Can’t decide between the Xbox One and PS4? Let music be your guide. Mixmag investigates the musical functions (and failings) of the next-gen machines.
XBOX ONE
Size Xbox One is bulky, and that’s without the external power brick.
Specs Eight-core AMD x86 CPUs with 8GB DDR3 RAM
Music Play your own CDs or MP3s, plus Xbox One is a PlayTo receiver, so you can stream content from PlayTo supported devices like Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows phones. Xbox Music Pass ( £8.99 a month) lets you stream unlimited, ad-free music that can also be listened to offline on PC, tablet and phone (although IOS and Android isn’t available at launch). As music plays your screen is filled with artist photos, bios, cover art and a discography. You can pin your favourite artists, albums, songs or playlists to your dashboard and use your voice to control it through Kinect. Snap mode lets you access Xbox Music while you play a game.
Media Blu-ray player built in, but no iPlayer at launch. This is being rectified. 4OD, Netflix, Lovefilm, Blinkbox, Crackle, Eurosport, Machinima and Muzu TV are all supported.
Game pad A more sensitive D-pad, grippier joysticks, better Wi-Fi syncing and vibration feedback can run under each trigger button.
Camera Kinnect is the more advanced of the console cams and comes bundled with the device. It has facial recognition and allows voice command. You can jump from a game back to normal TV by just speaking.
Exclusive games at launch Forza Motorsport 5, Quantum Break, Halo 5, Ryse, Titanfall
Cost £430
PS4
Size Slick, angular and upright, the PS4 is smaller than the Xbox One but is its upright design right for your lounge?
Specs Eight-core AMD x86 CPUs which, coupled with 8GB GDDR5 RAM means it has more bandwidth than the Xbox One giving the PS4 a slight advantage on graphics.
Music Shockingly, the device will not play CDs or MP3s forcing gamers to use Sony’s Music Unlimited subscription cloud-streaming service to listen to music. Music Unlimited has been redesigned to be faster and easier to use on PS4. It has a back catalogue of 22 million tracks which you can use to create the soundtracks to your games that can also be listened to offline ad-free on iOs, Android, tablets and PS Vita devices. Subscription is £4.99 a month for use on PS4 and at home, and £9.99 a month for offline playback.
Media Blu-ray player built in and support from Netflix, Amazon and iPlayer.
Game pad The DualShock 4 has an added touchpad plus rebadged Select and Start Buttons. L2 and R2 triggers are now concave so less slippy.
Camera The Eye is an extra £45 but also supports facial recognition.
Exclusive games at launch Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son, DriveClub
Cost £350 – however, online gaming now requires a paid membership (it used to be free on the PS3) and the Eye camera needs to be bought separately.
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