With the new year approaching, so comes the new generation of troops added to the console war between Microsoft and PlayStation battling for gaming system supremacy.

While Nintendo has yet to unveil a new system, PlayStation and Microsoft are still at each others throats with the unveiling of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, both promised to be the greatest and most successful consoles to date.

Both of these consoles have been receiving a boat load of hype by their developers. Microsoft even came up with an awesome, pre-reveal code-name for the Xbox Series X (and honestly Xbox Scarlet sounds better than the actual name).

A lot of the hype is centered around the fact that both systems are promised to be bigger, faster, and more technologically advanced than their previous models, which is usually the case with every new system.

The PS5 is reported by PlayStation to have processing speeds around 3.5 Gigahertz while the Xbox comes in at about 3.8 Gigahertz.

For reference, 4.0 GHz is essentially the highest speed most processors can go, and the Xbox is two clicks away from that.

However, the PS5 also has the Xbox beat in its Graphics Processing Units (GPU) speed, having a 2.23 GHz frequency as compared to Xbox’s 1.825 GHz.

This essentially means that while the Xbox should be able to run different tasks better, the PS5 should be able to handle graphics and actually make gameplay go smoother.

But I know what you might be saying, “These numbers mean nothing to me! What’s a Gigahertz?!.” You are so right in saying that, all of these systematic numbers are irrelevant to actually playing games on the consoles, so what’s new?

Well let’s start with the designs, because they are…something.

The PS5 is designed like a sleek skyscraper, having a really futuristic appearance to its console and the remote; It simply screams “New”.

The Xbox Series X is a box.

Look at the picture…that’s it.

Xbox has always not really popped out in the design diversity of their consoles, but seriously there had to have been better options – even the controller looks exactly the same as the Xbox One’s version while PlayStation revamps their classic design.

Admittedly this can be overlooked with how the Xbox Series X controllers will work on the Xbox One and Microsoft PC’s, plus all Xbox One controllers can be used with the new system, so this is a massive money saver if you go with Xbox.

Speaking of “massive”, these consoles will take up ALL the shelf space; they are so huge – it’s ridiculous!

That’s my bottom line with the design choices for both, while I believe PS5 may look better, I still don’t think either have really great aesthetics; The PS5 is too tall and tower-like while the Xbox is just so simplistic.

But enough about this stuff, what do we use these consoles for, to stare at? What games do they bring to the table!

I hear you asking this and I can happily tell PlayStation buyers that their system will be unveiling a plethora of new games in the upcoming year.

You’ve got Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, God of War: Ragnarok, the list goes on as PlayStation continues to roll out more confirmed titles by the day.

But let’s not forget about Xbox, who come head-on bringing their expansive list of new games such as Halo Infinite….and yeah that’s about it.

I understand that Xbox has more exclusive games that they will be releasing but the truth is Halo is really the only game that is keeping Xbox relevant.

When I listed off the PlayStation games, they all had something in common – they are sequels of titles we already know of.

PlayStation has so many game representatives that the fans want more of and they deliver by making hit sequels of games we love.

Xbox has been making Halo sequels for years now because they destroyed the names of all their other titles. So much has been lost with Xbox exclusives that they have to rely on Halo to be bringing people onto their side.

Of course, there are still good things about Xbox and I don’t doubt that you could make another argument stating some reasons as to why they are superior to PlayStation, but from the current standings of the game consoles now, I’d say PlayStation is taking charge in the console war.

All of this is subject to change once the consoles actually come out and their games can be reviewed differently than their predictions entail.

Standard versions for both consoles are priced at $500 with games and extra controllers being $70 each, so you can expect to spend close to $700-$800 dollars for a console with three games and an extra controller.