So, I Bought an Xbox One

So, after all my blathering on about how the PlayStation 4 was going to be my console of choice this generation, I went out and purchased an Xbox One. Why? Two reasons, mainly. Availability and peer pressure.

I got paid for a writing gig two weeks ago and I suddenly had the money on hand to get a console. I knew if I didn’t get one then, the cash would end up going to something else. That’s just the way it works.

So, I ventured out on that Saturday morning two weeks ago in search of a PlayStation 4. Best Buy, Target, GameStop, Walmart and even my local mom and pop game shops were sold out of PS4s across the board, and I was hearing that April would be the next time they could safely say they’d have stock. Just to be sure, I checked online on the sites that track stock, and didn’t have any luck there either. I would have driven at least an hour out of my way to get a PS4, but there were none anywhere near me.

Meanwhile, every store I visited had Xbox Ones in stock. I had a handful of games that I planned on trading in, and after having no luck on the PS4 front, I went back to GameStop and picked up the Xbox One, a copy of Battlefield 4 and a 12-month Xbox Live Gold subscription. With my trades, I ended up paying roughly $500 for the whole package.

So to recap, Xbox One was immediately available when I had cash to buy a new console, and PS4 was not. It’s really that simple.

As far as the peer pressure piece, almost all of my gaming friends are Xbox users. The group we lovingly dubbed “Team Zombie” came together around the Left 4 Dead series on Xbox 360. Entire online friendships were built around the original Modern Warfare. And most of my friends were pushing me to get an Xbox One over the PS4. The main reason I wasn’t planning on it was that I am not able to get online with the gang as much as I was in the past, and I’ve become more of a solo gamer nowadays. But, since I have the Xbox One now, I’ll still be able to connect with that group whenever I can.

My purchase of an Xbox one doesn’t rule out getting a PS4 in the future, but now that I have a current gen console, that’s nowhere near a priority. In fact, the only drawback of the PS4 in my mind was the inability to archive streaming sessions on Twitch, which is something the Xbox One will now be able to do with the recent dashboard update. So my plan to do more streaming for this blog is firmly in place with the Xbox One, and with my PS3 via the Roxio GameCap HD Pro. Plan on seeing lots of Titanfall and Dark Souls II in the next few months.

I also plan on writing up my thoughts after the first two weeks with the Xbox One. Look for that in the next several days.