These are going to be mostly disconnected thoughts that have popped into my head whilst I’m waiting for my Wagamama to arrive, about a confused situation I find myself in concerning video game consoles
I’ve been an Xbox gamer for years. I bought an Xbox One on launch because all my mates were getting one. Then I got a One X and I’ve now got a Series X. Before I got the One, I had a PS2 Slim, and I now also have a PS5. That being said, I’ve always been into the Xbox ecosystem - consoles, exclusive games etc - much more than I have with PlayStation.
The Forza Horizon series on Xbox is my favourite video game series of all time. I’ve got a lot of hours across the five games and a lot of warm memories of playing them over the years. Forza Horizon has been an Xbox exclusive since day one, and was one of, if not the main reason that I’ve stuck with Xbox all these years. Microsoft however recently announced that Forza Horizon 5 would be launching on PS5 this year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for getting rid of console exclusives - just let people play games - but this leaves me in a bit of a predicament.
I’ve been playing on my PS5 a little bit more often lately - I’m playing through Spider-Man: Miles Morales - and the UI and UX of the PlayStation OS is so fun. This is boosted drastically atm because of the 30th anniversary celebrations allowing my PS5 to boot up to the sound of the PS1, but nevertheless, all the little interactions in the dashboard, the subtle animations as you move around, the way that game previews play that game’s title music, it really feels like an entertaining entertainment device. When I jump back on to my Xbox, it feels flat and bland and boring and, in my Apple-fanboy opinion, like a Windows PC. I’m sure there’s some preferences and colours and backgrounds and things that I could change, but moving from console to console feels like a black and white shift between play and work.
On top of this, my girlfriend, whilst not a gamer, is a PlayStation fanboy - she exclusively plays GTA V on her PS4. She has a sense of nostalgia for PlayStation and prefers the familiarity of the controllers. She hates the PS5 design though. Because of this, I’ll definitely be buying GTA VI on PS5 for us both to play.
However (buckle in for some flip flopping), we’re absolutely loving playing through the new Indiana Jones game, which, at the moment, is an Xbox exclusive.
But I’ve recently been growing a bit more of an affinity for physical media. I think I’m just getting sick of subscriptions and I’ve realised that I could happily play the same 10 games and watch the same handful of movies for the rest of my life. The problem here though is that I bought a discless PS5… it was quite a bit cheaper and the time and less of an ugly monster than the one with the disc tray. This means that, at least until the PS6 comes out (although I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s discless only), I’m only going be able to buy digital games
All this is to say that I’m not really sure what my future of video game console ownership looks like. If Microsoft is opening up their library to PlayStation, including franchises like Forza Horizon, why do I need an Xbox any more? Do I continue to buy both consoles with each new generation? Am I going to switch my allegiances after all these years? I was hoping after writing all this I’d have an answer, but alas, I do not. I did have a cracking Wagamama donburi bowl though
