Which Video Game Console Should You Buy?

There are seven current generation video game consoles to buy, which is probably the most in video game history. What are buyers getting, and what are the differences between consoles?

Let’s start with Sony. The current Sony video game systems are the Playstation 5 and the Playstation 5 Digital Edition.

The price for the Playstation 5 is $499. It has an optical disc drive which plays disc games and Blu-ray movies. It has a storage capacity of 825 gigabytes but only has 667GB of usable storage. It also supports backwards compatibility with most PS4 games. Downloading games is possible with high-speed internet as well. The Playstation 5 supports 1080P and 4K resolutions.

The price for the Playstation 5 Digital Edition is $399. The Digital Edition does not have an optical disc drive but will play the same games that the other PS5 plays. However, it will only play games that are digitally purchased, via the Playstation store. The Playstation 5 Digital Edition hard-drive space is the same as the other Playstation 5.

Microsoft’s consoles are very similar in architecture to Sony’s. They play similar games with similar graphics. The two current Microsoft consoles are the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S. 

The Xbox Series X is the premium console of the two. It supports 1080P and 4K resolutions.  It has an optical disc drive which plays Xbox One and Xbox Series X games. It also has backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 and Xbox One games digitally. The hard drive has 1TB of space but only has 802GB of usable space. You can download games from the Xbox store via high-speed internet and play them off of the hard drive. You can also play disc games and Blu-ray movies.  

The Series S is somewhat different in that it is slightly less powerful. It costs $299 and does not have an optical disc drive. It only supports 1080P, and 1440P visuals. Also, it has a hard drive size of 512GB, with only 364GB usable space. The Series S will only play games that are digitally downloaded from the Microsoft Store.    

There are three current generation Nintendos: the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite, and the Nintendo Switch OLED.

A Nintendo Switch costs about $299. The Nintendo Switch plays cartridge-based games with 1080P graphics, and the visuals are substantially less than the current generation Playstations and Xboxes. You can play it in handheld mode or hook it up to an HDTV. 

The multi-player isn’t as robust as the other systems’ as well. The internal hard drive is approximately 32GB with some space for the operating system. An external SanDisk micro-SD drive ranging from 128GB to 400GB can be purchased for more space.

The Nintendo Switch Lite costs $199. It’s a game system that is strictly handheld and cannot be hooked up to a TV. The resolution is 720P.

The last system, the Nintendo Switch OLED, is $349. It has a bigger handheld screen than the other two, a dock with a wired LAN, and 64GB of internal storage. The other Switches have to be hooked up to the internet via Wi-Fi. All three Switches share the same digital and cartridge game library.

When buying a new console, it’s necessary to explore the avenue of buying an external hard drive. All games that are purchased, whether on disc, cartridge, or digitally, take up hard drive space. You can buy a cheap external USB hard drive for older generation games on the PS5 and Xboxes. 

The newer current generation titles for all Sony and Microsoft systems must be stored on the internal SSD hard drives or they will not play. For the Nintendo Switches, all games are equally playable off of any SanDisk micro-SD drive.  However, they do make Nintendo brand SD cards for this purpose.

With all the systems it is almost 100% necessary to buy an HD 1080P or 4K television. However, they do make converters if you still have a picture tube TV. A 1080P television will suffice for the Xbox Series X/S, Playstation 5-s, and Nintendo Switches.