and further away from this great experiment as subsequent dashboards stripped out features such as Snap reducing the Xbox One to a games console that wasn't quite as powerful as it's neighbour. The PS4.
Summary:
While we are about to learn more about the new Xbox and PS5 in the coming months it's worth keeping in mind that the product that releases this fall (and the review takes that follow) won't necessarily pan out with the end result towards the end of the generation. So for all the thirst we have today remember that none of this will matter years from now.
