It's been forever and ten days since I've written a blog. This blog was supposed to be up over a month ago, but life seems to keep getting in the way. Life as in my central AC unit has died after 14 years of loyal service. Here I am without a care in the world, and something that I have never thought about before UNTIL I experienced it, came crashing down on me. 85 degrees with 90% humidity with no AC is no joke. It's horrible. Talk about the worst of first world problems. To add salt to my wounds, the replacement costs of a Central AC unit nowadays ranges anywhere from$6000 to $15000 on average. I somehow hit the bullseye and hit that cost directly in the middle of that average coming in at $10,500. Ouch!

Sorry for the little rant, but I have been meaning to get back to blog writing. Gonna do bi-weekly blogs instead of weekly. Between making my YouTube videos, video game streaming on YouTube and Twitch, selling phones locally and online, I have my plate full, but I do find it refreshing every now and then writing these blogs. Putting my frustrations down here helps tremendously. 

Look for my next Video Game/Android/Gun related blog in a few days. Check out my channel here to see what I'm up to. 

So the PS4 Pro AKA PS4 Neo is finally revealed to the world. November 10th is the release date and it comes at a reasonable $399. The PS4 Slim was also announced and arrives at a price point of $299 and is being released even sooner than the Pro. It's actually being released this month here in the States on September 15th.

Let me get this out before I lose my mind. If you already have a PS4, and are considering a PS4 slim, don't. The PS4 Slim is utterly useless if you already have a current PS4. It also lacks a very important feature the original PS4 has, an Optical port. I for one use my optical port all the time either with my Marshall speaker or my Lucid LS30 headset. Now, if your on a budget, don't care for 4K, don't care for an optical port, then the PS4 slim is your console if you want a Playstation. If you really want a cheaper PS4, buy an original PS4 when the PS4 Slim is released. The PS4 Slim will drive the price down of the original PS4.

The PS4 Pro is another matter all together. Coming in at $399 and packing a significant power increase, it is sort of a mid generation game changer. It will be able to game at 4k(probably upscaled, not native), stream 4K content, and utilize HDR. In actuality, Sony announced they will be pushing a firmware update so all PS4's can utilize HDR in some way, not just 4K TV's, but normal HDTV's as well. I have no idea how that's gonna work, but it will be great if they did. 

Back to the topic at hand, the PS4 Pro is the system to buy if your wanting a PS4 and don't have one already, and for those enthusiasts who want to take advantage of the most powerful Sony console has to offer. I 100% recommend buying the PS4 Pro over the PS4 Slim...

There is just one tiny issue the PS4 Pro has that may be of concern though. The PS4 Pro has no 4K UHD player. So no watching or owning the current UHD Blu-Ray's on the PS4 Pro. Want to watch 4k content with HDR? Watch Netflix or some other streaming site that offers it. Or buy the Xbox One S for $299 and not only  do you get a 4K UHD Player, you get 4k streaming, 4k upscaling of games, and HDR. This pretty much checks all the boxes for someone who's wanting to take advantage of all the 4K content coming out this year and beyond. 

So here's the skinny of it. Want a PS4 and don't care for 4K content, get the original PS4, not the PS4 Slim(No optical drive). Want a PS4 with some 4k capabilites packing a bit more power than the original, the get the PS4 Pro. If you want a console with no real compromises right now with a 4k UHD player, 4k streaming capabilities, 4k upscaling, built in HDR, and an ever growing library games including games from the last generation continually being added to a list every month, get the Xbox One S. 

Now here's one last bit of advice for the masses. Buy the console that has the games YOU want to play. 

I actually made a video about this topic awhile back. Mainly to explain to my YouTube subscribers why I bat for team Xbox instead of the winner of this console generation, the PS4. The answer is a bit complicated because I was such a Playstation fanboy when I was growing up, and it may sound hard to believe but I'm still a Playstation fanboy now. As of right now I own 3 Playstation consoles. The PS4, PS2, and the PS Vita. 

The PS4 is a powerful and wonderful machine, but it has its problems. Games for instance. I bought my PS4 strictly for its exclusives and exclusive JRPG's that only come out on the Playstation. Sadly their PS4 ports of JRPG's have been a bit lackluster as of late. More like PS3 games with PS3 performance on a next gen system. Street Fighter V was a slight disappointment with its lack of content and broken gameplay at launch. Still no mods on Fallout 4, no Ark Survival Evolved yet, No Man's Sky overhyped epic lackluster performance, no backwards compatibility, and a price increase of its PS plus membership that isn't justified. 

When I say isn't justified, I mean there is no reason or perceived value on the benefits of this price increase. No extra free games, network that goes down every time they do maintenance, and you still can't change your PSN gamer tag. Something they're PS Plus members have been asking for a long time. 

I probably sound like a salty fanboy, but I do expect a lot from the best, and I'm not going to pull my punches on a company that has gotten complacent and lazy at the top. 

Whew, got that out of me. Now let's talk about why I prefer the Xbox ecosystem over the PSN ecosystem. 

For starters, the Xbox One has backwards compatibility. That's a huge reason why I game on the Xbone. I'm here playing my Red Dead Redemption alongside Ark Survival Evolved with an ever growing library of backwards compatible games. I still have the majority of my physical Xbox 360 collection of games on my shelf. This has given me a problem everyone should have. Too many games to play. First world problems at it's best. For games, the Xbox ecosystem is where its at. It's only flaw I can see, is the lack of JRPG's and decent fighting games. 

Second is their network. I've noticed gaming on the Xbox Live network seems more fluid and has less problems than gaming on the PSN network. That doesn't mean it's perfect, but I'll take the lesser of two evils any day. Both memberships offer free games with this membership. You can get more games free with PS Plus if you own all 3 of their current gaming platforms, but the quality of games Xbox Live gives out for free each month seems to be a slightly better offering than what PS Plus offers each month. 

Third would be the Xbox exclusives. Don't get me wrong, the PS4 has some pretty good exclusive games, but it takes forever for them to get released. Last Guardian anyone? They also have had some epic lackluster games like the Order which was awesome for 5 maybe six hours. Getting off topic again, as for the Xbox exclusives I love, the Gears series is probably my favorite exclusive from Xbox. Halo is ok. I love the Forza series, and I m looking forward to they're upcoming future exclusives like Sea Of Thieves, Scalebound, and Dead Rising 4. When it comes down to it, it's all about choices and one's preference when it comes to games. 

On a side note, I just want to mention that paying Xbox and PS to play online multiplayer is the dumbest thing to have ever graced gaming. I play Black Desert Online, the Secret World, and Guild Wars 2 all on my PC. I don't pay one cent to play those games online. This is probably one of Microsoft's biggest mistakes. Implementing this stupid pay wall to play multiplayer games. Sony followed suit. I won't be surprised if the Nintendo NX that's coming out next year follows suit as well. I hope to god that they don't.

Looks like I went a little off topic again, but that pretty much sums up why I prefer the Xbox ecosystem over the PS ecosystem. I'm not going to talk about PC gaming, because I play 3 games on the PC, 4 if you include Chroma Gun. Not really much of a gaming platform for me.(Console for life) The Nintendo Wii U has never peaked my interest and is a dead console I don't ever plan on owning, and is why it's practically an Xbox VS. PS blog.